Roger Moore's favorite James Bond adventure is one of the least-loved adventures from the Sean Connery era. By the time Sean Connery appeared in his fifth Bond adventure You Only Live Twice, he had grown tired of both the franchise and the overwhelming amount of attention it brought him. He had become so identified with the role that he longed to break free of his 007 typecasting, and George Lazenby was later hired as his successor for On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
While the sequel is now considered one of Bond's best-ever outings, it received mixed reviews at the time, and Lazenby exited the franchise after only one movie. Everyone from Clint Eastwood to Michael Gambon and even Anthony Hopkins were considered as James Bond successors, but MGM decided the only way forward was to lure Connery back no matter the cost. The actor was thus paid over $1 million - a fee he later used to establish the Scottish International Education Trust - to reprise Bond for 1971's Diamonds Are Forever, which found 007 on the trail of Blofeld in Las Vegas.
Diamonds Are Forever was originally supposed to be a direct sequel to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, with Lazenby's Bond coming after Blofeld and Irma Bunt in revenge for the death of his wife Tracy. Lazenby's exit, the passing of Bunt's performer Ilse Steppat and Connery's return saw it evolve into a standalone instead. Sadly, it's arguably the weakest adventure with Sean Connery's Bond, with the star himself going through the motions while the movie's tacky sense of humor and lame setpieces fail to impress, outside of a fun car chase through Vegas. One major supporter of Diamonds Are Forever was the late, great Roger Moore, who during a conversation with the Hudson Union Society in 2012 declared it his favorite Bond movie.
Roger Moore particularly enjoyed the dialogue and one-liners that co-writer Tom Mankiewicz contributed to Diamonds Are Forever, in addition to henchmen Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. In many ways, the goofiness of the film would predict the Moore run of James Bond, with the star playing the role with a more lighthearted edge. That said, Diamonds Are Forever is still one of the lower-ranked of the franchise among fans.
Sean Connery himself would later return to the part one last time on the big screen for 1983's "unofficial" adventure Never Say Never Again, a title referring to the actor's vow to "never" play James Bond again after Diamonds Are Forever. Even if the sequel isn't highly regarded, it's kind of sweet to know it gave Connery's good friend Roger Moore a good time at the movies.