Nom de code: Diamant

This movie was on TV on May 1, 1977. I did not watch it at that time. I tore out the TV guide page and filed it. Recently I was going through those pages and decided to look on Y?T and there it was. I watched and enjoyed it regardless of the obvious plot and limited action scenes and locales. It was just a fun lively TV movie. Enjoyable.

Quinn Martin was a noted TV producer who created shows such as "The Untouchables" and "Barnaby Jones". But in 1977, he aired a major stinker: "Code Name: Diamond Head". The plot (or whatever you call it) is a convoluted mess about someone trying to stop the theft of a deadly gas. No surprise that this failed pilot provided fodder for "Mystery Science Theater 3000", with Mike, Servo and Crow having lots of fun at the movie's expense. That's the only way to watch the movie and enjoy it. The only cast member whom I recognized was Ian McShane, who's probably spent the years since trying to forget that he participated in this.

Is it the worst movie ever made? Dunno. I just know that you'll enjoy the movie if you watch MST3K's presentation. Either that or you could go to Hawaii to experience what the Aloha State really has to offer.

My favorite MST3K movie EVER!! Ian McShane our beloved Lovejoy as a preacher & Eric Braeden as a bad guy, the fierce Victor Newman from CBS The Young and the Restless are incredible in this movie (-; Definitely a movie to keep in your library! Get your movie snacks & be ready to laugh guys! #DrDi

TV pilots, don't you love them? Quinn Martin tried this one out after being successful in a bunch of other TV detective movies, but this one goes nowhere except in the realm of MST where it belongs. Roy Thinnes is Diamond Head who takes orders from Aunt Mary to find super spy Lovejoy, I mean Tree. Zulu and Tso-Tsing are there for ethnic comic relief and not much else. Tree sucks as a bad guy despite all his disguises that makes him look exactly the same as he normally does. There's more unnatural clothing fiber here than you can ever imagine (required in the 1970's)and the show itself is so anti-climatic. Why did it not go to series? You figure it out, it's quite blatant. Again it's fun for MST, but not a lot else!!

Another turgid action/adventure flick from the Quinn Martin Productions factory. Roy Thinnes plays undercover agent Diamond Head (Mr. Head, to you), working for his G-Man handler "Aunt Mary", looking for "Tree", who's on a mission to...well, just watch the movie.

This one deserved and got the full MST3K sendup. As the boys and various reviewers have pointed out, the movie "Fargo" had more Hawaiian locations than this film. Apparently shot on a puny budget, this movie highlights Hawaii's broken-down dive shops, gas stations, and cheapo hotels. Zulu -- later to star as Kono in Hawaii-Five-O -- appears as Thinnes' lumpy, inept sidekick, while France Nguyen models the Jenny Craig diet gone horribly wrong. Others sharing the flickering screen include a drunken Richard Harris knockoff, a George Takai imitator, a not-so-smart hit-man with sprayed-on Sansabelt slacks, and the villain "Tree", sporting a veddy British accent. You can pretty much figure out the plot halfway through the opening credits, but relax--just enjoy the giddy mediocrity of this 70's movie-of-the-week.

Whenever I think of this movie (and I think of this movie often), I catch myself humming the theme, written for flute and tuba...no one knows why.

Trivia note--Diamond Head was directed by Jeannot Szwarc, one of three contract directors at Universal who would go on to make much bigger films, in his case Jaws 2. The others were John Badham (War Games), and a young fellow named Steven Spielberg...