Live and Let Die (1973)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

"Live and Let Die" is one of the more deceiving "James Bond" films. The face of the franchise may have changed with Roger Moore assuming the mantle of 007, but everything below the neck is fairly familiar. So what seems like a reboot is more like a facelift, albeit a needed one.Moore comes to the role of Bond with an energy that Connery clearly lacked by the end of his tenure, despite Moore being in his forties (and three years older than Connery period) when beginning what would become a seven-film run. He definitely feels like an "elder statesman" Bond, with his charm and cunning his greatest assets. Nevertheless, he seems excited to slide into the familiar "Bond" scenarios and dialogue and make them his own.These "Bond" elements are familiar because of the return of "Diamonds are Forever" writer Tom Mankiewicz and director Guy Hamilton. That film was a disaster in many respects, so the fact that "Live and Let Die" is an improvement is no small feat. (Then again, Hamilton did helm "Goldfinger," so who knows?) Like "Diamonds," the story keeps Bond predominantly on American soil after a few British agents are compromised in New York City, New Orleans and the fictional island of San Monique. The connection between them all is the superstitious crime syndicate leader and heroine kingpin Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) and his lackeys Tee Hee (Julius Harris), Baron Samedi (Geoffrey Holder) and tarot card reader Solitaire (Jane Seymour).The film's release during the era of Blaxploitation films in cinema makes the black villain and various other black characters particularly interesting to say the absolute least. On the one hand, the film features black actors in key roles in an action franchise that in many ways couldn't be whiter. On the other, almost all the black characters are sinister, and Bond heads off into the sunset with the doe-eyed fair-skinned British lady who is clearly out of place, even if she's engaging to watch. At least Bond doesn't go blackface, i.e. this film avoids the social misfire of "You Only Live Twice."Regardless of how the black cultural and voodoo cultural elements were handled, they certainly make "Live and Let Die" a more memorable "Bond." The jazz funeral/second line sequences are unforgettably brilliant, the night club trick tables are pretty clever too and Bond's crocodile escape is surprisingly harrowing given the legitimate stuntwork. And while Q may be absent, the magnet watch features prominently and creatively throughout the film. These touches are truly what make "Bond" films memorable and fun and there's more hits than misses, unlike Mankiewicz's work on "Diamonds.""Live and Let Die" is probably a masterpiece compared to "Diamonds," but objectively, it's merely a good "Bond" entry and a necessary course-correction. The film relies way too much on formula, with predictable chase sequences involving unusual vehicles and a last-second plot to kill James in the epilogue, to name examples. "LALD" has Bond operating a propeller plane, double-decker bus and a speedboat (one of the lengthiest and most tiresome "Bond" chases with barely enough payoff). Hamilton continues his preferred style of filming all these sequences with slapstick in mind rather than making them feel dangerous or suspenseful. Then there's the film's J.W. Pepper problem — the unnecessary caricature of a Louisiana sheriff is worth knocking the whole film down a peg.Anchoring "Live and Let Die" is Paul and Linda McCartney's title track, which one-off "Bond" composer George Martin wisely builds into the film's score at some needed moments. A mostly uptempo rock song, it's uniqueness helps accent the many ways in which "Live and Let Die" stands out among the "Bond" canon, in spite the many ways it still heeds to formula and shares qualities with some of its lesser "Bond" peers.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

The best movie I saw of Bond with Roger Moore at the helm.Bond has to stop a Black drug dealer, who works with voodoo and witchcraft. An interesting and far better proposal than to blow up the world with nuclear weapons. The action scenes are electrifying enough and well assembled. The element of humor is here, and it is placed almost perfectly.If you talk about Jane Seymour, what a beautiful woman, with a cleavage to make a woman very envy. The crocodile scene is one of the best in movie history.The villain is one of the best I've ever see in the bond franchise,a villain that had a great desire to kill innocent people. A villain who deals with drugs and disgraces the lives of many. And still working with voodoo and witchcraft, could not exist anything better. Excellent and cohesive proposal. I highly recommend it.

Directed by Guy Hamilton and with a script by Tom Mankiewicz, this is the eighth film in the franchise and keeps Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli as producers. In this film, the first in which Roger Moore embodies the British spy, franchise tries to survive at two powerful factors of danger: the departure of Sean Connery after several years giving life to 007, and the unstoppable evolution of the world, with the seventies bringing a radical change in the audience. Thus, producers and screenwriter tried to attract new audiences, in particular the black public, attracted not only by black actors but also for some locations. Another subject that the film will address, and that was on the agenda during these times, are drugs and trafficking.In this film, the British agent will fight an American drug baron but gets lost in the black neighborhood of Harlem, where he cannot pass unnoticed and almost finds himself in danger. The track eventually leads Bond to Louisiana, where the persecution of bandits brings us the hilarious Sheriff J. W. Pepper, who worked not only as a film comic element but also as a severe criticism against the conservatism of white society in the southern states. We must remind ourselves that this movie was released at a time when American society was in deep transformation, largely thanks to the struggle of black society for respect, equality and civil rights, which were denied until then, particularly, in the South. The film then heads to the Caribbean, to an island that was probably inspired by Haiti and where the audience is faced with superstitions and beliefs as voodoo or magic.In these film, Roger Moore proved that could hold his role, and the agent could survive Sean Connery. In fact, he even manages to be much more English, while maintaining the habit of never losing his composure whatever the situation. The villains were in charge of Yaphet Kotto and Julius Harris, the latter in the role of Tee Hee, the man with the metal arm. Geoffrey Holder embodies the Baron Samedi, Haitian voodoo character who enters this film. The bond-girl was Jane Seymour, the role of the tarot reader Solitaire.For many people, "Live and Let Die" is one of the oddest films in the franchise because of the amount of unusual elements featuring: "blaxploitation", magic, voodoo, superstition, drugs. And these people aren't without reason. Today, this film is strange and doesn't leave many memories, like many films of the seventies. There are even those who think that is the worst movie of the franchise. Perhaps. But it helped to keep Bond alive and adapted him to a new era. For posterity stays the good performance of the elegant and humorous Roger Moore and the introduction song, written by Paul McCartney and who would receive, years later, a new life through the cover of Guns N'Roses.

It was Roger Moore's chance to step into the shadow of Bond after the likes of Connery and Lazenby had played their part. Moore's comedic approach never sat well with me and his outings cannot be taken seriously. He is undoubtedly good fun in the role, but he is also the last person that springs to mind when I think of Bond.This is the first Bond film where we do not see the organisation of SPECTRE for a lengthy period. Bond instead goes up against a heroin manufacturer who uses the threat of Voodoo dolls and black magic as a front to disguise his true business and intentions.Live and Let Die feels like a product of its times. It is a wacky Bond entry that was made in the 70s. Yet it is embarrassing in its treatment of the material. The voodoo elements ring false on several occasions and make it likewise hard to buy into. For me personally Roger Moore is the weakest Bond. So why was he granted seven separate entries? Seems a bit much considering that Sean Connery had six.No one can deny that the racial slurs used throughout the film make you feel uncomfortable and awkward. Mentions of the word "honkie" and jokes regarding the Ku Klux Klan make the film more of a chore than a pleasure to sit through. You can rest assured that no other Bond film would be this unwise. Although I have many issues with the treatment of the story, Live and Let Die is not a total loss, just impossible to recommend to the casual viewer. The villains; Mr Big and Kanaga make for an excellent pair coming across as egotistical, twisted and mad. The girl Solitaire is a favourite for many and it's easy to pinpoint why. Her fragile nature, natural beauty and virginity make her a heavenly creature. The set pieces are inventive using many elements that provide sufficient thrills, such as sequences involving crocodiles, speedboats and a bus! It is certainly not Bond, but by all accounts it is a hard film to dislike.Live and Let Die would prove the limit for most Bond fans. Can you stomach racial slurs and stereotypes? If you can overlook these factors and regard the film as a product of its time then you are bound to gain more joy watching it than I did. As for myself I have no desire to ever return again to Live and Let Die. But as a strange peculiarity it demands one viewing at the very least.