With Skyfall dropping in theaters in just a few months, along with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series, a close friend and fellow film nerd, Brandon Peters, has generously offered to do a comprehensive review of the entire 007 film franchise. Today is the eigth entry, with a full review at one of Roger Moore's debut entry, Live and Let Die. I hope you enjoy what is a pretty massive feature leading up the November 9th release of Skyfall. I'll do my best to leave my two-cents out of it, give or take a few items I have up my sleeve (including a guest review from my wife as she sings the praises of her favorite 007 film, you won't believe what it is). But just because I'm stepping aside doesn't mean you should, as I can only hope for robust discussions in the comments section. Without further ado...
Live and Let Die
1973
Director:
Guy Hamilton
Starring:
Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, David Hedison
Rated PG
Names is for tombstones, baby! Y'all take this
honkey out and WASTE HIM! NOW!
~Mr.
Big (Dr. Kananga)
STATS
Kills: 8 + 1
snake (I’ve always LOVED this. While
smoking a cigar in the bathroom, Bond takes a hair spray bottle and sprays it
at the cigar creating a flame thrower to kill the snake)
Bond
Girls: Solitaire, Rosie Carver, Miss
Caruso
Car: Bond drives a double decker bus and a speed
boat in this one, no car
Locales: Harlem, New Orleans , San Monique
(fictional)
Odd Villain Trait: Tee Hee has
a mechanical arm, Whisper is obese and speaks in…yes a whisper, Baron Samedi
involved in the voodoo occult
Song: “Live and Let Die”
performed by Wings (that’s Paul McCartney’s ‘other’ band for those who don’t
know)
Live and Let Die starts the seven-film
run of Roger Moore as 007. Moore ’s first adventure, and Eon’s eighth, attempts to showcase Moore as a different Bond. This film takes the franchise and alters the
stakes by playing in another genre’s sandbox.
Guy Hamilton returns for his third outing, yet the film is quite
different from his previous work in the 007 series until close to the finale. The film packs plenty of action sequences,
but frankly feels a little long. Three MI:6 agents monitoring the operations of a small island dictator
(Dr. Kananga played by Yaphet Kotto) are
mysteriously killed in a 24-hour period.
James Bond is sent to New York
to contact with Felix Leiter (David Hedison) and investigate the first
murder. The investigation leads to a
connection between a drug dealer, Mr. Big (also Yaphet Kotto), and Kananga . Bond’s investigations team him up with
Quarrel’s (from Dr. No) son taking
him from the streets of New Orleans to the island of San Monique where Bond is
immersed in a world of voodoo, bayous, tarot and drugs.
Roger Moore’s first turn as Bond seems a bit tight and cautious. Consciously, he was trying to not be Sean
Connery and also not reminiscent of his character from the television series The Saint. His performance is fine, but you can see he’s
not quite as comfortable in the role yet.
He does appear quite comfortable delivering Bond’s famous quips. The way Moore
spouts them out seems natural, honest and doesn’t make you groan or take you
out of the scene. Some were actually
pretty funny. His performance isn’t
quite as dazzling as Connery in Dr. No,
but gives you the sense that “Hey, I think things are going to be ok with this
guy”.
While it’s the same Bond character, there are little things thrown at
you throughout to set Moore
apart from Connery (aside from the fact he’s a different actor). Bond orders bourbon, he doesn’t wear a hat
and swaps out his Walther PPK for a Magnum in the final battle. He’s also dressed much more colorful and
stylish in this film. All these things
are a bit silly because they still don’t hide the fact this script was
obviously written for Sean Connery to play the role. For example, there’s some threatening of
women that Moore
looks a little awkward doing, but I’d have no problem seeing Connery pull it
off. Connery was asked back for $5.2
million, but he refused claiming he’d “never” play Bond again. Some bizarre choices like Clint Eastwood and
Burt Reynolds were in consideration to take over the role, but essentially
everyone agreed they wanted Moore (who had been discussed in preproduction for Dr. No and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service for 007, but never was spoken to
about the role). And to all the folks
who aren’t fans of his Bond portrayal, for Live
and Let Die it could have been disastrous had they not gone with him.
Bond’s nemesis this time around isn’t trying to destroy any part of
the world this time. He isn’t trying to
become a global leader or pit countries against each other. Dr. Kananga just wants to be THE heroin kingpin
of the United States
and make a ton of money doing so. He has
cast a voodoo scare in the area of his heroin fields and is doubling as an
American drug lord in hopes of monopolizing the heroin industry. He’s frankly rather a snoozer of a
villain. He’s a bit too calm and doesn’t
feel much of a threat. His henchmen are
far more colorful and interesting. While
he’s more boisterous as Mr. Big, he just looks so weird in the face from the
get go, you pretty much know his face can’t be real. I give him credit for straying from the norm,
but he’s just not very enjoyable of a presence on screen. And it’s surprising, because Yaphet Kotto can
be a pretty compelling actor elsewhere.
While Tiffany Case proved rather useless in the last film, she was
nowhere near as ridiculous or obnoxious as Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) in this
film. I could not wait for this girl to
be off’ed. She’s a CIA double agent
working for Dr. Kananga. At every
possible point in her appearance she’s given the opportunity to look extremely
dumb. This woman is a fully trained CIA
agent screaming like a 5 year old and frightened to death at a dead snake. Then, just a minute later, is screaming again
at a hat in the bedroom. She then looks
stupid as she attempts to take out Bond’s partner Quarrel Jr. She is so annoying and so pointless, her
character and part of the story should have been cut entirely. I know this is the first black girl Bond has
bedded, but she’s an absolute waste of time and an embarrassment as a
character.
Jane Seymour’s Solitaire is a far better character. By the way, does this woman age? She’s 62 and still looks great. Anyway, Solitaire brings a bit of a
supernatural touch the 007. She is a
tarot reader able to be steps ahead and call Bond’s every move before it
happens. She is vital to Kananga and how he keeps
a leg up. She gets to wear some
extravagant costumes and makeup in the film making her pretty memorable. However, Poonraker strikes again as after she
sleeps with 007, she loses her power and then becomes just another Bond and a
damsel in distress. But, its Jane
Seymour, I’ll allow it.
While Live and Let Die
boasts some really cool and unique action sequences throughout, the picture is
a bit long. A lot of this movie could
have been tightened up. It might have
added a little more suspense as well.
All of Rosier Carver’s stuff should have been cut. The boat chase could have been trimmed down
(it’s terrific, but at times it feels like you’re just watching boats drive
with nothing happening), the grounded airplane chase provides some laughs, but
is unnecessary. And for all the gritty
real action sequences, the end and Kananga ’s
death feel a bit cartoon-ish and out of place (the only place in the film where
it is clear Guy Hamilton directed it).
Somewhere in the hour and a half to hour 40 mark this film started to
feel kind of long. This could have been
one of the best Bond films with a 105-minute running time.
Live and Let Die marks a
fine debut for Roger Moore. Following
the dreadful Diamonds are Forever,
it’s a refreshing step into something new to introduce a new era of James
Bond. It’s a bit overlong and has a
couple annoyances, but is definitely worth the watch. If you’re not familiar with the
Blaxploitation genre of film, you may not find an appreciation for it or “get”
what the filmmakers are going for*. This
film is probably known best for its title song now-a-days more than its actual
content. This was a favorite of mine
growing up, and while my fondness may or may not be the same (not telling yet), it’s worth a venture if you’re curious.
Brandon Peters will return in The
Man with the Golden Gun
*Some Blaxploitation film recommendations: Bucktown,
Shaft, Coffy, Superfly, Foxy Brown, Cleopatra Jones
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