Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die is a brilliant use of a new Bond (Roger Moore) and an iconic title song for one of the best Bonds there is.

When I first watched this opening outing for Roger Moore in the "007" role, I wasn't very impressed. Now, when I watch it though, I appreciate more the sophisticated and subtle approach that the star brought to the role. Gone is much of the chauvinism of the Connery days, replaced by a more subtle, humorous, playful style whilst still delivering a good adventure film. This time, following the deaths of three other agents, "Bond" finds himself investigating a dodgy Caribbean ruler "Katanga" (Yaphet Kotto) who is using the prophetic skills of his tarot reader "Solitaire" (a rather beautiful but simpering, charmless, Jane Seymour) and a great deal of heroin to dominate the global narcotics market. It's got it's fair share of gadgets and one of the most memorable opening (funeral) scenes of any movie I've ever seen. Geoffrey Holder is crackingly menacing as "Baron Samedi" - the master of voodoo; and Julius Harris as the almost indestructible "Tee Tee" - complete with a basic, but dangerous artificial hand. It's dark, gritty and sinister and well worth watching. Can't say I'm the biggest fan of the Wings theme tune, though - I prefer the knock 'em dead power ballads...

This 007 film aged very well. 007 follows in the footsteps of three prior agents who were assassinated. There's a lot of "jive" in this one, since this is the one where the villain is black, and he uses mostly black helpers, so the white James Bond really sticks out. And thus we get a lot more comedy here. There's a bit of a condescending attitude towards Harlem here, and too much respect for the few who are the criminals of Harlem, but this is a "comedy" 007 adventure. The beautiful Solitaire is the love interest, and there's a lot of belief in the supernatural here. That's part of the "condescending" part. This movie was very bad in 1973, but it aged well, because in 1973 the "red neck sheriff" was such a trite cliche that one had to groan in 1973. But today, after all the movies that have tamed down the image of the red neck lawman, it's a fresh bit of comedy, and that's why this movie has aged well. It comes close to breaking into the top ten 007 films of all time due to its lack of negativity that has been the Hollywood formula since about 1965.