Puppet On a Chain VS Live and Let Die

Richard--W

Watching Scorpion's new DVD of this 1971 B action thriller reminded me that Eon Productions stole the speed-boat chase for LIVE AND LET DIE.

The speed-boat chase in LIVE AND LET DIE is longer and more elaborately produced. The stunts are bigger. EON obviously had more time to prepare it, more time to shoot it, and the money to up the ante. It's better technically. Why then isn't it as good? Because it's played for comedy. There is no sense of risk in the action. The title of the movie suggests risk and danger, but we never feel either emotion in the audience. The movie belies the title. The chase exists to get a laugh or a number of laughs.

The choreography is almost precisely the same in both movies -- the Bond producers steal it without apology. But the tone makes all the difference. LIVE AND LET DIE is silly, PUPPET ON A CHAIN is serious.

Alistair MacLean's story builds up to the murder of the agent's girlfriend, which is ugly, and motivates him to take extreme risks.

He wants revenge and he wants it now. So far his side has been losing. He's going to get the villain no matter what. The speed-boat chase is played for drama and suspense and we're with it every splash of the way. The close confines of the canals give the action in PUPPET ON A CHAIN a claustrophobic edge that the wide-open spaces in LIVE AND LET DIE don't have.

The music by Piero Piccioni is all about suspense, too, and fits the action, whereas Paul McCartney is off doing his own thing in LIVE AND LET DIE.


Richard

Thunderpussy

I think most Boat chases are similar ( Same with car chases ) So you could be correct that the Bond
producers lifted a few ideas from Puppet on a chain. Although I remember watching an old Bob Hope movie from the 30's or 40's ( I can't remember the title ) which had motor boats jumping across small pieces of land.
So it might be a case of everyone steals from everyone, ( the secret being knowing whos ideas to "Borrow "). I remember
reading that Leslie Charteris always said Fleming stole the Idea of Bond from his Character "The Saint" .

Moore Than

Here is the boat chase in question. It is certainly exciting to watch and very well executed. I can see clearly that the Bond producers could have got their ideas for the boat chase in Live And Let Die from this chase. Whether they did or not is open to question.

And what is Kronsteen doing in that boat?

The Boat Chase - Puppet On A Chain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p0O1QsXfnQ

thesecretagent

Never heard of the film - but I'll give it a go now. Like Bullit's famous car chase - no music, just engine noise. Great stuff!

Napoleon Plural

That is a brilliant clip, and top quality too! I agree it is better than LALD in many respects, except, with that it really is the stuntwork that did it, boats flying over police cars, amazing stuff. The Puppet stuff isn't on those heights, plus of course the hero is chasing the villain and you have the naff part where he catches up but doesn't do much about it, as with the TWINE pts. But it is better than the TWINE clip, which is also more directly nicked from that clip.

Ta Richard W, thanks for sharing, as they say.

Richard--W

Spy buffs have been clamoring for a DVD of PUPPET ON A CHAIN for over a decade, so I'm surprised you never heard of it. I saw it a number of times when it was new. The speed-boat chase is superior precisely because it is kept on the plausible side. It's desperate and determined. In contrast the stunts in LIVE AND LET DIE are ridiculously and unbelievably over the top in a film that turns every dramatic possibility into slapstick.

The action in James Bond films should always be plausible. LIVE AND LET DIE needs a lot more of what PUPPET ON A CHAIN has got.

Richard

Napoleon Plural

What's the rest of the film like? It is the sort of film I order over Lovefilm (netflix to you yanks) and it sits in the queue and then eventually it comes and the experience is a bit downbeat.

Again, you had to be the right age to 'get' LALD but it makes you wonder why they couldn't just get the Puppet director in for a movie. I would also volunteer that films at the time needed to be lighter, they were either gritty, nasty flicks then or fantasy escapism. Obv now culture leans towards the former, but back then Bond was family fun and not sure that serious dudes would go for it really, I mean, Lazenby sort of had it right when he suggested Bond had had his day, at least with credible, counter-culture cinemagoers. He forgot about kids and families wanting a day out.

Bodie

I remember going to see both POAC and LALD when they came out in the cinema (giving away my age) and thinking that Bond had borrowed the boat chase and not done it as well. The boat chase in POAC was more exciting because it stuck to the point and didn't wander into unneeded comedy. Don't get me wrong its a very good scene and well shot but what should have been the most exciting part of the movie goes on too long and lags in the middle becasue of the decision to take out a wedding cake or land a speedboat in a swimming pool.

POAC was adapted from a novel by Alaistair Maclean and I would encourage anybody who likes a good thriller to watch it. I would also encourage you to watch some of the other movies made from MacLean books particuliarly When Eight Bells Toll ( staring a young Anthony Hopkins as a Bond type agent) Fear is the Key with Barry Newman and Where Eagles Dare with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. MacLean's heros had a ruthless streak in the vein of Craig's Bond.

On the other hand avoid some of the MacLean adaptations such as The Golden Rondevous with Richard Harris and The Way To Dusty Death with Simon MacCorkindale like the plague, theey are crap.

An interesting oddity is Breakheart Pass with Charles Bronson which is a western but done more like a spy movie.

Thunderpussy

I love the Maclean novels, "When eight bells toll " is on quite often on day time TV it seems. Although I'll
go against the grain with many as I love music in chases .