Live and Let Die Movie Review

Q-Branch_2012

After the final Connery the audience were ready for a new man to take charge of the role, they had already seen Lazenby have a go and were ready to embrace the new man for the role. The man they got was Roger Moore, who had already being playing a spy for some time on popular TV show, The Saint, so the audience already had a relationship with the actor, so he was pretty much guaranteed success.

This is one of my favourite Bonds, Roger Moore is young enough to be believable in the role, (unlike later efforts), and does a sterling job. This movie changes the tone of the Bond movies to suit the actor, it is alot more comical and over the top, and alot less serious. It keeps the action of the previous outings and it my eyes thoroughly enjoyable to watch.

Live and Let Die opens with a great pre title sequence, including an agent getting killed in some sort of voodoo ritual by a man wearing some kind of fake animal skin, which looks laughable compared to todays standards, and the agent is bitten by a snake and killed. This is followed by the awesome Live and Let Die opening song by Paul and Linda McCartney.

This Bond differs from all the other Bonds as it goes in a completely different direction, all Bonds previous to this were involoved in some shape or form with SPECTRE and Blofeld. This time Bond is investigating Dr. Kananga, a dicatator from the small caribbean island, San Monique. Bond soon discovers he has a connection with Harlem gangster Mr. Big, whose opening line "Names are for tombstones, baby" is a classic. Bond goes from Harlem to San Monique, with some great set pieces alon the way, including an great speed boat chase and Bond escaping death by using alligators as stepping stones to run across the water.

This movie also introduces the best Felix Leiter, played by David Hedison.

All of the characters are intriguing, including Solitaire, the tarot reader, The Baron Samedi, the king of the cemetaries, Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga, Whisper and Tee Hee. There is some good character development of Dr. Kananga/ Mr. Big which is nice to see and the voodoo/occult/poppy field story line is great.

This movie is entertaining but does a great job of keeping true to Bond and being a nice change from the usual SPECTRE based story line. This took Bond a new direction and breathed fresh life into the series.

Any Bond fan should watch this and any non-Bond fan will get two hours worth of entertainment.

Lazenby4life

I always liked this film. it's quirky. We see America in 1970's and I absolutely love the soundtrack. Kudos to you George!

Moore Than

A big favourite of mine, Live And Let Die is the film that introduced me to Bond so I will always have a soft spot for it. I was already a fan of Roger Moore. I love the blaxploitation/voodoo theme, the boat chase, the double decker bus, the crocodile farm, a great bunch of characters, one of my favourite non-Barry scores, and a terrific title song. Even Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes like it, so it can't be bad.

Muston

I'll say one thing about this film....Jane Seymour :x Enough said.

Luke

Yes, easily my favorite of the Moore Era. It was also my first Bond, so I think it will always have residence somewhere in my heart. It is "camp" Bond at its finest I think, with such a dish of cajan spiciness after the wretched DAF.

Bodie

The only thing that spolis it is Kanaga's death - cringeworthy.

chrisisall

Muston wrote:

I'll say one thing about this film....Jane Seymour :x Enough said.

^^^^^THIS! :v

Luke

Bodie wrote:

The only thing that spolis it is Kanaga's death - cringeworthy.

That scene is certainly on the border, though I classify it closer to the fun absurdity of Goldfinger's window exit than to May Day's leotard, or to Jaws and his lady's Moonraker escape.

chrisisall

Luke wrote:

That scene is certainly on the border, though I classify it closer to the fun absurdity of Goldfinger's window exit than to May Day's leotard, or to Jaws and his lady's Moonraker escape.

A little blood flying would have gone a long way in slipping that nonsense past us.
As a kid I bought it because I was a KID & the non-DVD resolution helped. But now it's a 'glance away' moment.....