Live and Let Die (1973)

After all the physical stuff with Sean Connery, Roger Moore will always be the true James Bond to me. Understated humour and a lot of Britishness. I love it. And, needless to say, Jane Seymour is positively enchanting.

Movie Review: "Live And Let Die" (1973)Director Guy Hamilton (1922-2016) exceeds himself with the third James Bond movie under his direction by cutting back on the overloaded special effects spectacle from 1971 with "Diamonds Are Forever". Film producers Albert R. Broccoli (1909-1996) and Harry Saltzman (1915-1994) manage to keep the production budget steady at 7 Million U.S. Dollar, when introductions with 45-year-old actor Roger Moore (1927-2017) as the "New Bond" takes place at the main character's private London apartment. MI6 headmaster "M", performed with wit, humor and focus by actor Bernard Lee (1908-1981) arrives with secretary Moneypenny for a morning coffee, while "007" hides a short-lived love interest in the closet. The mission briefing by "M" sends "007" on a trail of a new menace after "Blofeld", out-going from the one and only "James Bond" appearance on the streets of New York City to this very day, finding narcotics-trading underworld boss Kananaga aka Mr. Big, given face by actor Yaphet Kotto in an highly motivated performance as Bond nemesis in the realm of shifting restaurant walls, gun-disabling metal claws by the antagonist's sidekick and an ambience of mystical themes surrounding the art of tarot and dark forest voodoo celebrations to finish with the 2nd interior moving train action scene that makes "Live And Let Die" already one of the best "Bond" pictures out of total seven appearances for an very British and elegant-looking actor Roger Moore as "007".The title song nominated by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science (AMPAS) composed by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed with the band "Wings" brings high emotions with classic credit titles embedded in feminine faces, dance, skulls and fire, when the character of James Bond once again keeps his footing down to earth with a minimum usage of gadgets by "Q" branch."Live And Let Die" becomes the first James Bond movie to be released on U.S. domestic market in the Summer of 1973 on June 27th, a week before the official European premiere to count another increase of 8.5% in worldwide revenues for Eon productions and their successfully-transcended new face of "007" for the next 12 years to come. © 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

"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.