Roger Moore takes on duties as James Bond for the first time in this strange and unconventional 007 outing. This one can be tossed into the "mediocre" bin of Bond adventures, and there are so many reasons for this that it's difficult knowing where to begin. The story is rather confusing, for a start. It seems that a British representative at the United Nations in New York has been killed along with another one in New Orleans and one more on the island of San Monique, so this takes Bond on an investigation into New York City, including uptown Harlem. There he first runs afoul of a black crime boss operating as the pimp-like "Mr. Big", and then journeys onward to the voodoo island of San Monique, where he squares off with an African leader named Kananga (Yaphet Kotto). Kananga's woman and Tarot Card consultant is the beautiful young Solitaire (Jane Seymour), and his "right-hook man" is Tee Hee (Julius Harris) who lost one of his hands to the crocodiles and sports a deadly metal hook in its place. Somehow the usual plot line of drug trafficking also figures into all of this, don't ask me how.
With the dawn of the 1970s we first got to see the change into a more comic book direction for the Bond franchise with the previous film DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER; but LIVE AND LET DIE really takes it to a whole new level. This film plays more like an early seventies blaxpoitation pic, where you'd expect to see Pam Grier or Shaft arrive into any next scene. Black characters recite such stereotypical lines as: "man, for twenty bucks I'd take you to a Ku Klux Klan cookout!" (said gleefully by a taxi driver when 007 offers him a twenty to follow another car), and "keep your hands up, Honkey!" (when Bond is approached at gunpoint). Not that any of this in itself is a bad thing for the times, because I do dig these types of films, man; it's just that James Bond himself seems so uncomfortably out of place in such an untypical environment. This is made even more obvious when having newcomer Moore in the role for such a storyline, as he is much more refined and gentlemanly, not nearly as dangerous and street-smart as Sean Connery, or even George Lazenby, were. Roger would get better as his tenure in the series would progress, but here he has some big shoes to fill and is just finding his footing. To his credit, Moore sensibly didn't try to imitate Connery, but his own brand of Bond would require a few films to perfect. One thing Roger was excellent at was giving little comical quips and one-liners, and here he delivers a few good ones ("butterhook" he non-chalantly throws Tee Hee's way while the henchman fumbles trying to take Bond's watch off his wrist).
One of the best sequences in the movie is when Bond is left standing on a small island in the center of a group of hungry crocodiles and alligators. Unfortunately, another sequence involving speed boat chases goes on much too long and does not have the desired effect of enthralling us. Kananga's ultimate fate in the end comes off as utterly ridiculous and laugh-inducing in the way it's handled, even if the idea itself was inspired. The worst offense of all, though, has to be the addition of a really stupid and annoying backwards southern sheriff named J.W. Pepper, who is an embarrassing disgrace to this series as a comedic foil, and who was incomprehensibly brought back for next year's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN! I wonder if he was the inspiration for Jackie Gleason's character in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT?
The best thing about LIVE AND LET DIE turns out to be the classic title song by Paul McCartney. Too bad it wasn't used to accompany a better Bond film. Former Beatles producer George Martin takes on the score, but it's not a very good one. The constant re-use of the "Live and Let Die" instrumental theme becomes grating after awhile. **1/2 out of ****
With the dawn of the 1970s we first got to see the change into a more comic book direction for the Bond franchise with the previous film DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER; but LIVE AND LET DIE really takes it to a whole new level. This film plays more like an early seventies blaxpoitation pic, where you'd expect to see Pam Grier or Shaft arrive into any next scene. Black characters recite such stereotypical lines as: "man, for twenty bucks I'd take you to a Ku Klux Klan cookout!" (said gleefully by a taxi driver when 007 offers him a twenty to follow another car), and "keep your hands up, Honkey!" (when Bond is approached at gunpoint). Not that any of this in itself is a bad thing for the times, because I do dig these types of films, man; it's just that James Bond himself seems so uncomfortably out of place in such an untypical environment. This is made even more obvious when having newcomer Moore in the role for such a storyline, as he is much more refined and gentlemanly, not nearly as dangerous and street-smart as Sean Connery, or even George Lazenby, were. Roger would get better as his tenure in the series would progress, but here he has some big shoes to fill and is just finding his footing. To his credit, Moore sensibly didn't try to imitate Connery, but his own brand of Bond would require a few films to perfect. One thing Roger was excellent at was giving little comical quips and one-liners, and here he delivers a few good ones ("butterhook" he non-chalantly throws Tee Hee's way while the henchman fumbles trying to take Bond's watch off his wrist).
One of the best sequences in the movie is when Bond is left standing on a small island in the center of a group of hungry crocodiles and alligators. Unfortunately, another sequence involving speed boat chases goes on much too long and does not have the desired effect of enthralling us. Kananga's ultimate fate in the end comes off as utterly ridiculous and laugh-inducing in the way it's handled, even if the idea itself was inspired. The worst offense of all, though, has to be the addition of a really stupid and annoying backwards southern sheriff named J.W. Pepper, who is an embarrassing disgrace to this series as a comedic foil, and who was incomprehensibly brought back for next year's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN! I wonder if he was the inspiration for Jackie Gleason's character in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT?
The best thing about LIVE AND LET DIE turns out to be the classic title song by Paul McCartney. Too bad it wasn't used to accompany a better Bond film. Former Beatles producer George Martin takes on the score, but it's not a very good one. The constant re-use of the "Live and Let Die" instrumental theme becomes grating after awhile. **1/2 out of ****