Live and Let Die
June. 27,1973 PGJames Bond must investigate a mysterious murder case of a British agent in New Orleans. Soon he finds himself up against a gangster boss named Mr. Big.
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Reviews
hyped garbage
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
A combination of a 1930's serial mentality mixed in with deliciously silly comedy, this entry (the first of 7 with Roger Moore) goes back to the ideas first seen in "Dr. No". It has no limit to the outrageousness, having an opening where three agents are killed in nefarious ways, making Bond the next target. The world of black magic is explored, but there's much more to it than that. Bond faces some nefarious foes, including snakes, sharks and distantly related crocodiles and alligators, always in the most hysterical of ways.Joining Moore here is the beautiful Jane Seymour as a tarot card reader named Solitaire and Yaphet Kotto as a particularly sinister bad guy with some diabolical ways of dispatching his enemies. From the FDR Drive in Manhattan to the streets of New Orleans to the bayou (for a most delightful boat chase involving hick sheriff Clifton James), this will have you both laughing and on the edge of your seat. This is a crowd pleaser for sure, with the scene stealing Geoffrey Holder literally getting the last laugh.
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.
Yes! Probably my favourite Bond film of all time sees Roger Moore (who will always be the best Bond in my mind, light years ahead of former milkman Sean Connery) taking up the mantle of the British secret service agent, investing his character with an amusing tongue-in-cheek aspect only hinted at in Connery's movies, and propelling him on with an impeccable dress sense, effortless charm, and plenty of charisma. The two hour film is packed with all of the incredible aspects that the Bond film is famous for, from Paul McCartney's catchy and exciting theme music to the clever gadgets, intense action sequences, chases and plenty of cool stunts. The light plot is little more than an excuse to string together all of the action and one-liners, but when the action is staged this well then who's complaining? The story shifts from New Orleans and Harlem to San Monique and back again, taking in delightful locations and plenty of local atmosphere along the way.The blaxploitation aspect of the film was a sure fire hit and makes for some very interesting characters for the villains. Yaphet Kotto plays the dual role of Mr Big and Kananga and proves to be a worthwhile opponent for Moore to face - not only does he have a developed character with an imaginative plan (to flood the world market with heroin, causing its collapse, and then make a packet selling his drugs to all the newly-made junkies) - but he's also a good enough actor to face Moore in their various exchanges. The various henchmen are also imaginative, from the obese Whisper to the genuinely creepy Baron Samedi (think Ainsley Harriott on acid and you'll be there), although my favourite is the always-laughing Tee Hee as played by Julius Harris, who menaces Bond with his metal arm and pincer hand.The movie is loaded with exotic characters and plenty of comedy, including Clifton James as dumb Sheriff Pepper who has some fine caricatured one-liners and proved a hit with audiences. Then there are the requisite car chases, fight sequences, shoot-outs, and a climactic speedboat chase which is particularly excellently staged. Special effects range from numerous explosions to a magnetic watch and a hilarious demise for chief villain Kotto, which has me bursting into laughter every time through the sheer cheesiness of it. It's good to see various characters returning - Felix Leiter is back, this time played by David Hedison - and Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell as M and Miss Moneypenny respectively get a brief double-act. In fact the only person missing is Q. A Bond film wouldn't be a Bond film without the glamorous ladies and here we get a very young and attractive-looking Jane Seymour as a virgin tarot card reader, Gloria Hendry as a controversial black love interest, and the delectable Madeline Smith as an Italian agent. Everything gels in this film and it's the Bond movie I've seen the most times, which must tell you something. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching it - for me, this is cinematic perfection.
Directed by Guy Hamilton and with a script by Tom Mankiewicz, this is the eighth film in the franchise and keeps Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli as producers. In this film, the first in which Roger Moore embodies the British spy, franchise tries to survive at two powerful factors of danger: the departure of Sean Connery after several years giving life to 007, and the unstoppable evolution of the world, with the seventies bringing a radical change in the audience. Thus, producers and screenwriter tried to attract new audiences, in particular the black public, attracted not only by black actors but also for some locations. Another subject that the film will address, and that was on the agenda during these times, are drugs and trafficking.In this film, the British agent will fight an American drug baron but gets lost in the black neighborhood of Harlem, where he cannot pass unnoticed and almost finds himself in danger. The track eventually leads Bond to Louisiana, where the persecution of bandits brings us the hilarious Sheriff J. W. Pepper, who worked not only as a film comic element but also as a severe criticism against the conservatism of white society in the southern states. We must remind ourselves that this movie was released at a time when American society was in deep transformation, largely thanks to the struggle of black society for respect, equality and civil rights, which were denied until then, particularly, in the South. The film then heads to the Caribbean, to an island that was probably inspired by Haiti and where the audience is faced with superstitions and beliefs as voodoo or magic.In these film, Roger Moore proved that could hold his role, and the agent could survive Sean Connery. In fact, he even manages to be much more English, while maintaining the habit of never losing his composure whatever the situation. The villains were in charge of Yaphet Kotto and Julius Harris, the latter in the role of Tee Hee, the man with the metal arm. Geoffrey Holder embodies the Baron Samedi, Haitian voodoo character who enters this film. The bond-girl was Jane Seymour, the role of the tarot reader Solitaire.For many people, "Live and Let Die" is one of the oddest films in the franchise because of the amount of unusual elements featuring: "blaxploitation", magic, voodoo, superstition, drugs. And these people aren't without reason. Today, this film is strange and doesn't leave many memories, like many films of the seventies. There are even those who think that is the worst movie of the franchise. Perhaps. But it helped to keep Bond alive and adapted him to a new era. For posterity stays the good performance of the elegant and humorous Roger Moore and the introduction song, written by Paul McCartney and who would receive, years later, a new life through the cover of Guns N'Roses.