Bond in Review: Live and Let Die

I really like the James Bond franchise. This is part eight of a bimonthly, 24-part series of me watching James Bond movies and providing a stream of consciousness style commentary for a given film. I will also rank the movies so stay tuned for that at the bottom of the piece. Our eighth film, Live and Let Die, stars Roger Moore and ushers in a more lighthearted touch hinted at with Diamonds Are Forever. The movie also represents the Bond response to the Blaxploitation era of the 1970s, racial stereotypes and all. It is based off the Fleming novel of the same name, his second in the Bond series, published in 1954.

· Oh that Bond theme sounds a bit different. A bit more flare.

· And let’s see Roger Moore with a nice gate as he strolls, turns, and fires. Decent gun barrel.

· Hungary droning on and on at the United Nations. I did Model UN — I appreciate the responses of the others in the room. Sheez.

· So how did the UK representative die? Super sonic sound that killed him? It’s very intense.

· NOLA! Fillet of Soul. Very punny.

· New Orleans is my third favorite city. It has its own culture, rules, vibe. Glad they incorporated this in the story.

· Lesson learned: Don’t stand too close to a funeral procession.

· Oh that’s a serious looking snake that kissed him before he died.

· NOTE: We don’t see James Bond at all in the opening scene. First time for that.

· Yaphet Kotto!

· “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney and Wings. I’d also add that the opening titles are haunting.

· “You’re not married by any chance, are you?” — That’s a great line by someone who has just slept with someone

· It’s M out the office and at Bond’s place.

· Bond’s kitchen is both fancy and surprisingly midwestern all at the same time.

· Bond with a gold robe with “JB” on it. Not the best look.

· M is quite displeased with the frequency of Bond’s watches but one that has a magnet in it is impressive.

· M addresses Bond as “Commander” when asking for his spoon. I want Craig’s Bond to be addressed as Commander. And I’d be happy to do it.

· RIP Pan Am

· Obvious thing if you notice: all tarot cards in the movie are 007 branded on the back. All of them. Hard to unsee it.

· Let me say this: Bond looks great in that suit and overcoat

· “…the works.” as an expression has disappeared but I think it should come back. Bring back the entire thing, the works.

· Dart to the head kicks off a really good scene: Strong stunt driving work here and a realistic amount of engagement with other cars as things get out of control.

· “white pimpmobile” — so Blaxploitation of you.

· I’d love to see an outtake real that shows Dr. Kananga recording this long speech to absolutely no one

· I love this “Oh Cult Voodoo” scene just for the snake wrapping line. Everyone I’ve seen this with doesn’t understand the “lengthwise” reference. It’s a stupid joke. Yes, he knows it’s a snake and it doesn’t matter but that is the little funny he is making. Makes me smile every time.

· San Monique isn’t a real place. Lots of people ask me about visiting San Monique and I disrespectfully decline.

· This cab follow is also great. Two people start by tracking Bond but we assume they are on the same side with all the other folks who happen to be on radios. Bond theme helps.

· For $20, I will not take you to a Ku Klux Klan cookout. Don’t ask.

· This is the movie where I learned asking for a drink “neat” means no ice.

· Woah Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman! Jane Seymore very early in her career…

· …and greeted by “Black king on the red queen, Miss?” — that’s a helluva question

· It should also be clear that the movie is doing some different things, namely moving away from SPECTRE and the Russians and focusing on more smaller scale criminality.

· “Names is for tombstones, baby.” — well delivered line.

· It’s Mr. Big — only one G in the name.

· The tarot cards business is tricky to accept between her tracking his progress to the lovers card business. It’s too mystical for me and the franchise but we can go with it.

· Strutter really delivered that “white face in Harlem” line.

· “genuine Felix Leiter” — here for this word play

· Baron Samedi! Geoffery Holder ended up being a chorographer for the movie as well as play this enigmatic character.

· Mrs. Bond — it’s the first time I’ve thought James’ reaction could be related to the fact that his wife recently died in the series. RIP Teresa.

· Small detail but Bond appears to switch from a voice message to delivering what looks to be morse code.

· Roger Moore’s reflection when shaving really shows how young he looks though he is older than Sean Connery.

· Moore’s Bond is always more crafty and clever than Connery’s more brute Bond.

· Rosie Carver’s portrayal is more than disappointing. Just doesn’t land that she has to be so incompetent.

· Rosie Carver and James Bond becoming intimate was a big deal. It was cut from the South African release of the movie because interracial intimacy was banned by Apartheid rule

· I wonder how well Bond is tipping these staff people. I imagine its good

· The way you know Bond already knows Quarrel Jr is he didn’t get punched in the mouth for kicking him to wake up.

· “You might have even killed me if you’d taken off the safety catch.” When I hear this line I automatically think of a similar line in Die Hard with a Vengeance that Jeremy Irons says to Samuel L. Jackson.

· Roger Moore’s eye brow raises should be in a movie hall of fame.

· The scarecrow murder is clever and disconcerting.

· Tee Hee with the metal arm really has some menace about him — mostly because he is smiling so often when dread is on the horizon

· Hang gliding looks like a lot of fun.

· Reversable suit jackets and disguising suits generally is always a gimmick that makes me smile.

· How long did it take Bond to pull out all the “lovers cards” to make that deck? Did he have the Kananga speech on in the background?

· Bond doesn’t appear to be too interested in the broken bridge to the beyond but Bond did lead to her losing her power…and he should feel awful about it.

· Lovers Lessons: No secrets; til death do us part; no sense in leaving half-cocked; follow the scarecrows

· Baron Samedi is just creepy.

· Dr. Kananga really delivers the “If he finds him [Bond], kill him.” line perfectly. It’s clear this is all a huge inconvenience and is distracting Kananga from other work. Love it

· 1970s. Blaxploitation. It’s always going to be about drugs, in this case heroin

· So Bond steals a bus to kick off a chase. The director wanted the real Jane Seymore (versus a stunt person) to be in the bus during the chase sequences, including the j-turns. Needless risk since we don’t even see her that well

· I think Bond is really well dressed throughout the entire movie. Black top, khaki bottom is a great look but not the best one in the movie.

· Poor Mrs. Bell is getting quite the lesson. This chase has similarities to the Diamonds Are Forever chase, particularly in the beginning with the close quarters action.

· The chase is also just silly — that car being launched into the side of the plane was non-sense.

· And Felix Leiter doing some nice comedic work with his conversation with an angry Mr. Bleeker.

· Some clever movie making here. We’ve seen the set up of the funeral procession and so we can assume it’s happened again without them showing it. I like movies that trust the audience to put the pieces together.

· So good that it didn’t matter where Bond sat, he was going to be captured. And with a nice version of “Live and Let Die” too.

· Kananga is Mr. Big. And Tee Hee is so thrilled.

· This heroin scheme is pretty crafty: grow and give out free heroin to push out competition, increase addicts, then sell heroin later.

· Lazy screen writing here to incorporate the watch into the plot. Counter: “butterhook” is good instead of “butterfinger.”

· Look at this comically stiff Bond model being carried away.

· “50/50 chance and you weren’t even close” is not true.

· Yeesh the violence against women is still at an all time high.

· Again, another fake out by setting up the gadget to be used but it being foiled by fate. I’m here for it.

· A small note about the name, Kananga. It comes from the owner of the real crocodile farm used in the movie. Ross Kananga suggests doing the croc stunt by tying the gators down and actually does the stunt. He almost got his leg bitten in one take.

· Serious overreaction to one giant crocodile slowly walking into the lab.

· Eat your heart out From Russia With Love, we’ve got another boat chase!

· Worst part of the movie is here: J.W. Pepper. All of it is over the top and slows the movie down

· Sheriff Pepper believes they are being overrun by Black Russians. This is such a disaster.

· Now here is a bit of racial humor with the “that’s your brother? The black guy?” look on everyone’s face

· Just too many gags happening at once — a literal chicken coup on the road.

· The boat chase goes on a bit too long but it has a good ending with the boat duel. Now it explodes in comical fashion which I cannot understand at all.

· This is my favorite Bond outfit (and one that is revisited in the Spectre poster): black tactical neck and black pants. With that brown holster — hard to beat.

· Everyone on set was afraid of snakes which makes this circumstance awesome after the fact.

· Bond’s gun cannot be any larger. It is absolutely massive and has kickback that would make it the worst option in a battle.

· This Baron Samedi figure that Bond destroys always freaks me out. It’s the eyes moving up like that. Eeeek.

· The workers for Kananga have the shiniest, red shirts I’ve seen in some time.

· Foreshadowing with such a heavy hand.

· Kananga seems pretty unhinged for a minor inconvenience. Of course his ego is severely damaged by Bond, but his affect feels totally different.

· These cuts to Bond’s forearm is something I like Bond movies doing: show the villain actually inflicting some pain and harm to Bond.

· Bond movies and sharks: a tradition unlike any other

· SO the Rolex is a circular saw too? But he didn’t mention anything about it when given the gadget. Seems awfully convenient.

· This villain death looks really bad. I mean really bad. I wonder if they didn’t have another Kananga balloon and got this footage but this was all they could use

· What is the old adage? Unlike at cards, then what?

· After seeing Lazenby, the quality of fights is a step down. Certainly not a Moore strength.

· This is a decent fight on the train. Every Bond that gets more than two movies, gets a train fight.

· Baron Samedi is still alive! What do we do? What is this world Bond lives in?

So there it is. I really like this Moore movie, its probably his best performance as Bond but not his best Bond movie. The Blaxploitation bits are rough along with the bayou boat chase but the movie is still entertaining. Here are my updated rankings:

1) From Russia With Love

2) Goldfinger

3) OHMSS

4) Live and Let Die

5) Dr. No

6) YOLT

7) Diamonds Are Forever

8) Thunderball