live and let die

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.

When Roger Moore debuted as James Bond in this film,he wisely decided not to imitate Connery {as Lazenby had done} but to approach the role differently. Moore's approach was far lighter,and,because the films also became lighter,this worked very well. It's easy to criticise Moore and the Moore films,for becoming increasingly silly and comical,and for getting further and further away from Fleming,but he and his films still provide plenty of entertainment.

Live and Let Die is one of his best. There are times when the film feels more like a 70s 'black' film than a Bond film,aided by George Martin's funky score,but it works,giving the film a fresh style rather than rehashing previous Bonds,although of course there are plenty of traditional 'Bondisms' too. Slightly unusual plot elements such as voodoo are well worked into the film,too. Jane Seymour's Solitaire is one of Bond's most intriguing women but her characterisation is somewhat muddled. The action,although not always that exciting due to the amount of humour,is pretty non-stop,highlights being chases by bus,car,plane and boat,and one sequence of Bond escaping from a small island by walking over alligators,is one of the great Bond moments,silly but totally cool. There are at least three other terrific stunts in the film,and much of the comedy is indeed funny,especially Sheriff J W Pepper. One can almost forgive the climax being such a damp squib.

Allegations of racism are ridiculous-the black villains are for the most part portrayed as being more competent than Bond! Not a perfect Bond film than,but a hugely enjoyable one and with the best non-John Barry theme song of the entire series!

And none the worse for it, since every Bond film needs a fresh spin on the same old formula. Roger Moore's first outing as JB is, in equal measures, comical and action-packed. You'll never get bored. But it's definitely the weirdest Bond ever with loads of utterly bizarre moments.

It begins with M turning up at JB's house in the early hours while he's pumping some Italian agent for information (don't you just love his initialled dressing gown). Before sending him to America to investigate a Harlem pimp known as Mister Big he delivers some gadgets from Q-Branch, including a very useful watch. Q himself, or Major Boothroyd if you want to call him by his proper name, doesn't make any appearance in this one.

Standing out like a Muslim in an airport, almost every single black person JB encounters in Harlem is on Mister Big's payroll. And they've got a seemingly endless bag of tricks to play on him. The funny thing about Moore is that he's very proper and British and doesn't think anything of walking into a tough Harlem bar while dressed up like the Duke of Edinburgh. His stunned reactions when they mess with his head are seriously funny.

The action then moves to Lousiana and a savage Caribbean island as JB uncovers a massive heroin plot. There's a particularly long speedboat chase across a bayou where JB encounters Sheriff J.W. Pepper, the most stereotypical southern redneck ever. Think of Texas Businessman from The Simpsons and you get the idea. JB also gets to dodge a hundred hungry Gators and do, many times over, Solitaire, Mister Big's Tarot card reader.

I'm not sure what kind of formidable villain uses a Tarot card reader to help him do business but when you also surround yourself with a hook-handed maniac called Tee-Hee, a quiet fat guy called Whisper and a seemingly unkillable voodoo high priest called Baron Samedi then you really do become a serious baddie. Right? He even goes on a big speech about how his master plan works before attempting to kill JB slowly. Obviously this makes much more sense than just shooting him right away. When will they learn?

Despite being the oldest actor to debut as Bond (at 46), Moore does look younger than Connery. And while Sean was gruff and Scottish, Moore is perpetually calm and refined, even in the face of danger (fingers being chopped-off, snake in the bath, being eaten by gators/sharks). Everything that the British once thought they were. He has a certain sarcastic edge that the other Bond actors lacked. While some of his films may have been the sillier of the franchise, Moore has always been my favorite. And the massive revolver and holster he uses at the end is so much more masculine than the usual, wimpy as hell, Walther PPK.

And, as much as I am no fan of Paul McCartney, you gotta love that theme song! Exciting and iconic at the same time. And also yet another juxtaposition in the weirdest Bond movie ever.

MI6, Harlem, Pimps, Paul McCartney, Gators, Heroin, Voodoo, Snakes, Sharks, Clairvoyance, Rednecks, Afros, Fake Afros, Fillet of Soul, Human Scarifice, Scarecrows and a small-headed man in a Top-Hat who lost a fight with chickens. Is this a Bond film or did the whole world just go insane?

Various agents MI6 have dead . M (Bernard Lee) sends 007 (Roger Moore , he was forty-five when he made this his debut as Bond) with license for kill to investigate it . Suspicion lead to Doctor Kananga (Yaphet Kotto at 33 as Big/Dr. Kananga is the youngest actor to play a main Bond villain) whose public image is a humanitarian person who defends his country in the United Nations . He governs tyrannically the island of San Monique . There lives Solitaire (Jane Seymour) , being totally submitted from infancy by Kananga. She is a tarot-cards reading psychic and doesn't know about life and acts as a marionette , craving her own way of life. His tutor (Kotto) believes that her virginal state originates to her a sixth sense and he trusts this quality as an expert guesser to dodge the law enforcement . Others characters appear in the film are the followings : Baron Samedi (Geoffrey Holder) . He's a Voodoo's chaman who controls the San Monique people for executing the Kananga's orders . He takes his name of death's Voodoo God . The villainous Tee Hee (Julius Harris) , a giant killer , posteriorly copied in other Bond films (Richard Kiel in ¨Spy who loved me¨) . He deeply enjoys murdering with his steel arm that hooks the victims . Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) is an explosive and sexy CIA agent who brings to Bond towards the lush jungle of the perilous island. James Bond will confront numerous dangers , odds ,risks , as the taking on starving crocodiles located on a breeding place where there's a poster captioning : ¨Trespassers will be eaten¨. Besides, a breathtaking speedboat pursuit by leaps and bounds , developed on everglades (in New Orleans , Louisiana) , including intervention a headstrong sheriff (Clifton James) who pursues them by a police car . As always , 007 will use several gadgets delivered by ¨Q¨ (Desmond Llewelyn) , such as : a prodigious as well as magnetic wristwatch , Roger Moore's personal favorite , and air bombing cartridges, both objects with special importance in the film.

Sir Roger Moore as a new James Bond is cool , lacked coldness and toughness characterized by Sir Sean Connery ; however , earning in irony , suavity and smoothness . Sean Connery turned down the then astronomical sum of five and a half million dollars to perform James Bond. Sean Connery gave Sir Roger Moore his personal seal of approval for inheriting his character , calling him "an ideal Bond¨ and making him the oldest actor to do so. The youngest was George Lazenby , who was twenty-nine in 007 On Majestic's secret service (1969). It contains spectacular and exciting final confrontation between Bond and enemies in the underground cave that was paced in moving and stimulating manner . Agreeable and catching title song sung by Paul McCartney and his band Wings , and sensational musical score by George Martin. Colorful and brilliant cinematography by Ted Moore. The movie was well directed by Guy Hamilton who also made other James Bond films.

Ignoring a Roger Moore who presents a bit of a distraction for viewers watching the series in order, Live And Let Die is an excellent example of how pop culture helps the Bond series survive throughout the decades. The growing concern of a drug-using society at the time is featured, and an immensely popular Paul McCartney does the title theme - indicating that the Bond series need not be rooted solidly in the three-piece suit days of 1962. Jane Seymour gives an excellent performance in her "introductory" role (although it was her fourth film). A bit of black magic and voodoo intertwined with gadgetry and high-tech machinery will have the viewer wondering if, indeed, there was magic in the movie after all - indeed, the cards WERE always right under Solitaire's power. Magical or not, Live and Let Die provides an interesting doorway to the other five Moore pictures - J.W. Pepper returns and Tee Hee seems to be Jaws' forerunner.