Com 007 Viva e Deixe Morrer

Was Roger Moore channeling Austin Powers in 1973? There's a scene in this, his first go-round as 007, where Bond is tied up and his arm is cut to draw blood and attract some hungry sharks swimming below. Moore twitches his eyebrow and asks: "Perhaps we can try something in a simpler vein."

Those sharks don't need any frickin' laser beams on their heads to get you to smell the Austin. Moore gets a lot of blame for turning the Bond movies into weakly-plotted farces, ignoring that the series had been moving in that direction since "Goldfinger" and that the previous installment, Sean Connery's final EON bow "Diamonds Are Forever," was every bit as goofy. Also, Moore could deliver a more serious Bond when the script allowed, and two of the finest Bonds ever, "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "For Your Eyes Only," were his.

But there's no getting around this, "Live And Let Die" is a dumb movie. The gadgets are silly, the villain's scheme is ill-defined, the storyline is frenetic and unengaging, the action is plodding and overlong. Moore starts out not quite know how to play Bond here, while the movie requires him to play the fool sauntering through Harlem in a double-breasted suit like the Prince of Wales waiting for some natives to show him around.

But this film makes me smile, in part because I'm young enough to remember what it was all about when it came out. If this was Bond for the cheap seats, it at least delivered the goods, with some vivid supporting characters, a knockout visual style, amazing title music from Paul McCartney, and most importantly for Moore's future in the series, drop-dead quips. My favorite is when the nasty Tee Hee twists his pistol muzzle out of shape with a metal pincer arm, then giggles when he hands it back: "Funny how the least little thing amuses him."

Julius Harris is menacing but charming as Tee Hee, mostly mute except when he sticks Bond in a gator pond and suggests the best way to disarm the beasts is to try and pull out their teeth. Chief villain Yaphet Kotto has his moments, too, but with odd shifts of character. In the beginning, he's stone-cold Ron O'Neal in "Superfly," and at the end, he's plummy Charles Gray in "Diamonds Are Forever." Jane Seymour is Bond's love interest, and why she goes off with him is another of those things best not thought about long.

There are two great characters in this movie, though, bigger than just about anything seen in a Bond movie before who kind of work in tandem in overhauling any objections about this film being too "cartoony." Clifton James is redneck sheriff J.W. Pepper, who throws off one madman line after another while Bond is off on one of his long silly chase scenes. James mugs through every scene he's in, rolling his tongue around, playing off everyone and everything, and delivering every hackneyed Southern stereotype to such righteous perfection it's enough to make cotton sprout out of his ears. Bond purists who whine should just take their vodka martinis shaken not stirred and let the rest of us enjoy the craziness. The series is supposed to be fun; if you want serious espionage go watch "Smiley's People." (I grant you Pepper shouldn't have returned in the next Bond film; that was a mistake.)

The other great outsized character is Geoffrey Holder as perhaps the most mysterious figure in the whole series, Baron Samedi. Is he supernatural? Is he just crazy from the heat? He's certainly different, a guy who sides with the bad guys without quite being one of them. The always-eerie quality of his appearances, either dancing in a big hotel production number or quietly sitting in a cemetery playing a flute, make you question whether there ain't something to that voodoo after all.

It's silly bashing Pepper but praising Samedi, they are both equally so unreal, in a way that's in tune with the rest of the movie. The best thing to do is enjoy the different kinds of fun on offer. Frankly, not having these guys around might push this film on the bad side of Spinal Tap's "fine line between stupid and clever," the side where "A View To A Kill" and "Moonraker" are on.

But "Live And Let Die" is a winner. It's a fun movie that brings me back to younger days, when my heart was an open book. It's a nice transitional film for the series in that Moore managed a mostly smooth entrance to the role of Bond. And it has one of the best final shots in movie history. That's all I'll say there; you know it if you saw it.

Although I have always regarded Sean Connery as the best of the actors to play Bond, I have never (unlike some Connery diehards) regarded the casting of Roger Moore as his successor as a mistake. Moore brought a different interpretation to the role, one which owed something to parts he had played in two adventure series on television, Simon Templar in "The Saint" and Brett Sinclair in "The Persuaders". Whereas Connery's tough, gritty Bond allowed something of the hard man below the surface to show through, Moore played the character much more as a suave, sophisticated English gentleman. (Connery's Bond, like the actor himself, was definitely Scottish).

The villain of "Live and Let Die" is Kananga, the leader of the small Caribbean island of San Monique. (Shouldn't that be Sainte Monique?) For a Bond villain, Kananga's ambitions are surprisingly limited, with no scheme for world domination. He has, however, close links to the New York underworld, and has hatched a plot to flood the American market with heroin. Kananga is deeply superstitious, and employs the services of Solitaire, a beautiful young woman with the power to foretell the future through the use of tarot cards. As with a number of the other films, much of the plot of this one revolves around Bond's ability to win over the villain's female accomplice.

The Bond films, of course, are all dependent upon a stylised formula involving adventure (especially chase sequences), exotic locations, beautiful women, evil villains, memorable music and a generous (but preferably not too generous) helping of humour. When all the elements of the formula come together, the result can be a highly enjoyable piece of entertainment. "Live and Let Die" has, by and large, got most of the elements right. Its main asset is the lovely Jane Seymour, one of the most beautiful as well as one of the most talented of the Bond Girls, as Solitaire. She was one of the youngest of the Bond Girls, being only 22 a the time the film was made (Honor Blackman and Maud Adams, for example, were both in their late thirties when they starred in a Bond film), but despite her lack of experience turns in a very good performance. Her Solitaire is not a strong action heroine like Pussy Galore or Anya Amasova, but a passive figure, melancholy and fatalistic, troubled by her psychic powers but at the same time frightened of losing them. As such she has rather more depth than the average Bond heroine.

Roger Moore is also good in this film; in 1973 he was still clearly youthful enough to be convincing in the role and makes the most of it. As the villainous Kananga Yaphet Kotto is adequate, but he does rather suffer the fate of being outshone by the two secondary villains, his henchman Tee Hee (the man with the metal arm and claw for a hand ) and Baron Samedi with his demonic peals of laughter. (Curt Jurgens suffered a similar fate in "The Spy who Loved Me", where Richard Kiel's Jaws turned out to be more memorable than his own Stromberg). There are some exciting chase sequences, particularly the one in the old bus across San Monique, and the waterborne one through the Louisiana bayous. I didn't much care for the character of J W Pepper, a rather stupid redneck Louisiana sheriff with a thick Deep South accent who was obviously intended as the film's main comic relief. (He makes another appearance in "The Man with the Golden Gun"). Nevertheless, there was some successful use of sardonic humour, such as the scene where a man, watching a traditional New Orleans jazz funereal, asks "Whose funeral is it?" and is told "Yours" immediately before being stabbed to death. The music was also good, especially Paul McCartney's brilliant theme song. My overall view is that this is, together with "For Your Eyes Only", the best of the Roger Moore Bond films. 7/10

Several British agents are killed in America and in the Caribbean. Despite the difference in how the murders occur they seem linked together by drugs. Bond begins to investigate and finds links between the American drug dealer Mr Big and the mysterious owner of a Caribbean island Kananga. While investigating Bond falls foul of both despite gaining the affections of Kananga's beautiful mistress Solitaire.

Roger Moore's first Bond is one of his best. The film wisely steps away from those regular bad guys the Russians and gets a new feel by actually having non-white main characters. The plot is pretty good and doesn't have the usual `take over the world' feel to it. There is plenty of silly stuff of course but the stunts are quite good and Bond has a new line in `eyebrow raised' humour.

Moore will never be the best Bond but he did make the role his own – adding an element of self-deprecating humour to the role. Yaphet Kotto is a good actor and makes a good bad guy. Jane Seymour isn't convincing as the mystic property of Kananga – she really should have been played by a black actress and it shows a lack of bravery on the side of the producers that they went with a white face as the lead Bond girl. Julius Harris is good as Tee Hee and Clifton James adds some comedy value as J.W. Pepper.

Overall this is one of Moore's best Bond movies and certainly stands out from previous films with numerous Russian baddies. Also the theme music is a really fun song from Wings.

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.

Live and Let Die was Roger Moore's debut as 007 in 1973.

As a whole, it's not a bad movie. Moore is okay in his first outing as James Bond, but the role was still written with Connery in mind. It would take two more films before Moore really settled in the role.

The storyline isn't that good and the villain isn't very convincing, nor is the Bond-girl Seymour.

But the great stunts make up for something and the fun that Moore brings to the role, makes that Live and Let Die is way better than Diamonds Are Forever.

It's fun to note that though Moore was in '73 already 5 years older than Connery was in '71. Still, Moore looks younger. A new era has begun.