Live and Let Die (1973)

Directed by: Guy Hamilton | 121 minutes | action, adventure | Actors: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, Clifton James, David Hedison, Gloria Hendry, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Julius Harris, Geoffrey Holder, Tommy Lane, Earl Jolly Brown, Roy Stewart, Lon Satton

Although it was difficult for him to forget Sean Connery as a classic Bond, Roger Moore, who had his baptism of fire with this film, still has an edge over him: the humor. This is mainly due to the fact that the longest serving 007 is English. Where Connery played a tough freebooter in the British establishment, Moore is the superlative of that. Arrogant, aristocratic and mocking: that had to be hilarious in combination with an action role. When Moore prepares for a shot, you can already hear him shout, so to speak: “en garde”. Humor is the strength of the films with Moore and perhaps the series needed it to maintain life force.

‘Live and Let Die’ is a different Bond in several respects. This time it’s about heroin instead of world domination, the girl is not your average bikini-with-one-legs and the atmosphere is also atypical for the series, with the chewing tobacco munching sheriff JW Pepper as the opposite of Moore’s Bond, street violence in Harlem and slow voodoo scenes. The beginning is promising, with a killer prologue and the title song. Bond discovers a drug connection and investigates seriously. The mysterious woman he turns up is not just a professional leisure activity but a keeper. Then the story is released. In the hunt for Kananga we are presented with a number of location changes that would make the Holiday Man jealous. The connections between them are not always clear and it seems to cost the British secret service in particular; the juggling with voodoo mainly serves as a style element. The snow-white-like appearance of Jane Seymour also doesn’t really seem to belong in a Bond film.

Much indicates that with the new 007 the creators were also looking for a new form and were not really able to choose. Yet it is not boring. Live and let die is a visual spectacle, Moore’s many wisecracks keep his spirits up – too bad that has since been watered down – and the clichés are neatly finished despite the experimental sidesteps. For example, fairy tale Solitaire – at first much too squeamish for Bond’s advances – just gives in at the end and 007 does his thing on autopilot. ‘Live and Let Die’ is a ragged Bond film.