Review of Live and Let Die (1973) by Kai82 — 19 Dec 2020

The eight James Bond movie and the debut of Roger Moore. Like in Sean Connery's debut he is not as refined as he will become later on. Both improved a lot and gave the definite version of James Bond for many fans.

It was a mayor topic who was the better James Bond: Moore or Connery (Daniel Craig reached this status too but this is another topic or review). Roger Moore is a more ironic and humorous James Bond and this was intentional as the producer wanted not a second Sean Connery but also not to alienate the fans.

The story starts when he is send on an investigation as one British agent died in New York, New Orleans and the (fictional) Island San Monique. These individual cases seem linked to each other. The scene were the agent died is quite remarkable and in a way very humorous (I am a bit ashamed to use the word humorous here).

His investigation will lead him to a bigger threat. It uses a lot of elements from the novel of the same name from Ian Fleming but I think they improved it with the new elements (Yes this is actually a rare “The movie is better than the book” case for me).

The story is engaging and I think the antagonist has a solid evil plan. I like the action scenes and visuals. A theme of the movie is also Voodoo and it toys with some interesting ideas. With this it is of cause set in New Orleans and Jamaica in addition to New York.

Everything looks good and believable. While Q is sadly not in the movie (or did I miss him?) we get some cool gadgets. A Rolex with two cool abilities, interesting communication devices and a shark gun that is used in an unintended way.

A great plus for me is the humor. They added more to the movie and it worked really well. Be it for example the already mentioned passing of an agent, Roger Moores performance or the dinning table scenes.

With Yaphet Kotto as Mr. Big we have a good antagonist who is clever and intimidating. His lieutenant Tee Hee by Julius W. Harris is also pretty good and a dangerous opponent. Jane Seymoore as Solitaire is excellent but a bit too much a damsel in distress for me.

I also enjoyed Clifton James as Sheriff Pepper. He is such a great parody and quite remarkable for his short appearance. For Roger Moore I say has a strong debut and he will become just better. He will own this role and my critique is only a mention that he gets better in the sequels.

Overall it is a strong debut and entertaining James Bond movie. I enjoyed rewatching it even if it is not in my favorite James Bond movie list.