Review of Live and Let Die (1973) by Arch A — 28 Jan 2009

The Ultimate Edition DVD collection describes this as the "blaxploitation" James Bond film, apparently forgetting that movies like Shaft, Superfly, and Dolemite were concerned with black heroes in an urban environment-- when it's a white hero encountering villainy in just every black character he comes across, it's just kinda racist.

Nevertheless, the acting is across-the-board great in this movie (Roger Moore is more charming than smarmy in his debut, and Yaphet Kotto plays a lethal but charismatic villain), and the action sequences-- particularly the boat chase-- are quite good.

Honestly, the unintended racism is the only flaw in this movie. Unfortunately, that's a pretty big flaw...