Live and Let Die

Sean Connery made the character James Bond well known before deciding to leave the series.  He briefly returned to the part for Diamonds are Forever.  The part was recast and Roger Moore took over the part for the first time in Live and Let Die.

Three British secret agents are killed while they are on assignment investigating Kananga, the dictator of San Monique, a small island in the Caribbean.  M puts James on the case, and he heads to New York where he meets up with CIA agent Felix Leiter.  James discovers a connection to Mr. Big, a gangster who also runs a chain of restaurants.  During their meeting, James also notices Solitaire, the beautiful young woman who reads tarot cards for Mr. Big.  Things don't go well during the meeting, but James manages to get out alive.

James goes to San Monique where he briefly works with CIA agent Rosie Carver before seducing Solitaire.  She loses her ability to see the future, which puts her life in danger, so she ends up trying to help James.  He discovers that Kananga, who is actually Mr. Big, has a huge crop of poppies and is planning to take over the drug trade.

Live and Let Die begins with a sequence before the credits like has been done with the previous Bond movies.  The sequence is a bit different though since James isn't shown during it.  The sequence is connected to the main plot of the movie since he deals with the agents that end up dead.  The plot isn't that complicated even though a lot is going on.  Things are mostly predictable since there aren't many surprises.  This is only the second Bond movie not to mention SPECTRE or Blofeld in some way.

There are several action scenes in Live and Let Die.  The scenes did help to keep things interesting and keep the pace moving.  The action scenes were done well.  There are some fights and chase scenes, including one involving boats that really helped to keep things interesting.  An annoying sheriff ends up mixed up in the chase as well, perhaps as an attempt to add a little bit of humor.  I don't think he adds anything to what is going on.  The violence really isn't graphic, so it shouldn't bother anyone.  There is a small amount of mystery to what is going on, though it doesn't take long to figure certain things out.  A few of the scenes do have a tiny bit of humor which mostly works for what is going on.  

Once again, James demonstrates his way with women in Live and Let Die.  James is in bed with a beautiful young woman the first time he is shown.  They aren't doing anything at that point, but it is very clear that they'd had sex.  Later in the movie, James works with Rosie and doesn't waste anytime getting her into bed as well.  Once he meets Solitaire, he sets out to seduce her, being very manipulative to get his way.  Nothing too graphic between them is shown, though it is very clear that he has his way with her as well.  

James is basically the same character that he has been throughout the series.  He is a bit more lighthearted than he's been in previous movies.  Perhaps that was just because Roger Moore wanted to add something a little different to the character.  I did like Moore in the part even though he is different in than part than Connery.  M and Miss Moneypenny are each one or two short scenes without having much of anything to do.  

Solitaire is the beautiful young woman with some sort of psychic ability that was working with Kananga.  She almost always had tarot cards, which played into James manipulating her.  She was a little gullible where he was concerned, which did put her in danger.  Jane Seymour did well with the part.  Felix is around to help James again, though he doesn't turn up that often.  Rosie is another CIA agent that works with James for a short while.

Kananga is a dictator who also poses as Mr. Big.  The man is mixed up in a lot of shady things and he makes a decent villain for the movie.  Yaphet Kotto was fine in the part.   Tee Hee is one of Kananga's henchmen who has a mechanical claw in place of one hand.  Baron Samedi is another henchman for Kananga who has some kind of connection to voodoo.  He is a creepy character who uses snakes at times.  I really could have done without all the snakes.  Sheriff J.W. Pepper is a sheriff in Louisiana who gets pulled into a chase at one point.  The man seems to be a bumbling idiot and I didn't care for him at all.  

Main Cast

David Hedison - Felix Leiter
Yaphet Kotto - Kananga/Mr. Big
Bernard Lee - M
Lois Maxwell - Miss Moneypenny
Roger Moore - James Bond
Jane Seymour - Solitaire

Guy Hamilton - Director

DVD Information

Live and Let Die has been released on DVD a few times.  I own the two disc version that is part of the Ultimate James Bond DVD set.  There are commentaries with Roger Moore, the director, and someone else connected to the making of the movie.  The commentary with Moore says it was recently recorded.  I haven't listened to any of them.  The majority of the extras are on the second disc.

Bond 1971: The Lost Documentary is a short documentary that was shot during the filming of the movie.  Some of the footage was in color and some of it was in black and white.  It showed some of the filming of the movie and had some of the cast and crew talking about the movie, including why certain decisions were made.  Roger Moore as James Bond, Circa 1964 is a sketch from some sort of British television show in which Moore played Bond.  It was silly, but entertaining.  I didn't look at much of the Live and Let Die Conceptual Art.  It was interesting to see how those things compared to the finished product in the movie.  The Interactive Guide Into the World of Live and Let Die has menus that will cause different clips of the movie to play.  This has been on all of the previous DVDs as well.

Inside Live and Let Die featured several different people involved in the making of the movie talking about things connected to the making of the movie.  The casting of Moore for Bond was talked about along with the casting of some of the other characters as well.  Some things connected to specific scenes were discussed and the filming of a few things was shown as well.  It was an interesting featurette.  On Set With Roger Moore was something that was filmed when the movie was being made.  It was just focused on Roger Moore and wasn't that long.  The disc also has the original trailers and spots that ran on television.
 
Live and Let Die is another entertaining James Bond movie that is worth watching even though it has some issues.  It is entertaining overall and fans of the Bond movies will probably find something to like about it.

I would have rated this one three and a half stars if I had the option.  Since I don't, I decided to round up to four stars.
 
Dr. No ~ From Russia With Love ~ Goldfinger ~ Thunderball ~ You Only Live Twice ~ On Her Majesty's Secret Service ~ Diamonds are Forever ~ Live and Let Die ~ The Man With the Golden Gun ~ The Spy Who Loved Me ~ Moonraker ~ For Your Eyes Only ~ Octopussy ~ A View to a Kill ~ The Living Daylights ~ Licence to Kill ~ Goldeneye ~ Tomorrow Never Dies ~ The World is Not Enough ~ Die Another Day ~ Casino Royale ~ Quantum of Solace ~ James Bond: The Secret Life of 007 ~ Never Say Never Again ~