Live and Let Die (1973)

For today's James Bond marathon, we move on to a new Bond actor in the 8th official film, Live and Let Die (1973).

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to America to investigate the murder of three MI6 agents; one in New York, one in New Orleans, and one on a Caribbean island called San Monique.  He learns all three were investigating Mr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto), the dictator of San Monique, who has mysterious ties to an American gangster named Mr. Big (also played by Yaphet Kotto).  Locals claim that Mr. Kananga's island is the epicenter of voodoo practices and the occult, including home to Baron Samedi (Geoffrey Holder), the Haitian Voodoo loa (spirit) of the dead. But Bond suspects Kananga is using fear and superstition to hide a more sinister plot.

REVIEW:
Roger Moore makes his debut as James Bond in this film.  Finally, we're introduced to a proper Englishman to play the English spy.  And Roger Moore pulls it off, being one of the most proper and gentlemanly Bonds of all time (unlike the rapey Sean Connery Bond or the boring George Lazenby Bond).  When picking actors to play Bond, Roger Moore was actually the first pick and a favorite choice of Ian Fleming's (the original author of the Bond novels), but Moore was tied up in a TV series at the time.  After 7 Bond films, and while desperately looking for a new actor, he finally became available.  He would go on to be the longest-running Bond actor with 7 total films as the character.

Classy Bond, thy name is Roger Moore

Live and Let Die (1973) is a departure from the usual Bond films.  Instead of pursuing Blofeld yet again, we're introduced to '70s black American culture, at the height of the film industry's Blaxploitation era.  Most characters in this film are black and it takes place mostly in Harlem, New Orleans, and the Caribbean, while focusing heavily on black culture of the time and Haitian voodoo culture.  It follows the story of gangsters and the drug trafficking trade, a very common theme of most films during this era.

It's really impressive how well-organized Mr. Big's criminal empire is.  Through fear of the occult, he keeps loyal followers at his beck and call, and Bond finds himself a step behind the villains throughout the film.  From the moment he steps off the plane in New York, he's already being tracked closely.  Even some CIA agents assisting him on his mission are found to be spies for Mr. Big.  Fortunately, he can always count on his CIA buddy, Felix Leiter (David Hedison) to have his back during his visits to America.

Mr. Big stepping out of a meeting to deal with Bond

He also has a run-in with a loud-mouthed redneck Louisiana sheriff named J. W. Pepper (Clifton James) who provides some comedic relief during a speedboat chase.  He will make a return in the next film too, although fortunately, he will not be a recurring character like M (Bernard Lee), Q (Desmond Llewelyn), Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), and Felix Leiter.

If Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam had a baby...

Solitaire (Jane Seymore) is a young white girl who reads tarot cards for Mr. Kananga.  Of all the occult practices in this film, her readings are the only supposedly real magic we witness.  She claims to "have the sight" like her mother before her, and has been accurate in predicting all outcomes for Mr. Kananga.  Apparently, "being compelled to earthly love" (a.k.a. losing her virginity) will cause her to lose her powers forever.  Mr. Kananga has a bad habit of reminding her that when he's done with her, he'll be the one to take her powers away.  That's not at all creepy...

"Your power exists to serve me and it is mine to control.  If and when the time comes I decide you are to lose it, I myself will take it away!"

If you've played the old Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye, you'll recognize Baron Samedi. He was a character you could play in the multiplayer mode.  In this film, he was an enigmatic figure of few words, but laughed and danced around quite a bit.  And being a loa of death, made a few miraculous returns from the (supposed) dead throughout the film.

Baron Samedi somehow looks better in the '70s than his '90s game debut

Mr. Big also had a "right-hand man" who was missing his right hand (and the rest of his arm).  Instead, he had a metal arm with a sharp scissor-like claw on the end, which he seemed to be very proud of.  Despite being a little awkward and clunky with it in the film, the character seemed to have a very good success rate with using it against others.  He went by the name Tee Hee (Julius Harris), probably because he was always chuckling at something or other.

Tee Hee, laughing as he points out the croc that took his arm off

This is the first film that Q hasn't make an appearance.  Although Bond receives Q's latest gadget from Moneypenny: a Rolex watch with a switch to turn on a hyper-intensified magnetic field, supposedly powerful enough to deflect a bullet at long range.  Also, the face dial can turn into a spinning saw blade, sharp enough to cut rope.  It's also interesting to note that this is the first time we get to see Bond's home, when M and Moneypenny visit to brief him on his next mission early in the morning.

Bond in his simple, yet classy home, being briefed by M and Moneypenny

This film is based on Ian Fleming's second James Bond novel of the same title; although the villain in his novel were SMERSH agents (the fictional version of SMERSH, if you recall from my review of From Russia with Love (1963).  Being more of a period piece in the early '70s instead of the novel's mid-'50s setting, the film was built around the popular culture of the times.  Personally, I feel like this was the first time the film franchise truly deviated from the era of the novel series it was built on.  The books were all published from 1953 to 1966, but Film Bond wouldn't live in that era forever.  As time progressed, more modern references, technology, and politics were applied to the franchise that break the original era of the novels.  Personally, I would love to see a Bond mini-series on TV that's strictly a '50s period piece, being fiercely loyal to the novels.  But I doubt the franchise would try something so risky when they've been setting the baseline standards for spy films on the big screen for nearly 7 decades now.  Especially since their latest reboot has fallen on some rough times. But more on that when we get there later this month.

Live and Let Die (1973) had a very different main theme song of the same name.  It was written and performed by Paul and Linda McCartney, the former Beatles member and his wife, in their band, Wings.  It's a very lively tune, too.  Check it out:

RECOMMENDATION:
This film was a great introduction for Roger Moore and took a different path from the former Bond films, which was kind of a breath of fresh air.  After so many Blofeld-central plot lines, it was nice to see Bond in a different setting, completely out of his element.  The introduction of Haitian voodoo rituals and a little black Harlem culture was interesting to watch, especially as a white British man is being overwhelmed by it all.  I'd definitely recommend checking out this film!