Live and Let Die (1973)

 

With 'Live and Let Die', we enter the age of Roger Moore as James Bond. I won't lie: as a child, I always preferred Sean Connery, but nowadays, I tend to veer more towards Moore, as his take on the role (which is a lot more tongue-in-cheek) just is a whole lot of fun. His first outing is a rather uneven film, but it still is enjoyable. 

The plot is a bit all over the place, but it boils down to several agents mysteriously disappearing. This is somehow linked to restaurants called 'Fillet of Soul', of which there is one in New York and one in New Orleans. They are fronts for a drugboss called Mr Big (yes, a very innovative name. I do hope everyone knows this was sarcastic). He is linked to a small Caribbean island called San Monique and the leader there, a mr Kananga. 

Kananga runs his island with the help of a young soothsayer called Solitaire and the local populace is kept afraid thanks to liberal doses of voodoo legends. And into all of this, Bond is thrown. He quickly finds that there is more to the connection between Mr Big and Kananga and in true Bond fashion, he seduces Solitaire to enlist her aid. However, doing the dirty means she loses her ability to predict the future and thus, she is of no further use to Kananga. So what will happen next?

Like I said: Roger Moore is a great Bond. Sure, he is still finding his stride here, but his quirky demeanour makes him feel more lighthearted than the sometimes overly serious Connery. But still, there are scenes here where Moore can effortlessly switch between menacing and funny, especially in some dialogue with CIA agent Rosie. 

This film also has more memorable villains, even if they don't all have a lot to do. Yaphet Kotto as Kananga is an inspired choice, as mr Kotto is always a true presence. He doesn't have that much screentime, which is a shame, but his intensity jumps off the screen. Funnily enough, this is probably one of the first outings where the henchmen leave more of an imprint than the actual big bad. There's Tee Hee with the mechanical arm and snappy suit, but the one character that always sticks with me the most, is Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi. Is it the look, is it the stride, the laugh? All of the aforementioned? He is by far the most memorable character of the film.

The Bondgirls are pretty forgettable, though. Jane Seymour is little more than a wet hen in this one, so looks aren't everything. 

The film also has one of the most annoying characters ever in sheriff JW Pepper. I have no idea why he is even in this one, but that Louisiana hick-thing gets old really, really fast. How well can you stomach a gazillion cries of "Boy!"?

The boat race through the bayou is a lot of fun though, and it's a shame that the final showdown with Kananga ends in such a cartoony fashion. No really: Kananga's demise looks so incredibly horrendous and fake, it is actually hilarious. 

'Live and Let Die' isn't a perfect film by any stretch, but it is a lot of fun. And it also has one of the best title tracks in the rich Bond-history, so give it a chance.