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James Bond faces his most terrifying ordeal when he takes
on the gangland boss Mr Big and his drug-baron "associate"
Dr Kananga...
Making
an impressive debut, Roger Moore manages to inject a little
more humanity into Bond, as George Lazenby attempted to do
in 1969. Although the tactics 007 uses to woo Kananga's mistress
Solitaire (Jane Seymour) are indisputably underhanded, Bond
nonetheless exhibits a tenderness towards his lover that we
have seldom seen before in the series.
The
task of replacing Sean Connery is made lighter for Moore by
the efforts of writer Tom Mankiewicz and the rest of the creative
team, who engineer dialogue and situations that are free of
associations with the previous Bond movies, thus helping to
avoid direct comparisons between the two actors. As the "making
of" documentary and two audio commentaries reveal, Bond's
dialogue in Live and Let Die contains none of the familiar
catch-phrases, aside from the inevitable "My name is Bond,
James Bond." At no point during this movie does Bond order
a vodka martini, or don a tuxedo, or even appear on the familiar
set of M's office. Even the supernatural subject matter, with
copious references to voodoo and Solitaire's use of Tarot
cards, is unique among the Bond films (as was Fleming's original
novel among his Bond books).
Other
memorable elements include further assaults upon the American
police force during the spectacular speedboat chase. This
involves the first of two Bond appearances by the unforgettable
Clifton James as the loud-mouthed and uncouth Southern sheriff,
J W Pepper. Yaphet Kotto turns in a charismatically unhinged
performance in his dual role as Kananga/Mr Big. Composer George
Martin fills John Barry's shoes expertly with a rousing and
refreshing incidental score and one of the best-ever title
songs to a Bond movie, performed by Paul McCartney and Wings.
Also
featuring an amusing cross-promotional TV advertisement by
the UK's milk marketing board, this DVD offers hours of entertainment,
although it is painfully slow to load and switch between features
(on my player at least). Nonetheless, it's to die for.
Richard
McGinlay
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