Live and Let Die (1973) is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Although the producers had wanted Sean Connery to return after his role in the previous Bond film Diamonds Are Forever , he declined, sparking a search for a new actor to play James Bond. Roger Moore was signed for the lead role.
The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. In the film, a Harlem drug lord known as Mr. Big plans to distribute two tons of heroin free so as to put rival drug barons out of business. Mr. Big, however, is revealed to be the disguised alter ego of Dr. Kananga, a corrupt Caribbean dictator, who rules San Monique, the fictional island where the heroin poppies are secretly farmed. Bond is investigating the death of three British agents, leading him to Kananga, where he is soon trapped in a world of gangsters and voodoo as he fights to put a stop to the drug baron's scheme.
Live and Let Die was released during the height of the blaxploitation era, and many blaxploitation archetypes and cliché are depicted such as afro hairstyles, derogatory racial epithets (" honky "), black gangsters, and "pimpmobiles". It departs from the former plots of the James Bond films about megalomaniac super-villains, and instead focuses on drug trafficking, depicted primarily in blaxploitation films. It was considered by fans as an "Exploitation Bond film" in contrast to the other films. Moreover, it is set in African American cultural centres such as Harlem, New Orleans, and the Caribbean Islands. It was also the first James Bond film featuring an African American Bond girl to be romantically involved with 007, Rosie Carver, who was played by Gloria Hendry. Despite mixed reviews due to the racial overtones, the film was a box office success.
Plot
Three British MI6 agents, including one "on loan" to the American government, are killed under mysterious circumstances within 24 hours while monitoring the operations of Dr. Kananga, the dictator of a small Caribbean island called San Monique. James Bond is sent to New York, where the first agent was killed and where Kananga is currently visiting the UN, to investigate. As soon as Bond arrives in New York, his driver is killed while taking him to meet Felix Leiter of the CIA and Bond is nearly killed in the ensuing car crash.
The driver's killer leads Bond to Mr. Big, a gangster who runs a chain of Fillet of Soul restaurants throughout the United States. It is during his confrontation with Mr. Big that Bond first meets Solitaire, a beautiful virgin tarot expert who has the uncanny ability to see both the future and remote events in the present. In disguise as Mr. Big, Kananga demands that his henchman kill Bond, who manages to escape unscathed. Bond follows Kananga back to San Monique, where he subsequently meets Rosie Carver, a CIA double agent, who is subsequently murdered on the island by Kanaga's scarecrow men after Bond suspects her of working for Kananga. Later he meets the boatman Quarrel, Jr. who takes him to Solitaire's home. Using a stacked tarot deck of only cards showing "The Lovers", Bond tricks her into thinking that seduction is in her future and then seduces her. Solitaire loses her ability to foretell the future when she loses her virginity to Bond and is forced into cooperating with Bond to bring down Kananga.
It transpires that Kananga is producing two tons of heroin and is protecting the poppy fields by exploiting locals' fear of voodoo and the occult. Through his alter ego, Mr. Big, Kananga plans to distribute the heroin free of charge on the market, which will increase the number of addicts, and give Kananga a monopoly of the heroin market. Kananga's men capture Bond and Solitaire at the New Orleans airport. Bond does not identify Mr. Big, as the latter is wearing a plastic gangster mask. Kananga rips off his mask and asks a disgusted Bond if he slept with Solitaire, using Bond to test her abilities. Kananga turns Solitaire over to Baron Samedi to be sacrificed after he discovers that her ability to read the tarot is gone. Kananga leaves Bond with his one-armed henchman, Tee Hee Johnson, who takes Bond to a crocodile farm community in the Louisiana backwoods. Bond escapes being eaten by the crocodiles by running along the animals' backs to safety. He sets the farm on fire and steals a speedboat, engaging in a chase with Kananga's men, local sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) and the Louisiana state police. Later, back in San Monique, Bond shoots Samedi and rescues Solitaire from the voodoo sacrifice. Bond and Solitaire escape below ground into Kananga's lair. Kananga captures them both and proceeds to lower them into a shark tank. Bond escapes and forces a shark gun pellet in Kananga's mouth, causing him to literally blow up like a balloon, float to the top of the cave, and explode. After the job is done, Felix leaves Bond and Solitaire on a train out of the country.
Tee Hee Johnson follows Bond and Solitaire onto a train and tries to kill them both, but loses his prosthetic arm in a fight with Bond and is flung out the window. A very much alive Samedi is seen perched on the front of the speeding train in which Bond and Solitaire are travelling, laughing in his voodoo outfit, before the film ends.
Cast
See also: List of James Bond henchmen in Live and Let Die and List of James Bond allies in Live and Let Die
- Roger Moore as James Bond : A British agent who is sent on a mission to investigate the murder of three fellow agents. This mission leads him to Mr. Big and his drug ring.
- Yaphet Kotto as Dr. Kananga and Mr. Big : A corrupt Caribbean Prime Minister who doubles as a drug lord. He meets his demise when Bond forces him to swallow a compressed air bullet which causes him to inflate and explode.
- Jane Seymour as Solitaire: Kananga's psychic and the love interest of Bond.
- Julius Harris as Tee Hee Johnson: Kananga's primary henchman who has a pincer for a hand, with which he attempts to strangle Bond on a train at the end of the film, only for Bond to sever the wire of the arm and send Tee Hee flying out of the train's window, presumably killing him.
- David Hedison as Felix Leiter: Bond's CIA colleague. Leiter is also investigating Mr. Big.
- Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver: A treacherous CIA agent in San Monique, who is eventually killed by Kananga's scarecrows.
- Clifton James as Sheriff J.W. Pepper: A local, uncouth Louisiana sheriff.
- Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi: Kananga's henchman who has ties to the Voodoo occult. Unusually for a Bond villain, he is not eliminated; at the end of the film he is seen sitting on the front of Bond and Solitaire's train, laughing.
- Bernard Lee as M: Head of the "00" section of MI6.
- Roy Stewart as Quarrel Jr.: Bond's ally in San Monique and son of Quarrel from Dr. No .
- Earl Jolly Brown as Whisper: Kananga's henchman who only whispers.
- Tommy Lane as Adam: One of Dr. Kananga's henchmen who pursues 007 through the Louisiana Bayou
- Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny: M' secretary.
- Madeline Smith as Miss Caruso: An Italian agent whom Bond romances.
Production
While filming Diamonds Are Forever , Live and Let Die was chosen as the next Ian Fleming novel to be adapted because screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz thought it would be daring to use black villains, as the Black Panthers and other racial movements were active at this time. Guy Hamilton was again chosen to direct, and since he was a jazz fan, decided to film in New Orleans. Hamilton didn't want to use Mardi Gras since Thunderball featured Junkanoo, a similar festivity, so, following suggestions of a friend and searching for locations in helicopters, he decided to use two well-known features of the city, the jazz funerals and the canals.
While searching for locations in Jamaica, the crew discovered a crocodile farm owned by Ross Kananga, after passing a sign warning that "trespassers will be eaten." The farm was put into the script and also inspired Mankiewicz to name the film's villain after Kananga.
Casting
Broccoli and Saltzman tried to convince Sean Connery to return as 007, but he declined. Among the actors to test for the part of Bond were Julian Glover, John Gavin , Jeremy Brett, Simon Oates , John Ronane , and Michael McStay. The main frontrunner for the role was Michael Billington. United Artists wanted an American to play Bond: Burt Reynolds, Paul Newman and Robert Redford were all considered. Producer Albert R. Broccoli, however, insisted that the part should be played by a Briton and put forward Roger Moore. After Moore was chosen, Billington remained on the top of the list in the ev
Live and Let Die (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Live and Let Die (1973) is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R ...
Live and Let Die (song) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Live and Let Die" is the main theme song of the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die and was performed by Paul McCartney and Wings on the movie soundtrack and on the soundtrack ...
Live and Let Die (1973)
Plot summary, trailer, cast information, and user comments.
James Bond 007 - Live And Let Die
Date of Release World Premiere 5th July 1973 at the Odeon Leicester Square, London. Running Time 116 minutes. James Bond
YouTube - Paul McCartney & WINGS - Live And Let Die
Amazing video of the music Live And Let Die, by the great Sir Paul McCartney!!! Classic!!!! I particularly love this video! This song is wonderful and the fireworks made the video ...
Live And Let Die from MGM.com
Roger Moore's debut as James Bond takes him in pursuit of a voodoo- worshipping underworld drug czar who leads him from Harlem to New Orleans to the exotic Caribbean. Jane Seymour ...
Amazon.com: Live and Let Die: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour ...
Amazon.com: Live and Let Die: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, Clifton James, Julius Harris, Geoffrey Holder, David Hedison, Gloria Hendry, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Tommy ...
YouTube - Live and Let Die (Main Title Designed by Maurice Binder ...
Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman present Roger Moore as James Bond 007 in Ian Fleming's "Live and Let Die" (1973) [The only James Bond film without the Textless feature]
Live and Let Die (1973)
Plot: 007 is sent to stop a diabolically brilliant heroin magnate armed with a complex organization and a reliable psychic tarot card reader. full summary | full synopsis
Live and Let Die (1973)
advertisement. Overview. User Rating: 6.8/10 21,691 votes. MOVIEmeter: Down 7% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro. Director: Guy Hamilton. Writer: