Live and Let Die (1973)

Our journey through the many movies of 007 continued tonight with Roger Moore's debut in Live and Let Die. I think this is one of the more memorable James Bond movies - particularly since this is the one where I can remember every villain and Bond girl, and most of the set pieces, since the first time I saw it, years ago.

Roger Moore seems to be born to play Bond - he's suave, witty and looks good in a suit, but unfortunately Bond has now met the '70's, in particular, '70's fashions... I don't just mean the fashion of the time for blaxploitation, but the awful high-wasted flairs he sports here, along with some dodgy denim-jacket type suit affair. Still, there's worse to come, so I won't dwell on the Bond's wardrobe for long...

There's a lot to like about Live and Let Die. Away from Blofeld's plans for world domination, Kanaga/Mr Big's plans to rule the heroin trade in the USA are more believable and on a more dramatic level. The whole film seems a lot more low-key than previous efforts - Moore doesn't even get the action-hero introduction afforded George Lazenby, rather he's introduced in a nice bit of situation comedy involving M, Moneypenny, and an Italian agent hiding in his wardrobe. While the set pieces, including a bus chase and a motorboat chase on water and land, are great, the villain's comeuppance is rather understated, in the way that being exploded after overinflation can. Although Kanaga explodes with a bang, we don't get the same large-scale villain's lair shootout of You Only Live Twice, or Diamonds Are Forever, and I think that this works. 

The biggest let down with this film is the minor character of Sheriff Pepper, who's unfunny insertion into the boat chase feels like padding, and slow down the action considerably. I can't wait for him to reappear in the next film...

Rosie Carver, Bond's first African-American squeeze, is interesting, particularly when she double-crosses 007 and ends up dead. Solitaire is a little bland, and a bit too quick to fall for Bond's charms, but weak Bond girls are fairly common in early Moore movies, if memory serves. 

Aside from the odious Sheriff Pepper, this is an excellent Bond movie, and a thrilling action movie in its own right. A much better story, more tightly focussed than Diamonds Are Forever, with memorable villains and some excellent laugh-out-loud lines, including one of my favourites: 'Don't worry darling, its just a small hat, belonging to a man of limited means, who lost a fight with a chicken.'