My favorite essayer of James Bond debuted in this film. Live And Let Die marked the debut of Roger Moore as intrepid British secret agent 007. I've always thought that Moore perfectly fitted the public's idea of what to expect from James Bond than any other actor who portrayed him, although purists who faithfully have read the Ian Flemming novels would no doubt disagree.
Moore was in an interesting position with this film. With Sean Connery finally and as he thought irrevocably never playing 007 again and with George Lazenby not capturing the dollars of the movie going public, if Moore had failed in the role, no doubt the James Bond series would have come to an end.
When you think of some of the plans of world domination that Sean Connery foiled in his films that SPECTRE had, Moore's assignment in Live And Let Die is kind of minor league stuff. Three British agents are killed almost simultaneously in different parts of the world, one at the United Nations in New York, one in the New Orleans French Quarter, and one on the Caribbean island nation of San Monique that is ruled by Yaphetto Kotto. That's what 007's mission is, to find out what links these deaths in these disparate areas of the globe.
Kotto is our head villain and while his ambition isn't quite SPECTRE domination of the world, it's still pretty extensive. He has some connections with a Harlem racketeer and also with some voodoo priests in all these areas. In fact voodoo and the fear of it forms a great piece of his method of keeping power and part of the plot as well.
Roger Moore and Jane Seymour who was 'introduced' in Live And Let Die have more narrow escapes in this film than they did in some of those old movie serials. His wrist watch becomes a very valuable weapon in his arsenal. And not only does 007 have to deal with human predators, Moore has to both play tag with some alligators and nearly swim with some hungry sharks.
Live And Let Die got an Academy Award nomination. The title song written by Paul and Linda McCartney became one of the biggest songs to come from a Bond film. It lost however to the Barbra Streisand classic title song, The Way We Were in 1973.
Because it introduced Roger Moore as 007 to the movie going public, Live And Let Die has an enduring significance in film history. But even if it were not a milestone film, Live And Let Die is one of the best of James Bond films to come out with any actor playing 007.
Moore was in an interesting position with this film. With Sean Connery finally and as he thought irrevocably never playing 007 again and with George Lazenby not capturing the dollars of the movie going public, if Moore had failed in the role, no doubt the James Bond series would have come to an end.
When you think of some of the plans of world domination that Sean Connery foiled in his films that SPECTRE had, Moore's assignment in Live And Let Die is kind of minor league stuff. Three British agents are killed almost simultaneously in different parts of the world, one at the United Nations in New York, one in the New Orleans French Quarter, and one on the Caribbean island nation of San Monique that is ruled by Yaphetto Kotto. That's what 007's mission is, to find out what links these deaths in these disparate areas of the globe.
Kotto is our head villain and while his ambition isn't quite SPECTRE domination of the world, it's still pretty extensive. He has some connections with a Harlem racketeer and also with some voodoo priests in all these areas. In fact voodoo and the fear of it forms a great piece of his method of keeping power and part of the plot as well.
Roger Moore and Jane Seymour who was 'introduced' in Live And Let Die have more narrow escapes in this film than they did in some of those old movie serials. His wrist watch becomes a very valuable weapon in his arsenal. And not only does 007 have to deal with human predators, Moore has to both play tag with some alligators and nearly swim with some hungry sharks.
Live And Let Die got an Academy Award nomination. The title song written by Paul and Linda McCartney became one of the biggest songs to come from a Bond film. It lost however to the Barbra Streisand classic title song, The Way We Were in 1973.
Because it introduced Roger Moore as 007 to the movie going public, Live And Let Die has an enduring significance in film history. But even if it were not a milestone film, Live And Let Die is one of the best of James Bond films to come out with any actor playing 007.