Live and Let Die

Year of Release:  1973

Director:  Guy Hamilton

Screenplay:  Tom Mankiewicz, based on the novel Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

Starring:  Roger Moore, Jane Seymour, Yaphet Kotto

Running Time:  121 minutes

Genre:  Action, adventure, spy

British secret agent James Bond (Moore) is assigned to investigate the deaths of three agents, and finds himself embroiled in a world of gangsters and voodoo curses as he attempts to stop a powerful drug dealer's plot to flood America with free heroin.

This is the eighth film in the evergreen James Bond series, and the first of seven films to feature Roger Moore as Bond.  Unlike his beloved predecessor in the role Sean Connery, and even George Lazenby, Roger Moore never really came across as a bruiser, but he did have charm, and a nice line in laconic humour, and it was in the Moore period where the James Bond films became increasingly bizarre, and seemed to be played more and more for laughs.  Live and Let Die is one of those films which I enjoyed watching as a child on Saturday evenings or during the Christmas holidays, when for years it seemed a Bond film was as much part of the festive TV schedules as Carols from Kings or The Snowman.  However, watching it as an adult, it is hard to ignore it's flaws.  For one thing, it doesn't really feel much like a Bond movie, at times feeling like an odd parody of a "blaxploitation" film, particularly in the scenes set in Harlem.  Yaphet Kotto was a good actor but, as drug lord Katanga aka Mr. Big, he comes across more as an irritated businessman, and his sidekick Tee Hee (Julius W. Harris) with a pincer-topped artificial arm, just isn't as impressive as some of the previous outlandish villains.  However, Geoffrey Holder is striking as voodoo priest Baron Samedi, and is one of the most memorable aspects of the film, although he has too little screen time.  Jane Seymour is very good as the psychic Solitaire, who reads the tarot cards for Katanga, and whose psychic powers seem to depend on her remaining a virgin.  Needless to say, they don't last very long once Bond appears.  Moore himself is suave enough, but never really seems to be bothered by anything that happens to him or anyone around him.  His treatment of Solitaire, effectively tricking her into bed, is pretty cruel, even by Bond's standards.  There are also strange apparently supernatural elements, Solitaire seems to be largely accepted as being genuinely psychic and Baron Samedi seems to come back from the dead.  Looked at now, the film feels really dated, and probably wouldn't [ass muster with modern viewers.  Also, lest we forget, the film's low point comes with the annoying comic relief Louisiana sheriff (Clifton James).  The film does have it's moments though, the opening theme song by Paul McCartney and Wings is pretty good, and there are some great action scenes, particularly the speedboat chase which is still pretty exciting.  

James Bond (Roger Moore) and Solitaire (Jane Seymour) in Live and Let Die

Moonraker

Year:  1979
Director:  Lewis Gilbert
Screenplay:  Christopher Wood, based on the novel Moonraker by Ian Fleming
Starring:  Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Richard Kiel
Running Time:  126 minutes
Genre:  Thriller, action, science-fiction

This is the film where James Bond goes into space.  Aside from the title and a couple of character names, the film abandons pretty much everything from Ian Fleming's excellent novel, in favour of an overblown attempt to tie-in with the science-fiction boom after the success of  Star Wars (1977).

When a new space shuttle named "Moonraker" is stolen in mid-air, British secret agent James Bond (Moore) is ordered to find out what happened to it.  Following the trail to California and the home of the shuttle's sinister manufacturer, billionaire Hugo Drax (Lonsdale), Bond makes the acquaintence of alluring scientist Dr. Holly Goodhead  (Chiles), as well as his old enemy, hulking killer Jaws (Kiel), who has stainless steel teeth.   As Bond travels from California to Venice, to Rio de Janeiro, to outer space, he begins to realise that there is something far more dangerous than a missing shuttle at work.

For my money, this is probably the worst of the James Bond movies.  The plot is virtually non-existant, and what there is is impossible to take seriously because it is all played for campy laughs (for example the scene where the giant Jaws falls in love with a diminutive blonde girl while the soundtrack plays "Love is a Many Splendoured Thing", and the scene where Bond drives an inflatable gondola through the streets of Venice).  The special effects range from the serviceable to the terrible.  Roger Moore appears on autopilot throughout the whole movie, smirking his way through the endless quips and fights and Michael Lonsdale as Drax makes for a very flat villain.  However the sets are impressive, and even the very worst Bond films still have their share of entertaining moments.  The quip at the end is genuinely funny and some of the action scenes are exciting. 

  Lois Chiles and Roger Moore investigate Moonraker

The Man with the Golden Gun

Year:  1974
Director:  Guy Hamilton
Screenplay:  Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz, based on the novel The Man with the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming
Starring:  Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams, Herve Villechaize, Richard Loo, Soon-Tek Oh
Running Time:  125 minutes
Genre:  Action, thriller, spy

This film is the ninth in the official series based on the "James Bond" novels by Ian Fleming, and the second to star Roger Moore as the British super-spy.  In this entry, Bond receives information that he is the latest target of legendary hit-man Francisco Scaramanga (Lee), who charges a million dollars a kill and always uses a trademark golden gun.  Bond decides to kill Scaramanga first, and so sets off on a hunt through Beirut, Hong Kong and Bangkok only to discover that Scarmanga's real plot threatens far more than just him.

This film is not the best in the series by any reach and is pretty much average for a 1970s James Bond film.  I have to say I have always enjoyed a James Bond film.  They are pretty much the cinematic equivalent of , not really a Big Mac and fries, something more British than that, fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.  Fun at the time, not particularly nutritious at all and you couldn't really sit through too much at one time, but enjoyable, even if there's not much to trouble the memory after you've seen it.  Although, more recently with Daniel Craig in the lead role, the films have been taking on a more complex, darker and contemporary quality.

This film features the usual Bond film mixture of glamour, guns, girls and gags, with some wonderful exotic picture postcard locations.  It's very much a product of it's time with the 1973 energy crisis being a major theme in the plot, as well as using several elements from the martial arts films that were hugely popular at the time.  1970s daredevil Evel Knievel even gets a namecheck at one point when Bond jumps a river in a car, a sequence which is ruined by a ludicrously comical sound effect.  As with many of the 1970s Bond films the humour doesn't really gel very well with ther action.  One of the problems was that Roger Moore was better at the comedy than he was at being an action man.

Christopher Lee, who was a stepcousin to Ian Fleming and knew him fairly well, steals the film as the urbane villain Scaramanga and Herve Villechaize, as Scaramanga's diminutive assistant Nick Nack, also makes an impression.  One of the film's main problems is the female characters.  Britt Ekland appears as the main "Bond Girl" who is portrayed as the stereotypical "dumb blonde" and is there mainly to get kidnapped, cause chaos and look good in a bikini.  She is also the target of what is probably the most sexist scene in the whole of the James Bond series, and if you know the Bond films then you'll know that is really saying something, when she is angry at Bond's liaison with femme fatale Maud Adams and Bond cheerfully replies "Don't worry, darling, your turn will come."  Probably to most people that line would come across as a slightly coded request for a smack in the mouth, but surprisingly she doesn't hit him.  The film also features an irritating racist redneck stereotype sheriff (Clifton James) who appeared in the previous Bond film Live and Let Die (1973).  Intended to be comedic, he serves no purpose here except to be annoying.  The theme song, perfomed by Lulu, marks one of the low points for the Bond theme songs.  The lyrics are just so full of innuendo it becomes quite funny.

The film is too long, and the storyline could have done with tightening up, but then the important thing with Bond movies is not their stories.  This is watchable enough for fans though, and when the film tries to be serious and deliver a few thrills it can be quite good, and a couple of the set-pieces are genuinely impressive.  It also features at least one genuinely great line from Bond' boss "M" (Bernard Lee).  Whne Bond asks who could possibly want to kill him, "M" snaps back:  "Jealous husbands, humiliated chefs, outraged tailors.  The list is endless."

Christopher Lee and Roger Moore in The Man with the Golden Gun