Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die (1973) is Roger Moore's first Bond. He follows a drug network between New York, New Orleans and a fictional Caribbean island. Moore had been considered for earlier Bond films. Broccoli insisted the part go to a British actor rather than an American like Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. Moore chose not to imitate Connery and brought his own comic manner to the role. The music was the first genuine rock song to open a Bond film. Paul and Linda McCartney wrote it and Wings performed it. George Martin, the Beatles' producer, scored the film because John Barry was unavailable. The song reached number two in America and was nominated for an Academy Award. The speedboat jump filmed in the Louisiana bayou set a Guinness world record at the time, clearing 110 feet, and it happened unintentionally. The production took 26 boats from Glastron and destroyed 17 of them in rehearsals. It cost seven million dollars and grossed 161.8 million worldwide. It runs 121 minutes. Good for: seventies Bond, the McCartney title song, and Caribbean atmosphere. Less good for: the film borrows the blaxploitation conventions of its moment wholesale, and the depiction of its Black characters is seriously objectionable now. The Sheriff Pepper material wrecks the pacing, and the voodoo elements amount to shallow exoticism.