Live and Let Die

Rating:
Summary: Reasonably entertaining, but not essential Bond viewing.
Review: Roger Moore's debut as 007 finds him tackling a Carribean drug kingpin. While the film is exciting at some points, and has its fair share of deathtraps and pitfalls for Bond to overcome, it lacks the bite of the earlier films, particularly the first three in the series. Indeed, the most noteworthy aspect of the film is the theme song performed by Paul McCartney. Altogether, a serviceably entertaining, if not thoroughly satisfying, entry in the Bond series.

Rating:
Summary: Piece of junk....
Review: The only good thing about this shlocky (sp?), horrific, racist piece of (...)is the theme song by a certain former Beatle... poor Paul. Why couldn't you have done a good one?

Rating:
Summary: Funky, Bad-A** Bond. . .
Review: This is my favorite James Bond movie ever. I'm just going to list the reasons why:

1. Voodoo
2. Tarot card reading Jane Seymore loses her powers of foresight along with virginity
3. Crocodiles
4. Boat Chase
5. Redneck Tobacco Chewing Cop
6. Paul McCartney wrote the title song (also my favorite Wings song)
7. Fabulous maniacle laughter from several characters

Some may say this Bond movie is cheesy, over-the-top and a drastic change of pace from older and newer Bond flicks. To them I say, I agree, but the result is fantastic. Its a Bond movie: its cheesy, its entertaining, action-packed (o.k., maybe a little over-packed) and not to be taken too seriously.

Rating:
Summary: Good Movie, but the worse man to play Bond
Review: This is one of the first Bond Movies that I have ever seen that did not star the current Bond Bronson. Let's just say that it did not fit up to all of my expectations then and now as a Bond Veteran owning all 20 movies it seems even worse. Don't get me wrong I think this is a good movie and a welcome part to any Bond collection, I just don't really like Moore in any of the Bond films.

This movie had the very difficult task of replacing Connery yet again in this famous series. And instead of finding a man to play Bond as a tough suave hero they put in the somtimes painfully corny Roger Moore. Sadly they could not have chosen a worse book to base it on becuase they set him off right away at destroying the second best book in the series.

Lets move past Moore shall we. The rest of the movie was great, with awesome gadgets, one of the best women in all of the Bond films Solitare, and a very fun villian. This also brought back Felix Lieter, Bond's friend in the CIA who appeares in many of the movies. The man who played Felix this time is the only one who ever plays him a second time in the movie License to Kill.

Out of all the movies that Moore starred in during the Bond series this one is probably the best, so go ahead and enjoy it, just don't expect him to be a Connerry. NUFF SAID

Rating:
Summary: Another Bond Classic!
Review: A perfect debut for Roger Moore as 007, James Bond.
He knows exactly how to play Bond in his own way.

This is one of the best 007 movies, it has everything:
Great action, great music, a good Bond, a beautiful Bond girl and a great adversarry.
Jane Seymour is just lovely in this Bond picture. Stunning and beautiful. One of my favorite Bond girls.

This movie has the elements you expect in a Bond movie.
A 007 classic!

Rating:
Summary: No wonder they say "Liscense to Thrill'
Review: This is Roger Moore's debut as James Bond, as 007 plunges into the world of voodoo. Venturing into the heart of Louisiana, USA and the Caribbean, to take on the empire of megalomaniacal drug lord, Dr Kananga (Yaphett Kotto), who could just as well play a vicious Third World dictator, and G-D knows there are a lot of those around. In 2004 the co-called Non Aligned Movement is made up predominantly of insane, bloodthirsty Third World despots.
A thrilling boat chase and run-in with crocodiles are some of the treats in this film. A gorgeous young Jane Seymour plays Solitaire the alluring young seeress kept captive by Dr Kananga. She makes an extremely endearing damsel in distress, and I would vote her the most appealing Bond girl: A wonderful combination of innocence and potent sensuality.
My favourite scene is where Bond rescues Solitaire from an evil mob of voodoo cultists about to sacrifice her. The bizarre voodoo rites are very well done-both terrifying and transfixing. This Bond never loses the viewers interest-it is a delight to the senses, well complimentary to Paul McCartney's amazing theme song.
This could only have been done during the magic of the 70's.


Rating:
Summary: Moore's First And Weakest Bond
Review: Roger Moore appears for the first time as the dashing British secret agent in this 1973 production. Moore performs quite well as Bond and the screenplay is well directed by the talents of Guy Hamilton. The missing element in this film is simply a worthy plot for someone on the scale of Bond.

In this film, Bond goes to America and the Carribean to investigate the dealings of a drug lord (Yaphet Kotto)who disposes of snoopy agents with the help of a Voodoo priest. The villain also relies on the celestial advice of his captive soothsayer Solitaire (Jane Seymour.) In time, Bond obtains the help of Solitaire to expose the drug ring and save the day.

The weakest part of this film is the plot. As with 'License To Kill' with Timothy Dalton, Bond chasing around measely drug dealers isn't really worthy of his work compared to saving the world from arch-villains and their organizations such as Blofeld and SPECTER, or Drax and his space industry. The story therefore fizzles out and the audience is drawn more into the wild chases and the humorous quips. Not a terribly memorable Bond but still far superior to the Dalton or Lazenby films.

Rating:
Summary: Blaxploitation Bond
Review: While the earliest Bond adventures were ground-breaking and highly influential, the later films were more reflective of the other popular trends of the moment. Perhaps the greatest example of this phenomena is Live and Let Die. At the time, blaxploitation films were immensely popular and this film obviously incorporates elements of the genre. Case in point, Mr. Big captures Bond and informs him that "names is for tombstones" and then instructs his lackeys to "take the honkey out back and waste him." There are many other stereotypical letdowns throughout the picture. And not just featuring African Americans, as Clifton James takes a turn as a redneck sheriff that will probably make anyone from Louisiana cringe. We also get an underwhelming score by George Martin to accompany the awesome title song by McCartney. However, Live and Let Die was also groundbreaking. Bond had an interracial love affair, which was still racy stuff back then (no pun intended). All of this gives the film a unique (some would say weird) feel amongst the many Bond pictures.

Is it a good movie? Not really. The biggest problem is pacing. Bond hops from one locale to the next mixing it up with assorted bad guys, but never really advancing the story, which is rendered nearly incoherent. While the action pieces are fun, the viewer is left wondering when the actual plot will move along (which it only begins to do in the final 20 minutes). That being said, the movie isn't the disaster Diamonds Are Forever was. So, if you are curious or a die hard Bond fan, watching Live and Let Die is a cool enough way to spend an afternoon.

Unfortunately, MGM didn't care to spend any time on the sound mix for this movie. We get mono. Considering films as old as Thunderball have 5.1 mixes, this is pretty disappointing. The extra features are great, as they are on all the Bond discs.


Rating:
Summary: 007 meets Superfly
Review: Roger Moore's debut as James Bond 007,is the series most action packed movie, yet the beginning of the series more tongue and cheek approach as the intrigue 1960's-era Bond films is replaced by more knuckle headed action adventure of the 1970-era genre and beyond.
Of all the Bond actors, Moore is the most viewer friendly , as he exude charm,and not as ruthless and lethal as Sean Connery.Always a twinkle in his eye when his license to kill is enforced.
Bond's mission this time is to investigate the disappearance of MI6 agents who have been trailing Dr Kananga (Yaphett Kotto), the leader of San Monique and his connection to Mr Big,a big time drug dealer in New York and New Orleans.Bond gets in over his head when he "touches" Kananga's tarot card priestess Solitaire (Jane Seymour).Memorable scenes include An alligator farm escape as well as an overlong speedboat chase.Julius Harris' deadly steel-armed Tee-Hee, ranks with Oddjob and Jaws as the movie series neferious henchmen.
Whether it was made to jump on the popular Blaxpoitation bandwagon of the early 1970's,LALD ranks as one of the best of the Moore era movies.


Rating:
Summary: Piece of junk....
Review: roger moore playing james bond,. well to a lot of folks he was a great james bind, but after getting blasted with him from atv series " the saint" i was kinda sick of seeing him.
how ever watch the racial overtones and how harlem was in
nyc during the 70's, seems a lotta 1973 chevy impala's
made it to the screen. also we see sheriff j.w. pepper
playing a red neck cop. good entertainment only to be taken for face value, not a serious movie.