LIVE AND LET DIE

a film by Guy Hamilton released through United Artists Pictures in 1973

Perhaps the most accessible of all Bond films, Live and Let Die is the opposite of its title—despite some lapses into legitimate drama, the eighth 007 adventure is a romp.
 
Roger Moore is a little too diffident, and Yaphet Kotto is too much talk, too little action as Kananga.  But Jane Seymour handles the glamour, mystery, and sexual naiveté of Solitaire perfectly.
 
Many Bond fans hate Sheriff J.W. Pepper.  But without him the boat chase would drag on interminably.  The script manages to poke fun at him while engendering our sympathy.  He's clearly out of his league—you don't arrest James Bond!  For all the '70s Bond borrowings (kung-fu in The Man With the Golden Gun, space battles in Moonraker), Live and Let Die managed to inspire Smokey and the Bandit and all the light-hearted, Southern-fried 'chase' properties that followed in its wake.
 
The only way to enjoy this movie is to appreciate it on its own terms.  And it would be wise for the series to attempt a return to this film's tone—we need this confident flippancy after five straight angst-ridden psycho-dramas.
 

 

★★★☆☆

Best for ages 12+

FEATURING

ROGER MOORE, YAPHET KOTTO,  JANE SEYMOUR, CLIFTON JAMES, GEOFFREY HOLDER, AND BERNARD LEE

© 2023 Ian C. Bloom