Dear sir Roger, This was your debut as 007. While this was not your best movie, you always excelled in playing a unique interpretation of the beloved secret agent. You will be missed by the Bond community, and the world. To Sir Roger Moore (1927-2017)
I think the reason Moore's introduction is so downplayed, is because they made a big deal about Lazenby's introduction which didn't help people accept that he was playing the same character as Connery.
Plus Roger Moore was well known to the general public at the time. He'd already been playing Bond-like characters - in the Saint and the Persuaders - for several years.
Yes I think in the PTS of this movie not having the new Bond appear is like they are putting the story front and centre not focusing on introducing the new 007, they have learnt their lesson from OHMSS.
Enjoyable as always. One thing: the march and dancing scene that seems like a Michael Jackson vid actually happens with funeral processions in New Orleans, primarily for jazz players.
"White face in Harlem. Good thinkin', Bond." Imagine if they had Moore black up for this part of the film like when they tried to make Connery look Japanese in YOLT. XD
I love when he bought the stuffed toy snake at the Voodoo shop and said: “ would you mind gift-wrapping this for me?...... lengthwise, if you don't mind" 😏
Wow, that was cool seeing Roger Moore in that early James Bond skit. I've never heard of that before, so it was fun toi see it. I did know about some of the other TV shows, like The Saint. But I do like Roger Moore as Bond, and always thought he did a great job. His humor was a little different that Sean Connery and I think that was smart move, not wanting to just copy him. Moore had his own style, and I always thought it added to his run as Bond. I laughed my ass off with your whole "mind blowing" video when Mr. Big revealed he was Kananga! The movie had alot of typical Bond funny and not so funny moments, and atleast some "better" jokes, but yeah the whole Kanaga thing blowing up was pretty horrible. But as always, you were able to provide your own humor to this Bond Recap, making moments like that, and all the others, alot easier to watch! Keep up the great work Jeroen!
Good point about the boat chase being too long and no music, although when I first saw this movie in theaters in 1973 my brothers and father and I thought it was so amazing. So, I guess it's one of those things that worked at the time but not as good in retrospect. As for Sheriff JW Pepper, I actually feel opposite of you about his two appearances -- just a silly Southern slob here like Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit and the cop in Dukes of Hazzard; but in Man with the Golden Gun he becomes a blatant racist spewing terrible derogatory slurs, but I get your perspective that it seems more outrageous since he is out of his Southern home where those things are more commonly heard. Anyway, thanks for the recap.
It was obvious he was faking it. You don't die from a snake bite in 2 seconds. He probably never even got bit and even if he did he probably had some sorta resistance or anti venom
I'd like to point out that the villain is DR Kananga, not Mr. He didn't go to evil medical school for 7 years to be called Mr. 20 bonus points if you got that reference.
@ Gage Peruti. The designation "Dr." does not only refer to a medical doctor but can also refer to someone who has earned a PhD! So the "Dr." designation before Kanaga in the film, "Live and Let Die"(1973) could be interpreted as indicating that Kanaga earned a PhD rather than a medical degree!
Contrary to what the narrator of this review says about the scene in which Mr. Big/Dr. Kanaga interrogated Bond, it is one of the best, most dramatic and tense scenes in the history of the Bond film franchise primarily because of the superb acting by Yaphet Kotto and Roger Moore's "cool under pressure" Bond! And George Martin made the absolute right decision to not musically score most of the 17-minute long boat chase sequence because he knew that (1) it would have been very difficult to maintain the tension of that long a scene with music and (2) the noise of the boats' jet engines would have taken away from a music background in that scene. And the character's name is J.W. Pepper not "W. Pepper". How could the narrator of this video review of the film get that wrong?!
@@viralbuthow000 Since Solitaire was BLACK in the novel, I keep trying to imagine who, in the 70s, I would have liked as Solitaire. Her personality in the book was COMPLETELY-different from the way she was done in the movie.
I had learned about this some time before I saw this review (But only years later after I had actually seen the movie as a kid) , but the truly weird fact is how virtually EVERYONE in Harlem is okay with this open murder and coverup, and it is kind of explained with Mr Big in charge keeping everyone toeing the line, but it's still kind of eery in the starting scenes with the crowd just smoothly going along this scripted scenario without any sign of remorse, which weirdly kind of feeds into the voodoo theme if just thematically.
The "Fat Southern Sheriff" was a response to the popularity of the character "J.W." on those old Dodge Challenger commercials. The character was so popular that the actor, wearing the same costume/uniform appeared in cameos on several television shows. "You're in a heap of trouble, boy!", I believe was his catch phrase. By the time "Live and Let Die" premiered, the U.S. passed EPA laws which killed the high performance engines such as the 440 and the 426 ci which Dodge used. Hence, J.W. stopped appearing after that. I guess it took another bond film to prove that the "Fat Southern Sheriff" craze was over. I love your Bond recaps. They're awesome!
+Donald Wolpert Intresting background information! I was not aware of a "Fat Southern Sherrif craze"! I always assumed J.W was there to anticipate racism or something. There are so much stereotypical black guys in the movie, perhaps they felt they needed to put a very white southern character in there to compesate or something. But your explanation makes sense! Thanks for the compliment by the way, means the world after a hard day of working non stop on finishing this episode! :)
+DutchBondFan I had to look it up on Wiki for "Live and Le Die" to find that the Sheriff sported the initials "J.W." Pepper. They even used those same initials. The "Dodge sheriff" was only referred as "J.W." A different actor played the sheriff in the commercials chomping on a fat cigar, Pepper chewed his tobacco. Well, exploitation will continue on the next Bond film, "Man with the Golden Gun", where every one is "Kung Fu Fighting". Too bad that Bruce Lee wasn't still alive to be in that film. The fight sense would have been unbelievable. What could have been... Thanks for your research, review, and hard work!
+John Blaze -Universal Exports- I found a couple of those commercials on RU-vid under "70 Dodge Challenger Commercial". Short of dry humor now but it was pretty funny then.
I feel the same way about this movie as many other Moore Bond films. There is some good action and Moore is pretty great with the quips but you also have to suffer a lot of stupid things.
+Anders Enggaard Yes I agree. Roger Moore is fun, but pretty much every single one of his films has some cheesiness to them and atleast one moment where something is completely redicilious or out of place. However, he did do some Bond movies that are really entertaining and a few of them I would even call Top 10 worthy! This however, to me was not one of those...
@@DutchBondFan His best were TSWLM and FYEO. TMWTGG could have been much better without JW Pepper and that damn AMC Hornet. Yes I understand product placement....but the AMC dealer should have been a high end British one. The Hornet I guess met the build requirements to accomplish the bridge jump, which certainly didn't need that stupid whistle. It was just as dumb as the Tarzan yell in Octopussy. The fact is Christopher Lee's performance as Scaramanga was outstanding and for me ranks right next to Sanchez, Goldfinger, Savalas's Blofeld, LeChiffre, and Zorin.
The first time I seen the film was when it was broadcast on ABC in the early 80s. One of the commercials that came up before the end was actor Geoffrey Holder pitching 7up. :)
I always took the New Orleans funeral procession to be realistically accurate, just written into the script. The march begins slow, with sombre music to reflect the loss of the deceased, then it picks up tempo playing a joyful piece to celebrate the memory of the person's life. I may be wrong, but I thought it was a unique proceedure.
I especially like how you can stab someone with a switchblade in the side, and they instantly die?! What was that knife dipped in?! Human feces or Cobra venom?! Okay, I'm so gullible and stupid, I just accept it as real? And I'm sorry, an attractive flat chested African American woman with a fake afro on, doesn't even get my rocket of the launch pad! Why didn't they cast sexy Pam Grier in that role??!! I'm sure she was available in 1973!!! What were the producers thinking or snorting??!! That skinny black woman was not even "room temperature " warm to me!!! She must have been cast, just save money!!💰 😆 🤣 😂 Then they instantly die, not one drop of blood on his knife , clothing or the ground?! And then this "David Copperfield" magic trick when they drop this casket on top of the C.I.A. agent!!🎩 ✨️ WTF is happening here?!?!
From what I heard, Llewelyn was working on a TV series at the time and he actually did get out of it only to find out they weren't including Q in the film at all. "If you're watching these movies in order?" I did. I'm going to do a complete marathon when I get Spectre on DVD.
Fun Fact...the producers wanted Paul Mac to just write the theme, not to perform it, but Paul said, "What I write, I sing", so they went along with it. Along with "Nobody Does It Better", it was the biggest JB themes of the 70s!
Love these videos sooo much. the background information section is always a delight to watch and i love that it makes for an even more immersive experience for someone who just started the entire franchise!!!
The one line from this movie that I couldn’t get out of my head, was the one where Baron Samedi is playing a reed flute which turns into a radio to which he says “They’re heading for the hill.” The line itself isn’t that cool, but the way he said it was just so creepy to me.
I really like this movie and to me it’s probably my favorite Roger Moore Film of them all, so many memorable Characters and moments in that film, holds up really high for me even to this day
I admit, the ending death scene of Kananga was pretty weak and very unrealistic. But everything else, including the long boat chase scene was fantastic. I wish they would've had a scene where 007 was at that fake funeral only to get them back for killing the other 00's.
It always got me that they zoomed in on the image as he was rising out of the pool in post production as you see the image get grainy and blurry. Very sloppy and cheap for a film like that.
I've been watching all the Bond movies in order and something I noticed about "Live And Let Die" was that it seemed as though, for the first time, they weren't filming chase scenes by having the actors in front of a projector screen. Roger Moore is actually filmed in the cars, bus and boats during the chase scenes. Oh and a bit of trivia: I don't know if this record still stands, but the scene when Bond's boat jumps over the sheriff's car was in the Guinness Book of World Records for the furthest boat jump.
I absolutely love the saint ... I didn't know Moore was so clever .... he had a good head for business are you sure it was one million .... that's must have been serious money back then .... the persuaders is brilliant and you have to thank Tony Curtis for bringing Jamie Lee into the world ( trading places ) nobody was as suave and nonchalant as Moore .... it's a shame he wasn't really all that physical .... but I love him as the saint Moore than bond ....
The actor John Kitzmiller who played Quarrel in Dr No was 48 years old born in 1913 and died in 1965 at age 51. Quarrel Jr was played by Roy Stewart born in 1925 so was only two years older Roger Moore.
I love these reviews. Using language as real people speak and not as the usual TV presenters do. Always interesting and amusing and a proper joy. Fantastic stuff.
Originally they offered the role to the late legend Burt Reynolds who turned it down then offered to also late legend Adam West who also said no. Then it went to Roger Moore.
Crocodile jump cool?? When I first saw this one I didnt finish the movie at first! I watched the stunt over and over and over again! COME ON THAT WAS BREATHTAKINGLY, RIDICULOUSLY, ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!
I remember the night I saw this movie with some friends I actually jumped out of a convertible 442 Oldsmobile while it was moving to escape going to jail my friend has never let me forget it... he and I have both told the story many times
I rewatched all the bond movies so i decided to next move is to rewatch all your recapping episodes because it gives a really good retrospective and i have realized for now that as a hungarian fan of james bond that at beggining in the new york scene that the hungarian delegate is talking i don’t know who’s idea was this at that time but i thank him for that its really good to hear us in a really small appearence in this movie and i realized the actor who played this delegate is returns in another bond movie in octopussy as borchoi. anyway good bond retrospective just as always
I am new to your channel and I love your channel, I'm a Bond man myself but I don't do Bond stuff on my channel. I might do a Spectre review sometime but I like your reviews they give so much knowledge, you take your time in your videos. Good Job! By the way I am watching James Bond right now LOL!
The Shark Gun was Bond's that Kananga took from him, the thing Bond stuck in his mouth was one of the rounds from the shark gun, as for the lack of gore...it was the 70's, anything more than minimal blood would get it a higher rating at the time It is what it is..or in this case, was
Yes, gotta love Jane Seymour, particularly when she was young and smoking hott in the 70's... Loved her in the original "Battlestar Galactica" as well, before they killed off her character (which was a real shame). Later! OL J R :)
20:40 The stuntman that skipped along on top of the alligators had to do it a few times as he actually slipped on the first couple of goes. Really scary stunt, and I can't believe he had the guts to do it two more times, especially as the alligator caught his foot on one of the failed attempts! There's footage on RU-vid of this happening. Memorable scene, though.
I especially like how you can stab someone with a switchblade in the side, and they instantly die?! What was that knife dipped in?! Human feces or Cobra venom?! Okay, I'm so gullible and stupid, I just accept it as real? And I'm sorry, an attractive flat chested African American woman with a fake afro on, doesn't even get my rocket of the launch pad! Why didn't they cast sexy Pam Grier in that role??!! I'm sure she was available in 1973!!! What were the producers thinking or snorting??!! That skinny black woman was not even "room temperature " warm to me!!! She must have been cast, just save money!!💰 😆 🤣 😂 Then they instantly die, not one drop of blood on his knife , clothing or the ground?! And then this "David Copperfield" magic trick when they drop this casket on top of the C.I.A. agent!!🎩 ✨️ WTF is happening here?!?!
This is the first Bond film I ever saw in a theater, and will always be my favorite. It's so tied into my childhood even with all it's corny bull crap, it remains awesome to me. Guess I'm showing my age there.
This was a different and offbeat Bond movie. I would rank it anywhere between #9 and #12 on the order of best Bond movies depending on my mood. Sir Paul's intro song definitely helps its cause.
I love your passion for something so British, and even your disbelief when it all gets a little silly. But as I recall, it wasn't Kananga's strange gun in the finale scene, it was Bond's (an anti-shark gun with air projectiles)
Baron Samhedi on the train is just a bit of symbolism. We aren't meant to think he was really there any more than we were expected to think the auto-gyro in YOLT assembled itself. The symbol is basically, "Death rides with Bond."
I've also noticed a lot of Dirty Harry aesthetic in this film (the guns, the jive, the inner city race issues, th3 style of crime, etc)...that shows you how big of a film Dirty Harry was since it influenced the established Bond Franchise.
Definitely in the lower half of Moore's movies for me anyway . 1. For your eyes only 2. Spy who loved me 3.octopussy 4. Live and let die 5. Moonraker 6.man with a golden gun 7. View to a kill
Without a doubt my favourite moore film and easily in my top 5 favourite bond movies. I also think this is one of the best paced films in the entire series. Btw keep up the awesome work, Jeroen im loving this series!
+Joe Ward Thanks man! Great to see so much diversity among the fans. I also know someone who ranks this one as his #1 Bond film, while others rank it at the bottom. Glad you enjoy btw! :)
I agree with you that boat chase should have had some John Barry music! Also I have to laugh at the number of times Katanga had the chance to kill Bond with just say a gun, but then chose some other method.
They shot some of the scenes in New Orleans. New Orleans is heavily populated with African American people. And there were a lot of Black actors in this film
He was testing Solitaire and not Bond. Solitaire lied on the very first question so there was no need to cut off Bond's finger which would get blood all over the place.
FWIW, I believe the upbeat dancing & music in the funeral procession was a riff on a traditional New Orleans "Jazz Funeral", where the funeral procession would slowly march to the cemetery to the strains of expected dirge-like funeral music, but once the graveside ceremony was over the band would strike up upbeat Dixieland Jazz and all the mourners would Joyously dance back out, I guess in celebration of the loved one being "called home" or the preciousness of life or something. Anyway, it was once a fairly famous part of New Orleans culture, although I suspect that if it's still done at all anymore it's only as some kind of show for tourists.
Brian Gonigal i believe they still do this in New Orleans maybe not all the time but i think they do it sometimes. People they really stick to tradition and this part of the culture out therr
As someone who lives near New Orleans I loved the fact that a third of the film takes place there and in the 70s no less! Besides the ridiculous death of the main villain at the end, this is a near perfect bond and was a great start for Moore's run!
My buddy actually made a fan edit of this movie where he removed the pink panther type campiness, and all I can say is that now I can see why it was put there in the first place. 007 movies had lost the magic of the early days, and people had become bored with them. The Kananga death scene actually becomes terrifying when you fade out and not show the silly explosion, and the pacing of this film starts to seem more like a serious cop drama than a fun secret agent picture.
this is probably my favourite hamilton-directed bond film. i love the blaxploitation influence in his direction, and the production design is incredibly cool. i used to hate sgt. pepper, but over time he's grown on me. and julius harris is just wonderful as teehee.
Hey can you tell me what is blaxploitation? (Aside from a cast of mostly black people being portrayed as drug dealers or pimps and being directed by a white)
Thank you so much again. Excellent review and review series. I was alarmed at how slowly paced and underwhelming the first hour of this film is when I re-watched it several years ago. It really lacks momentum. I like Moore and he looks in great physical shape here and handles himself capably, but he doesn't seem to be the correct physical or temperamental type to play Bond. He's too tall, elegant and suave. I don't like the Bond series crossing over into another genre, but Koto, Harris, etc are fine actors and screen personalities.
+Numinous20111 I agree on Moore not being the correct physical type, physically he's defenitely the least believable Bond. He's also probably the one thats farthest away from Fleming's Bond. However, looking at him from 'Cinematic Bond" perspective, he brings some great entertainment, fun and humor to the character and it's easy to see why there are so much people out there who love him. And though I would probably rank him as my number #5 Bond, I still admittely find him hilarious and a great human being! :)
I'm loving your recap videos! Quality stuff! For being a massive Bond fan, you seem really irritated by some of the movies. I guess I'm just accustomed to listening to JBR praising every single movie(except DAD). Interesting to hear different perspectives from fellow Bond fans.
Hello again, glad you like the reviews. Some aspects might certainly irritate me, others should really be taken with a grain of salt. These episodes are made to entertain and inform fellow fans. Of course some jokes can be just that: jokes to entertain. And we'll I certainly favor some Bond films over others, at the end of the day I really really love this franchise!
I especially like how you can stab someone with a switchblade in the side, and they instantly die?! What was that knife dipped in?! Human feces or Cobra venom?! Okay, I'm so gullible and stupid, I just accept it as real? And I'm sorry, an attractive flat chested African American woman with a fake afro on, doesn't even get my rocket of the launch pad! Why didn't they cast sexy Pam Grier in that role??!! I'm sure she was available in 1973!!! What were the producers thinking or snorting??!! That skinny black woman was not even "room temperature " warm to me!!! She must have been cast, just save money!!💰 😆 🤣 😂 Then they instantly die, not one drop of blood on his knife , clothing or the ground?! And then this "David Copperfield" magic trick when they drop this casket on top of the C.I.A. agent!!🎩 ✨️ WTF is happening here?!?!
There's a lot of comments to check, so forgive me if I missed someone else already posting this, but when Bond tests out his magnetic watch on the Italian agent Miss Caruso, played by Madelaine Smith who was well known for British TV and films, you can clearly see the outline of the wire underneath the blue dress which a crew member was pulling from below whilst lying out of shot on the floor. The was a book published at the time which was Roger's 'diary of making the movie'. Likely ghost written from the daily diary the book says he agreed to keep, but a fascinating read. I'm not even sure where my original copy is now but you can still find copies online and in e-reader form.
Yes I met Madelaine in real life last october. Very sweet woman! The story of the crew members under her dress is very true. There where a lot of crewmember under her frock she said 😂
I never realized until this week that they killed Strutter at the second funeral procession. The call Felix received at the second Filet of Soul restaurant was a hoax to kidnap Bond
I wonder if Desmond Llewellyn was filming the final series of "Follyfoot" at this time? ("Follyfoot" is available to watch on RU-vid and is a childhood favorite of mine)
I always liked the Baron Samedi fight. The villagers thought he was some kind of god, and he gets put in the snake coffin with one punch. Take that local folklore! Plus I like the little song and dance he does before he rushes Bond.
6/10 The epitome of polarizing, but in this sense it turned out good. It's a lot more distinct with Moore's depiction, the voodoo theme is captivating both for better and worse, the villains are solid enough and make up for the weak plot of heroin dealing, and the action is great. As a debut, it's still rough as they're figuring out the Moore formula, but I personally think the script did better than Dr. No, where Connery carried that movie hard, whereas here Moore and the movie compliment each other nicely.
