Live and Let Die
mythrenegade
Posts: 35MI6 Agent
I decided that I haven't watched my way through the franchise in a while. By the same token, every time I do that, I typically watch Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger and then stop. Thunderball is low on my list, and I usually wait a while and eventually forget where I was and start over with Dr. No...
So this time I decided to watch the Moore bonds as a result of the "Was Moore a rubbish bond?" thread. I started with Live and Let Die.
There is a reason this is #6 on my list of Bond films. Moore looks really good in the part, and he has all of the elements he became famous for right off the bat. I really like this film from start to finish. The only elements that really bother me are the fake snakes and the ludicrous death of Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga. Both of those are special effects issues essentially. Although improbable the death would have been ok if it wasn't so obviously a blow up doll... They tried hard to make the green rubber snakes scary, but it just didn't work either.
But this movie is far too strong to be brought down by a few little things like that. This is truly one of the highpoints of the series, and only TSWLM outshines this effort for a Moore bond film.
Joel
So this time I decided to watch the Moore bonds as a result of the "Was Moore a rubbish bond?" thread. I started with Live and Let Die.
There is a reason this is #6 on my list of Bond films. Moore looks really good in the part, and he has all of the elements he became famous for right off the bat. I really like this film from start to finish. The only elements that really bother me are the fake snakes and the ludicrous death of Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga. Both of those are special effects issues essentially. Although improbable the death would have been ok if it wasn't so obviously a blow up doll... They tried hard to make the green rubber snakes scary, but it just didn't work either.
But this movie is far too strong to be brought down by a few little things like that. This is truly one of the highpoints of the series, and only TSWLM outshines this effort for a Moore bond film.
Joel
Comments
But he could deliver quips better than anyone, looked the part and could act well enough for most of the material he was given. I think LALD and FYEO are his best Bond movies, and I enjoy seeing them from timwe to time.
I would agree with the comment that only TSWLM is a better Roger Moore 007 film.
Cheers,
Mark
I don't think I've ever watched them all in sequence. I would get to the point where I don't think I would want to watch Thunderball too often either- it's definitely the weakest Connery era Bond film, imho. It's not anywhere near the bottom rung anyway but that film is WAY too long and plodding.
The blaxploitation/voodoo theme really works for me. Kananga, Tee Hee, Baron Samedi, Quarrel Jr, etc are a great bunch of characters wonderfully portrayed by their respective actors. Jane Seymour's Solitaire is one of my favourite Bond girls and David Hedison is my favourite Felix Leiter. Even J. W. is good in this film, with the exception of his spitting.
There's also some very good action scenes, most notably when Bond steps over the crocodiles backs, the boat chase and the double decker bus chase. Other highlight's include Paul McCartney's wonderful title song and George Martin's wonderful score.
The blaxploitation theme clearly dates LALD, but for me that only adds to it's charm.