What is the greatest movie title theme song of all time, a song that may be more famous than the film itself? Some may argue for Stanley Donen's SINGING IN THE RAIN (1952) sung by Gene Kelly or Sydney Pollack's THE WAY WE WERE (1973) sung by Barbara Streisand or Gordon Parks' SHAFT (1971) sung by Isaac Hayes. For CrazyFilmGuy, my vote goes to Paul McCartney and Wings for LIVE AND LET DIE (1971) the title song for the 8th film in the James Bond series. It's high marks for McCartney and company as the Bond series has had some great theme songs: Shirley Bassey belting out GOLDFINGER (1964) or later Carly Simon singing Nobody Does It Better (from 1977's THE SPY WHO LOVED ME).
Besides a rocking theme song from the former Beatle and his new band at the time, LIVE AND LET DIE is an interesting bridge for the James Bond series. It's the first appearance by Roger Moore as James Bond after seven appearances by Sean Connery and one appearance by George Lazenby. It brings back the team of director Guy Hamilton and screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz who breathed some new life into the franchise with the previous DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971). LIVE AND LET DIE is a grittier Bond film, influenced by the blaxploitation films of the 70s like SHAFT and Gordon Parks SUPER FLY (1972) as well as William Friedkin's THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971). The fate of the world is not at stake in LIVE AND LET DIE but the villain's diabolical plot is more topical and realistic than some previous Bond plot lines.
The murders of three British agents at the United Nations in New York, New Orleans, and the Caribbean island of San Monique (actually Jamaica) all have connections to a foreign diplomat from San Monique named Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) accompanied by his tarot card reading mistress Solitaire (Jane Seymour in her first feature film). James Bond (Roger Moore) is ordered by M (Bernard Lee) to fly to New York to investigate. Working with CIA Agent Felix Leiter (this time played by THE FLY'S David Hedison), Bond has barely landed in New York when he's almost killed by the heavyset Whisper (Earl Jolly Brown). A lead takes him to a restaurant in Harlem called Fillet of Soul where local crime lord Mr. Big (also Yaphet Kotto) orders Bond killed. Bond manages to thwart his would be killers with some assistance from Leiter's operative Strutter (Lon Satton). Kananga and Solitaire return to San Monique and Bond's on the next flight to the tropical island in pursuit.
Bond teams up with rookie CIA Agent Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry) to learn what Kananga with the support of voodoo entertainer Baron Samedi (Geoffrey Holder) are protecting on the island. An upside down Queen of Cups card reveals to Bond that Rosie's a double agent working for Kananga. Rosie's killed by Kananga while trying to flee Bond. Bond hires a boat captained by Quarrel Jr (Roy Stewart) to take a look at Solitaire's cliffside mansion. Later that night, Bond hang glides into the compound. He tricks Solitaire into believing via the tarot cards that they're destined to be lovers. With her virginity gone, Solitaire fears she has lost her clairvoyant powers. Bond with Solitaire in tow discover what Kananga is hiding on the island: poppy fields that can be converted into heroin. After a harrowing chase involving Kananga's gun toting men and a double-decker bus, Bond and Solitaire return to Quarrel Jr's boat and catch a plane to New Orleans to follow the trail.
Once again, Kananga's men are waiting for Bond in New Orleans including Kananga's toughest assassin Tee Hee (Julius W. Harris) complete with artificial arm and claw. Kananga reveals to Bond his plans to flood U.S. cities with free heroin to drive out his competitors then jack up the price when all the addicts need more. Kananga sends Bond off to the Farm -- an alligator farm and location of his heroin processing plant. Tee Hee leaves Bond to be eaten by gators but once again, 007 manages to survive. Bond burns the heroin factory and hijacks a speed boat where he's chased by Kananga's goons on the water and pursued by a local Louisiana sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) on land in the film's penultimate action sequence.
Felix Leiter manages to pluck Bond away from the local authorities after he eludes Kananga's death squad. Kananga escapes and takes Solitiare back to San Miguel. Baron Samedi hosts a voodoo ritual with Solitaire as the intended sacrifice. Bond blows up the poppy fields and rescues Solitaire. They discover Kananga's underground lair in a nearby cemetery. Kananga, Tee Hee, and Whisper await the British agent. Bond and Kananga have their final confrontation as sharks (a favorite device for Bond villains) swim in a nearby pool to devour the loser.
LIVE AND LET DIE is a daring film in the James Bond canon and not just because of its amazing stunts. Besides Roger Moore, Jane Seymour, and David Hedison, the majority of the cast are black, not a common sight in big commercial productions. The Black Panthers and racial tensions were still fresh in America's psyche from the late 60s. But the blaxploitation film movement was emerging in the early 70s. The Bond filmmakers do not flinch with this direction of the series. Bond has an interracial love scene with his black CIA operative Rosie Carver that was still fairly taboo at the time. The main villain Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big is black. Kananga's right hand (or I should say claw) man is tall, bald, grinning, and black. Kananga's minions are black. The majority of extras in New Orleans and Jamaica and Harlem are black. Geoffrey Holder who plays Baron Samedi is also the movie's choreographer. He's black. And most importantly, producers Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman hired the Black Stuntman's Association to perform a great deal of the film's stunts because of the large black cast (for years, movies had to use white stuntmen made up to look black for stunts involving black actors as there were no black stunt men and women in the movie business). Unlike the real world, LIVE AND LET DIE doesn't judge whether your white or black. In the Bond world, you're either on the good side or the megalomaniac bad side.
LIVE AND LET DIE is the classic fish out of water scenario and the results are wonderful. Watching the suave Englishman Bond out of his element in Harlem and the bayous of Louisiana is pure bliss. Bond stands out like a sore thumb whether he's having a drink in an all black Fillet of Soul bar or tangling with alligators on the bayou. Bond doesn't blink an eye that he's the only white guy clamoring around a burnt out ghetto. To Bond, it's perfectly normal to drive a speed boat across a Louisiana highway. "What are you? Some kinda doomsday machine, boy?" red neck Sheriff J.W. Pepper screams at Bond. The humor in LIVE AND LET DIE comes from many of these situations.
Roger Moore was a different look for James Bond after audiences had become comfortable with Sean Connery. Even one hit wonder George Lazenby who played Bond in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969) looked a bit like Connery with his jet black hair. Moore had sandy brown hair. Moore's more urbane than Connery who had a blue collar undercurrent to him. The filmmakers try to steer Moore away from becoming a carbon copy of Connery's Bond. Moore does not order the same cocktails that Connery did. There are no requests for martinis shaken not stirred. Moore's Bond favors cigars. Although some fans may disagree, I find Moore a bit more cold-hearted than Connery when it came to dealing with hitmen or traitorous women like Rosie. But Moore could turn on the charm and make a quip to ease the tension just as fast.
Producers Broccoli and Saltzman originally offered the role of Bond to Roger Moore back in the early 60s but Moore was busy with TVs THE SAINT from 1962 to 1969. Connery accepted and the rest is history. When Connery said he was done with Bond after YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967), Moore was again offered the role for ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE but he still wasn't available and Lazenby stepped in for his one shot. Ironically, Moore did play James Bond for a comedy skit on a British TV show called MAINLY MILLICENT starring Millicent Martin in 1964 (you can view it on the LIVE AND LET DIE Special Features DVD). Moore finally free by 1973 and accepted the LIVE AND LET DIE offer. The producers had found their next Bond. Moore would make seven films as James Bond from 1973 to 1985. I like four of the Moore Bond films very much but by the end of his run as Bond in A VIEW TO A KILL (1985), Moore and the series began to look old and tired.
Besides a breath of fresh air with new Bond Roger Moore, new screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz (DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) also brought some interesting ideas and humor to the series taking over for stalwart screenwriter Richard Maibaum who had been involved with most of the Connery films. Mankiewicz liked taking Bond in a new direction with LIVE AND LET DIE'S plot and new locations (Harlem, New Orleans). But Hamilton and Mankiewicz show reverence for previous Bond films. LIVE AND LET DIE is a return to Jamaica where DR. NO (1962) was filmed. And the character of Quarrel Jr in LIVE AND LET DIE also a references DR. NO as Quarrel Sr helped Bond locate Dr. No's hideout before meeting a fiery demise. Mankiewicz's brings back the multiple endings that he used in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and first appeared in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963). After Kananga's demise, Bond and Solitaire hop on a train for some R&R. This should be the end of the film but Tee Hee climbs on board. Bond and Tee Hee battle inside the train compartment (shades of Bond and Red Grant in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE). Once Tee Hee's dispatched, the final credits roll.
Director Guy Hamilton had directed probably the best Bond film with GOLDFINGER (1964) and his steady hand and understanding of all things Bond helped guide the series in the early 70s with DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LIVE AND LET DIE, and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974). With all its humor, LIVE AND LET DIE has a brutality to it. Kananga orders Tee Hee to snap Bond's fingers off if Solitaire's premonitions are wrong in one scene. And Rosie Carver is just a pawn to both Bond and Kananga, her death a tragic casualty in the spy game. If there is one sour discord, it's that the Bond gadgets are a little weak in LIVE AND LET DIE. Q the gadget man (normally Desmond Llewelyn) is no where to be found.
Lately, the Bond filmmakers have chosen Academy Award winning actors to play the arch villain such as Javier Bardem in SKYFALL and Christoph Waltz in SPECTRE. With LIVE AND LET DIE, they cast a relatively unknown black actor named Yaphet Kotto as Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big. When you think about it, how many well known black actors were there in the early 70s except for Sidney Poitier? Born in New York (of Cameroon descent), Kotto brings an authenticity to Kananga/Mr. Big. He's refined and cultured as diplomat Kananga and gritty and streetwise as alter ego drug kingpin Mr. Big. Kotto would have a good run in the late 70s appearing in Paul Schrader's BLUE COLLAR (1978) and Ridley Scott's ALIEN (1979).
Kotto and many of the other black actors in the film would also appear in some of the blaxploitation films that were the rage in the early 70s and influenced LIVE AND LET DIE. Kotto starred in TRUCK TURNER (1974) starring Isaac Hayes as a bounty hunter. Bond love interest Gloria Hendry would star in BLACK CAESAR (1973) with Fred Williamson and SLAUGHTER'S BIG RIP OFF (also 1973) with Jim Brown. Lastly, Julius W. Harris who played Tee Hee in LIVE AND LET DIE appeared in SHAFT'S BIG SCORE! (1972) with Richard Roundtree and SUPER FLY with Ron O'Neal. Geoffrey Holder who plays Kananga's voodoo ally Baron Samedi did not appear in any black exploitation films. Holder was a renowned choreographer from Trinidad and Tobago. Most Americans might remember Holder for his deep baritone laugh when he was the spokesman for the soft drink 7-Up.
Like Kotto, Jane Seymour was a relative newcomer when she was cast as Kananga's seductive soothsayer Solitaire. And like Kotto, she turned her Bond girl role into a long successful career with films like Jeannot Szwarc's SOMEWHERE IN TIME (1980) and the TV series DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN (1993 to 1998). Solitaire in an interesting Bond girl. She's a virgin, kept that way by Kananga to harness her fortune telling powers, who's seduced (naturally) by Bond. Solitaire's alliances waiver between Kananga and Bond throughout the film. Seymour is lovely and makes Solitaire a sympathetic, vulnerable young Bond Girl.
Seymour almost steals the film with her beauty but the real scene stealer is Clifton James as Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Geoffrey Holder's Baron Samedi is a close second). James is only in the film for about ten minutes but he chews up his scenes like a bulldog. Pepper gives us the first honest impression of what someone who's not a secret agent, an assassin, or a super villain experiences when they come into contact with James Bond. He's apoplectic. James (who's not even a southerner) appeared in Stuart Rosenberg's COOL HAND LUKE (1967). He made such an impression with fans and the Producers that he actually has a small cameo in Bond's next film THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974) as J.W. Pepper again, this time on vacation in Thailand.
A shout out to David Hedison as CIA agent Felix Leiter. Hedison was familiar to audiences from the horror classic THE FLY (1958) and TVs VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1964 to 1968). A good friend of Roger Moore, Hedison is the only actor to play Felix Leiter twice, the second time in LICENCE TO KILL (1989) with Timothy Dalton playing James Bond.
LIVE AND LET DIE has a Beatles connection. Paul McCartney and Wings sing the title song of LIVE AND LET DIE. Beatles record producer George Martin composed the score for the film (which might explain McCartney's involvement). Martin was an integral part in producing and shaping many of the Beatles singles and albums in the 60s. In LIVE AND LET DIE, Martin often uses pieces of the theme song in other scenes like the double-decker bus chase or as a bridge from one scene to another. A black lounge singer (Brenda Arnau) even sings Live and Let Die as Bond and Felix sit in a New Orleans Fillet of Soul lounge.
LIVE AND LET DIE ushered in a new dawn for the James Bond series. It's the debut for Roger Moore as the world's most famous secret agent 007 James Bond as he took over for the widely popular Sean Connery. It completely turns the franchise on its head with a grittier plot and casting a large array of black actors in a big commercial film. It raises the bar on stunts for future films with its incredible speed boat chase that's part on water; part on asphalt. LIVE AND LET DIE could have all gone horribly wrong and finished the series. Producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman knew what they were doing, trusting veteran Bond director Guy Hamilton and new Bond screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz to lead the series into the future. Bond has never looked back since.
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