Live and Let Die on Prime Video — Lesson Number 3
Every bond movie, including the ‘apparently serious’ movies featuring Daniel Craig, is crazy and unique. Yet, I got to say. Live and Let Die takes the bonkers thing to another level entirely.
Let’s sample a few things.
The big bad, uses a ‘fortune telling’ mystic powered woman to see the future. As a result, he is always two steps ahead of the the authorities. Actual, future, seeing powers.
Then, Bond’s mission, is to have intercourse with this ‘mystic’ woman, who is, of course, a virgin. Virginity = Powers. After having nice hot sex with this virgin woman, Bond, has essentially crippled the bad guy’s plan.
Also, there is a guy who cannot be killed. He likes to laugh in a creepy way, and likes to sit in the engine front of speeding trains. I mean, he is immortal. So, high speeds winds wont affect him.
So, this crazy, bonkers movie is what the producers decided to go with, when they introduced Roger Moore, as James Bond
Restoring Stability
Where there is money, there is always drama. The more is the money, the more is the drama.
The bond producers, are constantly, at odds with their leading man for the last 3 movies. Connery, clearly, stopped having fun with You Only Live Twice. Then comes the skirt wearing Bond, who quits almost immediately. Then, Connery, once again, back, but, totally just phoning it in.
So, yes, the producers needed a reliable guy who can just go with the flow. Roger Moore is that guy. Roger Moore made a total of 7 movies, and he only retired because he was getting too old to play the role. From what I understand, he seemed to be a simple guy, behind the scenes. He is obviously, the coolest guy, like, just chilling out, on screen.
Moore’s bond is okay with anything. He, somehow, is self aware, that he is, James Bond. He knows he is a legend in the Bond universe. So, he knows he is invincible. He is totally aware that he is a chick magnet and girls will simply just do stuff with him. Effortlessly and mostly with proper consent. As much consent as you can get in the 70s and 80s.
When we see him for the first time, he is happily boning some Italian agent, and totally just enjoying the situation. He is probably just
‘Sure, why not?’ seems to be the general attitude of Moore’s bond. Like a fun uncle, who is unfazed with an empty fridge or an earthquake or a complete power blackout and end of the world. He is just, having fun. Everybody is happy.
Magic, Mystic and Drug Smuggling…What?
I have seen my share of Blaxploitation movies. Most of them have this one black guy, who is like a total badass. I think, Black Dynamite, summarizes the entire genre, quiet nicely.
At one point, Black Dynamite, is simply walking down the road, whilst on a date with a woman. Then, he runs into two girls playing on the road. They both happen to be his daughters! They are also of same age.
So, yes, as a movie set in the 70s, it was inevitable that the Bond franchise would include this genre. I like it though. I loved Black Dynamite and since then, I have tried to watch any other Blaxploitation movie I can get my hands on. They are fun.
Also, finally, we get a African American bond girl.
So far, every bad guy has been a white guy. So, it’s good to have a totally professional, sophisticated, long term planning black villain guy. In a movie filled with fortune tellers and undead evil henchmen, this villain has the most realistic plan.
Give away drugs. Get people addicted. Bankrupt rest of the suppliers. Then, monopolize the entire American marketplace for decades.
You cannot get more practical than that. A couple of times, the villain simply goes ahead and kills bond without even waiting for any special dinner invitation or lengthy explanation of his master plan. He just goes for it, man.
I think, the producers, short changed him, at the end. I mean, here is the deal. At some point, the producers and writers decided — Mr. Big must die by exploding from within.
So, they invented the exploding bullet gun. Forced Bond to carry it for the climax. Made Bond fight with Mr. Big, under water. Then, made Bond push it inside his mouth. For some reason, Mr. Big, simply swallows it and explodes in the most, silliest villain deaths of all time.
Why?
Why would you have such a comedic, hopeless death scene with such poor special effects. Mr. Big was already in a shark tank. He could have simply died in the tank, and that would be a good death. I enjoyed this movie, but, that villain death was just awful!
Crocodiles and Boat Chase
As it is with most bond films, the action is high octane, and inventive. There are car chases, explosions and essential gadget usage.
To me, two things, stand out. At one point, the metal hand wielding henchman, places Bond on a tiny rock, surrounding by these awesome and hungry crocodiles. I love crocodiles. They are the coolest reptiles ever. Bond, tries to gadget his way out, but, no, the boat is not moveable. Then, he looks around and finds that some crocodiles have conveniently lined up towards the shore.
So, Bond simply runs on water, on the back of crocodiles. It’s not even some special effect. The producers found a guy, to actually do that!! Oh man. These bond movies never cease to surprise me.
Then, that really long boat chase. Obviously, there are far superior and better executed water chases in the movie series, but, this, is very well done. In the olden days, there were no computer generated effects. So, what we see, is what we get. I can only imagine the amount of effort that went into shooting all these stunts.
Amazing. Just amazing.
Score
I am marathon watching the James Bond movies and I wish to rank them at the end. So, I came up with a numbering system. The scores for this one are here.
- Action and Stunts 9/9
- Coolness Cool 9/9
- Double Entendre and One Liners 9/9
- Hot Women 9/9
- Ludicrous Villainy, Cool Deaths and Traps 9/9
- Gadgets Man! 9/9
- General Awesomeness 9/9
- Boredom Factor 0/-9
Total : 63
Note: I confess, that, I cannot help buy enjoy the Moore movies. They are, despite their flaws, better than majority of bond movies. Sorry, about this, bias.
Final Note
Growing up, in the 90s, Moore bond movies were the ones we watched the most in India. He is nice, pleasant and so warm. I already knew what to expect. Watching Moore again, was just a pleasant dose of nostalgia.
While the quality fluctuates for the next 6 movies, I know, that Moore is always a fun bond to hang out with. This will only make stomaching the Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig movies that much harder, but, we will cross that bridge when we get there.
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