Live and Let Die (1973)

Roger Moore’s fun and colorful debut as 007 Agent 007 (Roger Moore) travels from Harlem to the Caribbean to Louisiana to stop a black heroin mogul (Yaphet Kotto) fortified with a multifarious organization and a lovely tarot card reader (Jane Seymour). This was Moore’s dynamic debut as Bond. He did 7 films for the franchise in 13 years from 1973-1985. The tone of “Live and Let Die” is similar to Sean Connery’s final canon Bond flick, “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971). Moore’s stint is my favorite run in the series with all seven films being kinetic, amusing, scenic and just all-around entertaining. There’s not one stinker in the bunch and they were all profitable at the box office. Aside from the picturesque globetrotting, “Live and Let Die” features several colorful characters beyond those already noted: The metal-armed Tee Hee (Julius Harris), the chortling voodoo minion Baron Samedi (Geoffrey Holder) and redneck Sheriff JW Pepper (Clifton James). On the female front, Seymour is young & cute while Gloria Hendry is impressively fit as Rosie. The head-turning Madeline Smith has a small role. In addition, there are several memorable thrilling parts, like the amusing airport sequence, Bond using crocogators as stepping stones, the great bayou boat chase and the closing train cab brouhaha. As far as the movie being “racist,” as SJW’s whine, the character Agent Quarrel Jr. (Roy Stewart) blows that whole eye-rolling idiot-theory. The film runs 2 hours, 1 minute and was shot in Manhattan, Jamaica and Louisiana (New Orleans & the bayous) with additional work done in England. GRADE: B+