PRODUCTION
The huge financial success of Diamonds Are Forever assured Eon Productions that there would be another James Bond film, with or without Sean Connery. The producers began yet another talent search to cast James Bond for their next project, Live and Let Die. Again Burt Reynolds was considered, but Cubby Broccoli insisted Bond must be played by an Englishman. Their final choice was the man who was reportedly second on the list when they were casting Dr. No: Roger Moore.
Moore seemed to be a good choice—he had sophistication, experience, good looks, and would not be an unknown face outside of England. Audiences accepted him in the role of James Bond, although he plays it quite differently from his predecessors.
Moore arrived on the scene just as the direction in the Bond films began veering towards comedy. Since Moore's forte is light comedy, he fit right in. From Live and Let Die on, the scriptwriters tailored the screenplays to fit Roger Moore's personality. As a result, James Bond lost much of the machismo image which was so prominent in the sixties. It seems Bond never gets hurt in any of the subsequent films—the Roger Moore Bond uses his wits rather than fists to escape dangerous situations. One-liners are geared to Moore's brand of delivery (such as adding "darling" when he's speaking to a woman). The Roger Moore Bond sails effortlessly through his adventures—which reflects the work of the scriptwriters and directors more than the actor.
Once Roger Moore was cast, United Artists immediately launched a heavy publicity campaign to sell him as Bond. The producers told the press that Roger Moore was closer to Ian Fleming's original conception of Bond than Sean Connery—straight British, old Etonian dropout, etc. This is, in fact, untrue. Fleming certainly never conceived Bond as an old Etonian dropout (he was kicked out)—if anything, Bond looks back on his school years with a great deal of cynicism. And Fleming's Bond is Scottish. Nevertheless, by the time Live and Let Die was released in the summer of 1973, the public had been well conditioned to accept Roger Moore as the new James Bond.
The second decade of James Bond films is certainly a different batch from the first. The trend toward comedy initiated in Diamonds progressed until the Bond films became something of a mixture of Smokey and the Bandit and Star Wars. They were all successful, but 007 was lost on the screen. None of the seventies' scripts resemble Fleming's stories, and the standard Bond formula became embarrassingly repetitious. Inevitably, the Bond films attracted a younger and younger audience.
Live and Let Die contains moments of spectacle, as does every Bond film, but the "bumps" formula weakens the narrative. When a script is written around a series of locations already chosen for the film, one can't expect a plot to make a whole lot of sense. The first Roger Moore vehicle is admirable in a few ways: it's attractive to look at, there are some funny bits, the locations are interesting, and the cast is fairly good. What mars the film are its digressions into the absurd.
One ingredient critics attacked when the film was released was its all-black villainous organization. The film happened to be released during the peak of the black film boom of 1972 and 1973. Sounder had been nominated for Academy Awards that spring, as had Lady Sings the Blues. Shaft was becoming a cult hero. Eon Productions was accused of exploiting blacks just because there was a current boom in black films. These attacks were unwarranted, for Fleming's original novel also features an all-black villainous organization. If anything, the filmmakers created a much more sophisticated group than Fleming had.
Location shooting took place in New Orleans, Jamaica, and New York; interiors were shot, as usual, at Pinewood Studios in England. Guy Hamilton was in charge of his third Bond film, and the future of James Bond fell into the hands of Roger Moore.
SCREENPLAY
For the second time in the series, Richard Maibaum's name is missing from the screenplay credit Tom Mankiewicz is the sole author.
Mankiewicz told Bondage magazine that he had written the script before he knew Roger Moore was going to play Bond. He had been told by the producers and United Artists president David Picker that the new film must be an entertaining, action-packed film, no matter who was going to play Bond. Therefore, Mankiewicz injected the set-piece formula into the script in such a way that the film basically jumps from stunt to stunt.
As usual, Fleming's original story was thrown out. Because it was felt that the novel's treatment of blacks was patronizing, the filmmakers decided to create a high-class criminal organization as opposed to Fleming's group of second-rate crooks. The result was a SPECTRE-like organization operating from the Caribbean island of San Monique. The prime minister of the island, Dr. Kananga, is attempting to smuggle heroin into the states via a chain of restaurants in New Orleans and New York. While in New York, Dr. Kananya masquerades as Mr. Big in order to instill fear in his underlings. Gone is Bloody Morgan's pirate hoard, as well as the fascinating character of Mr. Big himself. Kananga's Mr. Big is inconsequential.
Mankiewicz does retain some of the original elements and characters: Solitaire, the Bond-girl with telepathic powers; Felix Leiter; Tee-Hee, one of the black hoods; and Baron Samedi, the Prince of Darkness. The voodoo motifs are also used in the film, as well as a deck of tarot cards which becomes the design metaphor for the picture. Several new characters are created: Rosie Carver, a black CIA agent helping Bond in the Caribbean; J. W. Pepper, comic relief in the form of a redneck Southern sheriff; and other assorted black hoodlums. Samedi is made an actual character who also serves as a visual metaphor in the film.
The Live and Let Die script is witty and entertaining, but not very original. When compared to the novel, it is second-rate. Fleming's story is one of his best, and it is preposterous that the filmmakers discarded the superior plot of the book. Several of Fleming's scenes would have translated wonderfully to the screen: Bond and Leiter's barhopping in Harlem; Bond and Solitaire's train ride to Florida (this location was changed to New Orleans in the film); the loss of Leiter's hand and leg; the fight in the fish warehouse; Bond's swim through Shark Bay; and several others. Granted, changing the villains' operation to smuggling heroin is more timely, but that would have worked in the context of the original story. As it is, Live and Let Die operated on a totally visual level—full of stunts, exotic locales, and a hell of a lot of destruction of public property. As a story, though, the film is limp.
The pre-credits sequence does not even feature James Bond. Usually, this traditional device tells a complete story in itself, whether it is related to the main plot or not. In Live and Let Die, we see three British men murdered by blacks—one at the United Nations, one on a New Orleans street corner, and one on the island of San Monique. The scenes do not grab the audience, and this pre-credits sequence is therefore the weakest of the series.
The opening scene of the film proper takes place at James Bond's flat. We see him in bed with a girl, where he is rudely awakened by none other than M at his front door. The scene provides a few laughs, especially when Miss Moneypenny catches the semi-clad girl attempting to hide in Bond's closet. But in the past, Bond has always been summoned to the office in a matter of emergency. Why would M and/or Miss Moneypenny bother to travel to Bond's house so early in the morning? The idea is ridiculous. But if one forgets this, the scene is one of the more enjoyable in the film.