The eighth film in the Bond series, Live and Let Die, was the first to star Roger Moore as agent 007. Moore would go on to star in 7 Bond pictures (the largest number by a single actor).
Directed by Guy Hamilton and produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, the film was written by Tom Mankiewicz.
Based on Ian Fleming’s 1954 novel of the same name, the story involves Harlem drug lord Mr. Big who plans to distribute two tons of heroin for free in order to put rival drug barons out of business and then become a monopoly supplier.
Mr. Big is, in fact, the alter ego of Dr. Kananga, a corrupt Caribbean dictator, who rules San Monique, a fictional island where opium is secretly farmed.
Bond is investigating the deaths of three British agents, and he is soon trapped in a world of gangsters and voodoo as he fights to stop the drug baron’s scheme.
Live and Let Die was released during the blaxploitation era, containing some blaxploitation types andc clichés are depicted in the film, including derogatory racial epithets (“honky”), black gangsters, and pimpmobiles.
It departs from former plots of Bond films about super-villains, and instead focuses on drug trafficking, which was a common theme of blaxploitation and other American films of the era.
Set in African-American places, such as Harlem. New Orleans, Caribbean Islands, it was also the first Bond with African-American Bond girl. Rosie Carver, played by Gloria Hendry.
The film was a box-office success and received generally positive reviews from critics.
The title song, written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by their band Wings, was nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar and later became popular on its own right.
to kill Bond, but Bond cuts the wires of his prosthetic arm and throws him out the window. As the film ends, a laughing Samedi is revealed to be riding on the front of the train.
Cast
Roger Moore as Bond – 007 investigating the murder of three fellow agents.
Yaphet Kotto as Dr. Kananga / Mr. Big, a corrupt Caribbean Prime Minister who doubles as drug lord.
Jane Seymour as Solitaire, Kananga’s psychic and Bond’s love interest.
Clifton James as Sheriff J.W. Pepper, an uncouth Louisiana sheriff.
Julius W. Harris as Tee Hee Johnson, Kananga’s henchman with prosthetic arm.
Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi, Kananga’s henchman with ties to Voodoo occult.
David Hedison as Felix Leiter, Bond’s CIA colleague, also investigating Mr. Big.
Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver, junior CIA agent in San Monique, secretly working for Kananga.
Bernard Lee as M, the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service
Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, M’s secretary.
Tommy Lane as Adam, one of Dr. Kananga’s henchmen.
Roy Stewart as Quarrel Jr., Bond’s ally in San Monique and son of Quarrel from Dr. No.
Lon Satton as Harry Strutter, a CIA agent assisting Bond in New York.
Arnold Williams as Cab Driver 1, a jokey New York taxi driver and one of Kananga’s men.
Ruth Kempf as Mrs. Bell, student pilot who gets caught up in Bond’s escaping from Kananga’s men.
Joie Chitwood as Charlie, a CIA agent.
Madeline Smith as Miss Caruso (“Beautiful Girl”), Italian agent whom Bond briefly romances.
Michael Ebbin as Dambala, one of Kananga’s henchmen in San Monique and a voodoo priest
Kubi Chaza as Sales Girl, a cashier at the Oh Cult Voodoo Shop in New York, and informant for Kananga.
B. J. Arnau as a cabaret singer, who performs the movie’s theme at the Fillet of Soul restaurant.
