Jump to content


This is a read only archive of the old forums
The new CBn forums are located at https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/

 
Photo

Live and Let Die


15 replies to this topic

#1 B5Erik

B5Erik

    Sub-Lieutenant

  • Crew
  • Pip
  • 465 posts
  • Location:Southern California

Posted 27 December 2012 - 05:46 AM

I finally picked up Live and Let Die on Blu Ray and watched it yesterday.  I hadn't watched the movie in years, but my memory was that it was a fairly cheesy movie that was poorly written and acted.

 

Then I saw that several people here rated the movie fairly highly so I thought I'd watch it again with an open mind.

 

You know what?  While it isn't bad I still rate it at the bottom of my Bond movie list.  Why?

 

For all the people who say that Licence To Kill looks like a TV movie it looks like Skyfall compared to Live and Let Die.  Live and Let Die looks like a 70's TV show in production style.  The dialogue is of TV caliber, and the acting is pretty poor, too (outside of Moore and David Hedison) - especially Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver.  The character of Rosie Carver is pretty poorly thought out as well.  First off, she's incompetent.  Would the CIA really put someone THAT incompetent out in the field?  I don't think so.  Second, it's her 2nd assignment and she's ALREADY been turned by the bad guys?  Really???

 

The 2nd rate Blaxploitation elements in the movie ring hollow (at least with the Blaxploitation movies they came across as more genuine).  And Yaphet Kotto is pretty bad as Kananga/Mr. Big.

 

Having said that, there are some good things in the movie.  Bond's escape from, "The farm," and the ensuing boat chase is excellent, and Jane Seymour is good as well.

 

It just doesn't feel like a Bond movie to me.  The voodoo elements are incredibly cheesy, the Harlem/New Orleans stuff is incredibly cheesy, and naming the mob boss, "Mr. Big," was unbelievably cheesy. 

 

And Guy Hamilton did an absolutely awful job of directing the movie for the most part.  It really does look like a TV movie from that era, and most of the actors overact and are completely cheeseball.  Hamilton did them no favors.  Looking back, his work on Goldfinger was weak, and every Bond movie he did after that looked like glorified TV movies.  After watching LALD I'm inclined to say that Hamilton was a hack.  Other than Battle of Britain (a fairly good movie) I'm not real familiar with his work outside of Bond movies, but based on what I've seen I'd say that he's the weakest director that Eon ever hired.

 

So, summing it all up, I'd say that LALD isn't quite as bad as I had remembered (and my daughter really liked it), but it's still bottom of the barrel for the Bond movies in my estimation.  Not bad, but not all that good, either.  Like all Bond movies, though, it IS entertaining...



#2 Safari Suit

Safari Suit

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 5099 posts
  • Location:UK

Posted 27 December 2012 - 12:27 PM

I've always found TMWTGG to look and feel considerably more like a TV-Movie, for some reason, even though it features more impressive locations. I like LALD a lot, and I think it's cheaper aesthetic actually works for it in a strange way.



#3 Mallory

Mallory

    Sub-Lieutenant

  • Crew
  • Pip
  • 161 posts
  • Location:Connecticut

Posted 27 December 2012 - 06:20 PM

I liked it and wondered how long it took for the filmmakers to realize that the film makes it look like that all black people are working together. That was why J.W. was created. They used him in The Man with the Golden Gun because they felt there wasn't enough damage. Also Cubby liked the guy.

 

A lot can be said about Live and Let Die, mostly negative. To me it was a lot of fun, Roger Moore had some great lines, and it was the film that put 007 back in the game. In terms of most attended Bond film it holds the number four spot after Goldfinger, Skyfall and Thunderball. 



#4 AMC Hornet

AMC Hornet

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 5857 posts

Posted 27 December 2012 - 11:13 PM

...naming the mob boss, "Mr. Big," was unbelievably cheesy.


#5 delfloria

delfloria

    Lieutenant

  • Crew
  • PipPip
  • 675 posts

Posted 27 December 2012 - 11:23 PM

LALD is just a mess. Some how Hamilton made Goldfinger work and I don't know why. Perhaps the team of Adam, Hunt, Maibaum, Young (did the pre production) and Connery carried it. Without this specific team Hamilton always came up short. DAF, LALD and MWTGG are some of my least favorite entries in the series. In his defense, having read the scripts to each of these films, he had questionable material to work with at best.



#6 AMC Hornet

AMC Hornet

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 5857 posts

Posted 27 December 2012 - 11:25 PM

Tom Mankiewicz named the mob boss Kananga, after the gator farmer who did the back-walk.

 

Ian Fleming named the mob boss Mr. Big after his initial;s Bonaparte Ignace Gallia.

 

How cheesy!

 

(Sorry, B5Erik, but having loved LALD since I first saw it in 1973 - when it beat anything ever made for TV - I can't agree with you. I'm glad you liked the boat chase, though - that really was a show-stopper!)



#7 tdalton

tdalton

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 11680 posts

Posted 28 December 2012 - 05:28 AM

I've always found TMWTGG to look and feel considerably more like a TV-Movie, for some reason, even though it features more impressive locations. I like LALD a lot, and I think it's cheaper aesthetic actually works for it in a strange way.

 

This I would agree with.  The Man With the Golden Gun is much closer to looking like a made-for-TV-movie than Live and Let Die.  I'd say the acting, for the most part, in The Man With the Golden Gun is on par with such a production as well, save for Moore's performance, which is actually pretty good despite the foolishness they surrounded him with. 

 

I'd rank Live and Let Die just behind For Your Eyes Only as Moore's best, with Octopussy perhaps tied with it in that second spot. 



#8 seawolfnyy

seawolfnyy

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 4763 posts
  • Location:La Rioja

Posted 28 December 2012 - 05:49 AM

I'd also have to agree that TMWTGG feels more like a TV production than LALD. Save for the barrel roll, TMWTGG has NO big set pieces. Not much happens, it save for Moore and Lee, the acting is awful. Britt Ekland is the third worst Bond girl right behind Tanya Roberts and Denise Richards. Conversely, LALD has one of the better ones in Jane Seymour and sum stunning set pieces and locales. The San Monique (Jamaica) locales were pretty bland, but the bayou chase is one of the best in the series. It also one of the more down to Earth plots of the Moore films. Overall, I think LALD is one of the stronger entries especially of Moore's tenure ranking behind TSWLM and FYEO.



#9 Walecs

Walecs

    Lieutenant

  • Crew
  • PipPip
  • 789 posts
  • Location:Italy

Posted 16 January 2013 - 07:28 PM

I never liked LALD. The book was very good, but I consider the movie to be even worse than Quantum of Solace.



#10 Iceskater101

Iceskater101

    Lt. Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPip
  • 2398 posts
  • Location:Midwest, MN

Posted 16 January 2013 - 10:07 PM

There are parts of the movie that I really enjoy and parts that I really hate. Like Seargant Pepper.. so boring and that whole boat chase to me is very boring. I like the voodoo story of it and I love Roger Moore in this movie. He is so young and cute.



#11 AMC Hornet

AMC Hornet

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 5857 posts

Posted 16 January 2013 - 10:24 PM

Sergeant Pepper?

 

I'll let someone else set you straight...



#12 S K Y F A L L

S K Y F A L L

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 6889 posts
  • Location:CANADA

Posted 16 January 2013 - 11:06 PM

 Some of my favorite lines in the film and which stand out to me as some of the most memorable and surprising are and the catboat one gets me every time;

" Boy, where you been all your life? That there's one of them new car-boats."

" Hey man, for twenty bucks I'd take you to a Ku Klux Klan cookout! "

" Bond ripped off one of our boats. He's headed for the Irish Bayou. The man that gets him stays alive! Now, MOVE YOU MOTHERS! "

 

I always compare LALD to DN, I suppose because its Moore's first Bond film but the films do share some similarities IMO as do all but for instance;

Quarrel vs Quarrel Jr

Desmond Llewelyn is not present in either of them 

villains lair on an island with mysterious dragon or voodoo magic 



#13 R. Dittmar

R. Dittmar

    Sub-Lieutenant

  • Crew
  • Pip
  • 146 posts
  • Location:Garnet Valley, PA

Posted 16 January 2013 - 11:50 PM

 Some of my favorite lines in the film and which stand out to me as some of the most memorable ...

 

I have to admit one of my favorite lines is "Rosie Carver, meet the man who shares my hairbrush."!



#14 Iceskater101

Iceskater101

    Lt. Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPip
  • 2398 posts
  • Location:Midwest, MN

Posted 16 January 2013 - 11:53 PM

Sergeant Pepper?

 

I'll let someone else set you straight...

 

Oh c'mon it was only one spelling error...



#15 S K Y F A L L

S K Y F A L L

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 6889 posts
  • Location:CANADA

Posted 17 January 2013 - 12:12 AM

 

Sergeant Pepper?

 

I'll let someone else set you straight...

 

Oh c'mon it was only one spelling error...

 

 

Oh I didn't notice at first..

Captain, would you enlighten the Sheriff please? 

Its actually Sheriff J.W. Pepper. 



Its all good.



#16 thecasinoroyale

thecasinoroyale

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 14358 posts
  • Location:Basingstoke, UK

Posted 17 January 2013 - 03:26 PM

A great debut film for Sir Roger Moore - wonderful soundtrack, great locations, fab action sequences and it's a great, current story.

 

The gunbarrel theme is one of the series best - loud, proud and sheer Bond! Iconic opening theme, good characters and a smooth run for Moore.

 

For a debut Bond, Moore had some good iconic elements like the double decker bus slice, the speedboat jump and the crocodile stepping stones and they are all still exciting sequences today.

 

Love it, it's my 2nd favourite Moore film after 'A View To A Kill'.