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Live and Let Die
Plot (Spoiler Alert)Three agents have been killed and 007 must go to New Orleans to investigate and finds himself to be the next target of assasination. Bond gets close enough to find out the person behind it is Mr. Big. Mr. Big is coordinating a global threat, using tons of self-produced heroin. While trying to stop Mr. Big, Bond seduces Big’s tarot-card reader, Solitaire. 
Blaine: After Sean Connery was done with playing James Bond critics were saying that James Bond is dead. So it was decided to find a new Bond which was a problem because it’s a big part. The next Ian Fleming book they wanted to do was “Live and Let Die” and Guy Hamilton, who had done “Goldfinger” and “Diamonds Are Forever” was attached to direct. The reason why “Live and Let Die” was chosen to be the next Bond film was because screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz thought it had more of an edge to it and all the villains are black. That was a chancy thing for them because they were making around the time of the black revolution and Black Panthers. While the script was in works, Guy Hamilton would go scouting for locations. He wasn’t interested in shooting the movie in New Orleans when it was recommended because they already shot “Thuderball” there, but being told there are jazz funerals in New Orleans was a start of changing his mind. Guy asked what else is in New Orleans and there are canals which sounded good for the chase sequence. They also found a crocodile farm where they met Ross Kananga, the guy who owns it. Tom Mankiewicz had named the villain of the film after Ross Kananga. There was one thing they still needed and that was James Bond. Tom had contacted Sean Connery about the project and told him that it has crocodiles and a boat chase. But Sean’s reply to that was wanting his own golf course, which he already owned, and a bank. Sean was sure he didn’t want to do another James Bond film. The producers recall asking Roger Moore to play James Bond when the franchise first began, but he was unavailable at the time. When it came to “Live and Let Die” they called him up and told him they wanted him to be in the next Bond film. Roger agreed to do the project, but was afraid of how his take on the character would be because he thought Sean Connery did a perfect job and both his and Roger’s personalities are different from each other. Roger had read a few of the books and one of them said that Bond returned from a mission somewhere and killed a female which wasn’t easy for him. Roger, Guy and Tom wanted to avoid imitating Sean Connery and give it something new. Another thing Roger had to avoid was his iconic role Simon Templar like raising one of his eyebrows. Roger was able to pull it off. The first thing they did before shooting began was work on the boat chase scene and finding the right location. A woman was nice enough to let them shoot on her property for when the boat leaps across to the other side of the lake. One of the challenges was to have the boats jump. A ramp was built for when the boat jumps over the cars and it would go 75 miles an hour. Roger Moore had to learn a few boating skills and got hurt while rehearsing the scene. When I saw that scene for the first time I thought it was really cool to watch because the boats would be flying over cars, going on land into someone’s pool and leaping across to the other side of the lake. The reason I like this Bond film with Roger Moore so much is because of the boat chase scene. 
Casting went on while they were testing out the boat chase scene. For the role of Bond’s leading lady Solitaire, Tom Mankiewicz wanted singer Diana Ross, but the producers wanted to stick with her being a white woman like she is in Ian Fleming’s novel. Jane Seymour’s agent informed her that the producers wanted to meet her for the Bond film. She came in wearing a fur hat and coat and they told her to take them off. Her hair came down once that hat came off and it was very clear that she was the right choice to play Solitaire. Jane couldn’t believe it. Jane went to Bourbon Street to learn tarot. Solitaire starts off as someone who is wise and is slightly serious, but then her personality changes after Bond flips one of her cards and it is saying that both she and him are meant to be in love. She becomes scared for two reasons. One because if she gets involved with James her boss Mr. Big will kill her and two she has never been with a man. Yaphet Kotto was doing “Across 110th Street” and the president of United Artist went up to Yaphet asking him what he plans to do next and Yaphet didn’t have any idea. The president recommended that he be in “Live and Let Die”. Tom thought about adding a character to be made fun of and that is the Sheriff Pepper played by Clifton James. Production for “Live and Let Die” began and the first thing they shot was the boats going across the bayous while a wedding is taking place. They did a few takes and one of the stuntmen crashed into a tree and paramedics were called in. After that Guy thought that was enough for the day. Filming couldn’t continue without that wedding scene and the next day the bayou was flooded. Another problem was Roger Moore had kidney stones and was sent to the hospital. With everything that was happening so far becoming a bit of a disaster the crew were starting to think the project was under some kind of curse. On November the 30th of 1972 they shot the bus chase sequence. There was a feeling that the bus might tip over because of the way it spun in that scene, but Roger Moore said they don’t tip over. Jane Seymour would get involved with some of the stunts. She was in that bus when is spun around. It was terrifying for Jane and someone else could have done that scene, but she did it. Another stuntman was hurt on the job. It was one of the motorcyclist going after the bus and falls into the sea. He hit a spot that hadn’t been cleared, but he wasn’t badly hurt. They weren’t sure if the bus going under the bridge and taking the roof top completely off was going to work or not because it had never been done before. It made Jane’s heart beat hard. The bus had to go three or four hundred yards up the road to go at a fast pace for when it hits the bridge. It all went well once they shot it and Jane felt very proud to have been in that bus. The crocodiles were very dangerous to work with. Some of them were fake. Roger Moore had an idea of wearing crocodile shoes during that scene. It took the stuntman weeks of preparation for the scene where Bond jumps across each crocodile to get off the tiny island where he is left to be eaten. The crocodiles would be tied down to their legs. It took five takes to shoot that scene and the more they did it the more the crocodiles would be aware of the stuntman once they saw him. They would open their mouths once they saw him. Judging by the looks of it the stuntman was scared of those crocodiles even though stuntmen are supposed to be brave. He was able to pull it off during the last take. “Live and Let Die” was released July 5, 1973 and audiences were introduced to a new 007. My rating on “Live and Let Die” is five out of five stars. Song: Live and Let Die Artist: Paul McCartney & Wings 
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