Time: 122 Minutes
Studio: MGM Fox
Rating: PG
SRP: $34.98

FEATURE: B

Someone’s taking out agents across the globe so James Bond (Roger Moore) goes to America to see what’s what. Against a network of Harlem thugs, he follows them to San Monique a remote island in the Caribbean. Bond stumbles on a crime ring led by voodoo mystics Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) who have a wild card in their pocket, the tarot card reader, Solitaire (Jane Seymour) who can predict the future. Bond seduces Solitaire and in effect takes her powers away. Unbeknownst to Kananga, Bond offers Solitaire a chance for escape with him stumbling on a field of poppies. The dots begin to connect. After several chase scenes in the Big Easy and the Caribbean, Solitaire exchanges sides setting up a big finish between Bond and big bad voodoo.

This is the third Bond film directed by Guy Hamilton and a transition for the 007 franchise. In his film debut Moore struts the screen as the third James Bond after Sean Connery and George Lazenby. And it’s evident he’s not as physical as Connery. His version of Bond is more humorous and campy. I’d rather have him make it his own than live up to some ideal. Moore does that with timing and delivery of lines, evidence of his storied work in comedic theater.

Instead of being a global compass of world relations, Live and Let Die reflected the types of films being produced at the time. The early 70’s saw more leading roles for black actors as well as films made by black filmmakers. These films signified an symbolic change in the culture in America and a loud yell from a previous quiet voice in films.

Kotto was a major player in exploitation films and independent films made by black filmmakers. Becoming a great Bond Villain would be a fine stage to showcase his presence as a powerful character actor. Today he remains as an under-appreciated actor Live and Let Die would also display the great stunt-work of late stuntman Eddie Smith, who formed the Black Stuntmen’s Association and fought for jobs for African-American stuntmen. Even though all of the evil characters in the film are black, the film celebrates the early efforts of more prominent roles in Hollywood for African-Americans.

Sensitive film watchers may take offense to some of the slang with Bond often referred to as “honkey” and the redneck cops of New Orleans calling the blacks, “boys” repeatedly. It went both ways. At one point the film slips into what feels like an episode of Dukes of Hazard in the infamous boat chase made even funnier with a slack-jawed sheriff who wouldn’t be fooled by no brother. The sheriff was left shocked, and so was the deputy. Live and Let Die is still a fun trip for Bond fans who don’t take themselves to serious–a jovial jaunt that’s definitely more cat and mouse than it is spy and tell.

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: C+

Compared to this first grouping of Bond blu-ray releases, Live and Let Die is pretty limited as immersive soundtracks are concerned, still it’s a 5.1 DTS-HD lossless audio track. Explosions are few and far between but when things need to be loud, they are. Paul McCartney’s theme song, which is used throughout the film (even more than 007 theme) goes to all of the channels but most of the sound is kept up front. The range is good between actions sequences panning left to right and the whispers between the sheets. But because there are more chase scenes than gunfire, the opportunity for big audio never really comes. Also available are the original English and Spanish Mono tracks and a 5.1 Dolby Digital French track.

VIDEO: A–

The gritty landscape of Live and Let Die is pretty drab with lots from inner city grays and the muddy brown waters of the bayou but there is candy for the eye. Night scenes look rich and deep when they’re supposed to be. Maurice Binder’s opening title credits with silhouettes of Caribbean women dancing in chromatic flames jump off the screen and look like new. And the Fillet of Soul club in the New Orleans lights up the screen with its deep crimson hue. Kotto and Seymour’s flamboyant 70’s attire are hard to miss in the clear 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer. Live and Let Die’s aspect ratio, which varies from Bond film to Bond film, is 1.85:1. The film is at its widest during the boat chase but as stated before really lacks any reason to shoot wide throughout.

EXTRAS: A–

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. Others have short but insightful featurettes that add a deeper appreciation to the film. Live and Let Die’s strength is in the Audio Commentaries.

If you like the film and enjoy multiple viewings there are three commentaries to give you a couple different experiences. Sir Roger Moore picks his moments in the first commentary track, but is frank with his experiences and impressions of playing such a movie icon. The most enjoyable one I found is the one hosted by John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation who has an impressive wealth of knowledge and stories about the 007 movies and novels. He works in excerpts of interviews with the director, Guy Hamilton, cast and crew. Yaphet Kotto in particular has a lot of great stories including how it took him three years after the shoot to get out of the Bond lifestyle of demanding high class treatment and eating with an expensive palette. Finally the last track is with screenwriter, Tom Mankiewicz who like Moore picks his places to add stories about the development of plot points and other crew stories but it would have been difficult to have worked his comments in with either of the other two.

Hamilton is interviewed about the choice in Moore and the plot points of the film in Bond 1973: The Lost Documentary (21:41) and in a cost savings effort came up with the boat chase scene. Stuntman great, Eddie Smith is showcased in this doc as not only a great stuntman here but also as a man who led the Black Stuntman Union. With the first changing of the guard in the Bond role, Roger Moore as James Bond, Circa 1964 (7:44) actually played Bond prior to the film in a comedy theater. Live and Let Die Conceptual Art (1:39) shows a montage of how the theatrical poster came to be.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Maurice Binder credits. In the “Ministry of Propaganda” are two theatrical trailers (4:40), three TV spots (2:35) and two radio commercials (1:35). An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

COLT 45 NOT SHAKEN – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: B+

With Sean Connery walking away from 007, this wound up as landmark debut for both Moore and Seymour (who was sizzling) and at the time was the biggest grossing Bond film. The source material, full of white paranoia, voodoo mysticism and a Haitian antagonist made the adaptation a challenge. The screenplay was changed to infuse the culture-rich New Orleans Bayou and the mean streets of Harlem and became more of a two-fisted blaxsploitation jam. Questions arose with the shift in a more sensitive, less athletic Bond, and the tone, noticeably lighter and fun laid the base for Moore’s run. It’s also worth noting this film was the inspiration for much of the first Austin Powers film. Imitation is the best form of flattery, no? So it’s different, yes. Worse? Not yet, but if you’ve never developed a flavor for 1970’s exploitation films, this might not be the easiest recommendation.