Live and Let Die

Sunday night, we watched Live and Let Die. Released in 1973, this is the eighth spy film of the British James Bond series and the first to star Roger Moore as the British secret agent James Bond. Moore was 46 years old when the film debuted.

It departs from the former plots of the James Bond films about megalomania and instead focuses on drug trafficking. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The plot revolves around a drug lord known as Mr. Big who plans to distribute two tonnes of heroin free so as to put rival drug barons out of business.

Live and Let Die was released during the height of the blaxploitation era. It depicts many blaxploitation archetypes and cliché, such as afro hairstyles, derogatory racial epithets, black gangsters, and pimpmobiles.

It is set in African American cultural centres such as Harlem, New Orleans, and the Caribbean Islands. It was also the first James Bond film featuring an African American woman romantically involved with 007.

In addition to Roger Moore as James Bond, the cast includes Jane Seymour as Solitaire, Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver and Yaphet Kotto as Dr. Kananga and Mr. Big (A corrupt Caribbean Prime Minister who doubles as a drug lord).

After the movie was finished, Sharon said "that was awful."