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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 438114" data-attributes="member: 8">Live And Let Die (1973)[ATTACH=full]58646[/ATTACH]Purely based on scenery and events this is more entertaining than Diamonds, but the villainous scheme that needs to justify the story feels a bit like an afterthought.It&#039;s already a step-down from &quot;going to steal da moon!&quot; to growing poppies, and it&#039;s also a long-term scheme that doesn&#039;t feel particularly threatening in the two hours moment of the film.There&#039;s no ominous clock ticking and it&#039;s not clear how or if it&#039;s going to affect England. This makes it harder for the second Bond recast to become seriously involved hence why the second part of the film focuses on the rescue of Bond girl Solitaire.Ironically, Solitaire is more interesting in the first half of the film when she&#039;s still mysterious and in control. Jane Seymour looks absolutely breathtaking and there&#039;s also that slightly unhinged undercurrent that she does so well.The theme is obviously inspired by the blaxploitation genre of the early seventies (the cheaper but more entertaining Bond knock-off Cleopatra Jones was released that same year) and overall it&#039;s become a relatively satisfying mix.Instead of eliminating James Bond on the spot - always the most effective way - they keep taking him to other places where he&#039;s going to be eliminated.Despite the contrivance and the ineptitude of the various thugs which allows James Bond to escape over and over again I must say that these are the most entertaining scenes.The crocodile trap looks pretty nerve-racking, and the boat chase scene that goes on forever maintains its action-packed thrill from start to finish.This part of the story is also massively enhanced by scene-stealer hicksville Sheriff J.W. Pepper in a pre-Dukes Of Hazzard sort of way.The arranged voodoo-hoodoo execution of Kananga&#039;s treacherous Tarort reader is another effective attempt to include as much of &quot;black culture&quot; as possible, but it also made me think that Baron Samedi might have been a more memorable Main Antagonist in Live And Let Die.The traditional crooner-style theme ballad has been replaced with a contemporary rock/pop song and I&#039;m sure it would rank very high in a potential Ranking The Bond Themes thread. (hmm, haven&#039;t I already done that?).Ranked as a Bond film I&#039;ll put it in the same mid-tier category as Diamonds Are Forever.Incidentally, I think it&#039;s a shame that the fabulous movie poster artwork was used for the VHS packaging but not for the DVD and Blurays.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 438114, member: 8"] Live And Let Die (1973) [ATTACH type="full"]58646[/ATTACH] Purely based on scenery and events this is more entertaining than [I]Diamonds[/I], but the villainous scheme that needs to justify the story feels a bit like an afterthought. It's already a step-down from "going to steal da moon!" to growing poppies, and it's also a long-term scheme that doesn't feel particularly threatening in the two hours moment of the film. There's no ominous clock ticking and it's not clear how or if it's going to affect England. This makes it harder for the second Bond recast to become seriously involved hence why the second part of the film focuses on the rescue of Bond girl Solitaire. Ironically, Solitaire is more interesting in the [I]first[/I] half of the film when she's still mysterious and in control. Jane Seymour looks absolutely breathtaking and there's also that slightly unhinged undercurrent that she does so well. The theme is obviously inspired by the blaxploitation genre of the early seventies (the cheaper but more entertaining Bond knock-off [I]Cleopatra Jones[/I] was released that same year) and overall it's become a relatively satisfying mix. Instead of eliminating James Bond on the spot - always the most effective way - they keep taking him to [I]other places[/I] where he's [I]going to be[/I] eliminated. Despite the contrivance and the ineptitude of the various thugs which allows James Bond to escape over and over again I must say that these are the most entertaining scenes. The crocodile trap looks pretty nerve-racking, and the boat chase scene that goes on forever maintains its action-packed thrill from start to finish. This part of the story is also massively enhanced by scene-stealer hicksville Sheriff J.W. Pepper in a pre-[I]Dukes Of Hazzard[/I] sort of way. The arranged voodoo-hoodoo execution of Kananga's treacherous Tarort reader is another effective attempt to include as much of "black culture" as possible, but it also made me think that Baron Samedi might have been a more memorable Main Antagonist in [I]Live And Let Die[/I]. The traditional crooner-style theme ballad has been replaced with a contemporary rock/pop song and I'm sure it would rank very high in a potential [I]Ranking The Bond Themes[/I] thread. (hmm, haven't I already done that?). Ranked as a Bond film I'll put it in the same mid-tier category as [I]Diamonds Are Forever[/I]. Incidentally, I think it's a shame that the fabulous movie poster artwork was used for the VHS packaging but not for the DVD and Blurays. [/QUOTE]

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