'Live and Let Die' revisited

With 'Quantum of Solace' due to hit our screens soon, we take a daily look back at the 21 official Bond films. Day 7: ‘Diamonds Are Forever’

Live And Let Die (1973, Guy Hamilton)
Villain: Dr Kananga/Mr Big
At stake: Avalanche of heroin flooding the US drug market
Candy: Jane Seymour as Solitaire
Gizmo: The ‘Felix Lighter’
Theme Song: School orchestra wig-out, ‘Live And Let Die’ by Wings
Quote: 'You should never go in there without a mongoose!'

With Connery vowing never again to play Bond, the series was on to its third leading man in as many movies. Names in the hat this time included Julian Glover – later the dubiously-accented baddie of ‘For Your Eyes Only’ – and Jeremy Brett, who would find fame as Sherlock Holmes on television. Future 007 Timothy Dalton was also in contention before the producers finally consummated their long-standing dalliance with Roger Moore.

Never one to over-sell his dramatic abilities, nor to raise a fist when an eyebrow might do, Moore’s readiness with a pithy quip and unmatched urbanity is embraced by a lighter tone that runs through the film’s voodoo hysteria and escalating carnage.

Continuing the Stateside foray of ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, James finds himself rubbing shoulders with the full gamut of blaxploitation stereotypes on the mean streets of Harlem and hurtling through Louisiana in a rip-roaring speedboat chase. He slowly unravels a plot that revolves around a vast heroin-smuggling venture Yaphet Kotto is running from behind a smokescreen of black magic that shrouds the poppy fields he’s cultivating on the Caribbean island of San Monique.

The whole thing plays out more like an action-packed romp than a bona fide spy film, but it contains plenty of high-octane set pieces and a diverting array of baddies that makes for a highly entertaining effort after a couple of flagging entries and marks a promising start to Roger’s spell as Bond.

James Bond will return in… ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’

Read our original review of 'Live and Let Die'

---