Resumo de Live And Let Die

Live and Let Die
Another year, another actor playing James Bond. For the third film in a row, Eon presented us with a different face. Luckily this one stuck. Roger Moore was a huge international star, thanks to his appearances on TV in Ivanhoe, The Saint and The Persuaders, and had been on Saltzman and Broccoli?s list for a while before the premature cancellation of The Persuaders allowed him to step into the famous tux for the first time. LALD was, in some ways, a great choice with which to introduce a new Bond. The book has little continuity to the others (barring the appearance of Felix Leiter). However, the somewhat dubious politics of Fleming?s original required a radical reworking from Tom Mankiewicz, attempting to make up for the disappointment of DAF two years previously. What he supplied was an action packed, and above all modern take on what had come before in the series.

This time around Bond doesn?t battle international terrorists or deformed megalomaniacs, but a very realistic villain in the shape of a drug dealer who plans to flood America with free heroin, driving out the competition and then cornering the market. In his scheme he is aided by a wide variety of henchmen, from the memorable Tee-Hee (metal arm replacing the one he lost to his favourite crocodile) to the less memorable Whisper (he whispers apparently). Also in the mix are, seemingly, every black man in New Orleans and New York (most of whom dress like Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch) and a clairvoyant, later deflowered by Bond (in a scene of such villainous cunning it really makes me cringe).

What may be obvious from the above description is that Bond had to move with the times. The 60?s had already signaled that ?the times they are a changin??, so Bond had to change as well. Out went multi-million dollar sets, and faceless extras in identical boiler suits. In came gritty location photography in Harlem and mean looking guys in pimp-gear.

This was also, it must be said, a rather cynical attempt to cash in on the then popular blaxploitation movies (as typified by Shaft, Foxy Brown and anything with an Isaac Hayes theme tune). Though as cynical cash-ins go, this is pretty good stuff. It?s often noted that Shaft was an attempt to give black people their own version of Bond (because according to those people, black people can?t associate with anyone who is white, which is of course nonsense), so why shouldn?t Bond return the favour.
What?s so good about this, is that, probably for the first time the series, we see Bond floundering, completely out of his depth. Check out the look on his face when the cabby tells him he?s heading into Harlem, and the uncomfortableness at his first visit to the Fillet o?Soul. Never mind being in another country, Bond may as well be on a different planet for all the good his charm and wit does him here.

And it?s this freshness that makes LALD so good, and why it endures to this day. Yes it looks a bit dated, but it doesn?t feel cliched or parodic, like so many Moore movies do these days. The action is good, if at little thin on the ground. Maybe they put so much effort into the boat chase that they forgot about planning anything else? And who can forget that boat chase. Still copied today, it may be a little long, but it crams in so much you don?t really care.

But really LALD is about Roger Moore. His experience allowed him to step into Connery?s shoes without feeling intimidated. The decision was taken early on to play to Moore?s strengths (suaveness, wit) rather than Connery?s hard man act. This, of course, was never going to be popular with those who knew the character from the novels, or even Connery fans, but by 1973, a whole new generation was coming to Bond with no pre-conceived ideas about who he should be, how he should act or behave. And for many Moore is just as much Bond as Connery and Brosnan will ever be.

Moore also exudes a lot more confidence than any of the other actors did in their debuts. Sure he may have just roughed up Simon Templar a bit, but that?s what acting is. His first scene demonstrates this new approach perfectly. For the first time, Bond does not appear in the pre-credits sequence, and the first time we see him he is waking next to a gorgeous Italian spy who has gone missing (the forever lovely Madeline Smith). On hearing a knock at the door Moore?s response is You?re not married are you? Perfection. Not only is he confident and arrogant, but he?s still got a sense of humour. LALD was vital for the continuation of the series. Had it flopped, I feel we may never have seen another Bond movie. As it was, all concerned can hold their heads up and be proud that they took some major gambles to give the public something different and, thankfully for us all, the public of 1973 was more than happy to accept more. Much more. Roger Moore

Resumos Relacionados