Live and Let Die

Name: Live and Let Die
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Released: June 27, 1973
Duration: 121 min
Rating: 55
Cast: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto

1973

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Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Ratings

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6.6

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6.6	Your Score
6.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Ratings

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Live And Let Die

Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: June 27, 1973

Starring: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto

Summary: 007 is sent to stop a diabolically brilliant heroin magnate armed with a complex organization and a reliable psychic tarot card reader.

Director: Guy Hamilton

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: PG

Runtime: 121 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Critic Reviews

Empire - Ian Nathan

A modernised Bond is dragged kicking and screaming into the 70s. Read full review

IGN - Cindy White

Live and Let Die isn't the best of the series by far, but it's not the worst either. The fun doesn't last due to the interference of the flimsy plot, centered around one of the least threatening Bond villains ever. Read full review

The New York Times - Roger Greenspun

There is a marvelous escape from an alligator farm (deadly reptiles are rather a motif in this movie), a superb collection of grotesque ways of killing, and a fine sense of pace and rhythm. Read full review

Time Out London - Staff (Not Credited)

Two hours long and anti-climactic, but Bond fans won't be disappointed. Read full review

Variety - Peter Debruge

The most significant Bond ingredient missing from Live and Let Die is Q, whose gadgets still play a central role. The film also offers a few key additions, including an illuminating glimpse of Bond’s home. Read full review

ReelViews - James Berardinelli

Watching Live and Let Die isn't a complete waste of time, but there's no overriding reason why anyone should go out of their way to see it unless they're a die-hard Bond fan or are curious about Roger Moore's first turn in the role. Read full review

Chicago Reader - Dave Kehr

Guy Hamilton's direction lacks enthusiasm and pace, while even the art direction—long the Bond films' real secret weapon—seems to have fallen to a shrunken budget. Not much fun. Read full review

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User Reviews

kheas

Feb 26, 2019

This film is loud, obnoxious, a touch campy and absolutely fun. This is a great start to a whole new era of James Bond after the official departure of Sean Connery from the role. An Era that would bring us some of the most enjoyable moments in the series, Including one of the campiest andThis film is loud, obnoxious, a touch campy and absolutely fun. This is a great start to a whole new era of James Bond after the official departure of Sean Connery from the role. An Era that would bring us some of the most enjoyable moments in the series, Including one of the campiest and best (and most violent) Bond Villain deaths to date. https://latetothegame.blog/2019/02/21/key-movies-of-my-life-james-bond-edition-live-and-let-die-1973/… Expand

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FilipeNeto

Feb 17, 2018

Directed by Guy Hamilton and with a script by Tom Mankiewicz, this is the eighth film in the franchise and keeps Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli as producers. In this film, the first in which Roger Moore embodies the British spy, franchise tries to survive at two powerful factors ofDirected by Guy Hamilton and with a script by Tom Mankiewicz, this is the eighth film in the franchise and keeps Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli as producers. In this film, the first in which Roger Moore embodies the British spy, franchise tries to survive at two powerful factors of danger: the departure of Sean Connery after several years giving life to 007, and the unstoppable evolution of the world, with the seventies bringing a radical change in the audience. Thus, producers and screenwriter tried to attract new audiences, in particular the black public, attracted not only by black actors but also for some locations. Another subject that the film will address, and that was on the agenda during these times, are drugs and trafficking.

In this film, the British agent will fight an American drug baron but gets lost in the black neighborhood of Harlem, where he cannot pass unnoticed and almost finds himself in danger. The track eventually leads Bond to Louisiana, where the persecution of bandits brings us the hilarious Sheriff J. W. Pepper, who worked not only as a film comic element but also as a severe criticism against the conservatism of white society in the southern states. We must remind ourselves that this movie was released at a time when American society was in deep transformation, largely thanks to the struggle of black society for respect, equality and civil rights, which were denied until then, particularly, in the South. The film then heads to the Caribbean, to an island that was probably inspired by Haiti and where the audience is faced with superstitions and beliefs as voodoo or magic.

In these film, Roger Moore proved that could hold his role, and the agent could survive Sean Connery. In fact, he even manages to be much more English, while maintaining the habit of never losing his composure whatever the situation. The villains were in charge of Yaphet Kotto and Julius Harris, the latter in the role of Tee Hee, the man with the metal arm. Geoffrey Holder embodies the Baron Samedi, Haitian voodoo character who enters this film. The bond-girl was Jane Seymour, the role of the tarot reader Solitaire.

For many people, "Live and Let Die" is one of the oddest films in the franchise because of the amount of unusual elements featuring: "blaxploitation", magic, voodoo, superstition, drugs. And these people aren't without reason. Today, this film is strange and doesn't leave many memories, like many films of the seventies. There are even those who think that is the worst movie of the franchise. Perhaps. But it helped to keep Bond alive and adapted him to a new era. For posterity stays the good performance of the elegant and humorous Roger Moore and the introduction song, written by Paul McCartney and who would receive, years later, a new life through the cover of Guns N'Roses.… Expand

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