Live and Let Die

Hey y’all, the Bond reviews are back! After some very hurry-scurry weeks months, I was finally able to wrangle some of my Bond fan friends and we got back to Bond with Roger Moore’s first turn at 007: Live and Let Die. I had seen LALD at least once before and remember it being a total hoot (especially since I first watched it after moving to New Orleans). Every time I meet someone who is on the fence about Bond but is into all things New Orleans, I start raving about the scene with the second line coffin, since it might be one of my favorite movie scenes of all time. Let’s get started, shall we?

Plot in twenty words or less: A drug lord is about to flood the market with heroin. Bond jaunts through New Orleans, NYC, and an island.

How it’s aged: In some ways this movie is totally, ah, “of its time” so to speak. It has many elements of a blaxploitation movie (well, at least how white people probably conceived a blaxploitation movie) with a bunch of dudes calling Bond a honky and some unbelievably righteous sideburns. I have a weird affinity for any movie sent in 1970s New York (see: Annie Hall, the Warriors, Taxi Driver, Hercules in New York) because my mind does this word association thing where I go “pre-Giuliani New York:Patti Smith”. And Patti Smith is timeless, y’all. So I’m generally pro-any movies set in 1970s NYC, because I think some of the urban decay depicted in 1970s NYC still feels relevant in the context of our current anxieties over other cities like Detroit. </ramblings of an urban geography major with Midwest roots>

Something that was just weird and/or WTF y’all: I think it goes without saying at this point that James Bond movies have a “complicated” relationship with anything resembling ethnic and/or cultural traditions outside of white upper-class Britain. And in LALD, voodoo is no exception with the “natives sacrificing the white people” motif.

Obligatory feminist commentary: There are beaucoup anxieties in this film surrounding the virginal (white) Solitaire’s place among Kananga’s (black) inner circle. When she loses her virginity with Bond (which, let’s face it, he orchestrates), she apparently loses her use to Kananga as a fortune teller, the same fate that befell her mother. Bond arguably liberates her by sleeping with her, but the whole thing has way too many undertones of historical “white slavery” panic. The intertubez tell me that the filmmakers thought about casting a black actor for the role of Solitaire (with Diana Ross! be still my beating heart!) but they decided to keep Fleming’s portrayal of Solitaire as white. Readers of the blog have asked before whether I plan to read the Fleming novels. I’ve been hesitant, but as it sounds like many of his novels are pretty retrograde, it might be an interesting exercise to see how the more recent movies have interpreted his writing.

Also, WHAT is up with Moneypenny becoming more frumpy with every Bond movie? Q and M don’t seem to age, but Moneypenny is just turning into this sad pathetic spinster. I’m so glad Moneypenny gets a reboot as a strong woman in the most recent Bond movie.

For all the issues surrounding female sexuality in this film, you have to give credit where it’s due, with Rosie Carver being the first black woman we see Bond with – and to the film’s credit, I don’t recall any cringeworthy comments about this. The film treated their relationship as totally normal (well, except for her real identity).

Completely hypothetical cultural reference points: This is not a specific cultural reference, but in this movie I noticed that Bond no longer has chest hair (which prompted me to regretfully google several ridiculous phrases).  As this Slate article points out, there were dudes with hairless chests before Sean Connery. I guess Roger’s very radical departure from Sean’s very hairy chest was fairly noticeable, though.

Superficial Thing that did not Amuse Me: The very fake snake they were using in the voodoo ceremonies? Really? You couldn’t have gotten some harmless real snake?

Superficial Thing that highly Amused Me: This is something that only folks who know New Orleans well would notice, but both Moisant (now Louis Armstrong) and the Lakefront airport were used – even though filming suggested the airport scenes were at a single location.

Interesting and possibly dubious thing I learned from Wikipedia: There was some serious battle going on to bring an American actor as 007 for LALD. Thank Dog this did not happen…

Martini rating: Seven martinis 
Administrative information concerning this viewing:
Drinks consumed: Rogue Mocha Porter and Willett Rye (4 year)
Food eaten: Pita chips and hummus
Viewed on: August 25, 2013
Viewing Partner: Boyfriend, Cat, Sasha Holiday, Dominic LeFihre*
*Not their real names. All my viewing buddies are getting Bond-girl or Bond-villain aliases.