"Live and Let Die" - Guy Hamilton

Remember "Live and Let Die"? The Bond movie where a newly bonded Roger Moore travels to the exotic, deadly land of Harlem to encounter every possible "What's happening, honky" stereotype? And then he boats his way to the Louisiana swamps, where he encounters every possible "Boy, you done came to the wrong redneck parts" stereotype? The one where he deflowers Solitaire, (a Tarot-reading Jane Seymour)? The one with the PAUL MCCARTNEY SONG?




ABOVE: "Dr. Quinn is now ready to check your temperature. THE HARD WAY."

Here, in 1973, is where the character started sliding down from Sean Connery's martini dryness to the nonsense of Moore's era. Let's look at this exchange towards the end. Moore literally BLOWS UP the evil Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto) by pumping him like a balloon, in one of the most ludicrous Bond scenes ever. (Really, he turns to rubber and is ripped apart or something. It's hilarious.) Jane Seymour, who wasn't paying attention, asks: "Where did Mr. Big go?" Moore replies: "He always did have an inflated sense of ego!" Huh? That "joke" isn't even a reply to her QUESTION. It's a nonsequitur he pulled it out of the magical capsule Q stuck up his ass. Other horrible but more reasonable puns would have been: "He BLEW this joint!" Or: "He got too BIG for his breeches... and had to SPLIT." But notice how Moore is just not LISTENING to the girl: he had a horrible line to deliver and is really satisfied with it, so he'll say it even if it doesn't fit the preceding line! She could have asked: "Would you like to have the obligatory sex now, Bond?" He STILL would have said: ""He always did have an inflated sense of ego!" You would know about that, buddy.

All the same the redneck sheriff in this one always cracks me up!




ABOVE: Her: "I can open my mouth this big, James! What do you think about that?" Him: "Oh no! Sean Connery has found us and he does not look happy! He always did have an inflated sense of ego!"