50 years ago, Roger Moore completed his first assignment as secret agent James Bond. With a lot of humor and a raised eyebrow, he ushered in a new era for 007. “Live and Let Die” is considered a milestone, but there is also criticism.
Shortly before Roger Moore was to play the role of his life for the first time around 50 years ago, he had doubts. The footsteps left by Sean Connery as 007 were too big. “In reading the script, all I ever heard was Sean’s voice saying ‘Bond, James Bond,'” Moore wrote in his book The 007 Diaries. When the Englishman tried out the famous words in preparation for the shoot, he even adopted his predecessor’s Scottish accent, Moore confessed.
However, director Guy Hamilton (“Goldfinger”) calmed him down. “Sean was Sean and you are you,” Hamilton is said to have said to his star. Moore took it to heart and made the role his own. His 007 debut, Live And Let Die, was released on June 27, 1973 in the United States and shortly thereafter worldwide.
A relaxed, ironic Bond
The James Bond films were the box office hits of the 1960s. For many viewers, agent 007 and actor Connery were inextricably linked at the time. George Lazenby had put on a strong performance in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), but it was years later that he got the recognition he deserved. Connery was persuaded to make a comeback in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). After that, producers Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were again faced with the challenge of finding a new actor.
The choice fell on Roger Moore, whom Broccoli and Saltzman had previously considered. He had advertised himself through his role as a gentleman thief in the TV series “Simon Templar” (“The Saint”). Moore had also recommended himself as the smart Lord Sinclair in the cult series “The Two”. Filming for Live and Let Die began the day before his 45th birthday. Filming took place in New York City, New Orleans and Jamaica, among other places.
While Lazenby was still based on Connery (in the German version he was even given the same dubbing voice), Moore brought a new type of agent to the screen. His Bond didn’t seem like a hard hitter. He was more relaxed, elegant and ironic. The raised eyebrow, even in moments of greatest danger, became one of Moore’s trademarks. With him, the films relied on dry humor and sometimes also on silly gags.
The plot of “Live and Let Die” revolves around Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto), who reigns on the fictional island of San Monique and intimidates the population with voodoo myths. Kananga has a second identity as New York drug lord Mr. Big. With heroin he wants to build an empire in the USA. Bond becomes involved after three British agents are killed. He gets involved with Kananga’s playmate Solitaire (Jane Seymour).
Borrowing from the blaxploitation genre
The climax is a scene where 007 escapes from a small island in the swamp by walking over hungry crocodiles. Today unthinkable: A stuntman actually jumped from crocodile to crocodile. The animals were fixed in the water with weights. In the film, a crocodile can be seen catching the stuntman’s pants.
In order to appeal to a wider audience, the makers incorporated elements of the then-popular blaxploitation genre. Blaxploitation films are productions from the early 1970s that focus on black protagonists. The term is a combination of the word “black” and the low-budget productions known as “exploitation films”, which often show a high level of sex and violence.
Gloria Hendry didn’t like the clichés at all
As in Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name, many characters in the film are black. In addition to villain Kananga – who, unlike in the book, does not work for the Russian secret service KGB but pursues his own interests – there are his followers, CIA agent Strutter (Lon Satton) and double agent Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry). At the time, Hendry was amazed that she was hired. “I’m not tall, I don’t have big breasts, I’m not blonde and blue-eyed,” she said in an interview with the German Press Agency. “What do they want from me?”
Actress Gloria Hendry played double agent Rosie Carver opposite Roger Moore.
It bothered her that Rosie acted incompetently and clumsily as a CIA agent. “I was like, ‘What am I going to do with that shit?’ I was really fighting with myself,” Hendry said. “I tried to give the character some strength, but she was such a fool.” In fact, the film has to put up with the accusation that many Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean characters are clichéd. And that ultimately none of these characters is a match for the white hero Bond.
Nevertheless, “Live and let die” is considered a milestone in terms of representation. The love scene between Bond and Rosie Carver is not only the first in which 007 kisses a black woman, it is also one of the first love scenes in western cinema between people of different skin colors. And Yaphet Kotto, as Kananga, plays one of the most believable villains in the long 007 franchise.
Skin color wasn’t an issue on set
Hendry is positive about the shooting 50 years ago. Unlike US productions, where she had previously experienced racism, her skin color was not an issue on the James Bond set. “They treated us all very well,” recalls the 74-year-old. “I didn’t have time to think about my skin color at all.”
Gloria Hendry raves about Roger Moore, who died in 2017. Working with him was “wonderful”. Solitaire actress Jane Seymour (72) makes a similar statement. “Roger couldn’t have been nicer,” says Seymour in an interview with the German Press Agency.
The audience was also able to win over the third James Bond actor. “Live And Let Die,” whose smashing Paul McCartney theme song was even nominated for an Oscar, became a box-office hit. And it was the beginning of a successful new era for 007 – and for Roger Moore. Until 1985 he played the famous secret agent with a license to kill in seven films.