Live And Let Die (1973)

After three British agents are killed, Her Majesty's Secret Service sends James Bond (Roger Moore) to New York to investigate. His investigation eventually leads to a small island in the Caribbean presided over by a minor dictator (Yaphet Kotto) with drug connections. The eighth entry in the Bond franchise is one of the most pedestrian to put it mildly. Moore, who makes his debut as 007 here, has yet to find his Bond rhythm (he wouldn't until the tenth entry THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) and coupled with the lovely but wan Jane Seymour as the Bond girl, it makes for a tedious venture. It's not that they don't try. Not only do we get car chases but we also get a boat chase which seems interminable. Filmed at the height of the "blaxploitation" era of film making, the film's villains are black which often makes the film, unfairly, charged with racism when in fact, what race, gender or sexual orientation hasn't been made a Bond villain or villainess? Actually, the most offensive and cliched stereotype is the redneck, tobacco chewing and spitting redneck sheriff played by Clifton James. Apparently the film makers were sufficiently impressed enough to bring him back for the next Bond film! There's a witty episode with Bond at a crocodile farm but other than that the film is flaccid. There is that great title song by Paul McCartney though. With Julius Harris, David Hedison, Lois Maxwell, Bernard Lee and Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi.