The eighth James Bond film, Live and Let Die, was a significant moment in the 007 chronology, seeing Sir Roger Moore take on the role for the first time, replacing Sir Sean Connery, and restoring much of what we loved about the very first film in the series, Dr. No. Live and Let Die was always going to be a nervous project. However, thanks to several key decisions, the movie succeeded in restoring the successes of the Connery era.
With Live and Let Die, the Bond producers needed to bring things back down to basics. After the wacky Diamonds Are Forever (Connery’s last outing), the producers knew that the only way forward was to pay homage to Connery’s first, Dr. No, to show that there’s still respect to be had in the classics. For Live and Let Die, a new actor was being brought in to play James Bond, following George Lazenby's one time playing the character. As a result, the pressure was on to get it right this time.
Live and Let Die saw a fresh-faced Moore take down a voodoo drug lord in the Caribbean islands, and Jamaica was actually used for the filming location of the fictional island of San Monique on which they were based. Dr. No famously takes place in Jamaica, where Connery’s 007 meets Honey Rider on the beach. Jamaica is also where James Bond, literarily, was conceived, in an estate named Goldeneye, situated on the Oracabessa bay area, by the late Ian Fleming who wrote many titles. It was near this estate where, in Live and Let Die, Bond and his guide, Quarrel Jr. (whose namesake also features in Dr. No), stop to ask for directions. There are also similarities between the scenes in which a spider appears in Bond’s bed in Dr. No, and the snake in Moore’s hotel room. The shared DNA between the two movies ensured that Live and Let Die returned the franchise to its roots, while demonstrating that the movie was determined to recapture what made the earliest iteration of Bond so popular.
The similarities between scenes such as Bond being ambushed by a spider and a snake, and the two Quarrel characters show that the producers were all too aware that a back-to-basics approach was needed. The end of the Connery era was defined by ever more outlandish and unrealistic plots, moving the character further away from his origins. The debut of a suave but ruthless James Bond in Roger Moore indicated a clear change of direction, with a renewed focus on what had worked previously. The similarities between both Dr. No and Live and Let Die highlight the respect and dignity the Bond producers and writers wanted to demonstrate with Moore’s official debut as James Bond, by staying true to the franchise’s core.
It’s a testament to the producers of the James Bond franchise that they had the confidence to take so many risks with Live and Let Die. A new Bond actor, set within a Blaxploitation theme, and featuring voodoo. But it was fresh, fans fell in love with Sir Roger Moore as 007, and the producers struck a wonderful balance with their respects to Sir Sean Connery’s first, Dr. No, and to the home of the late Ian Fleming himself.
