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General Info - Live And Let Die (1973)

After being on the shortlist to play Bond in 1961, and after an aborted second chance in 1968, Roger Moore finally got the role many people had wanted him to get - that of James Bond - 007. His credentials needed no explanation... The Saint had made Moore into a spy icon with worldwide popularity and, perhaps more importantly for the producers, he was willing to do three films thus giving the role some stability after the chopping and changing of recent years. The Roger Moore era, therefore, had begun. The change, although great, was not drastic. In fact many of the elements of Diamonds Are Forever were carried over, but not all for the better...

The Plot

After the murders of three agents in New York, New Orleans and San Monique, Bond is sent out to discover what is going on. Dr. Kananga, the dictator of San Monique, is suspected, so Bond goes to New York to find out more (where Kananga is speaking at the United Nations). With the help of the CIA, Bond learns that Kananga has links with a Harlem crimelord named Mr. Big, but not without being caught by this man and seeing Solitaire, a woman with the power of ESP (so long as she remains a virgin). Bond is let go (well, almost) and traces Kananga back to his Caribbean island. There, he finds Solitaire and removes those powers of ESP, with Solitaire playing ball as she wants rid of her master. Whilst fleeing, Bond and Solitaire discover that Kananga has large fields growing poppies which will let him enter the competitive drugs market in the U.S. These fields are protected by the voodoo curse of Baron Samedi, so that the locals are kept in check. The escape is made and the couple find themselves in New Orleans, where they are caught again by Mr. Big. Much to Bond's (and everybody's) surprise, Mr. Big is Kananga!. After being left to his fate surrounded by crocodiles, Bond makes yet another escape and returns to San Monique to rescue Solitaire, blowing up the poppy fields and Kananga in the process.

Budget: $7m - Gross: $161m - Fastrac007 Rating: 73%