I still remember going to this movie with my dad and older brother. The audience loved the movie, was as raucous a movie crowd as I can remember. Also, great theme song and great score. I also remember that my brother read the book after seeing the movie, and he told me that in the book, Bond had his finger cut off.
It's been a while since I've read it and I don't remember the finger incident but the torture and mutilation of Felix Leiter that is shown in Licence To Kill is lifted from the Live And Let Die novel.
Hate to be a stickler, but Shaft was not the first Blaxploitation film. Technically the first one was 1968's Uptight, though that was more of a reskinned adaptation. Several other examples exist in 1970 though each has a big heaping asterisk to it. But the first undeniable, unasterisked entry into the genre was Melvin Van Peebles 1971 film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.
This is a hard question to answer. Both were mainstream successes, with Sweetback actually earning more money. Shaft has a bigger legacy. I guess if we define "mainstream" in terms of being more digestible for the audience we could say that about Shaft. Shaft tends to be more focused on the badassery of its protagonist, whereas Sweetback is a more cerebral hero's journey, so the latter was a little bit more inaccessible to the casual viewer.
@@LordBitememan I know, that in the context of the making of Live And Let Die, that Shaft was a movie that Broccoli and Saltzman drew the most inspiration from.
He was still nominally co-producing with Broccoli on The Man With The Golden Gun, but his role was greatly reduced. I'll cover the background to his departure in the analysis of that movie.
Bond is a big hero and Live And Let Die is one of those Bond films in which the villains are small. They are small but they cast long shadows. Bond is faced with evil beliefs propagated by the villains, but he does not confront them with any particular beliefs of his own. Bond with his gadgets is not able to drive away the fearsome spectre of the Voodoo priest. As an agent of rational civilization, Bond ventures into the Caribbean jungle with a heart filled with uncertainty. Does Bond encounter a jungle in the urban wreckage of Harlem and in the alligator swamps of Louisiana as well, that is a question that is politically charged.
Mankiewicz had an original ending like this: EXT. TRAIN TRACK JUNCTION CLOSE ON RED SIGNAL NIGHT CAMERA CLOSE on a large, circular sign hanging over one track at a central train junction: A red light blinks on and off over the words: *NO ENTRY*. With a loud “ding,” the sign flips down, is replaced by a bright, blinking green light as BOND’s train whistles through, and off into the distance… FADE OUT THE END
I worked with George Martin a few times back in the day. Lovely bloke and talented producer and arranger. I do find his score for Live and Let Die a bit flimsy and repetitive though. He shows his lack of experience in the genre as he tends to compose pieces and then fit them in and reuse them rather than compose a continuous evolving score that adapts to every moment and mood change. The stings he uses are sometimes a bit dated and basic and there is an obvious contrast to the quality of John Barry's work. It does have some good moments but is obviously not in the same league as many of the other films. The score isn't the only thing that's flimsy in this film. The set design often looks cheap and the direction is also a bit clunky, old fashioned and lacking dynamism. Apart from the speedboat sequence the film is also lacking in good action set pieces and some of the acting is criminally bad (I'm looking at you Rosie). I think the titles song and voodoo iconography are remembered fondly with this one but on close inspection it is objectively one of the weaker entries in the series.
I still remember going to this movie with my dad and older brother. The audience loved the movie, was as raucous a movie crowd as I can remember. Also, great theme song and great score. I also remember that my brother read the book after seeing the movie, and he told me that in the book, Bond had his finger cut off.
It's been a while since I've read it and I don't remember the finger incident but the torture and mutilation of Felix Leiter that is shown in Licence To Kill is lifted from the Live And Let Die novel.
I've read that Ian Fleming based his character on James Bond, an ornithologist from Philadelphia. It makes sense, as James clearly liked his 'birds' !
It’s the NAME that’s taken from the ornithologist.
James Bond was the author of the book ‘Birds of the West Indies’ which was owned by Ian Fleming.
@@fredbloggs5902 I actually sold a copy of that book to a James Bond collector just because of that connection.
@@ferulebezel Yes, I’ve noticed copies on eBay going for crazy prices.
Hate to be a stickler, but Shaft was not the first Blaxploitation film. Technically the first one was 1968's Uptight, though that was more of a reskinned adaptation. Several other examples exist in 1970 though each has a big heaping asterisk to it. But the first undeniable, unasterisked entry into the genre was Melvin Van Peebles 1971 film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.
Would it be fair to say that Shaft was the breakout movie of the genre, the one that got mainstream notice with a broad audience?
This is a hard question to answer. Both were mainstream successes, with Sweetback actually earning more money. Shaft has a bigger legacy. I guess if we define "mainstream" in terms of being more digestible for the audience we could say that about Shaft. Shaft tends to be more focused on the badassery of its protagonist, whereas Sweetback is a more cerebral hero's journey, so the latter was a little bit more inaccessible to the casual viewer.
@@LordBitememan I know, that in the context of the making of Live And Let Die, that Shaft was a movie that Broccoli and Saltzman drew the most inspiration from.
Live And Let Die was the last movie with Harry Saltzman as lead producer.
He was still nominally co-producing with Broccoli on The Man With The Golden Gun, but his role was greatly reduced. I'll cover the background to his departure in the analysis of that movie.
Bond is a big hero and Live And Let Die is one of those Bond films in which the villains are small. They are small but they cast long shadows. Bond is faced with evil beliefs propagated by the villains, but he does not confront them with any particular beliefs of his own. Bond with his gadgets is not able to drive away the fearsome spectre of the Voodoo priest. As an agent of rational civilization, Bond ventures into the Caribbean jungle with a heart filled with uncertainty.
Does Bond encounter a jungle in the urban wreckage of Harlem and in the alligator swamps of Louisiana as well, that is a question that is politically charged.
Watched this last night by coincidence.
Mankiewicz had an original ending like this:
EXT. TRAIN TRACK JUNCTION CLOSE ON RED SIGNAL NIGHT
CAMERA CLOSE on a large, circular sign hanging over one track at a central train junction: A red light blinks on and off over the words: *NO ENTRY*. With a loud “ding,” the sign flips down, is replaced by a bright, blinking green light as BOND’s train whistles through, and off into the distance…
FADE OUT
THE END
I worked with George Martin a few times back in the day. Lovely bloke and talented producer and arranger. I do find his score for Live and Let Die a bit flimsy and repetitive though. He shows his lack of experience in the genre as he tends to compose pieces and then fit them in and reuse them rather than compose a continuous evolving score that adapts to every moment and mood change. The stings he uses are sometimes a bit dated and basic and there is an obvious contrast to the quality of John Barry's work. It does have some good moments but is obviously not in the same league as many of the other films. The score isn't the only thing that's flimsy in this film. The set design often looks cheap and the direction is also a bit clunky, old fashioned and lacking dynamism. Apart from the speedboat sequence the film is also lacking in good action set pieces and some of the acting is criminally bad (I'm looking at you Rosie). I think the titles song and voodoo iconography are remembered fondly with this one but on close inspection it is objectively one of the weaker entries in the series.
I clicked on this channel because you'd left a comment on a 'Day Today' video. Turns out you're into Bond and have based political takes. Nice!
Glad you found this channel!
@@RhubbaThanks - keep up the good work!