James Bond 007 – Leben und sterben lassen (1973)

James Bond 007 – Leben und sterben lassen: Directed by Guy Hamilton. With Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, Clifton James. James Bond is sent to stop a diabolically brilliant heroin magnate armed with a complex organisation and a reliable psychic tarot card reader.

“Several British agents are killed in America and in the Caribbean. Despite the difference in how the murders occur they seem linked together by drugs. Bond begins to investigate and finds links between the American drug dealer Mr Big and the mysterious owner of a Caribbean island Kananga. While investigating Bond falls foul of both despite gaining the affections of Kanangau0026#39;s beautiful mistress Solitaire.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRoger Mooreu0026#39;s first Bond is one of his best. The film wisely steps away from those regular bad guys the Russians and gets a new feel by actually having non-white main characters. The plot is pretty good and doesnu0026#39;t have the usual `take over the worldu0026#39; feel to it. There is plenty of silly stuff of course but the stunts are quite good and Bond has a new line in `eyebrow raisedu0026#39; humour.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMoore will never be the best Bond but he did make the role his own – adding an element of self-deprecating humour to the role. Yaphet Kotto is a good actor and makes a good bad guy. Jane Seymour isnu0026#39;t convincing as the mystic property of Kananga – she really should have been played by a black actress and it shows a lack of bravery on the side of the producers that they went with a white face as the lead Bond girl. Julius Harris is good as Tee Hee and Clifton James adds some comedy value as J.W. Pepper.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall this is one of Mooreu0026#39;s best Bond movies and certainly stands out from previous films with numerous Russian baddies. Also the theme music is a really fun song from Wings.”