James Bond

I'm watching Live and Let Die and something occurs to me. Is there a single black person in this movie that isn't evil?

Nope.

Unless one or two of Leiter's agents are black, I can't recall. But other than that, yes, they're all evil. Including the driver who claims not to be.

Did they not realize the problems with that?

Blaxploitation never really cared about racism, and in the early 70s they could get away with it just fine.

edited 9th Feb '13 11:31:08 AM by CaissasDeathAngel

Look at Live and Let Die. Look at it.

Do you think they cared?

Particularly when the book is notoriously one of Fleming's more racist.

EDIT: Ninja'd. Sort of.

edited 9th Feb '13 11:31:27 AM by Prowler

Kostya, they already had the sexism thing going on, so why not be more equal-opportunity and add racism to the mix?

I can see why this is one is considered one of the worst now.

Live and Let Die had a black tertiary protagonist, although he only shows up a few times. The son of Quarrel from Dr. No if I remember correctly.

And Quarrel from Dr No was actual rather progressive for his day, as he was a black man in a film who was tough, courageous, and didn't rely on the white protagonist to get him out of scrapes.

Then again, Bond ordering him to fetch his shoes like a servant is downright painful to watch today.

And then he gets killed by a robotic dragon. And people say the series started getting silly with Goldfinger.

Trivia: The reason the man is the son of Quarrel in the film, is because film came after Dr No, whereas the book came before it. In the book, it's the same man making a second appearance.

Actually, IIRC, Dr No's "Dragon" is simply a tankette equipped with a flamethrower painted to resemble a dragon. The natives, who are gullible because they are black and this The '60s, believe it to be one through superstition, whilst Bond uses his white man perception-fu to determine that it's only a model.

Still, Quarrel is an example of Fair for Its Day.

Did not know that. You learn something new every day...

edited 9th Feb '13 5:00:33 PM by Achaemenid

I dunno. You show a tank to your average nineteenth century British peasant or rookery dweller and he would have the same reaction.

But the Dragon is a tankette, not a tank.

Is it safe to say Skyfall is MY favorite? I'm fifteen, Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond. I haven't seen them all; But I have seen quite a few. Please don't kill me!

No, I think your first Bond is likely to be your favorite.

I love me some Brosnan. In fact TWINE is in my Top Five Bond movies.

I think my first Bond was Roger Moore, so he was my favourite, for the short time I was unaware of Sean Connery's existence, so it never always fits that the first Bond Wins.

The World is Not Enough is criminally underrated.

TWINE is a pretty good Bond movie that sours once Denise Richards shows up. If Elektra was the only Bond girl in that movie, it would've been really great. I have a bit of a soft spot for it, too, as it was the first Bond I saw.

My favorite Bond is still Brosnan, though.

edited 12th Feb '13 7:53:09 PM by CrimsonZephyr

Denise Richards does ... no, must resist obvious comments about her.

I don't find Denise any more annoying than Honey Ryder >_> And at least she's useful.

Bond does have this pattern of having two Bond girls, one disposable/evil and the other a Girl of the Week. And of course one is underwritten.

Hollywood! It's hard enough keeping the movies fresh, don't add another bland item to the checklist.

I don't actually like Honey Ryder and it annoys me that she ends up on the top of "Best Bond Girls" lists when characters like Tracy, Elektra, or Vesper deserve it more.

Vesper is definitely the best Bond Girl IMHO.

And Daniel Craig was not my first Bond, but I became a fan when I first saw Casino Royale and The Golden Compass. I've loved his stuff since I first saw Casino Royale. My first Bond movie was actually Live and Let Die.

Hey all, I'd like an opinion. I have a good but not quite comprehensive collection of Bond films, owning slightly more than half of them spanning all the actors except Timothy Dalton. In fact, I'm not sure that I've ever seen The Living Daylights or Licence to Kill all the way through. Given that they're both cheap on Amazon and I have a small amount of a gift card left over from my birthday, which one of them should I get?

Oh lordy, this is a tough call. Living Daylights is the better-made film, but not by much, and Licence to Kill is so much fun in its own goofy way.

Eh, ultimately I'd say get Licence, I think you'll have a more fun viewing experience. Watch slightly tipsy.

EDIT: And 100 posts

edited 13th Feb '13 11:15:21 PM by kalel94