So, the Connery era of Bond is over for me in this little rewatch (well, at least until I get to NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN). Do I have the heart to inflict Roger Moore upon myself? Do I LIVE AND LET DIE?

LIVE AND LET DIE is not a good film, something which the opening sequence immediately jogs my memory about, but it has two things going for it: Yaphet Kotto (I like him in pretty much everything) and McCartney's title track, which really is a magnificent Bond theme.

Also, I've been familiar with this film since I was like 14 years old, and never in a million years would I have remembered that Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman began her career as a foxy Bond Girl.

Won't lie, I'm pretty much going to slog through this film just to enjoy Yaphet Kotto's death scene, which remains the single most ridiculous way any Bond villain has ever bought the farm.

Felix Leiter angrily commanding a CIA underling to "get me a make on a white pimpmobile!" is...well, it was 1973. I suppose we all have regrets.

Thus far, LIVE AND LET DIE is both better & worse than I remember. Gloria Hendry is a terrible actress, and Yaphet Kotto's makeup as "Mr. Big" is ridiculous, but I really had forgotten about Roger Moore's charisma since it's been so very long since I'd seen one of his films.

By the way, don't bother asking me about the original '60s version of CASINO ROYALE. It's an utterly deplorable film, basically everything worth hating about scare-quote "zany" late Sixties extravaganzas. Even Woody Allen is obnoxiously unfunny in it. Worthless in every way.

Have to respect Roger Moore's seduction game: he conned himself into Jane Seymour's bed by cheating at cards. Tarot cards, no less.

Incidentally, for those wondering, prior to last week the only "classic-era" Bond film I hadn't seen was DR. NO, although a lot of them were sort of that "kid watching" thing where you really only remember a few images, not the film or dialogue.

I also never saw OCTOPUSSY or A VIEW TO A KILL, and I'm not really optimistic about either. Didn't watch the later Brosnan ones either, and I've heard/read similiarly awful things about them. I don't even really much care for GOLDENEYE.

Definitely gotta get me one of these signs for my front door.

Ugh, my brain has edited out entire segments of many of these films. I had forgotten all about the inexplicable and inexcusable adventures of Sheriff J.W. Pepper in LIVE AND LET DIE. In a very real way it's a caricature every bit as offensive as the blaxploitation stuff.

I actually really enjoy the speedboat chase otherwise. It's funny and smoothly shot. But "fat hick southern Sheriff who can't spot spitting" nearly ruins it.

Ah, this was the moment I was waiting for all along.

I'm not going to watch the entire film tonight but it really is just so memorably hilarious (I remember it from back when I was a kid! This stuck with me!) how THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN leans hard into the Christopher Lee villain's supernumerary third nipple, 1m20 in! Close-up!

About THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN? There's really not much to say, except that I'd much rather be watching THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM.

At least Christopher Lee has real screen presence. But that's about it.

Okay, one thing more: it's got to be the worst Bond theme song before the Brosnan era. Lulu? What on earth were they thinking giving this to Lulu? The title track is awful on several different levels, but the rancid 'psychedelic' fuzztone guitar is the worst. 7 years out of date.

"The Man With The Golden Gun" is such a terrible song. It was 1974, so I'm just assuming the explanation is "a fuckton of cocaine."

This is just not true! Those two are great, but "Nobody Does It Better" is actually superior to both. Other Sixties/Connery Bond themes are at least cromulent. "For Your Eyes Only" is good Sheena Easton pop. And "A View To A Kill" is an *excellent* song. https://twitter.com/punchdownsuckup/status/1338737418644713472

The David Niven/Peter Sellers/Woody Allen CASINO ROYALE is a wretched film, but Burt Bacharach's "Look Of Love" is a fantastic song. And the *real* CASINO ROYALE (Craig) has a hugely underrated theme song by Chris Cornell (RIP) called "You Know My Name."

I even sort of like "The Living Daylights" by over-the-hill euro-pop band A-ha. One thing is true, however: all the Brosnan Bonds had utterly wretched theme songs. The worst remains either "The Man With The Golden Gun" or the loathsome "Writing's On The Wall" from SPECTRE.

I am obligated, as the world's biggest Radiohead fan, to point out they did a fantastic live version of "Nobody Does It Better." Both Yorke and Greenwood have been obsessed with Bond themes since childhood, which explains the (rejected) song "Spectre."