The first James Bond film to feature Sir Roger Moore
Summary
-James Bond is sent on a mission to stop a heroin kingpin armed with a psychic tarot card reader from flooding the world with heroin
-Roger Moore: James Bond
-Yaphet Kotto: Kananga / Mr. Big
-Jane Seymour: Solitaire
-Clifton James: Sgt. Pepper
-Julius Harris: Tee Hee
-Geoffrey Holder: Baron Samedi
-David Hedison: Leiter
-Gloria Hendry: Rosie Carver
-Lois Maxwell: Miss Moneypenny
-Bernard Lee: M
-Sean Connery gave Roger Moore a personal seal of approval to play Bond. Connery referred to Roger Moore as "an ideal Bond"
-At 45 during filming, Roger Moore was the oldest actor to play James Bond while the youngest was 29 year old Australian actor George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service
-Clint Eastwood was another actor offered the role of James Bond, coming off the fresh success of Dirty Harry. He declined, stating James Bond should be played by an English actor
-Producers of the film decided in this film, Roger Moore's adaptation of James Bond would be radically different from Sean Connery. In this film, Bond orders bourbon whiskey neat (no ice) instead of a vodka martini. The briefing for his mission occurs in his flat (apartment) instead of an office (this is the second time Bond's apartment is featured in the films, after 1962's Dr. No). Bond does not wear a hat and he smokes cigars instead of cigarettes
-During the filming of the boat chase scene, Roger Moore sustained a few injuries. The engine on the boat had cut out and the momentum carried him into a boathouse. He cracked a few of his front teeth and twisted his knee. He had to use a cane to walk for several days later, but he was able to film the rest of the scenes because all he had to do was sit in the boat
-The first Bond film where Bond has a relationship with a black woman named Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry). The love scenes were removed from the movie's release in South Africa due to then Apartheid policies
-Yaphet Kotto, who plays Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga is the youngest actor to play a Bond villain. He was 33 at the time
-From what Yaphet Kotto says, he was not allowed to do any press or publicity for the movie. He says the producers were worried about the public's reaction to a black villain
-Madeline Smith, who plays Miss Caruso, said the bedroom scenes between her and Bond were made even more awkward by the presence of Roger's overprotective wife being on the set. To establish the effect of Bond unzipping Miss Caruso's dress with his magnetic watch, a thin wire was attached to the zipper from the watch. A stagehand was on the floor beneath Smith's body to pull the wire down while Moore pretended to unzip the dress with his watch.
-The scenes with the bridge at the crocodile farm were extremely dangerous to film. The crew found out very quickly that crocodiles can jump from the water and attack
-Early in the stages of filming, Roger Moore became ill with kidney stones. Later on, Roger Moore and Jane Seymour caught dysentery during filming in Jamaica
-Roger Moore had a fear of snakes, just like his fellow actor Geoffrey Holder, who had to fall into a coffin full of them.
-Roger Moore was strongly discouraged from raising an eyebrow, which was an iconic trait of his most successful role, Simon Templar on The Saint (1962)
-During the scene where the top of the London bus is sheared off by a low bridge, the actor doubling as James Bond was Maurice Patchett, a stunt driver. He was a real London bus driver and filled in producers about the rigorous training the drivers must go through. One of the things drivers must learn is how to swerve to avoid wet ground and keep it upright, like it's shown in the film
-The assassination attempt by a snake while Bond is bathing was filmed in mid-winter in London. The temperature was 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It was enough to keep the snake moving slowly. If it were tropical temperatures, the snake would move a lot more quickly, putting Roger in danger of getting bitten
-The characters Baron Samedi and Dambala take their names from two powerful spirits in the Voodoo religion
-During filming, Bernard Lee, who plays M, was very sick. Producers considered hiring Kenneth Moore to replace him
-Originally, the character Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour, was supposed to be black while Rosie Carver, played by Gloria Hendry, was supposed to be white
-The crew experienced difficulties filming in New York. This was due to being extorted by a local Harlem gang into paying protection money to ensure the safety of the crew. When the cash ran out, the gang "encouraged" them to leave. Some of the exterior shots were done in Manhattan's Upper East Side as a result from the issues of using Harlem locations
-Roger Moore, who plays James Bond and Clifton James, who plays Sheriff Pepper, died 38 days apart in 2017
-This is the only James Bond movie to have a supernatural theme to it
-This was the first film in the James Bond series to be seen by Daniel Craig, who would play Bond later on
-Early in the film, in New York, you can see the partially incomplete World Trade Center. The top few floors were still outfitted with cladding
-This is one of three films in the series where James Bond does not wear a tuxedo. The other two are 1963's From Russia with Love and 1967's You Only Live Twice
-Yaphet Kotto took the role of Dr. Kanaga after David V. Picker, an executive at United Artists, approached him after the filming of Across 110th St
-Madeline Smith had gotten her role as Miss Caruso after Roger Moore recommended her for the part. Both of them had worked together on The Persuders!: The Long Goodbye
-For the motorbike and bus chase scene, Roger Moore had to take a course in driving a double decker bus
-At the time of filming, Roger Moore was under contract to film The Persuaders. It's said he should not have been able to film this movie due to scheduling conflicts. When the TV show failed to gain any momentum in the US, he was "released" from his contract
-Gayle Hunnicutt was one of the original choices to play Solitaire. But she couldn't do the role due to her pregnancy at the time. Diana Ross was even considered for this role
-This film and 1979's Moonraker are the only two films to show James Bond hang gliding. This was a new activity gaining quick popularity in the 1970s
-During the scenes showing the car and boat chase in Louisiana, the roads they're on show the full yellow striping separating the northbound and southbound lanes. At the time, it was pretty rare to see full yellow striping, despite M.U.T.C.D. (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways) introducing it in 1971.
-When not filming, Jane Seymour was asked about what it was like to work with Roger Moore. "Roger was fantastic to me. When I was in New Orleans or in Jamaica, he'd make sure every night that I was OK and safe, checked to see whom I was with, he'd include me in any social thing that happened."
-The FDR motorway in Manhattan was closed to film a series of scenes showing a five car crash
-In reality, Roger Moore feared crocodiles and alligators. It took a lot of persuading to get him to film the scenes showing him escaping from the crocodile farm
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