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I can only speak about it's cultural relevance and impact at the cinema and what it meant to me and some of my friends. I saw it at the Odeon Leicester Square sometime in early July 1973, having seen DAF, OHMSS upon their own initial releases before that.
At the time it seemed very fresh and original. I can remember eagerly awaiting McCartney's brilliant song and how it would play alongside Maurice Binder's visuals. Of course, Binder did a fantastic job syncing the music to the skull bursting into flames. One also has to remember how popular this song was at the time, reaching No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart as well as No. 1 on two of the three major US charts. It's easy to forget just how heavily marketed this movie was back in '73 and how it became a must-see event movie for the general masses. That stunning poster seemed to be everywhere, too.
So to answer the question, yes, I absolutely loved it the first time I saw it in '73. It wasn't a case of whether I thought Roger Moore was better than Connery because I don't think he was, but I was old enough to understand the need for change and a new direction. Roger Moore also looked great in this movie, especially when you compare him to his previous TV outing in The Persuaders! whereby he looked chubby and slightly dishevelled. Some might argue that the boat chase goes on for far too long, but at the time this was very innovative and spectacular to see on the big screen. Unlike TMWTGG, the speedboat chase makes perfect narrative sense after Bond's narrow escape from Kananga's crocodile farm, so the whole sequence builds up nicely to being pursued through the Louisiana bayou. Another thing I really liked (and still do) was Roger Moore's black nightwear outfit and brown leather shoulder rig, which some claim was borrowed from Steve McQueen's look in Bullitt. Regardless, this is a great look and very Bondesque. For me, LALD is still Roger Moore's best Bond movie. Sure, there are a few niggles that I had with it such as Bond smoking cigars rather than cigarettes, the silly Kananga exploding man climax, plus the uninspiring United Nations headquarters PTS opening, but it would be churlish of me to say that those ruined my overall enjoyment of this movie.
So to recap: this movie felt innovative and spectacular when it was first released, but like anything over time, it begins to show its age.
I enjoy the voodoo aspect of the film. It's different and it brings some of the darker elements in. Having Baron Samedi on the train at the end is an inspired touch.
Always good to read the thoughts of someone who saw such an early film in the cinema, so thank you.
I was too young to watch LALD in the cinema (I was only six!) and so TSWLM was the first for me. But I remember that British children’s telly was full of clips from LALD in the mid seventies, on programmes like Clapperboard or Screen Test.
The title song, and how it's injected into the film itself, really reinforces the idea of fun in this film. Love it, and have a new appreciation for it rewatching it the other day.
Quite generally, I would say that George Martin's score including his employment of McCartney's theme is the only one in the entire series that can hold a candle to John Barry's better efforts. It's really too bad that Martin's employment was once-off, although of course Barry came back afterwards (though with his least enticing and most repetitive work, TMWTGG). But why nobody seems to have asked Martin again instead of, say, Bill Conti and later on Eric Serra is beyond me. Which is not to say that their scores were all bad, just that they were nowhere near the quality of Martin's LALD.
I'm also a huge sucker for Serra's soundtrack as well, but I'm sentimental towards GoldenEye in a big way.
As we all know, it worked out pretty well and LALD was a massive hit, just why deviate at that time?
Do you remember the TV spots that used to be shown for LALD in-between programmes on ITV @IGotABrudder? In the UK we only had three channels so it was unavoidable to miss one of these back in the day. I too can remember Clapperboard and Screen Test showing LALD, plus Film Night hosted by Philip Jenkinson, Sheridan Morley and Tony Bilbow which also happened to show the behind the scenes footage. Even book shops got in on the act, as Pan publications produced a great movie tie-in cover and poster for the movie. I can remember buying the book in the first week and getting a huge Roger Moore colour poster of him in the nightwear and brown leather shoulder rig. I still have that poster tucked away in a box.
Then there was the end-of the-year Photoplay annual that had Roger Moore and Jane Seymour on the cover, which I also had, along with the soundtrack album.
These are just some of the things I can remember. I also had an excellent Sunday Times magazine devoted entirely to LALD that had all the working sketches for the gadgets, such as the wristwatch and Tee Hee's deadly prosthetic arm. Sadly, this is not available anywhere online.
I was very young, so only really remember the children’s television programmes, not the evening ones. Screen Test used to have a bit where they showed a clip from a film and then they tested the studio children on what they saw. They used the boat chase from LALD one week (probably other weeks too) and I recall thinking Wow, what a fantastic film! And one of my friends at school had the paperback of Roger Moore’s diary while he filmed LALD (I suppose now that his parents had it, cannot believe that he actually had his own copy) and I was so envious.
Oddly I do not remember anything like the same buzz for Golden Gun.
Excitement only really got going again when TSWLM came out. Suddenly the Corgi Lotus Esprit was a must-have toy and my Dad made a special trip to London to buy me one.
Happy days
Every other Bond villain and henchman has tried to copy Odd Job and Jaws but not Baron Samedi sadly.
I believe this was taken from that very first time the song was unveiled on It's Lulu despite it resurfacing on Top of The Pops 2 many decades later with a questionable date. Steve Wright doesn't really seem to know where it came from either, but I'm 99% certain it's from the show I just mentioned.
However, I do recall the exact clip of TMWTGG that was used on Screen Test, which was Bond turning the custom-built bolt-action rifle on Lazar to get information from him. This was the first full clip that I saw of the movie before the movie hit the cinemas. Believe it or not, I saw the film on a Saturday afternoon to an almost empty auditorium!! After seeing the movie I went along to the nearest record store and bought the LP soundtrack with the remainder of my pocket money.
Happy days indeed, my friend.