Live and Let Die (1973).  Director: Guy Hamilton.  Starring: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour.

I'm going to make a little detour and state, right up front, that there is no "alternative" or "Director's Cut" (that I know of!) of this film out there.  Certainly the regular DVD or the recently released BluRay feature the theatrical cut of the film.

However, the bonuses included are so damn good that I just had to draw attention to two of them.

First up, if you check out the additional features, you'll find one entitled "Roger Moore as James Bond circa 1964".  What you find is a black and white skit from a long forgotten British comedy series entitled "Mainly Millicent".  This one features Roger Moore and the hostess of the show playing rival spies attempting (but failing) to have a little non-spy type vacation.

The biggest gag is that Roger Moore plays, you guessed it, agent James Bond, a full eight years before he officialy took up the role in Live and Let Die!

And bear in mind that Goldfinger, the third (and many argue the best) James Bond film was released that very same year.  I'm guessing this skit coincided with the release and success of that film.  A fascinating curio and one worth looking up.

But that's not all!

There are many, many James Bond films, and each and every one of them feature a multitude of death-defying stunts designed to leave audiences breathless.  There are car chases, hand-to-hand combat, far out gizmos, out of control aircraft, out of control skiing, boat, planes, scuba diving, etc. etc.

But of all those stunts, the one that remains the most memorable to me involves James Bond skipping from a tiny island across maybe fifteen or so feet of water to the safety of land.

Doesn't sound all that impressive, does it?

Not until you mention the fact that Bond does this skipping off the backs of several very large and very, very annoyed crocodiles.

If you have the DVD or BluRay and haven't done so yet, check out the documentary Inside Live and Let Die and, if you don't want to see all the behind the scenes stories of what went into the making of this film (is it me or were the stuntmen involved in this film masochists?), then fast forward to roughly the 25:30 mark of the documentary and brace yourself for the five attempts made to cross the crocodile "bridge".

It'll take your breath away.