First Bond film to make the list, just happens to be Roger Moore’s first Bond film as well. Up until this time the Bond films have had plenty of action but the real stunt pieces for the films have slowly escalated until they finally broke a Guinness Book World Record with this stunt in Live and Let Live.
The boat chase through the bayous was originally written in the script as just “Scene 156 – The most terrific boat chase you’ve ever seen”. Bond’s speedboat jump driven by Jerry Comeaux, made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for its distance of 110 feet, a record that stood for three years. Clifton James as the Louisiana Sheriff improvised in the scene, and it was kept in the final print. Also, the second boat was not scripted to collide with the police car, but after this happened while shooting the stunt, the script was changed to accommodate it.
The Bond series is incredibly important to the stunt community and is the most successful action series of all time. The Bond productions have the single most entries in the Best Stunt Awards and sets itself apart by achieving an unequaled standard in stunt choreography and for simple mind blowing awesomeness. Live and Let Die (1973) was directed by Guy Hamilton for Eon Productions.
Things to look up (click on item to go to IMDB page or Website):
- Jerry Comeaux
- Live and Let Die
- Eon Productions
History of film companies as defined by Wikipedia: Eon Productions is a film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London’s Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Danjaq LLC, the holding company responsible for the copyright and trademarks to the Bond characters and elements on screen.
Eon, a closely held (private and family) corporation, was started by film producers Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman in 1961, at the same time they partnered and sought financing for Dr. No the year before they formed Danjaq, which for legal reasons became Eon’s holding company from which it licenses the copyright protections allowing Eon to produce the Bond films. Cubby Broccoli had been interested in the Bond novels rights for several years but was dissuaded from making them project by his former partner. When they dissolved their relationship he was free to pursue the property, for which Saltzman, a novice to film production had taken a gamble to acquire. The two were introduced by a New York writer who was acquainted with both, and formed a partnership within a week of meeting. The enterprise was and is still very much a family business, including both wives and the principal partners, as well as several of their progeny, the latter group now carrying on their parents’ work. Cubby almost immediately included Dana Broccoli’s college aged son Michael G. Wilson in even the early films doing various production jobs and his engineering education was put to good use occasionally in some of the series’ special effects.
In 1975, after nine Bond films, Harry Saltzman sold his shares of Danjaq to United Artists (the then-current Bond series distributor). Although Albert R. Broccoli died in 1996, Eon Productions is still owned by the Broccoli family, specifically Albert R. Broccoli’s daughter, Barbara Broccoli, and his stepson and her half-brother by actress Dana Wilson Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, who are the current producers of the James Bond films.
