Sycamore Falls in Arizona
LONGEST BOAT JUMP EVER - ‘LIVE AND LET DIE’
The jump scene in the 1973 James Bond film ‘Live and Let Die.’ was the longest boat jump in the world...ever.
THE INSIDE STORY - On Friday 13 October 1972, the Live And Let Die production team started shooting on the film’s iconic boat chase. The sequence sees Bond, played by Roger Moore, having just set fire to a drug factory, evade the bad guys by stealing a speedboat and heading out into the Louisiana Irish Bayou.
TRASHING BOATS & MOTORS - There were 26 boats used in the sequence, leaping across roadways and skidding across lawns. By the time the shoot was complete, 17 boats were destroyed along with numerous Evinrude outboards. For the first part of the chase, Bond drives a Glastron GT-150 powered by an Evinrude 135hp V4, then, after a bullet punctures the fuel tank, he swaps it for a Glastron CV-19. For close-ups of Bond traveling at speed, Moore learned to drive the boats but didn’t emerge unscathed. During rehearsals, he drove the CV-19 into a boathouse on the shore, luckily only fracturing a tooth in the accident.
BOAT & MOTOR SETUP - As mentioned above, this shoot started in 1972. During shooting, the motors, with 1972 mounting brackets, kept ending up in the swamp. So, 1973 motors were used for the final shots. Some OMC vets recall that the entire midsection, stern brackets, and components were sand-cast rather than die-cast. Much stronger for this application. Also notable is that the jump boat featured a ‘center steering’ setup and 2x4s on the bottom of the hull.
THE JUMP – October 15th, saw stuntman Jerry Comeaux perform an incredibly hairy boat jump over Highway 39 at Crawdad Bridge - and over Sheriff J. W. Pepper and his car. To test whether the stunt was safe, the crew recreated the levee and the police car, even making a J.W. Pepper out of bamboo. The idea was that if the stunt could be performed three times without mishap, it would be safe to put an actor in there. A crowd gathered to watch the stunt. On the second take Comeaux’s boat took off on a 40ft leap, hit the water, skidded in the wake of another boat, and flipped up onto the bank - but fortunately, no one was hurt. The impact of the completed stunt surprised even stuntman Comeaux. “When I finally saw the film of the leap it scared the tarnation out of me,” he remembered.
