The man who carried out the stunt received 193 stitches in his head and leg.
James Bond films traditionally have a flair for the dramatic, from Daniel Craig jumping off cranes in Casino Royale, to Pierce Brosnan racing through London during the boat chase in the World Is Not Enough.
But arguably the most dangerous stunt of all came many years earlier in the Live and Let Die film, starring Roger Moore, in the famous scene where Bond runs across a number of crocodiles to escape a particularly dastardly trap.
Footage of the stunt taking place has been shared recently on social media and while, obviously, it’s not new footage, it doesn’t detract from how unbalanced the whole stunt was in the first place.
(Below is the recent tweet but we’ve included a higher quality video of the stunt at the bottom of the article.)
https://twitter.com/MichaelWarbur17/status/1411080587188768768
The stunt was performed by Ross Kananga, the owner of a crocodile farm in Trelawny, Jamaica.
Kananga had previously done some film work on the movie Papillon, starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.
The crocodiles were immobilised in a line by having them tied down in the water using weights, and Kananga then ran across their backs for the stunt which was eventually included in the movie.
However, the stunt took five attempts to get right and Kananga later said the crocodiles knew what to expect after the first attempt and were waiting for him each time he tried it subsequently.
“The film company kept sending to London for more clothes,” Kananga revealed in a 1973 interview.
“The crocs were chewing off everything when I hit the water, including shoes. I received one hundred ninety-three stitches on my leg and face.”
Kananga received $60,000 for the stunt… which is definitely not enough.
Clip via fedokosmokrator
And of course, here’s the finished product…
Clip via xxxdarkheartedboixxx
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