4. Sheriff J.W. Pepper - Clifton James (Live and Let Die)
Why They Derailed The Movie: Pointless & Tonally At Odds Addition When they decided to make
Live and Let Die, the first James Bond outing to feature Roger Moore as the iconic British spy, they also decided to go balls to the walls insane, apparently, which is the only way to explain why they opted to include a character so bizarrely imagined and totally out of place as Sheriff J.W. Pepper. This caricature, played by Clifton James, first appears towards the end of the movie during the iconic boat chase sequence, and instead of giving him, like, eight seconds of screentime, the director gave him
fifteen minutes. Forget the fact that there's no real reason to suddenly bring in a supporting character during this climatic point of the movie, and make way for the actual characteristics to be associated with this guy: he's an obnoxious, racist sheriff with a love of chewin' tobacco. And he suddenly drops in mid-way through an action scene, as we follow him about his business and into his eventual dismay for Bond's antics. It really does take you out of the movie, transforming it into a bewildering farce. They even put him in the sequel, vacationing in Thailand!