When Bond investigates the murders of three fellow agents, he soon finds himself a target, evading vicious assassins as he closes in on the powerful Kananga (Yaphet Kotto). Known on the streets as "Mr. Big," Kananga is coordinating a globally threatening scheme using tons of self-produced heroin. As Bond tries to unravel the mastermind's plan, he meets Solitaire (Jane Seymour), the beautiful Tarot card reader whose magical gifts are crucial to the crime lord. Bond, of course, works his own magic on her, and the stage is set for a series of pulse-pounding action sequences involving voodoo, hungry crocodiles and turbo-charged speedboats.

Complete with such imaginative gadgets as Bond's super-magnetic wristwatch and an amazing compressed-gas pistol, Live and Let Die is a breathtaking, high-energy rollercoaster of non-stop thrills.

Trivia

Sean Connery turned down the then astronomical sum of $5.5 million to play James Bond.

Roger Moore's first appearance as James Bond.

UA wanted an American to play Bond: Burt Reynolds, Paul Newman and Robert Redford were all considered. Producer Albert R. Broccoli, however, insisted that the part should be played by a Briton and put forward Moore.

The Tarot card deck used by Solitaire features contemporary paintings by Fergus Hall, "Courtesy of the Portal Gallery Limited, London, England." A duplicate set was published by in Switzerland by Agmueller & Cie, distributed worldwide by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. New York. The cards in the film had a red, patterned background featuring the "007" emblem, but the commercial set is blue instead (same pattern).

Moore should not have been available for the part since at the time he was committed to.  Tony Curtis, but when the show flopped in the US he was prematurely released from his contract. Moore was author Ian Fleming's original choice for Bond, but he was committed to The Saint when the earlier films were in production.

All of Moore's contracts include an unlimited supply of hand-rolled Monte Cristo cigars (in one 007 movie the final bill comes to 3176.50 pounds).

Live and Let Die is the first 007 score not to involve John Barry; former Beatles producer George Martin does the job instead.

Unlike the previous four Bond movies, it is not filmed in Panavision.  Instead, it is shot in the flat aspect ratio of 1.66:1.

The power-boat jump over the causeway set the world record for distance: 110 feet. 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.
Theme
When you were young and your heart was an open book,
You used to say live and let live.
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did.)
But if this ever changing world in which we live in
makes you give it a cry, say Live and Let Die!
Live and Let Die, Live and Let Die, Live and Let Die

What does it matter to ya,
when you got a job to do, you gotta do it well
You gotta give the other fellow Hell!

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