FAQ

When three British MI6 agents are killed—one in New Orleans, one in New York, and one on the small Caribbean island of San Monique—and the only connection between them is San Monique's prime minister Dr Kananga (Yaphet Kotto), 007 agent James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to New York to determine what that connection might be. However, his arrival has already been foretold by tarot card reader Solitaire (Jane Seymour). Solitaire's elusive boss, a crime lord who goes by the name "Mr Big", is not about to let Bond interfere with his plan to flood the United States with over a billion dollars of heroin.

All of the James Bond movies up to and including The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) are based on novels by British author Ian Fleming (1908-1964). Live and Let Die is based on Fleming's 1954 novel of the same name. It was adapted for the screen by American screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz. Live and Let Die is the first movie to feature Roger Moore as James Bond.

Live and Let Die was written and performed by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney with his band Wings—the first band he founded after the breakup of the Beatles. It reached #2 in the charts in the U.S. and was produced by long time Beatles producer George Martin who also provided the musical score for the film. The song is still performed live by Sir Paul McCartney himself. Guns 'N Roses famously covered the song for their 1991 album, Use Your Illusion I.

The most commonly given answer is that the Ian Fleming novel Live and Let Die did not feature a scene in which Bond is given any equipment by the Quartermaster, an aspect that is part of most of the other novels. The filmmakers wanted to reflect this in the movie, so they did not include the Q character in the movie. Q is referenced, however, when Bond demonstrates to M how his special order magnetic wristwatch works. (The special edition DVD booklet says that it was because of a scheduling conflict with Desmond Llewelyn.)

The poster depicts Bond firing a large cannon with a scantily-clad woman perched on the barrel. A publicity photograph taken for the film shows the gun mounted on the deck of a boat. This was one of the first publicity photos issued, to give a taste of Moore in a Bond-like action pose. As the boat chase was the first scene filmed, it is likely that the gun was mounted on one of the large boats seen at the end of the chase. It is unlikely that it was ever intended to feature in the film, but that the artist had limited material to work with at the time the poster painting was being created, or simply didn't know, or care, whether this represented an actual included scene.

Including Live and Let Die, Moore made seven movies in which he played James Bond: Live and Let Die (1973), L'Homme au pistolet d'or (1974), L'Espion qui m'aimait (1977), Moonraker (1979), Rien que pour vos yeux (1981), Octopussy (1983), and Dangereusement vôtre (1985).