Live And Let Die
  • Live And Let Die

Live And Let Die

Synopsis

While investigating the deaths of three British agents, James Bond falls foul of gangster Mr. Big, who seems to have connections to Dr. Kananga, the president of San Monique. Bond follows leads to New Orleans, then to San Monique, where he is aided by double agent Rosie Carver. After freeing Kananga’s girlfriend, Solitaire, a seer who foretells the future with Tarot cards, Bond discovers that Kananga and Mr. Big are one and the same. Via his chain of Fillet of Soul restaurants, Kananga plans to flood the USA with two tons of free heroin, which will put his competitors out of business and allow him to monopolise the drug’s supply. When Solitaire is recaptured by Kananga, Bond, with help from CIA agent Felix Leiter and Quarrel Jr, returns to San Monique to kill Kananga and save Solitaire, before she is ritually sacrificed by Baron Samedi, the voodoo chief.

Cast

Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, Clifton James, Julius W. Harris, Geoffrey Holder, David Hedison, Gloria Hendry, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Tommy Lane, Earl Jolly Brown, Roy Stewart, Lon Statton

Producers

Harry Saltzman
Albert R. Broccoli

Director

Guy Hamilton

Release Date

6 July 1973 (UK)
27 June 1973 (USA)

World Premiere

6 July 1973, Odeon Leicester Square, London

Locations

New Orleans; Jamaica; Harlem, New York City; Pinewood Studios, England

Music

“Live And Let Die” – performed and written by Paul McCartney & Wings

Vehicles

Airport Chauffeur’s Chevrolet Impala; Whisper’s Cadillac Corvorado; Mr. Big’s Cadillac Fleetwood; Glastron speedboats; London bus; Bond’s hang glider

Gadgets/Weapons/Technology

  • Walther PPK 7.65mm
  • Pulse detonator
  • Rolex electromagnet watch with saw
  • Clothes brush transmitter
  • Shark gun
  • The ‘Felix Lighter’ radio transmitter/receiver
  • Flute communicator
  • Kananga’s scarecrows
  • Shoe-shine box communicator
  • Revolving dinner table/wall
  • Mechanical prosthetic arm
  • Side mirror dart gun
  • Handcuff chair
  • Aerosol can make-shift flame thrower
  • Bug detector
  • Incendiary bombs
  • Reversible jacket

Trivia

This is only the second time we see the interior of Bond’s townhouse since we saw a glimpse in Dr. No 11 years before

Many of the cast received tarot card readings on set

The driver of the London bus was an instructor for the London Passenger Transport Board. Jane Seymour was actually in the back of the bus for filming the stunt, not a body double

It took stuntman Ross Kananga five attempts to execute the famous crocodile stunt, where Bond jumps across three crocodiles to cross the water

It was Moore’s idea for Bond to wear the crocodile loafers in the scene with the crocodiles

Trailer