History YMMV / LiveAndLetDie

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: That Paul [=McCartney=] title theme. Whoa.
** So much so that Music/GunsNRoses did a cover of it.
* BadassDecay: Bond is supposed to be a very good spy and secret agent. Yet on this movie it is quite jarring how EVERYBODY seems to know what he is, what's he's up to, and what he's doing. Not only that, but they're following and tailing him at almost EVERY SINGLE INSTANT in the whole film, to the point he gets betrayed twice AND trapped three times.
** Part of this is explained by Solitaire's tarot reading giving the bad guys a heads up. After that, Mr. Big ''is'' well connected. There is also a recurring theme in the Roger Moore films where Bond is less of a secret agent and more of a ''living legend'' given Scaramanga's reaction to him (which is not entirely unlikely given how he is a OneManArmy who has saved the whole world at least twice by this point.)

* FairForItsDay: For all the cringeworthy portrayals of African-Americans as jive-talking superstitious criminals, Bond's two most competent allies, Quarell and Strutter, are both African-American, and the bigoted sheriff J.W. Pepper is portrayed as and openly referred to as an idiot. And if you're feeling extra generous, you can write off the "jive-talking superstitious" part of that last sentence as the Kananga's personal fetish, enforcing the theme on his underlings.
** You could also note that Creator/YaphetKotto plays Kananga as being every bit as sophisticated, intelligent, and dangerous as any other Bond villain.
* GeniusBonus: At the close of the pre-credits sequence, to ratchet up the tension of the agent's death, the musical score quotes the Huge Chord from Music/TheBeatles' "A Day In The Life". The film's composer was George Martin.
* HilariousInHindsight: Bond hears Felix communicating to his car through a cigarette lighter, noting "[[{{Pun}} A genuine Felix Leiter/Lighter. Illuminating.]]" In ''Film/LicenceToKill'', Felix (again played by David Hedison) gives Bond a cigarette lighter as a gift for being his wedding's best man [[spoiler:which he uses to kill Franz Sanchez as vengeance for the maiming of Felix and the death of Felix's wife]].
** ...which happened to him in the book "Live and Let Die".
* {{Narm}}: Inflatable Yaphet Kotto, for a start.
** "Names is for tombstones, baby. Take that honky out and waste him!"
*** "Get me a make on a white Pimpmobile!"

* SpecialEffectFailure: Kananga's death scene. There were limits on how realistic they could have possibly made that sequence without outraging the censors at the time. Still, it just goes to show what a poor idea that method of dispatch really was.

* {{Narm}}: Bond correctly identifies a very minor character as a henchwoman because ''she's a black woman driving a car'', which simply did not happen in the '50s.

* FairForItsDay: For all the cringeworthy portayals of African-Americans as jive-talking superstitious criminals, Bond's two most competent allies, Quarell and Strutter, are both African-American, and the bigoted sheriff J.W. Pepper is portrayed as and openly referred to as an idiot. And if you're feeling extra generous, you can write off the "jive-talking superstitious" part of that last sentence as the BigBad's personal fetish, enforcing the theme on his underlings.
** You could also note that Creator/YaphetKotto plays BigBad Kananga as being every bit as sophisticated, intelligent, and dangerous as any other Bond villain.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The BigBad's death scene. There were limits on how realistic they could have possibly made that sequence without outraging the censors at the time. Still, it just goes to show what a poor idea that method of dispatch really was.

** Tee-Hee is fairly popular. It's easy to like a tough, cheerful and AffablyEvil hencheman. So much that some like to believe [[spoiler: that he survived being thrown out of the train in the epilogue.]]

* BrokenBase: Relating to both Baron Samedi's immortality and Solitaire's clairvoyance. Accepting that they are real (and there is a lot of potential evidence that it is) means that you are accepting the existence of magic in the pre-reboot franchise. Which is understandably something that a lot of people have a problem with in their spy fiction; especially if you are a fan of the darker and more realistic incarnations of Bond such as Timothy Dalton.

** [[DamselInDistress For her faults]], Solitaire is often considered as one of the prettiest Bond girls in the franchise. No small feat.

** "Take that honky out and waste him!"

** Tee-Hee is fairly popular. It's easy to like a tough, cheerful and AffablyEvil hencheman. So much that some like to beleive [[spoiler: that he survived being thrown out of the train in the epilogue.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Baron Samedi is probably the most well-remembered character from the film. He would later get a guest role in [[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 Goldeneye]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Baron Samedi is probably the most well-remembered character from the film. He would later get a guest role in VideoGame/Goldeneye64.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Baron Samedi is probably the most well-remembered character from the film.

* UnfortunateImplications: Rescuing the white DamselInDistress from the {{Scary Black M|an}}en. And that's just the movie; let's not talk about the book.
** The fact that all but ''two'' black people in America (Agent Strutter and Quarrel Jr.) are evil and somehow in league with Kananga. Including not only everyone who lives in San Monique, but apparently also the entire black population of Harlem and New Orleans.
** Bond tricking Solitaire into sleeping with him with a trick Tarot deck is up there with his blackmailing a woman into sex in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''.
*** Solitaire already knew they'd be lovers due to her clairvoyance. Still, it was a jackass move by Bond. Which, of course, is the point of being a 00. You do jackass things to get the mission done.

* UnfortunateImplications: All the inhabitants of Harlem are depicted as very superstitious, which gives Mr. Big control over them.

* HilariousInHindsight: Bond hears Felix communicating to his car through a cigarette lighter, noting "[[IncrediblyLamePun A genuine Felix Leiter/Lighter. Illuminating.]]". In ''Film/LicenceToKill'', Felix (again played by David Hedison) gives Bond a cigarette lighter as a gift for being his wedding's best man [[spoiler:which he uses to kill Franz Sanchez as vengeance for the maiming of Felix and the death of Felix's wife.]]

* UnfortunateImplications: Rescuing the white DistressedDamsel from the [[ScaryBlackMan Scary Black Men]]. And that's just the movie; let's not talk about the book.

** Part of this is explained by Solitaire's tarot reading giving the bad guys a heads up. After that, Mr. Big ''is'' well connected.

* FairForItsDay: For all the cringeworthy portayals of African-Americans as jive-talking superstitious criminals, Bond's two most competent allies, Quarell and Strutter, are both African-American, and the bigoted sheriff J.W. Pepper is portrayed as and openly referred to as an idiot.

** Also averted with Bond using his magnetic watch to give his Italian lover Ms. Caruso a not so ShamefulStrip once their alone. It was basically just a very thin wire connecting the watch to her dress zipper but it's impossible to see. However there appears to be a crew member's hand holding her dress steady, though most might ignore it in favor of seeing the lovely Ms. Caruso's backside and top of her panties be revealed again.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The line in the title theme by Paul [=McCartney=] that goes: "But if this ever-changing world in which we live in...". On the other hand, it could also be "...in which we're living...".

* FairForItsDay: ''Live and Let Die'' was Ian Fleming's second 007 novel (1954) - while the book's narrative and the black dialect Bond hears in Harlem read pretty cringe-worthy, he observes they're interested in the same things as everyone else, and is glad "they're not genteel about it". Mister Big himself notes that blacks have made major contributions to many human endeavors, and aims to be the first black super-criminal. Also, during Bond's initial briefing, even M (a hidebound reactionary even by the standads of the time) says that Mr. Big or someone like him was inevitable.

* GeniusBonus: At the close of the pre-credits sequence, to ratchet up the tension of the agent's death, the musical score quotes the Huge Chord from Music/TheBeatles' "A Day In The Life". The film's composer was GeorgeMartin.

** The fact that all but ''two'' black people in America (Agent Strutter and Quarrel Jr) are evil and somehow in league with Kananga. Including not only everyone who lives in San Monique, but apparently also the entire black population of Harlem and New Orleans.