The Living Daylights (1987)

Director:

John Glen

Writers:

Richard Maibaum (screenplay) and
Michael G. Wilson (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 July 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Music | Thriller

Tagline:

James Bond 007 at his most dangerous in The Living Daylights

Plot:

James Bond is living on the edge to stop an evil arms dealer from starting another world war. Bond crosses all seven continents in order to stop the evil Whitaker and General Koskov.

Plot Keywords:

James Bond | Afghanistan | Defection | Arms Dealer | Cello

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Timothy Dalton	...	James Bond
Maryam d'Abo	...	Kara Milovy
Jeroen Krabbé	...	General Georgi Koskov
Joe Don Baker	...	Brad Whitaker
John Rhys-Davies	...	General Leonid Pushkin
Art Malik	...	Kamran Shah
Andreas Wisniewski	...	Necros
Thomas Wheatley	...	Saunders
Desmond Llewelyn	...	Q
Robert Brown	...	M
Geoffrey Keen	...	Minister of Defence (Sir Frederick Gray)
Walter Gotell	...	General Anatol Gogol
Caroline Bliss	...	Miss Moneypenny
John Terry	...	Felix Leiter
Virginia Hey	...	Rubavitch

Also Known As:

James Bond 007: The Living Daylights (USA) (trailer title)

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Arabic | French | German | Russian | Czech | Slovak

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Netherlands:12 (TV rating) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-14 | Ireland:PG | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (original rating) | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Ait Benhaddou, Ouarzazate, Morocco

Company:

Danjaq

Trivia:

There are three parallels in the film to the earlier James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only (1981). These occur during the beginning of the film. Koskov is being detained and debriefed during lunch, he mentions Gogol's dislike for the new policy of détente. At the end of For Your Eyes Only (1981), Bond throws the ATAC off of the mountain and tells Gogol "That's détente General, You don't have it, I don't have it". In the kitchen of the very same building is a parrot that has a striking resemblance to Max, the Havelocks' parrot from For Your Eyes Only (1981). During the lunch, Koskov says of Pushkin, "We were once like brothers". In For Your Eyes Only (1981), Kristatos also uses the same line when speaking about Columbo.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The producers made a special effort to make Vienna look like Bratislava. They did so by parking a lot of Trabants on the street and putting up Cyrillic-lettered street signs. However, Trabants were East German cars and, while there would have certainly been some in 1987 Bratislava, most of the cars would have been the Czechoslovak "Skoda" brand. Secondly, both Czech and Slovak use Latin letters, so street signs in Bratislava never would have had Cyrillic lettering. The tramways are clearly old Vienna streetcars, nothing similar ever served Bratislava's public transport.

Quotes:

[first lines]
M: Gentlemen, this may only be an exercise so far as the Ministry of Defence is concerned. But for me, it is a matter of pride that the 00 section has been chosen for this test. Your objective is to penetrate the radar installations of Gibralter. Now, the SAS has been placed on full alert to intercept you, but I know you won't let me down. Good luck, men.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Secrets of 007: The James Bond Files (1997) (TV)

Soundtrack:

String Quartet #2 In D Major: 3rd Movement 'Notturno' Andante

One of the best.

Quite simply put The Living Daylights is one of the best James Bond films they have ever made & if Wilson & co are smart they'll do more like this one.

Having decided to give up the role of 007 in 1985 Roger Moore stepped down,Moore had saved the series in the early 70's but had stayed in the role a movie to long(they should have left it with the excellent Octopussy),the hunt was now on for a new actor who could take the role into the 90's....Thankfully Dalton was the man they found. As soon as he got the part Dalton went straight back to the source material..ie Ian Fleming's novels & it shows on the screen...the bond in the Living Daylights is the Bond character jumping right out of the books.

The film really shows how keen everyone involved in it wanted to say that this was a fresh start but at the same time still show that this is a Bond picture & they pull it off very well..John Glen's direction is excellent,he really found his feet by now & all the aspects of the film are done well...A special mention must also go to John Barry who's score for the film is one of his best...oh if only they couyd bring him back rather than have his clone do the new ones....

Timothy Dalton is very much undervalued in his contribution to the Bond movies but i do feel that in about 10 years & his films will be seen in a different light on how they are looked on today. The producers of the Bond movies really need to do the same again now as they did back in 1987...make Bond a character & no more films like Die Another Day..OK it made them tons of money but is it worth selling the sole of Bond to do it..... Give the role to Clive Owen & make Bond a character again.