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:

For a time, the General Pushkin character (played here by John Rhys-Davies) was intended to return in the next James Bond movie, Licence to Kill (1989).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: While escaping from Bratislava, Bond and Kara drive through dramatically mountainous terrain to the Austrian border. There is no such terrain encountered while traveling West from Slovakia to Vienna.

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:

Referenced in The Cars of the Bond Movies (2008) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Living Daylights

One of the Best Bonds

Watching the Living Daylights, I can see that Dalton was *far* superior to Roger Moore. Moore was just a clown, looking for his next joke. When Moore wanted to quit after 1979's Moonraker, they should have let him go.

But Dalton brought a serious side to the role. You can see that he's determined to get the job done, and realizes he could be dead any minute, so he focuses on the mission and not clowning. Just like Sean Connery did back in the 60's.

---> As for the actual story, that too is serious & well-written. One of Bond's long-term enemies, Russian KGB Commander Pushkin, has crossed the line and is actively killing off agents. (To quote the movie "He's gone mental like Stalin.") Bond is tasked to search out & kill Pushkin, but Bond refuses because he knows Pushkin & knows he'd never cross the line like that. Instead, Bond suspects someone else inside the KGB is setting up Pushkin for a fall.

And thus begins a long adventure to discover the mystery man behind the killings. And like I said earlier, Dalton does an *excellent* job in this role. I highly recommend his movies. 10/10