The Living Daylights
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Living Daylights | |
|---|---|
 The Living Daylights film poster |
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| James Bond | Timothy Dalton |
| Also starring | Maryam d'Abo Jeroen Krabbé Joe Don Baker |
| Directed by | John Glen |
| Produced by | Albert R. Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli |
| Novel/Story by | Ian Fleming (story) |
| Screenplay | Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson |
| Cinematography by | Alec Mills |
| Music by | John Barry |
| Main theme | The Living Daylights |
| Composer | John Barry Paul Waaktaar |
| Performer | a-ha |
| Editing by | {{{editing}}} |
| Distributed by | MGM/UA Distribution Co. |
| Released | June 30, 1987 July 31, 1987 |
| Running time | 130 min. |
| Budget | $40,000,000 |
| Worldwide gross | $191,200,000 |
| Preceded by | A View to a Kill (1985) |
| Followed by | Licence to Kill (1989) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Living Daylights, released in 1987, is the fifteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional British secret agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story "The Living Daylights."
The beginning of the film following the title sequence resembles the short story, in which Bond has to act as a counter sniper to protect a defecting Soviet. The film begins with Bond investigating the deaths of a number of MI6 agents. A Soviet defector, Georgi Koskov, informs him that General Pushkin, head of the KGB, is systematically killing Western operatives. When Koskov is seemingly snatched back by the Soviets, Bond follows him across Europe, Morocco and Afghanistan.
The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli, his stepson Michael G. Wilson, and his daughter Barbara Broccoli.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In the prologue, Agents 002, 004, and James Bond (007) parachute onto the Rock of Gibraltar to test its defences. 002 is captured by the SAS, while Bond and 004 begin scaling the cliffs to the base. As they ascend an assassin appears and sends a tag reading "Smert' Spionam" ("Death to Spies") down the rope before cutting it, killing 004. Bond chases the assassin, ending in an explosives-laden Land Rover careening down Gibraltar's roads and then into the air. Bond escapes (via his reserve parachute) mid-air from the falling jeep, while the assassin is killed.
Bond conducts the defection of a KGB officer, General Georgi Koskov, covering his intermission escape from a concert hall in Bratislava. He notices a sniper assigned to assassinate Koskov, who is actually a cellist named Kara Milovy. Suspecting that she is not an assassin, he spares her. Koskov is smuggled through the Russian oil pipeline into Austria and flown to England. There, at a countryside manor (Blayden House), Koskov informs MI6 that the KGB's old policy of Smert' Spionam, meaning Death to Spies, has been revived by General Leonid Pushkin, the new head of the KGB. Milovy is immediately speculated as an assassin. Some time later, an assassin named Necros infiltrates the building and abducts Koskov.
Bond travels to Bratislava to kill Pushkin but soon begins to suspect that Koskov staged his defection upon learning that Milovy was the latter's girlfriend, a fact that remains unknown to MI6. Bond travels to Bratislava to make contact with her and escapes with her into Austria. After a brief tryst with Kara in Vienna, he meets up his MI6 ally, Saunders, at the Wurstelprater amusement park. There, he reveals a link between Koskov and arms dealer, General Brad Whitaker, whose offer to sell the KGB high-tech weapons in Tangier was declined. Saunders is killed by Necros, who is disguised as a balloon seller; He leaves a balloon marked "Smert Spionam".
Bond infiltrates Pushkin's hotel room in Tangier at gun point. Pushkin reveals to Bond that contrary to Koskov's explanation, he had actually been investigating Koskov himself for the embezzlement of government funds. Bond fakes Pushkin's assassination, allowing Whitaker and Koskov who now believe Pushkin is dead to progress with their scheme. Meanwhile, Milovy contacts Koskov. He convinces her that Bond is a KGB agent. Accordingly, she puts Bond to sleep with a spiked beverage and engenders his capture. They are flown to a Soviet air base in Afghanistan, where Koskov betrays Milovy and imprisons her along with Bond. They escape and in doing so free a condemned prisoner, Kamran Shah, leader of the local Mujahideen. Bond discovers that Whitaker and Koskov are paying diamonds for a large shipment of opium, in order to turn a huge profit with enough left over to supply the Soviets with their arms.
The Mujahideen help Bond and Milovy to infiltrate the air base. Bond plants a bomb in the back of the cargo aeroplane transporting the opium, but Koskov recognises him just as he is leaving. Bond hijacks the plane, while the Mujahideen attack the airbase on horseback. Milovy joins Bond on a jeep in the back of the plane as they take off and later assumes the controls while Bond leaves to defuse his bomb. Necros, however, had stowed away on board and attacks Bond. Bond throws Necros to his death after a struggle and deactivates the bomb. Milovy flies over Kamran Shah's Mujahideen, who are being pursued by Soviet soldiers across a bridge. Bond drops his bomb onto the bridge, preventing the Soviets' pursuit of Kamran and his men.
Bond returns to Tangier and arrives at Whitaker's residence as General Whitaker is playing Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg on his terms. When Bond tells him that the opium is burned, Whitaker takes out a submachine gun with a shield. When Bond uses up all of his bullets, Whitaker fires. Bond's explosive key-chain, triggered by a wolf whistle, topples a bust of the Duke of Wellington onto Whitaker. Bond sums it up, "He met his Waterloo." At the same time Pushkin and his bodyguards arrive. Koskov is arrested and ordered to be flown back to Moscow in a "diplomatic bag".
[edit] Cast
- Timothy Dalton as James Bond: An MI6 agent assigned to look into the deaths of and conspiracies against several of his allies.
- Jeroen Krabbé as General Georgi Koskov: A Soviet general who falsely accuses the KGB of planning assassination attempts on British agents. This safeguards his drug trade and ensures that he gets in touch with Brad Whitaker so as to obtain the American army's modern weapons.
- Maryam d'Abo as Kara Milovy: Koskov's girlfriend who is persuaded by him to enact an attempt on his life and thus framed as the KGB's sniper. Bond protects her from his allies who are suspicious about her.
- Joe Don Baker as Brad Whitaker: A renegade American self-styled general who smuggles advanced weapons to Koskov in exchange for opium. Baker called his character "a nut" who "thought he was Napoleon".[1]
- John Rhys-Davies as General Leonid Pushkin: The new head of the KGB, replacing General Gogol. He proves Koskov's words false and then assists Bond in battling the American and Soviet smugglers.
- Art Malik as Kamran Shah: The leader of the Mujahideen, who joins hands with Bond for destroying Koskov's opium stockpile.
- Robert Brown as M: The strict head of MI6.
- Desmond Llewelyn as Q: MI6's "quartermaster" who supplies Bond with multi-purpose vehicles and gadgets useful in the latter's mission.
- Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary.
- John Terry as Felix Leiter: A CIA agent and ally to Bond.
- Geoffrey Keen as Fredrick Gray: The British Minister of Defence
- Walter Gotell as General Gogol: The retired head of the KGB.
- Andreas Wisniewski as Necros: Koskov's henchman who poses repeated threats to Bond but is finally killed in Afghanistan.
- Thomas Wheatley as Saunders: Bond's ally who initially discourages all of his intentions due to the misconception that Milovy is an assassin. He later helps them stay safely in Austria and leads them to Whitaker.
[edit] Production
Originally the film was proposed to be a prequell in the series. But the idea was dropped. SMERSH's motto "Smiert Spionon" From the short story formed the storyline.[2]
[edit] Casting
In 1985, Roger Moore retired from playing James Bond after A View to a Kill. This led to a significant search for a new actor to play Bond. Timothy Dalton, Sam Neill,[2] Lewis Collins, and Pierce Brosnan were screen-tested for the role in 1986. Dalton had been considered to replace Sean Connery in 1968, which he refused feeling that he was too young.[3] He was originally the producers' first choice for The Living Daylights but turned down the role because he was busy with the film version of Brenda Starr,[4] while Collins and Neill failed the screen-test.
The producers offered the role to Brosnan after a three-day screen-test.[5] At the time, he was contracted to the television show Remington Steele which had been cancelled by the NBC network due to falling ratings. The announcement that he would be chosen to play James Bond caused a surge in interest in the series, which led to NBC exercising an option in Brosnan's contract to make a further season of the show. NBC's action caused drastic repercussions, as a result of which Albert R. Broccoli withdrew the offer given to Brosnan, citing that he did not want the character associated with a contemporary TV series. This led to a drop in interest in Remington Steele, with the show ending abruptly following its fourth season.[6] the edict from Broccoli was that "Remington Steele will not be James Bond."[7]
In the intervening period, Dalton was offered the role once again, which he accepted.[8]
Maryam d'Abo, a former model, was cast as the Czech cellist Kara Milovy. In 1984, d'Abo had attended auditions for the role of Pola Ivanova in A View To a Kill. Barbara Broccoli included d'Abo in the audition for playing Kara which she later passed.[9]
Originally, the KGB general set up by Koskov was to be General Gogol; however, Walter Gotell was too sick to handle the major role, and the character of Leonid Pushkin replaced Gogol, who appears briefly at the end of the film, having transferred to the Soviet diplomatic service. This was Gogol's final appearance in a James Bond film. Morten Harket, the lead vocalist of the rock group a-ha (which performed the film's title song), was offered a small role as a villain's henchman in the film, but declined, because of lack of time and because he felt they wanted to cast him due to his popularity rather than his acting.
Director John Glen decided to include a macaw from For Your Eyes Only It was seen chirping in the kitchen of Blayden House when Necros attacks MI6's officers.
[edit] Filming
The film was shot at the Pinewood Studios at its 007 Stage in UK, as well as Weissensee in Austria. The pre-title sequence was filmed on the Rock of Gibraltar. Other locations included Germany, the United States, and Italy. The desert scenes were done in Morocco. The conclusion of the film included the Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna and Elveden Hall, Suffolk.
Principal photography commenced at Gibraltar on September 17, 1986. Aerial stuntmen B.J. Worth and Jake Lombard performed to the pre-credits parachute jump.[10] Both the terrain and wind were unfavourable. The stunt was decided to be done using cranes but aerial stunts arranger B.J. Worth stuck to skydiving and completed the scenes in a day.[11] The press would not meet Dalton and d'Abo until October 5, 1986, when the main unit travelled to Vienna.[12] stunt with the land rover was filmed in the Mojave Desert.[13]
Almost two weeks after the second unit filming on Gibraltar, the first unit stared shooting with Andreas Wisniewski and stunt man Bill Weston.[4] During the course of these three days it took to film this fight Weston fractured a finger, and Wisniewski knocked him out once.[14] The next day finds the crew on location at Stonor House doubling for Bladen's Safe House, the first scene Jeroen Krabbé filmed.[15]
[edit] Music
The Living Daylights was the final Bond film-to-date to be scored by composer John Barry. The soundtrack is notable for its introduction of sequenced electronic rhythm tracks overdubbed with the orchestra - at the time, a relatively new innovation.
The title song of the film, ""The Living Daylights", was recorded by the Norwegian pop-music group a-ha. A-ha and Barry did not collaborate well, resulting in two versions of the theme song.[16] Barry's film mix is heard on the soundtrack and on a-ha's first greatest hits album Headlines and Deadlines. The preferred mix of a-ha can be heard on their 1988 album Stay on These Roads. However in 2006 a-ha member Pal Waaktaar complimented Barry's contributions "I loved the stuff he added to the track, I mean it gave it this really cool string arrangement. That's when for me it started to sound like a Bond thing".[16]
In a departure from conventions of previous Bond films, the film uses different songs over the opening and end credits (a trend that would continue until 2006, when "You Know My Name", the Chris Cornell song that served as the title song for Casino Royale, was also played over the last half of the end credits for that same film). The song heard over the end credits, "If There Was A Man", was one of two songs performed for the film by Chrissie Hynde, of The Pretenders. The other song, "Where Has Everybody Gone", is heard from Necros's Walkman in the film. The Pretenders were originally considered to perform the film's title song. However, the producers had been pleased with the commercial success of Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill", and felt that a-ha would be more likely to make an impact in the charts.[17]
The original soundtrack release was released on LP and CD by Warner Bros. and featured only 12 tracks. Later re-releases by Rykodisc and EMI added nine additional tracks, including alternate instrumental end credits music. Rykodisc's version included the gunbarrel and opening sequence of the film as well as the jailbreak sequence, and the bombing of the bridge.[18]
Additionally, the film featured a number of pieces of classical music, as the main Bond girl, Kara Milovy, is a cellist. Mozart's 40th Symphony in G minor (1st movement) is performed by the orchestra at the Conservatoire in Bratislava when Koskov flees.[19] As Moneypenny tells Bond, Kara is next to perform Borodin's String Quartet in D major.[20] Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations and the finale to Act II of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (in Vienna) also feature.[21] At the end of the film, Kara also performs the Dvořák cello concerto in B minor to rapturous applause.[22]
[edit] Release and reception
The Prince and Princess of Wales attended the film's premiere on June 27, 1987 at the Odeon Leicester Square Cinema in London.[23] The Living Daylights grossed $191.2 million worldwide.[24] In the United States it earned $51,185,000.[25] Its opening weekend collections were $11,051,284,[26] surpassing the $5 million grossed by The Lost Boys that was released on the same day.[27]
In the film, Koskov and Whitaker repeatedly use vehicles and drug packets marked with the Red Cross. This action angered a number of Red Cross Societies, which sent letters of protest regarding the film. In addition, the British Red Cross attempted to prosecute the filmmakers and distributors. However, no legal action was taken.[28][29] As a result, a disclaimer was added at the start of the film and some DVD releases.
The Living Daylights has a "Fresh" score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.[30] Many including John J. Puccio and Chuck O'Leary praised Timothy Dalton's performance. However, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times criticised the lack of humor in the protagonist.[30]
[edit] References
- ^ Joe Don Baker. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD]. MGM Home Entertainment.
- ^ a b Michael G. Wilson. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ Dana Broccoli. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ a b Patrick Macnee. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ John Glen. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ Last, Kimberly (1996). Pierce Brosnan's Long and Winding Road To Bond. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
- ^ Peter Lamont. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ Maryam d'Abo. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ The Living Daylights. Mi6.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
- ^ Jake Lombard. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ B.J. Worth, Jake Lombard, Arthur Wooster. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ Production Notes (The Living Daylights). Retrieved on 2007-10-16.
- ^ John Richardson. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ Andreas Wisniewski. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ Jeroen Krabbé. Inside The Living Daylights [DVD].
- ^ a b (2006). James Bond's Greatest Hits [Television]. UK: North One Television.
- ^ The Living Daylights. Fastrac Publications. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
- ^ The Living Daylights. SoundtrackNet. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
- ^ Mozart: Popular Music from Film Disc: 2
- ^ Classics at the Movies II CD 2 Catalogue Number: 4765940
- ^ Campbell, Margaret, The Great Cellists (North Pomfret, Vermont: Trafalger Square Publishing, 1988).
- ^ *Clapham, John. "Antonín Dvořák, Musician and Craftsman". St. Martin's Press, New York, 1966.
- ^ Smith, Duncan J. D. [30 April 2005] (2008). "007 IN VIENNA", Only In Vienna: A Guide to Hidden Corners, Little-known Places and Unusual Objects. Christian Brandstätter Verlag. ISBN 3854984138.
- ^ Box Office History for James Bond Movies. The-numbers.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ^ The Living Daylights. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ^ The Living Daylights: Weekend collections. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ^ 1987 Domestic Grosses. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ^ Protecting the Emblems in peacetime: the experiences of the British Red Cross Society. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
- ^ Protection of the red cross and red crescent emblems and the repression of misuse
- ^ a b The Living Daylights. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
[edit] External links
- MGM's official The Living Daylights website
- The Living Daylights review in 007 Magazine
- Inside The Living Daylights Documentary
| Preceded by RoboCop |
Box office number-one films of 1987 (USA) August 2, 1987 – August 16, 1987 |
Succeeded by Stakeout |
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