Welcome to the latest edition of In Conclusion: The James Bond Series. My countdown of my favorite Bond films is down to #4 and #3. But first here is a recap.
22.Die Another Day (2002)
21.A View to a Kill (1985)
20.Moonraker (1979)
19.Octopussy (1983)
18.Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
17.Quantum of Solace (2008)
16.Live and Let Die (1973)
15.The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
14.Diamonds are Forever (1971)
13.Goldfinger (1964)
12.Dr. No (1962)
11.Thunderball (1965)
10.The World is Not Enough (1999)
9.The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
8.For Your Eyes Only (1981)
7.Goldeneye (1995)
6.Casino Royale (2006)
5.You Only Live Twice (1967)
4.
The poster art for this movie is…bland and very low rent to say the least. It’s probably one of the worst of the Bond posters. As beautiful as Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto are, their could have been better ways of doing this poster again. But then again, maybe they’re trying to show grit because the girls are clamoring onto Bond in this poster, but rather just standing Independently away from him. I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be Franz Sanchez in the background or not and it’s weird to see how old Timothy Dalton looks in the poster.
This film is somewhat controversial in the eyes of a lot of fans as to whether they love it or not. Most love it because like me they see it as the ultimate Bond film in a sense of that he’s going around, facing a tough villain, and kicking ass. Others dislike it for its production values, Timothy Dalton’s overacting at places, and John Glen’s direction. I personally love this movie, after disliking it at first. Timothy Dalton plays James Bond in his 2nd (and sadly last) time.
Bond is ruthless, careless, and he just kicks all kinds of ass. Dalton does overact at places but as a whole he plays a pretty bad ass Bond in what is the perfect time of film for him (less emphasis on humor and more on a serious plot line.) I liked Pam Bouvier as the primary Bond girl. Their relationship does come off as contrived (in the beginning) but I felt by the end of the movie that she served as almost a perfect equal to Bond in the sense that she’s also fighting for her life and in vengeance for Felix Leiter and her colleagues. Possibly the toughest and most bad-ass Bond girl in the series.
The secondary Bond girl in the movie is Lupe, played by Talisa Soto. Lupe is pretty strong willed, in spite of constantly being abused by Sanchez. When she meets Bond, she decides to join his side and help him with the mission. It’s a rare case where they got not only one Bond girl right, but two. Their isn’t just one Bond girl being useful with another one being useless, but rather two, very equal Bond girls helping out along the way.
Robert Davi plays Franz Sanchez, the villain. I have to say, he’s perfect in the role. He’s menacing, sinister, but in a sense theirs times you get mixed feelings about Sanchez. He’s a different type of villain that isn’t out for world domination but rather has a bigger investment in friendship, trust, but most of all money. He practically embraces Bond when he meets him.
In a way he’s a son of a bitch, but in another way he’s one of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet…if you’re on his good side of course. The action in this movie is pretty well done. I really liked the pre title sequence with Bond and Leiter going after Sanchez and the end sequence(final 30 minutes) is one of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen. The Isthmus City location itself is beautiful. It contrasts with the dark tone and gives it a Miami Vice feel to it but it’s nice seeing Bond back on a tropical island.
The title song “Licence to Kill” by Gladys Knight is a nice tune if you listen to the full version. The credit sequence version presented here is a little butchered, so give the full version a shot. Give it a shot but try not to think of it like you would other action films at the time (Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, etc.). It’s a great Bond film, but whether you’ll like it or not may depend on taste.
3.
The poster art is classic 60’s pop-art. I do like the portrayal of the ski chase but I don’t like the girl on there with Bond that looks nothing like Tracy in that scene or in any context. She seems to resemble just a generic Bond girl more than anything else. Some of the skiing art is nice, but I don’t like the random dark spot on the upper left corner of that. The artist renditions of George Lazenby and Telly Sevalas is perfect though.
I didn’t like this one initially. I had this in my “bottom 5” at one point, in fact. This one has REALLY grown on me. I’ve learned to see this as a very fantastic film. George Lazenby as Bond in his only outing does seem off at times and that’s because of inexperience.
Somehow it doesn’t hinder the film too much. He gets better as it goes on. Blofeld is the primary antagonist of the story. This time played by Telly Savalas. Telly makes a great Blofeld on terms of the charm he had playing the character and is the closest on terms of personality to the one presented in the early films.
Blofeld: Allow me to introduce myself, I am Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Bond: I know this, we met in Japan like two years ago.
Blofeld:Huh, I could’ve sworn you were Scottish, Mr. Bond.
Bond:Well I could’ve sworn you had a deformity on your eye.
Savalas’ Blofeld is charming, dangerous, and a brilliant mastermind. Irma Bunt is the secondary antagonist and I found her to have too little screen time. I felt she should’ve been shown more. Although in the end the actress Ilse Steppat puts on a great performance, as a silent but deadly killer. Diana Rigg plays Tracy, the Bond girl of the film.
She outshines most of the cast and the love story between her and Bond is something out of “Old Hollywood” back in the Bogart days. Its a beautiful love story and one of the few good ones in the Bond series. I felt that the smaller action scenes (fistfights and such) were pretty lousy but the larger sequences such as the chase scene on Plz Gloria and the ending were great. Peter R. Hunt did a great job with his directing in those. I feel they’re some the best in the series.
The main title song seems like they were trying to go in a new direction with the Bond theme. It plays ALOT in this movie and you never hear the true Bond theme until the end sequences. It’s a fantastic instrumental though and one of my favorites to listen to in my own time. Louis Armstrong sings the Bond/Tracy love theme, “We Have All the Time in the World”. The combination of Hal David, Louis Armstrong, and John Barry is one of the best musical combination’s I’ve ever heard on terms of music, lyrics, and singing.
It’s sad to say but this ended up being Armstrong’s final song, but it’s a great one to end on. My only big issue is the odd editing in this film (such as tires screeching sand) and the fact that it doesn’t acknowledge You Only Live Twice but that’s because it followed the Novel completely, which took place BEFORE the events there. The cinematography at times also feels really dreary and just too dark, but most scenes are well shot. I suggest seeing it the way I try to see it as a stand alone film set in a different Bond universe and you’ll really appreciate it for what it is.
That’s all for this week’s edition. Next week, we find out,#2 and #1. Until then, keep reading!