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'More of a problem eliminator ' : Licence to Kill Appreciation & Discussion

barryt007barryt007
edited June 2017 in Bond Movies Posts: 19,339
Ive checked on google and we dont have one ,yet it is my favourite Dalton Bond film by a mile ,and soon to be #9 on my ratings list .

It's never out of my top 10 and Sanchez is one of my favourite Bond villains,a scary individual.

Add Krest,Heller,Trueman-Lodge and Dario into that mix and Bond has his work cut out..as the film proves...

Any more LTK fans out there in MI6 land ?

Oh,and Pam Bouivier is one hell of a sexpot...legs i could suck on for a week !
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Comments

  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    I loved Davi; I met him here in Toronto during the Italian film festival. He was sitting on a patio with a friend and he had all the time in the world to chat with my son and I-- more time to chat after he heard my son's name: Brando.

    "Now that's a name!" he exclaimed in that booming voice of his.

    The best advice in screenwriting, and maybe @Brady can chime in, as well as @RC7: develop an amazing antagonist, because only the antagonist will make the protagonist great (think DH: Hans elevated the stakes and McClane was forced to answer the bell at every turn).

    Sanchez/Davi elevated Bond/TD-- and I'm not a dalton fan, but thought he shined in the presence of Davi...

    And yes, @barryt007, Pam does have legs to die for (yum, yum!)
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Wow ,what a coup to meet Senor Sanchez !!
    This was before LTK or after @peter ?
    And i agree,i think Dalton's performance improved with a better cast than the other film (minus Thomas Wheatley,who i thought was brilliant as Saunders).
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    It was about 2009, @barryt007... Davi had directed his first film, DUKES. It was in the Italian Film Festival, and my family and I live near Little Italy. Strolling down the street, it was I who had caught the eye of someone familiar to me.

    I almost lost it.

    At the time, my son was a huuuuuge 007 fan (presently, with a mixture of a teenage rebellion, and the lack lustre feelings he had for SP (he fell asleep and couldn't stand one of his favorite actors, Waltz, sleep walk through his role), he has little love for the films at the moment), so this chance meeting was a big deal for both of us.

    Davi was a very charming man!

    And agreed with Wheatley: such a little snot who turns into a valuable ally.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Did Davi say anything about LTK by any chance ?
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    in a round about way: I told him both my son and I were big fans... He was curious how a seven year old boy could be a fan of his (considering the adult nature of his filmography). I said Brando was a Bond fan.

    He told Brando he had great taste in movies.
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    The thing I most take away from this chance meeting was how big Davi's head and hands were; and the voice, it sounds even better in real life, like it's coming from the mouth of a giant. It really does boom...!
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Aaaah @peter you should have gone for the jugular and told him loved him as Sanchez !!!

    Seriously,i know though,its difficult when you are star-struck...i could have done the same with Sir Roger Moore and Sir Michael Caine but i didnt ,when i met them.
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    You're correct, heart in throat when I met him. Didn't want to seem like a fawning dope either... and you met Sirs Moore and Caine? Those are two biggies!
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    I did indeed,and with personalised signed books...one lucky lucky boy...after they signed the books and i shook their hands and grabbed as much chat time as i could ,when i said thankyou Sir Roger,and thankyou Sir Michael i got a reply of : "oh ,thank you very much " and "cheers !"..you can guess which legend said which sentence !
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    LTK is certainly in the upper half of the series.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Higher than TLD to you Dr ?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It flip flops a bit for me. They are in approximately the same place.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    barryt007 wrote:
    Oh,and Pam Bouivier is one hell of a sexpot...legs i could suck on for a week !
    Ms. Lowell's legs deserve a thread of their own.
  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,176
    Pam is probably my second favourite Bond girl after the divine Pussy Galore. The cool haircut, the piloting skills, the getting to hang out with Timothy Dalton...yeah, I admit it, she's the Bond girl I'd most like to be. Even if that meant wearing some pretty terrible '80s clothes most of the time.
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    edited March 2017 Posts: 4,007
    My opinion of LTK is pretty low, but Carey Lowell is one of my favourite Bond girls.

    Damn she deserved another Bond film!

    Best thing in LTK
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,589
    Ive been seeing alot of conversation about LTK. Ill have to watch it tonight.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited March 2017 Posts: 11,189
    LeonardPine wrote: »
    My opinion of LTK is pretty low, but Carey Lowell is one of my favourite Bond girls.

    Damn she deserved another Bond film!

    Best thing in LTK

    The best actors in LTK are Davi, Del Toro and Zerebe.

    Carey Lowell is certainly beautiful but I can't help but find both her and the character somewhat lightweight and a bit on the trashy side.

    Something of a "tough yank gal" stereotype ("you took the words right outta my mouth").

    Between her and Kara though I'd probably be more tempted by Pam.
  • TheSharkFromJawsTheSharkFromJaws Amity Island Waters
    Posts: 127
    I love, love LTK. Both it and TLD sit comfortably in my Top 5.

    Dalton is superb, Davi is an excellent villain, Lowell is indeed sublime, and even Benicio does a great job with his limited role. And the action is among the best of the series. Action films today just can't come close to the flicks back in those days.
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    edited March 2017 Posts: 4,589
    Licence-to-Kill-James-Bond-Timothy-Dalton-Felix-Leiter-David-Hedison-DEA.png

    The face you make when you just ate taco bell and have 2 minutes to get to the bathroom.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    This is the most underrated film in the series. It's ironic that the first of the EON films not to draw its title directly from an Ian Fleming story is also the closest in spirit to Fleming since "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."

    In "License to Kill" continues what he started in "The Living Daylights": he portrays a Bond that is still an ultra-suave superagent, but is also moody and reckless -- in other words, human.

    Some elements of the story come from Fleming's short story "The Hildebrand Rarity." Sanchez's doomed henchmen Milton Krest is lifted directly from "The Hildebrand Rarity," and elements of the relationship between Sanchez and his girlfriend Lupe echo that of Krest and his wife Liz in the original story.

    The other Fleming story drawn upon is "Live and Let Die" for the plot-driving scene in which Leiter is thrown to the sharks. (This marks the second time that Fleming's "Live and Let Die" was drawn upon for a key scene in a movie other than the film version of LALD. The other is the "dragged behind a speedboat over the reef" scene in "For Your Eyes Only." It kind of makes you wonder what the powers that be at EON were thinking when they couldn't find a place for these powerful, effective scenes in the good but inferior LALD.

    "License to Kill" features a realistic, believable story. Add to it the equal ruthlessness of Bond and Sanchez in their respective portrayals by Dalton and Davi and you have a movie that will stand out over time as one of the best in the series.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I love LTK, it's in my top three Bond films.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Saw some of it last night. It's got its flaws but it's decent enough.

    The film does lack that extra something though and often has an American thriller vibe (certainly visually it could have been better).

    Unlike say FRWL and FYEO I have to sometimes consciously remember it's a Bond film.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    edited March 2017 Posts: 13,384
    As Fleming was often described as writing in an American thriller writer's style, unlike many other English authors. Perhaps LTK is infact closer in feel to what Fleming had in mind ? ;)
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited March 2017 Posts: 11,189
    Thunderpussy wrote: »
    As Fleming was often described as writing in an American thriller writer's style, unlike many other English authors. Perhaps LTK is infact closer in feel to what Fleming had in mind ? ;)

    Hmm...possibly That still doesn't excuse some of the more generic moments in the film, which now come off as cheesy.

    Virtually all of the first 20 minutes
    "There's only one law down there...Sanchez's law"
    "We have laws in this country too"..."do you have a law against what they did to Leiter?"
    "I just hope that little stunt of yours hasn't scared him off"

    It needed a bit more visual class and atmosphere...more like FRWL.
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,589
    Watched it last night. Fell asleep during the blackjack scene
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    My current #2 favourite Bond film, has been known to be the #1, from time to time. Sanchez is one of the best Bond villains, his high price on loyalty is a unique trait.I really like Kamen's Bond theme, especially during the Tanker chase. I always feel compelled to crank up the volume during the wheelie. Given the more down to earth style of the Dalton era, it might look absurd, but it's sure a pure Bond moment. And then there is Dalton's performance, Bond has never, before or since, been so ruthless and determined in seeing his mission through to the end.
  • barryt007barryt007
    edited March 2017 Posts: 19,339
    I don't want to derail the 'Controversial....' thread,so I thought I better pop in here,but re Kellifer ,did anyone think that Hawkins was going to be the traitor ?

    The scene with Sanchez,Hawkins and Kellifer,convinced me,as a 19 year old cinema viewer,that it was him.

    Anyone else think that at the time ?
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,800
    MajorDSmythe wrote: »
    My current #2 favourite Bond film, has been known to be the #1, from time to time. Sanchez is one of the best Bond villains, his high price on loyalty is a unique trait.I really like Kamen's Bond theme, especially during the Tanker chase. I always feel compelled to crank up the volume during the wheelie. Given the more down to earth style of the Dalton era, it might look absurd, but it's sure a pure Bond moment. And then there is Dalton's performance, Bond has never, before or since, been so ruthless and determined in seeing his mission through to the end.
    You wrote my post for me...
    =D>
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    For me LTK is the best Bond film of the 80's and up until CR. Licence To Kill is classic Fleming Bond. Purists may not like the more American touch to the narrative (you just know that any theatrical trailer is crying out for voice over man to go "this time it's personal"), but the more darker narrative suits the film and it shows that Dalton was a good Bond no matter what his critics say. With some of the most spectacular action sequences at the time, this is a genuine Bond classic.

    Dalton's performance is stunning, reflecting Ian Fleming's original Bond figure with a suffering and passionate character instead of a playboy just repeating funny dialogues. The rest of the cast is also superb, with Robert Davi as villain, Talisa Sato and Carey Lovell as Bond girls and a young Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic") as psychopathic killer. Desmond Llewelyn has his best and longest Q performance by supporting Bond on is mission with some of the funniest gadgets.

    The settings are restricted to Miami and Mexico just like in previous Bond movies like GF and DAF (and Fleming's books) and influenced by successful TV series like "Miami Vice" and "Magnum, P.I.". The big disadvantage of this movie is the lack of the typical British settings, humor and "Bond tradition" - in fact, "Licence To Kill" is the most "American" Bond movie ever done. But IMO it represents Fleming's character on screen.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    I agree partly with this,although OP equals it IMO.
    But it is a very watchable film and its in my top 10.
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