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As much as I love OHMSS, I always hated that bit.
I'm not saying anything about his performance, just the fact that he was an esoteric choice for a Bond villian. But then again, LTK is a pretty esoteric film itself with a large American cast.
That said, I still find Sanchez to be the most underrated lead villain of the series and much more than the garden variety drug dealer he's sometimes perceived as. A lot of reviews of the time referred to the character that way.
That I can really not understand. He certainly isn't Scarface.
I remember thinking "So their doing Escobar, huh?" When I first saw it. But even that is a pretty lazy comparison.
Exactly. Isthmus is basically 1980's Panama.
What I find particularly interesting is Sanchez's reputation to award loyalty. That's a very interesting take since most Bond baddies were just plain insane. This guy just wants to be rich and powerful. He's charismatic too, he even treats his goons quite nicely as long as they keep nodding along. Makes him very much a real-world villain.
MGW confirmed this in interviews too. It’s on the DVD extras.
Also it was great idea for the plot as Bond exploits that part of Sanchez, his devotion to loyalty, as a means to destroy his organisation from within!
One of the reasons why I think LTK did not do as well as hoped: it was probably too American for many, including (especially?) American audiences.
Well, in the non-US market it didn't fall off too much from TLD,and it outperformed AVTAK. It earned slightly more than Octopussy too, though in that case, inflation adjustments would out it a bit behind.
It was really just the US with that one, I think the reason is boring one we always hear: 1989 was a killer summer blockbuster season.
The simplest explanation is that the US didn’t like Dalton as Bond. Americans were primed for Pierce Brosnan and never gave Dalton a chance.
Yeah, that's certainly possible too. But Roger's second film went over about as badly and that got turned around, so who knows. According to one of my Bond books, it had the best test audience reaction they'd ever had, so maybe it could have done better.
^This is what happened. I was a teenager in the '80s, starting with OP, and the "public" wanted Brosnan because he was well known from Remington Steele.
Personally I loved Dalton from the jump in TLD, but I doubt most people in the US agreed. The media played it like Brosnan lost a beauty pageant, when Dalton was the better actor and choice.
https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/519602875731452340/
Dark "drug war" movies and TV were in vogue in the US in the late '80s--Miami Vice and Lethal Weapon. So in that sense LTK was very much in keeping with its time.
Thank God for MTM productions stepping in, or we may not have got Dalton at all!!
It's not a coincidence that after 1989 Bond films were released in autumn instead. LTK's marketing campaign was also universally derided as limp and poorly funded. Even the posters are the worst ever assembled for a Bond film. Lastly, American audiences just weren't enthusiastic about Dalton. I don't think LTK would have been a big hit if it had been released in late October with better marketing, but I don't think it would have flopped either. Sadly, even if the film made more money that wouldn't have prevented the legal complications that deprived us of a third Dalton film.
My copy of this poster during my teen years proudly was displayed on my wall throughout high school. My version had the US spelling.
Still, when compared to the earlier classic artwork of the Connery and Moore eras it's a lesser effort.
My bedroom had the TLD poster of Dalton with the Walther. Both were great teaser posters that got me thrilled for the films.
I had that poster, too.
THIS poster I love as well as the original title.
That's the main reason, but I do suspect they wanted something more exotic than Florida.
An absolute shame it wasnt used.
Stunning poster!
Agreed. Love it.