Brad Whitaker

Whitaker1987

I am one of & maybe the only person on the MI6 Bond forum who actually enjoyed the character of Whitaker in TLD.

Many similar critics have said that the character needed to be written better, more scenes, better actor etc.

But what do you really think?

Was Joe Don Baker rushed in or did the writers have deleted scenes with Whitaker or ideas that never got added to the film?

I like Joe Don Baker as an actor but feel he was given the short straw similar to Lotte Lenya's Rosa Klebb. Looks good on script but lacks screentime.

The one thing that I like about the character and thats the background report. We've had ocean dwelling, space travelling, greedy capitalists so is an illegal arms dealer whos war wacky too much for Bond writers to make more sense of?

Anyone out there know of unwritten material that had more scenes for Whitaker?

Nice to know what you all think.

imranbecks

The funny thing was that the actor came back later for the Brosnan 007 movies as Jack Wade, his CIA informant....

DarthDimi

I have no problems with Withaker. He's a fairly okay character in the film. In fact, I dare say I like this character more than I do Jack Wade, who is a poor man's Felix Leiter with a nasty 90s vibe. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Wade. It's just that I prefer Withaker, who I feel is a unique character in the pantheon of Bond villains.

imranbecks

Which comes to next point, why was Felix Leiter not utilized in all of the Brosnan movies??? He wasn't even mentioned.. Of coz the last we saw of him was in the hospital in Licence To Kill.... I find it all really odd and it kinda bothers me when I think abt it...

Samuel001

I like the character of Whitaker a lot. The problem seems to be though that he's never developed to his full potential by the writers, as all of the villains in the film aren't. The poor final showdown with Bond doesn't help either.

BAIN123

I've never been a massive fan of Whitiaker to be honest. To me he just lacks the menace and authority a central villain should have. The sense of threat came more from Necros than it did from Witaker who wasn't even introduced until about the 40 minute mark. That approach worked with Dr No due to the effective build up (i.e. the room with the circular roof and of course the title) but it seemed underwelming in TLD. Personally I think JDB was better as Jack Wade in GE and TND as his flamboyant, rather light-hearted manner just seemed to fit more IMO.

Samuel001

To me he just lacks the menace and authority a central villain should have.

Which is also a factor as we forget about him completely during the desert battle at the end of the The Living Daylights.

BAIN123

To me he just lacks the menace and authority a central villain should have.

Which is also a factor as we forget about him completely during the desert battle at the end of the The Living Daylights.

Exactly. At the end after Bond has killed Necros in the brilliant aeroplane sequence its like "oh yeah, he needs to deal with Whitaker".

JBFan626

I've never been a massive fan of Whitiaker to be honest. To me he just lacks the menace and authority a central villain should have.

I don't think The Living Daylights needs a central villain. Not having a Drax/Stromberg/Zorin type villain is surprisingly one of it's strengths. The plot works well more on a multi-dimensional tangle of espionage: Russian defection/Cold-War tension, Koskov betrayal, Whitaker as financier, opium wars and the Mujahideen... TLD works because it's much more realistic in it's approach to current world affairs. The world did not operate under the threat of a maniacal leader in 1987. The Cold War was coming to a close, and drug wars were heating. So you were more likely to have a rogue with a lust for money on a smaller scale. So in this regard, I think Whitaker works just fine--of a few central players involved in a scheme.

BAIN123

He's just not a particularly memorable character imho. :-S

JBFan626

Oh yeah, agreed. But my point was just that, his presence (or lack there of) doesn't hurt the film.

BAIN123

I think it does a little bit as we never feel he is a worthy adversary for Bond. True he wrote in a very different era but Fleming's books usually had a larger-than-life memorable villain.

In fairness I can understand what they were going for in TLD but it just had mixed results.

actonsteve

The villain in TLD is 'The Cold War'

The villains dont need to be strong and to the fore as they need to be shadowy and in the background pulling the strings. Its a dirty little tale of everyone stitching everyone up. The murky world of international arms dealing. The plot is the star here - the way it twists and turns throwing you off the scent. Is it Pushkin? No it is now Koskov. Necros is the central menace. In many ways Koskov and Whitaker are two halves of the same villain. A Soviet/American hybrid.

I have soft spot for Whitaker as I love the bit where he waves the lobster claw in the air and shouts "kill him!"

Whitaker1987

The villain in TLD is 'The Cold War'

The villains dont need to be strong and to the fore as they need to be shadowy and in the background pulling the strings. Its a dirty little tale of everyone stitching everyone up. The murky world of international arms dealing. The plot is the star here - the way it twists and turns throwing you off the scent. Is it Pushkin? No it is now Koskov. Necros is the central menace. In many ways Koskov and Whitaker are two halves of the same villain. A Soviet/American hybrid.

I have soft spot for Whitaker as I love the bit where he waves the lobster claw in the air and shouts "kill him!"

Excellent posts so far. Can I ask bravely can you compare Whitaker with Klebb?

I like both characters as a critic but she was not hardly used in the film but still came off as an effective threat. Its just me but I think TLD was the 1980s version of FRWL.

Both are classics of there time.

actonsteve

Koskov is more like Klebb being the puppetmaster and to be honest he is not really a Kronsteen either. He is sort of this eccentric person on the sidelines with an unnatural fetish with the military. And is actually abit of a windbag as we know he was rather a rubbish shifty soldier. The two main villains arent meglomaniac villains they are shifty crooks. But since TLD is about the murky world of espionage where no one is trusted and/are used - it sort of works.

The_Reaper

I think he's great. I find him memorable b/c he is kinda snarky and lame, he droppe out of a military academy, tried to strong arm Pushkin and failed, obsessed about military battles even though he never fought in one... I think there is some depth there to his character.

00Beast

Samuel001 said:
Which is also a factor as we forget about him completely during the desert battle at the end of the The Living Daylights.

Agreed! And I also see the whole connection with Rosa Klebb. We see her introduced as a double agent working as a colonel in SMERSH, but her real loyalties lie with SPECTRE. Then, after the scene with Tatiana, she is pretty much thrust into the background until Kronsteen gets killed. That's how it was with Brad Whitaker. We see this character build-up during his first scene with Pushkin, and then after the scene with Koskov and Necros at his pool-side lunch, he's forgotten about until the last five minutes. It's as if they attempted to go with the old "henchman goes last" scenario, which I really prefer, but it was truly wasted on Whitaker and Klebb, who in fact, weren't even henchmen. The only times the whole "oh, I forgot about that villain" thing actually work are with Irma Bunt, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, Tee Hee, Nick Nack, Jaws, and Stamper. Also, at least these character mentioned, with the exception of Bunt, had a worthy fight to the finish with Bond, whereas Whitaker was iced too quickly.

Whitaker1987

Okay this post is just a basic idea that may have resulted in a better ending. I know its over 20 years since TLD screened.

Necros was simply a great henchman and although his battle on the Hercules was a dramatic scene. I could have expected a seen with him & a few guards capture Kara but the guards ie Whitaker's bodyguard would have taken Kara back to his villa.

Also it would have been alot better if an extra minute or so was spent taking out Whitaker's other guards 5 in total I counted.

This leading up to the same battle with perhaps more weapons being used in say a 2 or 3 minute scenario.

It do like though how 007 never took out Whitaker's bodyguard before getting to him.

Maybe Koskov was being guarded by him as the noisy battle was taken place?!

Goodness knows but the sound of machine gunfire must of made Koskov hide under the sheets!
:-D

00Beast

I like that scenario @Whitaker1987! It would have been the old "Bond rescues the girl", seen in many other Bond movies before and after TLD. I've always wanted to see Koskov fight Bond on the plane, first of all to make him more of a physical opponent, and second to allow Necros to go back to Whitaker's estate and duke it out with 007 after Whitaker was killed.

HASEROT

i've always liked Whitaker - he strikes me as more of the business variety of Bond villain, rather than one that has menace... a business man, who played one too many weekends of paintball and decided to become an arms dealer - thats how i see him lol....... But there has always been a soft spot for Baker's characters for me - maybe it's because at times he reminds me of my uncle (in appearance) i don't know......

but i will say this..... his little laugh he gives before he gets smashed by the Wellington statue in TLD cracks me up every time.. :-))

Goldeneye95

I liked the Brad Whitaker character a lot! He did come off as a business man type of Bond Villian. I also like how he was skilled with weapons, which he was able to defend himself in a gun fight situation. However, Joe Don Baker did not get a lot of screen time in TLD. I felt he was very under-used. Sir Timothy Dalton only had one scene with Baker. But he did get more screen time when he returned in Pierce Beosnan's first two Bond films GE & TND as Jack Wade. (Which makes up for it)

Soundofthesinners

He was goofy, nonthreatening, and underwritten. Bond never even meets him before the final battle, which is lackluster at best. He was a Moore villain with all the silliness that entails in a Dalton movie, and that was bad. Perhaps his biggest fault, though, was the absolute pedestrian quality of his name. Seriously, we went from Dr. Julius No and Auric Goldfinger and Ernst Stavro Blofeld to...Brad Whitaker. I told a non-Bond fan friend of mine about the discrepancy, and he said that he sounds like the female lead's original, incurably lame boyfriend in a romantic comedy or action movie. He's a bottom-tier villain for sure.

chrisisall

HASEROT wrote:

his little laugh he gives before he gets smashed by the Wellington statue in TLD cracks me up every time.. :-))

Yes, I loved it. A fitting demise for a slimy little creep fascinated only with cutting off society's 'dead flesh'.

Baltimore_007

If I didn't like Whitaker in The Living Daylights then I hated the Jack Wade character that Joe Don Baker did in the years after. It was a relief he only got to do the two appearances, as he merely resembled a 1990s type JW Pepper at certain points in Tomorrow Never Dies

Daylights itself, as mentioned, was a poor release for James Bond adversaries and Whitaker was no exception. My favorite bits were when he was first introduced to Pushkin and the showdown in Morroco and his arsenal of weapons he unleashes on Dalton and the final bit with the statue of Wellington 'being his waterloo'

Just seemed too soft at times, despite one or two harsh words. A James Bond comedy villain if ever there was one. Reminds me of Pryce's Elliot Carver in that regard

Ludovico

I never liked Whitaker, which was poorly cast and lacked menace. I don't know why but he reminds me of a malevolent Pepper, if such thing existed. I think Koskov was badly written and should have come off as more assertive in the early scenes, but he was at least perfectly cast. In fact Krabbe deserved a much better character.