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It was the first 'proper grown up film' i had ever seen. Up until then it had been the usual disney fare i was taken to see.
I vividly remembered the scene where Bond's driver gets a dart in his head, the moment Bond blasts the Snake with the aerosol can, Mr Big 'pulling his face off', the Alligator stepping stones, the speedboat chase and Kananga inflating like a balloon. (which looked much better then than it did years later!)
I was always fond of it and for a time Roger Moore was my favourite Bond. It was also the first Bond soundtrack i really loved.
Now it's middle tier Bond for me. Not fantastic but enjoyable for what it is. But i'll always hold a fondness for it as it was my very first Bond film!
That said, I do enjoy LTK. But it does feel... different.
Nice post, ringfire 211.
I would counter that LTK's original intent was to film in China and had a warlord involved in drugs if I'm remembering it right before they claimed The Last Emperor had already filmed in China, which I think is a flimsy excuse. Changing the locale to Central America/Mexico was more cost effective.
I also think the stories of Manuel Noriega having his fortress and people in his country looking out for him as an inspiration for Sanchez as well since the series often took inspiration from real-life events and situations. But I can understand some of the other points as well.
I've watch every episode of Miami Vice and have the box set. It's a great series, but apart from Daltons slightly more casual dress/ along with the dress code in general (Sanchez) and the heavy being a drug dealer, LTK is absolutely nothing like Miami Vice. The more serious violent style is more of a 'nod' to Die Hard & Lethal Weapon, but not Miami Vice.
The movie is really well-structured, simple in plot but rather engaging in delivery. It's Bond pretty much on his own, tracking down the people who hurt his friends and either killing them one by one or disrupting their entire lives.
And that's where the strength of the movie lies. We as the audience are Bond's cohorts on this personal case. We're right there with him as he kills the people that hurt his friends. We're right there with him as he takes the drug kingpin's money and actually uses it against him. We're right there with him as he infiltrates the kingpin's lair and pretends to be his friend so he can screw him over in the end. While most of the Bond movies are pleasing, License to Kill is crowd-pleasing. We want Bond to succeed because we want him to avenge his friends, not just because it's a Bond movie and he's supposed to succeed. Basically nothing like Miami Vice. Wilson compared the script to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, where a samurai "without any attacking of the villain or its cohorts, only sowing the seeds of distrust, he manages to have the villain bring himself down". Wilson freely admitted that the idea of the destruction-from-within aspect of the plot came more from Yojimbo and Sergio Leone's remake of that film, A Fistful of Dollars, than from Fleming's use of that plot device from The Man with the Golden Gun.
It's also a terrific mix of the old and the new. The violence and action are a clear nod to modern times (80's action films), but there's a nice throwback feel to the movie, too (Fleming touches). There's talk of the time Bond was married years earlier (in On Her Majesty's Secret Service) and David Hedison makes a return as Felix Leiter, which makes for nice continuity with the earlier adventure Live and Let Die (even if the actor who plays Bond has changed). License to Kill has a good soundtrack (by Michael Kamen - Die Hard), exotic locations, two nice-looking leading ladies (Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto), an evil villain (Robert Davi) who either cuts out the hearts of his enemies or feeds them to sharks (Live & Let Die Novel), quips that make you laugh and/or groan, explosions, and a short-haired Benicio del Toro (in only his second film role) as a crazy, slimy henchman.
With its cinematic sensibility, high fashion, pastel colours, charming anti-heroes and existential montages, Miami Vice paved the way for our golden age of deluxe cable TV. But it didn't really influence Bond at all.
The United Artists press kits referred to the film's background as being "Torn straight from the headlines of today's newspapers" and the backdrop of Panama was connected to "the Medellín Cartel in Colombia and corruption of government officials in Mexico thrown in for good measure." This use of the cocaine-smuggling backdrop put Licence to Kill alongside other cinema blockbusters, such as the 1987 films Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop II and RoboCop, and Bond was seen to be "poaching on their turf" with the drug-related revenge story.
I felt the same when seeing LTK upon opening-night of this movie in my local cinema. And I am a Miami Vice fan and felt that the economic choice of EON setting the scene in the Caribbean and South America was not a wise one as Miami Vice was already very successfully occupying this territory and did it with a lot of flair and darkness. I have the series on dvd too and watched recently a season and the series was darker and more violent than I remembered.
LTK had some great scenes taken from LALD the book, which I really appreciated being filmed. It gave the story certainly a Fleming feeling for the 007 fan, TD's previous movie also had the Fleming touch with a short story involved. Both movies became more interesting because of that.
Seeing LALD for the first time was a hoot an half I saw it in cinema in a double bill, and was a more entertaining movie than most of the big spectacle movies I saw in those days. Roger Moore remains a favorite actor of mine, his name in a movie makes me want to watch it. I love especially "Shout at the Devil" "Northsea Hijack"and "Gold". The movie is good balance between action and a wicked sense of humour which only one other Bond actor can match, namely Connery.
In what way though? Style, clothes, music, cinematography, score, setting? I can’t see any comparisons bar a slight tweak of Bonds clothing style, a drug dealer and some of the locations.
How smart is it to do a South American drugslord in an era that is run by Miami Vice and do an exact similar theme, throw in the casual clothes, Florida cigar boats etc. TV actors because of economic reasons.
Had LTK chosen for a an Asian decor it would have had more an own vibe instead it perhaps opted to the Miami Vice tailwind because of the series popularity and they trusted the movie not enough to did something unique.
With the Roger Moore era they did this much better with LALD (blaxploitation movies), MR (SW phenomena). to name a few.
With LTK it feels like a poor mans Miami Vice as the series is far more stylized and more interestingly filmed. The scenes from LALD are actually refreshing to see and the biggest pleasure I get from the movie.
Anybody not seeing the influence Miami Vice had on LTK is really not aware of said show of is putting his head in the sand like an Ostrich. For me the choices made with LTK was surely also one of the reasons the movie did not do very well as we could see Miami Vice for "free" on the telly each week what did LTK really add or do new in comparison?
EON failed Dalton by not giving him something other than a pastiche of a tv show while the total BO of LTK was the BO of the Batman's first weekend. Brocolli might have faith in Timothy Dalton as 007 but with this 2nd movie he certainly made a bad choice in how the movie finally was produced.
Having said that, I would never claim that LTK is in any way inferior to MIAMI VICE. I saw someone say why would they pay money to see LTK when they could just watch MV on the small screen for free?! Well, first of all the story of LTK is leaps and bounds more interesting than your typical MV episode. The Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars theme is the most engaging part of the film!!!! Bond basically causes the villain to self-implode without laying a finger on him. Brilliant stuff!!! And secondly where in MV did you ever see such cool stunts and set pieces as we see in LTK??? The lasoing of the plane at the beginning in mid-air is superb!!! The waterskiing stuff and especially the tanker finale is absolutely incredible!!! Michael Kamen’s score works so well in those scenes!! Nothing like that EVER on MV!
Honestly I can see the influence of MV on LTK but like I said the latter is head and shoulders above MV! I never cared for the show. Found it boring. It’s always the same exact thing in every episode. Crockett and Tubbs undercover as drug dealers trying to set up yet another buy or another bust. This type of thing gets old very, very quickly. Yes the show was shot stylistically and had a cinematic quality to it. But so what???? I’m not going to watch a show just for that alone. I need more than style, I need substance. Don’t give me yet another cliched drug dealer they’re trying to set up a buy with and then bust. For this alone, LTK scores major points in the story department.
LTK's original premise might have been more interesting with an oriental face on drugs smuggling. Overal the cinematic quality of LTK is just pedestrian and on occasion great but is does not feel like a big production, something TLD did certainly not lack.
LTK always felt less of a movie and story department is just not that great except for adapting the LALD parts of the story. Overall the story was nothing special that lit up the BO apparently. Broccoli made perhaps a cheaper movie by locating to Mexico but it just did not help Dalton in his 2nd 007 outing, it felt just like something people had seen too often on the small screen (you might find it boring but the show was certainly not and it did prove to be a trendsetter in TV as for its style and cinematic style of filming a tv show). And LTK is remembered by the general public as that 007 film by that guy who was just not very good.
I am 007 fan and find LTK a wasted opportunity to sell the general audience an original and oriental feeling movie instead of a MV pastiche by 007. It just wasn't that better as some people want it to be.
Most ridicoulous part in the movie was Q send to hostile territory, Q who is in essence worth more than 007 for the Secret Service, it proved to be good for a laugh but also a very silly road to add Q to the movie.
LTK was originally planned to take place in China before the money talked.....
TND also squandered its Asian scenes. We need a Daniel Craig style...not Sam Mendes, not Pierce Brosnan polished kind of setting location. LALD got that right with bringing the audience into its atmosphere without it feeling fake. Just reading about Geoffrey Holder taking Jane Seymore on tours about the African diaspora derived influences in the Caribbean including but not limited to rituals....you could imagine the learning experience as an audience. The scenes retained a down to earth tone that didn't rely on a polished work. SF and GE tried too hard on being Bond movies.
Those movies where the villain has a scar-scar were not successful because of that but because of box office money which was made due to long hiatus, or a people's choice actor to play Bond like Pierce Brosnan and also because of the last film being good over the years rather than being a trend that ends as soon as it leaves the box office. MR wouldn't have had a large budget if TSWLME wasn't good. OP wouldn't have been too comfortable to go over the top without FYEO. Sadly these ott sequels including SF were over marketed to make up for their lack of real substance.
Then Live and Let Die finally came to TV, and my reaction was… this is not quite as bad as TMWTGG? Maybe? At least now I understood why the audience had been so pleased to see that random redneck tourist show up in Thailand. Suffice it to say that I had a lot of problems with this movie.
But my biggest problem with LALD was that thing Bond does with the cards to get Solitaire into bed. No, not because he tricks or manipulates her into the sack—Bond’s a bounder and a cad, so I’ll allow that he cheats at cards. But as a teenaged magician myself, I didn’t like the way in which he cheated. First of all: Are we to believe that Bond bought 78 decks of Tarot cards in order to make his rigged deck? In today’s money, a cheap deck of Tarot cards can easily cost $20 a deck (or $1,560 USD total)—and hers was not a cheap deck! Did he buy them in the Harlem voodoo emporium he visits earlier, where he buys a plush-toy snake? Seems like a critical bit of info to leave out!
BOND: “Seventy-eight copies of this edition of the Tarot, please.”
CASHIER (rings up purchase): “Maybe I’ll close early today!”
BOND: “What are you doing after work?”
CASHIER: “Smokin’ crack! Want some?”
Anyway, let’s say he bought the cards (nevermind how he knew which edition Solitaire favors, or that he would even need such a thing). On the island, Solitaire catches him fooling around with “her” cards and angrily demands that he leave them alone.
This brings me to my second objection to this scene: Are we supposed to believe that Solitaire—a woman who literally lives or dies by her skills with the cards—would think for even one second that those cards were anything other than Bond’s own deck? No! She would be able to tell, instantly and at a glance, that his cards were brand new, while her own deck is no doubt well-thumbed and broken in. He even lets her handle one! She wouldn’t have to be Dai Vernon in order to discern that these were not her beautiful cards.
So for those two reasons I don’t like the way he faked his way into Solitaire’s bed. Much better would have been for Bond to perform a simple card force, and make her choose The Lovers from her own deck (thus saving himself over $1,560 USD).
After all, James Bond should be able to perform card tricks. We know this because in Moonraker (the novel) M wants Bond to out-cheat a card cheat; Bond has a book or two on his shelf about how to cheat at cards, and he brushes up a bit before going off to do the thing. Now, how does one cheat at cards? By using certain tricks and techniques (false cuts, false shuffles, bottom-dealing, second-dealing, two-card lifts, pinkie breaks, etc)—techniques which are also used by magicians to perform card tricks. Ergo, Bond can do card magic. QED. I will rewrite the scene:
SOLITAIRE turns over the card. It is the Lovers. “A simple trick, Mr. Bond.”
BOND: “Yes.” He takes two more cards (the Fool and the Tower) and does a quick three-card monte. “Try again.”
SOLITAIRE: “I don’t understand. I am supposed to avoid the Lovers? Or to find them?”
BOND: “You don’t choose the card. The card chooses you.”
She turns over a card. It is the Lovers.
SOLITAIRE: “Then I suppose I have no choice.” They go to bed. Afterwards, she says: “I did not fall for your little trick, James. I fell for you. Can you protect me?” And so on….
I’ve always appreciated in Dr. No the nice touch of having Bond while away the hours as he waits for Dent’s arrival by playing solitaire; perhaps in a future installment he can amuse himself by practicing his fans and flourishes and cascades and one-handed cuts instead.
Excelsior!
Regarding the Dr. No solitude scenes....films like QoS and CR, even the better parts of SF had their solemn scenes....Bond walking through the desert with Camille, Bond and Vesper scenes and the casino game, Bond and M watching the scenic Scottish Highlands together taking it all in with the audience....makes you feel like you're included.
In AVTAK you had Bond taking care of Stacy at her house while protecting her like a gentleman.
But Ethan Hunt does some slight of hand stuff; Bond should "wow" us with cards.
If she was a true clairvoyant then she could've had the cards custom made to tailor to her vision of the future. Not that difficult to imagine, really.