The Living Daylights is the fifteenth entry in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the first of two to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Produced in 1987 and directed by John Glen, the film’s title is taken from Ian Fleming’s short story “The Living Daylights”. James Bond is assigned to help KGB General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) defect to the West. In his post-defection debriefing, Koskov informs MI6 that the KGB’s old policy of “Smert Shpionam”, meaning “Death to Spies”, has been reactivated by General Leonid Pushkin, the new head of the KGB. Koskov is later abducted from the Blayden estate safe-house and is assumed to have been taken back to Moscow. Bond is ordered to track down Pushkin in Tangier and kill him. Bond returns to Bratislava to track down a cellist, Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo). He finds out that Koskov’s defection was faked, and that Kara is actually Koskov’s girlfriend. Bond convinces Kara that he is a friend of Koskov’s and persuades her to accompany him to Vienna, supposedly to be reunited with him. They escape Bratislava while being pursued by the KGB and Czech police, crossing over the border into Austria. Meanwhile, Pushkin meets with arms dealer Brad Whitaker ( Joe Don Baker) in Tangier. In spoiling Kosovo & Whitaker’s plot, Bond & Kara fall in love and travel to Afghanistan, where they join with Kamran Shah, leader of the local Mujahideen. OK, on to the ratings;
Bond; 65 out of 100. I think that Timothy Dalton, or the producers, were trying to make Bond more of a real person. Most Bonds have a distinct persona. Craig and Connery were tough & hard edged, Roger Moore was sophisticated and urbane. I know it was Dalton’s first shot at it, but I didn’t see Bond. I saw Dalton.
Villain; 50 out of 100 Jeroen Krabbé as Koskov just wasn’t dangerous, and his plan wasn’t particularly grandiose. He wanted money, not power or world domination, etc. He was a crook, sure, but not a Bond villain. Joe Don Baker as the arms dealer Whitaker was the same as his role as the CIA operative in later Bond films, a down home country boy. I think the CIA bit works better .
Bond Girls; 45 out of 100 Maryam d’Abo is an attractive woman, but not an actress. And there is very little spark to her performance. They tried to give her some chances to be more than Bond’s arm piece, but when you can’t really act…?. And that’s about all there was. There were 2 CIA operatives in what was basically a cameo, and Virginia Hey as Pushkin’s mistress in a revealing cameo, but really not much more.
Theme Song; 30 out of 75 Remember a-ha? Unless you’re of a certain age, I’ll bet the answer is no. And there’s a reason for that. 80’s band with a few minor hits, and evidently a good agent. Unmemorable song, unmemorable performance.
Henchman; 28 out of 50. Andreas Wisniewski as Necros looked the part. Large and very fit. But he was handicapped by being given a walkman to use as a murder weapon in several scenes. And not really imposing or threatening. More like a personal trainer than a thug.
M, Q, Moneypenny & misc; 10 out of 25. Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny is again, attractive and fawns over Bond, but that’s about it. Thank God for John Rhys-Davies as Pushkin and Art Malik as Kamran Shah, the Mujahideen leader. They added some much needed believability to what was a poor script.
Total; 228
Scoreboard;
- Spectre-397
- The World is not Enough- 367
- Octopussy- 255
- The Living Daylights- 228
Next Week; Casino Royale.
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