Licence to Kill, the 16th installment of the 007 franchise and Timothy Dalton’s second and final outing as Bond, is perhaps the most underrated film in the series history. For many years, Bond lovers considered 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service the under appreciated picture of the bunch. That movie has since gained a reputation among a number of aficionados as one of the best. This, by the way, is not a sentiment I share. For my thoughts on that particular picture, my blog post is available on the site. Licence to Kill was a major commercial disappointment in the United States. It presented a much more intense 007 than we had seen before. It came out in a very crowded 1989 summer and got lost in the shuffle of blockbusters like Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Back to the Future Part II, and more. And it was the last Bond outing for an extended period of time due mostly to MGM’s financial difficulties. With all that negative energy surrounding Licence to Kill, it doesn’t alter what I took away from it… this is in the upper echelon of 007 pictures.
Let’s get the theme song handled first. It’s a pretty standard tune by Gladys Knight and it’s not among the Bond themes you’ll be humming along to later.
Onto the positive and there’s a lot of it. The film opens with Bond’s ally Felix Leiter getting married in Miami. Felix and Bond get word that the biggest and most wanted Latin American drug kingpin Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) has been spotted in town. So they have to make a quick stop before the wedding to capture him. They nab him after an exciting action sequence.
Unfortunately, Sanchez isn’t kept in custody for long and after his escape, he enacts revenge on Felix and his new bride. That bride is played by Priscilla Barnes, who you may know as Terri from TV’s “Three’s Company”! She doesn’t make it too long in the picture and while Felix is not killed, he is fed to a hungry shark… and once again, the shark does not have a giant laser beam attached to its frickin head.
All of this messing with Felix and his bride makes Bond pissed off. Like, more pissed than we’ve ever seen him before. He makes it his mission to track down Sanchez and his army of bad guys, much to the chagrin of M. When M confronts Bond in Miami and tells him that the Americans will take care of the Sanchez case, 007 resigns. And unlike all other entries in the series to that point, this mission for Bond is strictly personal, adding a new and exciting dimension.
This eventually leads to Bond going undercover and befriending Sanchez, gaining access to the inner circle. Along the way, he teams up with CIA informant Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), who serves as our main Bond girl.
The casting is first-rate across the board. Davi’s performance as Sanchez is terrific. I wasn’t timing it, but it seems like Sanchez has more screen time than any other Bond baddie I’ve seen before. He’s a well-written character and Davi shines as he’s given ample time to develop the character.
Carey Lowell is a solid Bond girl and her interplay with Dalton works well. As Davi’s girlfriend Lupe, Talisa Soto is given a few good moments. As Leiter, it’s nice to see actor David Hedison in the part, as he also played the character sixteen years earlier in Live and Let Die. This makes him the first (but not last) actor to play Felix more than once. As one of Sanchez’s sadistic henchman, we see a young and intense Benicio Del Toro! Even Desmond Llewelyn’s Q gets much more screen time than normal and he shines in a few scenes, as he always does.
Much like Dalton’s other entry, The Living Daylights, the plot incorporates current events into the story. While Daylights made use of the Russian/Afghan conflict in the 1980s, Licence to Kill focuses on the Latin American drug trade that was in the headlines at that time. Sanchez, in many ways, is a Noriega-like figure.
There is no doubt that Licence to Kill is a more somber and downbeat Bond adventure than normal, especially after the run of Roger Moore pictures. It’s also one of the most violent. The film seems influenced just as much by other 80s action flicks like Lethal Weapon and Die Hard than earlier 007 adventures. Some of the deaths here are brutal… Benicio Del Toro’s fate is a prime example. So is the fate of this character who Sanchez thinks double crossed him.
The screenplay, by veterans Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum, is one of the best we’ve seen, period. The characters are well-developed and the plot is quite inventive, as Bond sets up elaborate schemes to fool Sanchez into trusting him and distrusting other associates.
John Glen’s direction (this is his fifth Bond flick in a row) is rock solid per usual and the action scenes are dynamite. The climactic chase is one of several examples:
While I’ve gone out of my way (deservedly) to praise the production design of Ken Adam in earlier films, Peter Lamont’s work here is marvelous. The sets for Licence to Kill are fantastic. You’ll want to live in Sanchez’s home after seeing it.
There are minor quibbles, including a love triangle between James/Pam/Lupe that feels a little forced. Wayne Newton is cast as TV evangelist and while his character is unnecessary, he does provide a bit of comic relief for a mostly intense experience.
As for Mr. Dalton, my appreciation for him grew with this movie. He doesn’t have the Connery “It” factor, but he’s a good actor and his performance in Licence to Kill is solid. I couldn’t help but wonder after watching it whether he would have continued to grow into the role.
That, however, is a moot point. While Licence to Kill would do decent overseas business, it would not fare well in the United States, grossing just $32 million in the summer of 1989. Adjusted for inflation, it has the distinction of being the lowest grossing 007 film in the U.S. of all time.
This to me is a shame. The financial failure of Licence to Kill is based on many factors, including that crowded summer marketplace. Strangely enough, I suspect that it may also be due to the audience’s unwillingness to accept a Bond this dark and brooding, especially coming so soon after the light and humorous (and financially successful) Moore films.
Upon viewing Licence to Kill for the first time in many years, it almost seems like a template for the wildly successful Daniel Craig movies that would come nearly two decades later. That’s a high compliment.
MGM, the studio behind Bond, would experience financial problems shortly after this film’s release. This would mean no James Bond movies for a whole six years, by far the longest gap between pictures. Because of that, Licence to Kill marked a whole lot of “lasts” in the series. The long lay-off caused Dalton to resign from the role (though it’s unclear as to whether producers would have asked him back). This would be director Glen’s final effort after directing all five 007 movies released in the 1980s. Maurice Binder, who did the title credit sequences in every single Bond film through this one, passed away in 1991. It would be the swan song for Robert Brown, who assumed the role of M after Bernard Lee’s death. And last but certainly not least, Licence to Kill is the final film to be produced by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. He is the man more responsible for the success of the 007 franchise than anyone in its history.
For those who haven’t seen Licence to Kill, I highly recommend it. To those who greatly admire the Daniel Craig entries, I think you’ll admire this one, too. Every aspect of this picture is first-rate. This is the most under appreciated 007 feature in the series history and as its audience expands though time and people discover and rediscover it, I hope its reputation grows.
Here are the facts:
Film: Licence to Kill
U.S. Release Date: July 14, 1989
Director: John Glen
Screenplay: Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum
Bond: Timothy Dalton
Main Bond Villain: Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi)
Main Bond Girl: Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell)
Theme Song: “Licence to Kill” – performed by Gladys Knight
Budget: $32 million
Worldwide Box Office: $156.2 million
My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: Goldeneye”
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