Timothy Dalton Week: Licence to Kill

Felicitations good readers and welcome to Day 4 of Timothy Dalton Week and here's to a fun week thus far. As many of you know, Dalton wore the guise of Bond only twice given the delays, arguments and lengthy litigation causing the grinding halt of the third movie. While waiting for this to right itself, he was kept busy with Christopher Columbus: The Discovery but ultimately lost the role to Gerard Depardieu Columbus movie causing bankruptcy. Thankfully the mini-series: Scarlett had appeared in time and gave him the funding needed for the year as well as endearing himself to the American public allowing him to grace the small screen. Tired of the run-around and the need for new challenges for his acting chops. He took his leave and forfeited his latter three Bond movies. This is Licence to Kill.

Gasp!  Bond gets the girl!

In route with Felix Leiter's (David Hedison of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Romance Theatre, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, The Colbys and Mach 2) impending nuptials, He and Bond (Timothy Dalton) get a tip that known druglord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi of The Goonies, Die Hard, Maniac Cop 2, Predator 2, Profiler, Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence and Night Trap) with James at his side, they manage to capture Sanchez before he made it to international waters, dropping him in the clink and arraigning him for prison as the groom and best man made it in the nick of time for the wedding. The happy couple are ended abruptly as Sanchez was released at a costly amount dispatches Leiter's wife and leaves Leiter to a man eating tiger shark. The joint effort of CIA and DEA found Leiter and informed Bond.

Not on assignment, Bond proceeds to look into Leiter's attack and Sanchez's miraculous escape, creating some international incident with local PD, and CIA. So much destruction and mayhem causes MI-6 agents to accompany M (Robert Brown of Kill Me Tomorrow, Ivanhoe, Shake Hands with the Devil, It Takes a Thief, Escape by Night, Octopussy, A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights) to collect Bond, bring him in for questioning, reprimand and cancelling his authority as a Double O. Our seasoned veteran disables his fellow MI-6 agents without killing them and fled into the day.

So who is this Kaiser Soze anyway?

Trailing the money, Bond encounters Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto of Licence to Kill, The Mambo Kings, Hostage, Harts of the West, Mortal Kombat, Spy Hard, Vampirella and The Island of the Dead), Sanchez's gilded lover who warns James to not anger a man as powerful as Sanchez but Bond views this as a matter of honor for his fallen friend. Managing to get a hold of Sanchez's laundered money and finding more information for the lovely CIA agent Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell of Club Paradise, Me and Him, Sleepless in Seattle, A League of Their Own, Leaving Las Vegas, Fierce Creatures and Law & Order), which of course requires a fist and fire fight and naturally she is smitten by James and well... you know how that works. Will James be able to thwart Sanchez? Can he get his revenge? Will he ever return to MI-6??

Just a few observations at this time. This is a loosely re-write of Live and Let Die dealing with political corruption fueled by a drug cartel that only Bond seems to be able to handle. While I am not a huge fan of this era getting away from the latter Roger Moore standing, this is a vastly underrated Bond movie, providing both an amazing pace of action and story with a solid running time of 130 minutes. Granted the truck chase scene took a bit longer for my tastes but all in all, it was a good flick.

The most impressive aspect of this movie was Robert Davi's villain was not camp but sinister and on par with Bond's convictions and morals. A well flushed out character bringing his "A" game for it. Director John Glen is a pro at this game with Bond films (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, Checkered Flag and Christopher Columbus: The Discovery) as well as an editor for several of them gives time, love and effort and in this critic's humble opinion felt he did the name of Bond justice. Besides how many films can you say have Wayne Newton and Benicio Del Toro's film debut?

Truly miss my Beretta. 

007 Week: Casino Royale

Hello again Bond fans and welcome to the final day of 007 week.  Hope that didn't sound too ominious.  As this is the 21st installment to the franchise the team decided to go back to its roots and tap into Ian Fleming's original character as much as possible.  Weapons, timeline and politics are updated of course, but the source material is true to form as a new Bond is on the scene in his first mission.  With being a fresh field agent, learning to shut down his emotions and do the business at hand, Bond has his hands full with this assignment in shutting down a banker to known warlords and terrorist cells.  This is Casino Royale.

Yes, I am a trifle smug.

James Bond: M really doesn't mind you earning a little money on the side, Dryden. She'd just prefer it if it wasn't selling spoilers.




After dispatching a traitorous MI6 section chief and his contact for classified documents, James Bond (Daniel Craig of Our Friends in the North, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Layer Cake, The Golden Compass, Quantum of Solace and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) he makes his double 0 status and has been given the designation of 007.  He must travel to Madagascar to find a bomb maker and ends up chasing him down to an embassy.  Hopelessly outnumbered he shoots the bomb maker, defuses the bomb in his pack and swipes the maker's cell phone.

Tracking down the bomb maker's contact he discovers a Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian of Ararat, Casino Royale, Persepolis and Zero Dark Thirty) a contact and associate of the banker and financier Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen of Bleeder, Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Unit 1, King Arthur, After the Wedding and Hannibal) who plots to destroy a plane company financially with a bomb and causing his shares to sky rocket.  Bond heads to Miami to stop yet another bomber, thwart the impending plane explosion and save the day.

None of your cheek, mister.

Up to his eyeballs in debt, Le Chiffre enters a high stakes poker game to recoop his losses of his client's money.  M (Dame Judi Dench of A Study in Terror, Theatre 625, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Fine Romance, Henry V, As Time Goes By, Casino Royale and J. Edgar) feels if Bond eliminates Le Chiffre in the card game he will have no choice but to come to British Intelligence to spill his contacts and dealing in order to save his own skin.   So Bond is off to Montenegro for the card game meeting HM Treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green of Kingdom of Heaven, Franklyn, Camelot, Dark Shadows, 300: Rise of an Empire and Penny Dreadful) bankrolling this event with $100 million and another 5 million on standby.   With pressure on, Bond hammers through a card game that holds so much going for it and to slip up here may cost him his life.

A few notations about the film now.
In one afternoon's shooting schedule three Aston Martin DBS were destroyed in the car roll cut scenes, each tallying $300,000 a piece.   The way Craig orders his first vodka martini is lifted completely from the novel Casino Royale.  Daniel Craig had to put on 20 pounds of muscle and quit smoking for the role's cardio driven escapades.  Rather than the standard high-stakes game of Baccarat from the novel they changed it up to a series of Texas Hold' Em poker.  

This is also the first Bond film since Dr. No there were no jiggly girls dancing in the opening title sequence.
Former Bond Roger more was reported to have been so impressed with the movie he went out and bought a DVD copy of it.   Now that is a plug you can count on.

Well that is plenty of eye candy in one shot.

007 Week: Goldeneye

A fine welcome to you fans of MI-6 and their main protagonist to Day 4 of 007 Week.  So far we have gone over 3 Bonds so why not a fourth?  Like the Doctor in Doctor Who, each Bond brings something different to the table.  Better dress, succinct quips and more gadgets that are forever lost to Q branch due to one mishap or another.  Perhaps he is stockpiling toys in the unlikely event he may need them down the road.  Today we move from a gentleman that missed his Bond opportunity clear back in 1987 because of supposed 7 year contract but his show was cancelled after 6 episodes of its fifth season.  The man I rattle on about would be Pierce Brosnan.  This is Goldeneye.

EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMEEEEE!!!!!

Xenia Onatopp: You don't need the gun, Commander.
James Bond: Well, that depends on your definition of safe spoiler.






In 1986, two 00s were assigned to infiltrate and detonate an illegal Soviet biochemical weapons plant.  007- James Bond (Pierce Brosnan of Nomads, Remington Steele, Taffin, Live Wire, Mars Attacks, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Tailor of Panama and The Matador) and 006- Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean of Patriot Games, Airborne, Ronin, Extremely Dangerous, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Troy and National Treasure).  Separated and mining the facility, Trevelyan is captured by the Soviets and shot in the head.  Bond narrowly escapes with assault rifle blazing, a chase to his plane and a massive explosion leveling the facility.

Yes, that was rather foolhardy of him.

Nine years later, Bond receives his evaluation of performance and is assigned to look into a crime syndicate known only as Janus.   Monte Carlo hosting an event showing off a new prototype combat helicopter able to withstand EMPs  Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen of Lord of Illusions, Dead Girl, City of Industry, The Gingerbread Man, House on Haunted Hill, X-Men, Nip/Tuck and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and now General Ourumov (Gottfried John of Mata Hari, Of Pure Blood, A Case for Two and Space Rangers) claiming a Cold War weapon known as Goldeneye capable emitting an EMP that was destroy a country's electronic records, vehicles, batteries and early warning weapon systems.
Will Bond be able to stop the mastermind's organization, end the world of Goldeneye and get the girl in the end?

And now the fact finding portion of the movie's review.
Inspired by the career of Director-General of MI6, the first woman to ever head up the organization is what the M role was based on for Dame Judi Dench (A Study in Terror, Theatre 625, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Fine Romance, Henry V, As Time Goes By, Casino Royale and J. Edgar).  Lois Maxwell made famous playing Moneypenny suggested a female M as far back as 1985.  Ten years later, it came to fruition.

Famke Janssen stated in an interview with Jay Leno that she did some of the driving stunts and broke a rib during the sauna fight.  47 men were killed in this movie making it one of the highest kill count for James Bond has had in a single Bond movie.   This was also the first completely original  James Bond movie without reference material from any Ian Fleming novel or even short story.

It was said that The Rolling Stones were offer the chance to sing the title song but they took a pass and it fell to Tina Turner.   Definitely could have done worse for herself.

Dalton?  Poor fellow got the boot.

007 Week: The Living Daylights

Welcome back Bond fans for Day 3 of 007 Week.  Today's Bond gets a lot of flack for not having what apparently is deemed the traditional good looks, wit and charm of the character.  I say to these naysayers that they are wrong.  While he is not in the same region as Connery or Moore I felt he met all the requirements of the iconic role and then some but perhaps I am biased given I was a huge fan of the Dino de Laurentis version of Flash Gordon and knew him as the Erron Flynn of Mongo, Prince Barin.  I speak of Timothy Dalton.  Consequently he had to fight tooth and nail for the role as Sam Neil, Pierce Brosnan (still in his Remington Steele contract), Lambert Wilson, Andrew Clarke and Sean Bean were all up for the part.  This is The Living Daylights.

No, I am not Remington Steele.

M: Gentlemen, this may only be an exercise so far as the Ministry of Defence is concerned.  But for me, it is a mater of spoils that the 00 section has been chosen for this test.  Your objective is to penetrate the radar installations of Gibralter. Now, the SAS has been placed on full alert to incept you, but I know you won't let me down.  Good luck, men.

Our movie opens up with what MI-6 consider a routine training exercise for the 00s based on a HALO jump,  5 mile swim and mountain climb.  Consider this the Iron man event for their performance record.  002 was captured and 004 have been slain by a mysterious assassin and is moving in on James Bond (Timothy Dalton of The Lion in Winter, Wuthering Heights, Flash Gordon, License to Kill, The Rocketeer, Hot Fuzz, Doctor Who and Penny Dreadful) as he manages to escape from the mountain face and pull his reserve shoot landing on nearby yacht with a lovely sun bathing beauty.  

Dr. Kimble is gunning for me!

His customary 2 hours late to report in, "M" (Robert Brown of The Newcomers, Wreck Raisers, The Message, The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy, A View to a Kill and Merlin of Crystal Cave) explains to Bond about a Russian general Koscov (Jeremy Krabbe of The Little Ark, Slippers, World War III, Jumpin' Jack Flash, A World Apart, The Punisher (1989), Kafka and The Fugitive)  wanting to defect, claiming his higher up is mad to the level of Stalin and plotting multiple assassinations and the possiblity of nuclear war.  A tag was found on 004's body claiming Smiert Spionom (an old KGB policy of assassins for spies or Death to Spies during the Cold War based on Fleming's SMERSH)  Bond is there at the opera to succeed in helping Koskov to flee the country away from KGB's prying eyes.  No sooner he is in MI-6 custody the another assassin bombs the English manor safe-house, guns down several operatives and helicopters the general away.

Dealing with the fallout of this SNAFU, Bond is assigned to find Koskov and take him back from General Puskin (John Rhy Davies of Shogun, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Best Revenge, Firewalker, Waxwork, Sliders, Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and One Night with the King) who sent his assassin for him and his fellow 00s.  Revenge and professionalism seem to be going hand and hand.

Now some fun filled trivia about the movie.  Surprised?????

Our opening number recorded by A-HA and this is composer John Barry's last composition for the series as he moved on to American projects like  Indecent Proposal, The Specialist, The Scarlett Letter and Mercury Rising.  This is the last James Bond movie to use an original Ian Fleming title until 19 years later with Casino Royale in 2006.

Blast! No fiddling jokes apply here.

007 Week: Live and Let Die

Welcome back Bond fans to Day 2 of 007 Week.  As we acknowledge Connery's success as Bond we need to observe the other fellows that claimed this title as well.  Today I thought we would focus on another kind of Bond.  A dapper gentleman with the same strive and need to serve Queen and country.  Referred as a dandy, I would disagree with that term.   While lacking the rough and tumble standing that Connery had, Roger Moore is no lesser Bond and completely worthy of the title.  This is Live and Let Die.

I really have no desire to work for UNCLE.

Mr. Big: Is THIS the spoiling mother who tailed you uptown?
James Bond: There seems to be some mistake. My name is...
Mr. Big: Names is for tombstones, baby! Y'all take this honky out and WASTE HIM! NOW!

While this is the 8th Bond movie, this is the first Moore film as James Bond.  Three MI-6 agents working in junction with the CIA have been killed within 24 hours of their assignment.  The only comment denominator is was Dr. Kananga (Yaphett Kotto of The Thomas Crown Affair, 5 Card Stud, Bone, The Limit, The Running Man and Homicide: Life on the Street) a dictator of the island San Monique making his way to the UN building in New York.   Deep in Harlem a drug kingpin known only as Mr. Big plans to release no less than two tons of heroin through New York as such a cut rate cost to put all other drug czars completely out of business and making him top dog without firing a shot.  

Carribbean Comcast runs things a little differently.

James Bond (Roger Moore of Ivanhoe, The Miracle, Maverick, No Man's Land, The Saint, The Persuaders!, The Man with the Golden Gun, A View to a Kill and Alias) has arrived in New York and his contact with CIA agent Felix Leiter (David Hedison of A Man About a Dog, Crime Club, Adventures of the Queen, The Power Within, Romance Theatre and Fantasy Island) which personally I feel the role has become nothing more than a straight man for Bond's pithy comments or puns.  Remember when Jack Lord handled this role?  Yeah think on that.

Leiter lets Bond in on the scam in question that Kananga and Mr. Big may been in cahoots with one another given San Monique's tropical climate is ideal for poppy growth. Ensuring his empire Kananga seeks solace in his lovely tarot card expert Solitaire (Jane Seymour of The Only Way, The Strauss Family, Our Mutual Friend, Captains and the Kings, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Smallville and Modern Men) and she gauges the course of his journey as one would the course of the river.  Bond must uncover the heroin connection and put Kananaga's plot on hold.

Now a few facts about the movie.  This is deemed a bit of a groaner for puns as many of Bond's comments are that.  This film fell into the Blaxploitation and broke race barriers for the Bond Franchise as his first romantic encounter with a black woman, CIA agent Rosie Carver (Gloria Hendry of Hell Up in Harlem, Black Caesar, Black Belt Jones, Savage Sisters, Seeds of Tragedy and Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings).  While the previous films focused on meglomaniacs bent on world domination, this movie fixated with drug trafficking  and organized crime.

With a 7 million dollar budget our film cleared $35 million payoff and an Academy Award for Best Original Song "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCarthy and the Wings.  Not too shabby.

Hmm, lovely view.

007 Week: Thunderball

Hello and welcome to the beginning of 007 Week and we clearly cannot start this off without a Connery Bond film.  Sadly, it will not be Dr. No as I already reviewed that for Sean Connery Week if you will recall.  Mind you, there were other things you could have been doing during that week such as: laundry, hemming a skirt or making a quiche.  Nevertheless, we shall have to carry on and move to a popular title to this very day.  From its disturbing content of nuclear arms easily lifted to Bond having to prevent the impending World War III, this film brings us excitement, memorable villains and of course, the fetching ladies of the film.  This is Thunderball.

So... what are you doing after the funeral?

Madame LaPorte: You sound disappointed you did not kill him yourself.
Bond: I am. Jacques Bouvar spoiled two of my colleagues.





As this is the fourth film in the Bond Series starring Sean Connery (An Age of Kings, Macbeth Dr. No, Marnie, Goldfinger, The Anderson Tapes, Meteor, Outland, Highlander and The Hunt for Red October) Bond has returned from avenging several friends from a risque mission when he learns from his superior "M" (Benard Lee of The Angry Silence, Partners in Crime, Whistle Down the Wind, The Brain and Goldfinger) that an organization calling itself SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) has captured two NATO atomic warheads demanding no less than $100 million in diamonds or an undisclosed major city in England or the States will be destroyed.  Hot on the case, Bond follows leads to the Bahamas where he meets Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi of Pleasant Nights, The Honey Pot, Danger: Diablolik,  Hitler: The Last Ten Days, Ten Little Indians and The Next Man) a eye-patch wearing, card playing gambler that Bond suspects that SPECTRE's man of operations for this caper.

Mr. Peepers reporting as ordered, sir.

Bond's CIA contact Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter of Assignment: Outer Space, The Passionate Thief and Romanoff and Juliet) along with Largo's "niece" Domino (Claudine Auger of The Reckless, The Devil in Love, The Killing Game, Anyone Can Play, A Bay of Blood, Equinox and Summertime Killer) both clue Bond into where the warheads are being kept and pointing out the sheer amount of manpower Largo has at his fingertips.  Not for calling in the cavalry, Bond proceeds with his mission at all costs for Queen and country.

Some interesting facts about this film now.  This is the first of the Bond Franchise to have multiple alternative titles due to the translation gap.  These are: Operation: Thunderball, Ian Fleming's Thunderball, Agente 007- Thunderball, James Bond 007- Feuerball, Atomic Ball, Agent 007 Into The Fire, Thunderball Fighting, Operation Thunder, James Bond, Secret Agent, Operation Thunder and Longitude 78 West.

The "Golden Grotto" in the Bahamas does in fact exist and is now to this day been rechristened as "Thunderball Reef".  Sadly, the villa was torn down in 1990 for a hotel resort.   This is the first time we see all the double o's in one room as "M" has called them all to the carpet for a debriefing.  This is also the first of the Bond films to be shot entirely in Panavision (Anamorphic lens for widescreen shooting).  I really wanted to nick the 1965 Thunderbird Largo was driving around in Paris at the start of the film but I seemed to have misplaced my blue police box.

I think a grip left a tack on my chair!

007 Week

Yes, I have seen Jolie in the buff.  Impressive.

Good day and hello to my readers of my tripe.  I appreciate each and everyone of you for comments, complaints and overall suggestions.  That being said I am bringing us a few cinematic collections based on one suave, sophisticated and lethal fellow in service of the Queen.  Based on internationally known novelist Ian Fleming we will be checking out a man in more states of undress than Courtney Love "sober".   I speak of none other than James Bond.   This week we will be going over the various incarnations of this iconic character with the minor exception I will NOT sit through On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  I would rather have my eye lids taped back with needles threatening to gouge them if I blink or look away from one of Andy Dick's sexual soirees.

Lazenby?  Don't make me laugh.

The basis of the character was created as a Royal Naval Reserve Commander during World War II, where he went on to being an intelligence analyst and finally an field agent for the fictitious MI-6 receiving his double o status of license to kill.  A blunt instrument with a certain sophistication, charm and grace and remain out of the spotlight...  and yet they kept casting faces and builds that we recognized.  Go figure.  Officially 7 men have portrayed this character, Sean Connery against Ian Fleming's wishes being the first.  Bring a sense of humor and a mildly repressed Scottish accent, Dr. No managed to gross more than $16 million from the US in 1962 on a $1.1 million dollar budget.  Not too shabby, eh?    So grab a dame, a vodka martini, shaken not stirred and keep the Walther PPK at the ready.

Not upset, just holding in a sneeze.