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.