Beyond The Screen: A Look Back At The James Bond Thriller "Licence To Kill"

MI6, the website devoted to Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond, offers a look back at Cinemax's video on Licence To Kill.

American premium cable channel Cinemax focused on the new 007 adventure Licence To Kill in one of their 1989 episodes of 'Beyond The Screen' and aired the segment before broadcasts of The Living Daylights.

 

Director John Glen, who is mistakenly captioned in the video, boasts of Timothy Dalton's action prowess: "Most actors say they do their own stunts, but this guy really does his own stunts. He's a very thorough actor, and I think he's always a little uneasy when someone has to step in and impersonate him." Dalton himself is a little more coy: "If you believe it's me it's me. If you can see it's me it's me. The audience should quite simply believe that the man - the character - they're watching, James Bond, does them."  

 

You can watch the video via the below link:

 

http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/video-ltk-cinemax-beyond-the-screen.php3?t=&s=&id=03712

 

Note: I think Timothy Dalton was the second best James Bond, behind the great Sean Connery, and I think License To Kill was a very good thriller. I also like Robert Davi as the bad guy in the film.  

 

You can read an earlier post on Dalton and License To Kill Kill via the below link:

 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/01/look-back-at-timothy-dalton-as-james.html    

A Q & A With John Glen, Director of 'Licence To Kill' And Seven Other James Bond Films

Peter Howell at thestar.com offers an interesting Q & A with John Glen, the director of eight James Bonds, including one of my favorites, Licence to Kill.

With Roger Moore, he’s a fairly light actor, not a hard-edged one, and he always used to say to me, “Oh, what would the kids think?” He was always very conscious of that. He’s more of a personality actor. He’s very, very good and very charming and very good with his one-liners and humour. All his films had to be designed that way, I think, so that Roger could do his best with what he’s comfortable with.

And funnily enough, looking back at the two films that I did with Timothy Dalton, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill, I find him to be quite similar to the new Bond. He and Daniel are both harder-edged Bonds. I think Timothy was before his time. You look at Licence to Kill now and it keeps up. It’s more in vogue now than when I shot it, I think. I still think it’s one of the best Bonds, certainly the best that I directed.

... Up until now, I’ve always thought that probably Goldfinger had the best original story, because we’ve now run out of original Fleming stories. But I think Skyfall really got that; I’d certainly rank it amongst the top three.

I’d say The Spy Who Loved Me was the best one I did with Roger — and it’s his favourite, too — and I’m still very fond of Licence to Kill.

You can read the rest of the interview via the below link:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/1299261--john-glen-james-bond-s-main-director-q-a

Note: I agree with John Glen that Licence to Kill is one of the best Bond films.

Although I believe Sean Connery is the best Bond actor, Timothy Dalton in my view is the second best actor to portray James Bond.

He is a very good actor and he looks and acts like Ian Fleming's James Bond. I wish he had made more Bond films.

I also like Robert Davi as the drug lord villain in the film. Murderous, vicious and a bit crazed, Davi is one of the best villains since the Sean Connery-Bond films from the 1960s.

The supporting cast is also very good, including the two women in the film, Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto, who offer strong performances as well as being very attractive.

The other good supporting cast includes Anthony Zerbe as a criminal associate to Davi, and a nasty young Benicio Del Toro as Davi's henchman. David Hedison portrays Bond's CIA pal, Felix Leiter, repeating the role he portrayed in Live and Let Die, and Desmond Llewellyn gives an expanded performance as "Q" as he aids Bond' in the field.      

You can read my earlier post on Licence to Kill via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2012/01/look-back-at-timothy-dalton-as-james.html