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The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights film poster
James Bond	Timothy Dalton
Also starring	Maryam d'Abo Joe Don Baker Jeroen Krabbé
Directed by	John Glen
Produced by	Albert R. Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
Novel/Story by	Ian Fleming (story)
Screenplay	Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson
Cinematography by	{{{cinematography}}}
Music by	John Barry
Main theme
Composer	John Barry Paul Waaktaar
Performer	a-ha
Distributed by	MGM/UA Communications Co.
Released	July 31, 1987
Running time	130 min.
Budget	$40,000,000
Worldwide gross	$191,200,000
Admissions (world)	48.9 million
Preceded by	A View to a Kill
Followed by	Licence to Kill
IMDb profile

The Living Daylights is the fifteenth James Bond film made by EON Productions. It is the first of two portrayals for Timothy Dalton as the British Secret Service agent, Commander James Bond. Produced by Albert R. Broccoli, his stepson Michael G. Wilson, and his daughter Barbara Broccoli, it was released in 1987.

The film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story "The Living Daylights," first published in The London Sunday Times colour section on February 4, 1962. The first American publication was in the June 1962 issue of Argosy under the title "Berlin Escape". In 1966 it was the second story to be added to the short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights, published two years after Fleming's death.

This was the last film to make use of an Ian Fleming story title until 2006's Casino Royale.

Contents 1 The search for a new James Bond 2 Plot summary 3 Cast & characters 4 Crew 5 Soundtrack 5.1 Track listing 6 Vehicles & gadgets 7 Locations 7.1 Film locations 7.2 Shooting locations 8 Trivia 9 References 10 External links

In 1985, Roger Moore retired from playing James Bond after the release of his seventh outing, A View to a Kill. This led to a major search for someone to play the character in the next film.

Timothy Dalton, Sam Neill, Lewis Collins, Sean Bean, and Pierce Brosnan were among those screen-tested for the role in 1986. Timothy Dalton, who had been linked with the part to replace both Sean Connery in 1969 (which he refused because he felt he was too young) and Roger Moore in 1981 (when there was speculation he would step down) and was originally the producers first choice for The Living Daylights, was forced to turn down the role because he was busy with the film version of Brenda Starr, while Lewis Collins, Sam Neill and Sean Bean were passed over.

The producers eventually offered the role to Pierce Brosnan. At the time, Brosnan was contracted to the television show Remington Steele, which had at the time been cancelled by the NBC network due to falling ratings. The announcement that Brosnan had been chosen to play James Bond caused a surge in interest in the series, which led to NBC exercising an option in Brosnan's contract to make a further season of the show. NBC's action in doing this caused significant repercussions, with Albert R. Broccoli withdrawing the offer of James Bond from Pierce Brosnan, citing that he did not want the character associated with a current TV series. This led to a drop in interest in Remington Steele, with the show cancelled following an abbreviated fourth season.

In the intervening period, Timothy Dalton had once again become available, and was once again offered the role, which he accepted, signing a three film deal. Ironically, following the five year hiatus due to litigation following Licence to Kill, Dalton resigned the role^[1], which was then offered to Pierce Brosnan. Also, the previously rejected Sean Bean would later play a Bond villain: Alec Trevelyan, the main antagonist in GoldenEye.

In the prologue, Agents 002, 004, and 007 parachute onto Gibraltar to test its defences. 002 is captured almost immediately by the SAS, while James Bond and 004 start scaling the cliffs to the base. As they ascend an assassin appears and sends a tag reading Smert' Shpionam down the rope before cutting it, sending Agent 004 to his death. Bond witnesses the incident and gives chase to the assassin, ending in an explosives-laden Land Rover careening down Gibraltar's narrow roads and then into the air. Bond escapes with his reserve parachute while the assassin is killed when the Land Rover explodes in mid-air.

The early part of the film has much of the original short story's plot dealing with Bond assisting in the defection to the West of a devious KGB General, Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé), covering his intermission escape from a concert hall in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Bratislava, Slovakia). Bond notices that the sniper protecting Koskov is a beautiful cellist from the orchestra, a girl named Kara Milovy (Maryam d'Abo). Suspecting she is not an assassin, he shoots the rifle out of her hands, sparing her life, whilst facilitating Koskov's escape from the hall.

In England, General Koskov informs MI6 that the KGB is being run by power-hungry General Leonid Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies). According to Koskov, Pushkin has revived the old policy of Smert' Shpionam — literally, Death to Spies (SMERSH), a programme of Western spy assassinations — and as such Pushkin needs to be eliminated. This story is credible given the recent murder of Bond's partner in the Gibraltar training exercise. Shortly afterwards a group then believed to be KGB agents, led by the assassin Necros (Andreas Wisniewski), raids the safe-house where British Intelligence have Koskov and snatch him back East.

Bond leaves to kill General Pushkin. Q supplies him with a new Aston Martin and an electric key-finder featuring skeleton keys, which is also capable of releasing a non-lethal stun gas and exploding. Bond discovers that Kara Milovy is in fact General Koskov's girlfriend, and begins suspecting that Koskov's defection and recapture were staged. He returns to Bratislava, posing to Milovy as Koskov's friend; shortly afterwards the pair flee to Vienna, Austria, in the Aston Martin. They are pursued by KGB, but Bond and Milovy escape using the Aston Martin's weapons. Bond, however, is forced to destroy the car, whereupon he and Milovy sled down a snow-covered hill in the girl's cello case.

At the opera in Vienna, Bond excuses himself from Milovy to meet his MI6 contact, Saunders, in a café. Saunders has investigated Koskov's story and discovered a tenuous link between him and a greedy arms dealer, "General" Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker). Later in the film, it is revealed that Whitaker was merely a self-styled general, as he had been expelled from West Point for cheating, and had never served as a military officer. The Stradivarius cello Milovy owns, though bought by Koskov, was funded by Brad Whitaker. Whitaker had arranged to supply the KGB with Western high-technology weapons through Koskov, and Koskov is attempting to deliver the down payment in diamonds. Pushkin is in fact investigating Koskov, and so Koskov wants him dead. Unable to use Necros as the Soviets are too familiar with him, which would only jeopardize their plans, Koskov intends to deal with Pushkin by having the British kill him. After Whitaker learns about Koskov's plan, he agrees to it but wants Necros to ensure that Pushkin is dead.

As Saunders leaves the café he is killed by Necros, who detonates a bomb slamming the sliding front door of the café on to Saunders. Necros leaves behind a balloon with the words Smert' Shpionam on it, unaware that Bond already suspects the true motives behind the trail of clues lain for him. Bond returns to Milovy, and they immediately leave for Tangier, Morocco, where Whitaker operates.

Bond and Pushkin meet. Pushkin reveals to Bond that he had been investigating Koskov for embezzlement of government funds, and adds that the KGB abandoned Smert' Shpionam decades earlier, confirming Bond's suspicions that a third party is behind the plot. Bond and Pushkin decide to fake Pushkin's assassination, forcing Whitaker and Koskov to progress with their scheme; Bond "kills" Pushkin as he speaks to a trade convention in Tangier. Ironically, Bond saves Pushkin; Necros was about to kill Pushkin before Bond appeared and shot him first. Bond escapes from the police and is picked up by Felix Leiter (again, the CIA man is a different actor; first-time viewers of The Living Daylights are tricked into, at first, thinking he is an enemy).

Thinking Pushkin is dead, Koskov contacts Milovy, convincing her that Bond is KGB looking to kill him. She assists in capturing Bond for him, grasping too late that Koskov has fooled her, and had intended killing her in his defection. After being captured by Koskov, Bond and Milovy are flown to a Soviet air base in Afghanistan, at the height of Soviet occupation. They escape, helped by Bond's key-finder, and free a prisoner to be hanged the next day. The prisoner is Kamran Shah, leader of the local Mujahideen. Bond discovers that Whitaker and Koskov are paying diamonds for a large shipment of opium, which would turn a profit within days of distribution in the streets of the US, and so continue supplying the Soviets with arms.

The Mujahideen help Bond and Milovy infiltrate the air base. Bond plants a bomb in the back of the cargo aeroplane transporting the drugs, but Koskov recognises him. Bond hijacks the aeroplane, while the Mujahideen attack the airbase. Milovy, at the last minute, joins Bond in the aeroplane take off and assumes the controls while Bond leaves to defuse his bomb. Necros, however, has stowed away on board, and attacks Bond. Milovy accidentally opens the cargo door, and Bond and Necros are sucked out, on the cargo net holding the opium; Necros and Bond fight. Necros is left hanging from Bond's boot. As he pleads for mercy, Bond cuts his bootlaces, dropping Necros to his death.

Bond barely defuses the bomb, and Milovy flies over Kamran Shah's Mujahideen, who are being pursued by Soviet soldiers across a bridge. Bond drops his bomb onto the bridge, killing the Soviets, helping the Mujahideen win their battle.

Bond arrives at Whitaker's residence, and pops in as General Whitaker is playing Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg in his terms. When Bond tells him that the opium is burned, Whitaker is determined to kill him. He takes out a submachine gun with a shield. When Bond uses up all of his bullets, Whitaker makes a glib remark: "Well, you've had your 8, now I'll have my 80!" Whitaker fires like crazy and taunts Bond with remarks about new technology with weapons.

In the final confrontation with Whitaker, Bond's key-finder saves him again, when using the plastic explosive to topple a bust of Wellington onto Whitaker (an appropriate death for a man who styled himself in wax as Napoleon). Bond sums it up, "He met his Waterloo." The KGB save Bond's life when agents, led by General Pushkin, burst in and kill the Whitaker guard who had cornered Bond. General Koskov is there, too, and, while not killed, he is to be flown back to Moscow "in the diplomatic bag", per Pushkin's order.

Ratings
Australia:	PG
Brazil:	14
Canada (Manitoba):	PA
Canada (Ontario):	PG
Canada (Maritime):	A
Canada (Quebec):	G
Finland:	K-14
Germany:	12
Iceland:	12
Ireland:	PG
Netherlands:	12
Norway:	15
Singapore:	PG
Spain:	T
Sweden:	15
United Kingdom:	PG
United States:	PG

• James Bond — Timothy Dalton
• Miss Moneypenny — Caroline Bliss
• M — Robert Brown
• Q — Desmond Llewelyn
• Felix Leiter — John Terry
• Brad Whitaker — Joe Don Baker
• Kara Milovy — Maryam d'Abo
• Kamran Shah — Art Malik
• General Georgi Koskov — Jeroen Krabbé
• General Leonid Pushkin — John Rhys-Davies
• Fredrick Gray (Minister of Defence) — Geoffrey Keen
• General Gogol — Walter Gotell
• Necros — Andreas Wisniewski
• Saunders — Thomas Wheatley
• Rosika Miklos — Julie T. Wallace
• Rubavitch — Virginia Hey
• Blayden Butler — Bill Weston
• Blayden Male Secretary — Antony Carrick
• Liz — Catherine Rabett
• Ava — Dulice Liecier
• Koskov's KGB Minder — Alan Talbot
• Imposter 00 — Carl Rigg
• Colonel Feyador — John Bowe
• Jailer — Ken Sharrock
• Tangiers Chief of Security — Nadim Sawalha
• Chief of The Snow Leopard Brotherhood — Tony Cyrus

• Directed by: John Glen
• Produced by: Albert R. Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
• Written by: Ian Fleming (stories)
• Screenplay by: Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum
• Composed by: John Barry
• Production design by: Peter Lamont

'The Living Daylights' was the final Bond film to be scored by composer John Barry. The soundtrack is notable for its introduction of sequenced electronic rhythm tracks overdubbed with the orchestra - at the time, a relatively new innovation.

The title song of the film, "The Living Daylights", was recorded by pop group a-ha. 'a-ha and Barry did not collaborate well, resulting in two versions of the theme song.^[2] Barry's film mix is heard on the soundtrack and the a-ha greatest hits collection Headlines and Deadlines. The a-ha preferred mix can be heard on their 1988 album Stay on These Roads. However in 2006 a-ha's Pal Waaktaar complimented Barry's contributions "I loved the stuff he added to the track, I mean it gave it this really cool string arrangement. That's when for me it started to sound like a Bond thing".^[2]

In a departure from conventions of previous Bond films, the film uses different songs over the opening and end credits. The song heard over the end credits, If There Was A Man, was one of two songs performed for the film by Chrissie Hynde, of the Pretenders. The other song, Where Has Everybody Gone, is heard as source music in the film (from Necros's Walkman). The Pretenders were originally considered to perform the film's title song. However, the producers had been pleased with the commercial success of Duran Duran's A View To A Kill, and felt that a Ha would be more likely to make an impact in the charts. In the event, The Living Daylights briefly reached the top ten in both the UK and US chart.

The original soundtrack release featured only 12 tracks. Later re-releases by Rykodisc and EMI added 9 additional track, including an alternate instrumental end credits.

1. The Living Daylights — a-ha
2. Necros Attacks
3. The Sniper Was A Woman
4. Ice Chase
5. Kara Meets Bond
6. Koskov Escapes
7. Where Has Everybody Gone — The Pretenders
8. Into Vienna — Not used in film
9. Hercules Takes Off
10. Mujahadin And Opium
11. Inflight Fight
12. If There Was A Man — The Pretenders
13. Exercise At Gibralter
14. Approaching Kara
15. Murder At The Fair
16. "Assassin" and Drugged
17. Airbase Jailbreak
18. Afghanistan Plan
19. Air Bond
20. Final Confrontation
21. Alternate End Titles — Not used in film

In addition to the above, the film features a number of pieces of classical music — naturally, since it involves an international-standard cellist in Kara Milovy. Mozart's 40th Symphony in G minor (1st movement only) is being performed by the orchestra at the Conservatoire in Bratislava when Koskov defects. As Moneypenny relates to Bond, Kara is next to perform Borodin's String Quartet in D major — 007 joins a small audience and tells Kara afterwards that her performance was "exquisite". Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations and an opera (in Vienna) also feature. And at the end of the film, Kara performs the Dvořák cello concerto in B minor before a rapturous audience including M, General Gogol (but not Kamran Shah, who arrives too late) and Bond — though she does not know it until he surprises her in her dressing room afterwards.

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets

• Aston Martin V8 Vantage (Series 2) — Equipped with the usual weapons, including side skis, spiked tires, missiles, lasers, rocket propulsion, a self-destruct device and a modified radio to tune in to police/military bands.
• Audi 200 Turbo Quattro- with BBS wheels and flaired wheel arches made by German tuning company ABT
• Keychain — Bond's keychain, designed by Q-Branch, also is an explosive triggered by a wolf whistle. It also could deploy stun gas (when the user whistles the first few bars of "Rule Britannia"), and contains lockpicks capable of opening 90% of the world's locks.
• Ghetto Blaster — Never used by James Bond; it is seen tested in Q-Branch for American allies. The ghetto blaster is an '80s–style rocket-firing, stereophonic, cassette tapedeck.
• Scouring Pig — Used initially to clean and check the natural gas pipeline from USSR to West Europe. It's converted here specially to smuggle a man out of the Eastern bloc, with Koskov being the first.
• Harrier — This V/STOL aircraft evacuates Koskov after his defection to the west.

• Gibraltar
• Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
• Vienna, Austria
• London, United Kingdom
• Tangier, Morocco
• Afghanistan
• Pakistan

• Pinewood Studios / Albert R. Broccoli's 007 Stage, UK
• Germany
• Austria
• Morocco
• United States
• Italy
• Gibraltar, UK
• Elveden Hall, Suffolk, UK

• Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson wrote a first draft of a script portraying Bond as a young lieutenant in the Royal Navy; Cubby Broccoli rejected the idea on the grounds that people in general didn't want to see Bond starting out in his career.^{[citation needed]} EON Productions later revisited this idea nineteen years later for their adaptation of Casino Royale.

• In the opening sequence in Gibraltar, Timothy Dalton's stunt double Simon Crane plays the first SAS man killed by the imposter and the film's stunt co-ordinator Paul Weston plays the officer who shoots Bond (“'old on, you're dead!”). Originally a stunt man was cast in the crucial part of the villainous imposter but it soon became apparent they needed a real actor. Carl Rigg was cast at the last minute — a house-husband awaiting his next acting gig, he had to leave his baby with a neighbour to fly to Gibraltar.

• Though the use of a stunt-double was suggested, Dalton insisted that he would do the clinging to the car's roof, in the beginning of the film, himself.

• Georgi Koskov is a rare villain who is arrested at the end of the movie instead of being killed off by Bond (though some^{[attribution needed]} have speculated that the line “in the diplomatic bag” implies he is to be executed and his corpse flown home). Jeroen Krabbe said in an interview with Empire magazine that he would love to return as Koskov.

• According to an Afghan press, this was Ahmad Shah Massoud's favorite Bond film.

• The sniper rifle used by Bond to protect General Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé) from assassination is a Walther WA 2000 bullpup-type rifle. Bond chose to use the steel-tipped rounds (which were never actually produced), stating that the KGB's snipers often wore body armor.

• The parrot seen in the kitchen fight at Blayden House is the same bird used in the final sequence of For Your Eyes Only. Both films were directed by John Glen, who mentions this in the DVD audio commentary of this film.

• The "ghetto blaster" rocket effect was actually triggered by Charles, Prince of Wales, who was visiting the set at the time.

• Originally, the KGB general set up by Koskov was to be General Gogol; however, actor Walter Gotell was too sick to handle the major role, and the character of Leonid Pushkin replaced Gogol, who appears briefly at the end of the film, having transferred to the Soviet diplomatic service. This is Gogol's final appearance in a James Bond film (Gotell died in 1997).

• Joe Don Baker would reappear in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies as a different character, Jack Wade, Bond's CIA liaison and semi-replacement for Felix Leiter. He is not the first person to play a villain and a comrade of Bond's. Charles Gray portrayed Henderson in You Only Live Twice before being cast as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.

• a-ha's lead vocalist, Morten Harket, was offered a small role as a villain's henchman in the film, but declined, because of lack of time and because he felt they wanted to cast him due to his popularity rather than his acting.

• Originally, british Popband Pet Shop Boys was asked to compose the soundtrack, but backed down when they learned that they should not provide a complete soundtrack but merely the opening theme song.

• In a cameo role, series composer John Barry conducts the orchestra in Vienna at the end of the film. Producer Michael G. Wilson also continues his string of Bond film cameo appearances; he can be seen as a member of the opera house audience.

• The principal artwork for this film — a woman in a sheer white dress, holding a pistol as James Bond stands in the gun barrel pose — was controversial in some parts of the world, with complaints raised that it glorified violence against women (though no such action occurs in the film).

• The Living Daylights is the first Bond film since Moonraker to not have its title announced in the end credits of the previous film, nor has any Bond film since had its title announced in the end credits of the previous film.

• To save the production money, a C-123 Provider was used in place of the larger — and therefore more expensive to hire — C-130 Hercules. However the C-123 is a two-engined plane so John Richardson's remarkably realistic C-130 model was used for most flying shots. The C-123 was also used for the "net fight" between Bond and Necros — when Necros falls away, it is possible to see two engines instead of four.

• The sequence of Bond parachuting out of the Land Rover in Gibraltar was filmed at Beachy Head in Sussex. Vehicles were catapulted over the cliff with dummies extracted by fishing line to release the parachute upon exiting. The first shot was scrapped due to onlookers visible in the background. The filming took on its own action movie, when the boat at the bottom of the cliffs positioned to film the descent got into difficulty in a heavy swell, and the local Eastbourne lifeboats were launched to pull the crew off the cliffs, resulting in bravery awards for some members. When the film opened in Eastbourne, Desmond Llewellyn who lived locally at Bexhill attended with some 'Bond gadgets' as a thank you. Part of the filming contract stipulated that remnants of impacted vehicles some 550 feet below had to be cleared up.

• Because the title The Living Daylights does not make sense in French, German, Portuguese or Spanish, the movie was released under different titles in these markets.

• Timothy Dalton had filmed one other gunbarrel, where he is seen jumping like Bob Simmons in Dr. No's gunbarrel. This sequence, among many more "Action" shots, were stolen during post-production.

• When 007 is doing the exercise with 002 & 004 in Gibraltar, on a sharp look it appears that the actors playing the agents besides Bond bear a striking resemblance to Roger Moore and George Lazenby. This has fueled speculation that there is indeed more than one 007, given the fact the role has been played by multiple actors.

• The Living Daylights (1987) at the Internet Movie Database
• MGM's official The Living Daylights website
• The Living Daylights review in 007 Magazine
• Living On The Edge-A review of The Living Daylights and Timothy Dalton's performance
• The Living Daylights CBn Reviews
• Inside The Living Daylights Documentary

John Glen
James Bond	For Your Eyes Only (1981) | Octopussy (1983) | A View to a Kill (1985) | The Living Daylights (1987) | Licence to Kill (1989)
1990s	Checkered Flag (with Michael Levine) | Aces: Iron Eagle III | Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
2000s	The Point Men
Television	"Man in a Suitcase" (1967–1968) | "Space Precinct" (1994–1995)