Licence to hate LTK revoked!

chrisisall

Today I purchased a Lowry cleaned-up copy of LTK on DVD & watched it (for the first time in two decades), and I must offer my apologies to all here who love this flick- I was basing my dislike of the movie on memory alone, mainly. The generic 80's score, and seemingly jovial Felix phone call aside, this was one of the best Bond movies ever IMO.
I plead temporary insanity for stating otherwise.
And it WAS Dalton's best performance of his two movies.
If only Barry had done the music....

Loeffelholz

It's a fairly effective retelling of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, so producer/co-writer Michael G. Wilson deserves some credit for 'borrowing' from the best!

There's a lot to like in this film for a Flemingist^TM..."He disagreed with something that ate him" is a treasured chestnut from the LALD novel---grade 'AAA' Fleming irony...and Dalton's performance is quite good, until he's made to do certain silly things, like react when the stuffed swordfish comes at him through the tabletop in the Barrel Head bar...and the wheelie-poppin' big rig is something that seems left over from Sir Roger's era.

But Carey Lowell is AMAZING, Robert Davi and Anthony Zerbe are suitably villainous...and a young Benicio del Toro is off-the-charts creepy. This film, in my own humble opinion, was decidedly ahead of its time in many ways.

chrisisall

Loeffelholz wrote:

It's a fairly effective retelling of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, so producer/co-writer Michael G. Wilson deserves some credit for 'borrowing' from the best!

EXCELLENT call there! I hadn't thought of that! B-)
And I own Yojimbo... I should have seen that!! 8-)

DEFIANT 74205

Good call.

I do actually like Licence to Kill for the above reasons that Loeff mentioned. The fact that Dalton was in it is a bonus. I can't stand the theme, though. If I were to watch it again I might mute it when the credits are playing.

Dalton's two outings as Bond were very good. I think it's a shame he didn't do more.

Le Samourai

chrisisall wrote:

Loeffelholz wrote:

It's a fairly effective retelling of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, so producer/co-writer Michael G. Wilson deserves some credit for 'borrowing' from the best!

EXCELLENT call there! I hadn't thought of that! B-)
And I own Yojimbo... I should have seen that!! 8-)

I hadn't thought of that, either. Incidentally, Yojimbo was inspired by two novels by Dashiell Hammett: The Glass Key and Red Harvest. See also: A Fistful of Dollars and Miller's Crossing.

Totally agree with Loeff's assessment of LTK. It's one of my favorite Bond films, despite some glaring flaws.

Thunderpussy

Didn't think much of it when first released but quickly came to love it.
One of my Favourites. -{

Halcon

welcome aboard...one of the best, and in my opinion one of the best scores... "I've got a license to kill..."

chrisisall

Halcon wrote:

welcome aboard...

Thanks!
I have to *RADICALLY* change my top ten favourites list; Dalton's two are now extremely high up there... I can't believe I've ignored them for so long- on the upside, it's like having two new EXCELLENT Bond movies newly released just for ME! ) :007)
I have this site to thank for sparking my interest in looking at them again!

BIG TAM

One of the most under-rated Bonds. Dalton was vilified in 1989 for doing what Daniel Craig's applauded for now. Ahead of its time as many have noted. Some disparagers say Dalton's humourless. Well he certainly can't do nudge-nudge-wink-wink humour, but that's not his bag. He's better with earthier wit. I always find his shout of, "Turn the bloody machine off!!" to Pam Bouvier hugely amusing because it's in keeping with a situation where Bond's telling a dosey individual to get a bloomin' move on! Good set of villains too, with Anthony Zerbe oozing creepiness whilst Sanchez is as slithery as his pet Iguana. I'd not thought of the YOJIMBO connection but it does indeed fit.
My only gripe is dear old Q whose inclusion indicates a fear on the producers' part of completely alienating their audience. Perhaps it may have been better (& even more radical) to send Moneypenny on a rogue Bond-saving mission instead. I always felt it a shame Caroline Bliss had little to do but sigh into her hankie & her inclusion in the meat of the adventure would have caused Pam even more romantic frustration. Just a thought, mad as it is.

chrisisall

BIG TAM wrote:

Perhaps it may have been better (& even more radical) to send Moneypenny on a rogue Bond-saving mission instead.

More Caroline Bliss would have been nice. :007)

thesecretagent

I watched LTK one Christmas with my dad, who is no real Bond fan. He loved it. Mainly because, in his words, it wasn't like a Bond film.

chrisisall

thesecretagent wrote:

I watched LTK one Christmas with my dad, who is no real Bond fan. He loved it. Mainly because, in his words, it wasn't like a Bond film.

It was kinda like a Bond film... the bad guy's place blowed up at the end! Nice touch, I hadn't remembered that at all.

Dutchfinger

chrisisall wrote:

Today I purchased a Lowry cleaned-up copy of LTK on DVD & watched it (for the first time in two decades), and I must offer my apologies to all here who love this flick- I was basing my dislike of the movie on memory alone, mainly. The generic 80's score, and seemingly jovial Felix phone call aside, this was one of the best Bond movies ever IMO.
I plead temporary insanity for stating otherwise.
And it WAS Dalton's best performance of his two movies.
If only Barry had done the music....

It's always great to see my all-time favorite Bond movie ever to be recognized by fellow Bond fans! It goes to show that a new view can really change people's opinions! ^^

I for one try to one day see what people think is so special about OHMSS ... I have actually recently watched it again, but still, I just can't grow to like it. I also own the novell, and haven't read it yet. Maybe that will help me to appreciate it more.. But then again, I guess that is the beauty of such a huge franchise... Everybody has an opinion on each movie... while one fan might rank a film at the absolute top, others rank it at the very bodem...

Who knows, one day I will grow to appreciate OHMSS like LTK suddendly grew on you ^^

DEFIANT 74205

BIG TAM wrote:

Dalton was vilified in 1989 for doing what Daniel Craig's applauded for now.

That's the sad part of it all, that Dalton is so under-rated as a Bond actor. Dalton was bringing back Fleming's Bond to the big screen - in my view, a character we hadn't seen since Connery's performance in Thunderball.

chrisisall

DEFIANT 74205 wrote:

Dalton was bringing back Fleming's Bond to the big screen - in my view, a character we hadn't seen since Connery's performance in Thunderball.

There were hint of it in DAF.... 8-)

Golrush007

I remember Michael G. Wilson mentions the influence of Yojimbo in the making-of documentary.

I think LTK is a decent film, but it isn't amongst my favourite Bond films. I much prefer TLD personally. Bringing in some unused elements from the novels was a nice touch, but overall I don't find LTK as entertaining as a Bond film should be.

chrisisall

Golrush007 wrote:

I think LTK is a decent film, but it isn't amongst my favourite Bond films. I much prefer TLD personally.

For 'that Bond feel' I agree, but LTK is some hard hitting stuff, and I like Dalton's performance in it just a bit better.

Agent007jamest

Dalton is my third favorite Bond behind Connery & Craig. LTK was excellent I just wish they would have scaled back the truck scene. It began to feel out of place in this new gritty Bond world. I feel the same of Bakers performance in TLD. Its as if they couldn't totally let go of the Moore Bond world.

Blackleiter

Your ranking of your favorite Bonds matches mine, and it's a damn shame that we didn't get a couple more Bond films starring Timothy Dalton.

Agent007jamest wrote:

Dalton is my third favorite Bond behind Connery & Craig. LTK was excellent I just wish they would have scaled back the truck scene. It began to feel out of place in this new gritty Bond world. I feel the same of Bakers performance in TLD. Its as if they couldn't totally let go of the Moore Bond world.

chrisisall

Blackleiter wrote:

it's a damn shame that we didn't get a couple more Bond films starring Timothy Dalton.

Yes...

Roger Mo'

This is my second favourite Bond film after TSWLM. Memorable twist on the Bond theme for the gun barrel, a brilliant song by Gladys Knight - the best ever IMO - and a convincingly scary villain in Robert Davi ably assisted by a very maniacal Benecio Del Toro. I agree that this was Dalton's best performance, but I couldn't see him doing GoldenEye; this was made for the Brozzer!

Blackleiter

Glad to see some love for the LTK theme as performed by Ms. Knight. I think it's very underrated.

Roger Mo' wrote:

This is my second favourite Bond film after TSWLM. Memorable twist on the Bond theme for the gun barrel, a brilliant song by Gladys Knight - the best ever IMO - and a convincingly scary villain in Robert Davi ably assisted by a very maniacal Benecio Del Toro. I agree that this was Dalton's best performance, but I couldn't see him doing GoldenEye; this was made for the Brozzer!

Virgil37

Great movie. My first Bond in theatre. I´m very fond of it, and Timothy Dalton´s performance. How I wish he could have done his third one in 1991-1992. Actually, does anyone know if something was developed, a screen play, or pre-roduction started on something around 1990, or was whole series was just abandoned?

Scrummy64

Just watched this for the first time tonight... bloody brilliant, instantly one of my favourites

Sanchez is undoubtedly one of the best Bond villains ever, the story is a strong mixture of personal and professional motivation, and while I didn't think the title song was that great, the soundtrack was generally pretty good

Barry Nelson

LTK has always been in my top 5 Bond films. Excellent casting, especially Carey Lowell, and an interesting plot. I also always thought the ending was very romantic with Bond jumping in the pool to grap Pam while Patti LaBelle sang "If You Asked Me To". Excellent Bond, great villian, beautiful and talented leading lady, evil henchman, penny counting accountant get his just reward, what's not to like!

James Suzuki

I liked it, but I thought it was a shame that it caused the 6 yr hiatus. I wished Dalton did more, he was first signed on to do Goldeneye, imagine Dalton getting squeezed by Xenia Onatopp !!!

chrisisall

xboy614 wrote:

I liked it, but I thought it was a shame that it caused the 6 yr hiatus. I wished Dalton did more, he was first signed on to do Goldeneye, imagine Dalton getting squeezed by Xenia Onatopp !!!

The mind reels! -{