The Living Daylights is a 1987 spy film, the fifteenth entry in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the first of two to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It also stars Maryam d'Abo, Joe Don Baker, Art Malik and John Rhys-Davies in supporting roles. In the film, Bond uncovers a plot by a rogue Soviet general and an American arms dealer who fake a defection to fund a drug and weapon scheme. Bond teams up with the general's cellist girlfriend to expose and stop the operation.
The fourth film in the series to be directed by John Glen, the film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story "The Living Daylights", the plot of which also forms the basis of the first act of the film. It was the last film to use the title of an Ian Fleming story until the 2006 instalment Casino Royale. It is also the first film to have Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny, replacing Lois Maxwell.
The Living Daylights was produced by Albert R. Broccoli, his stepson Michael G. Wilson, and co-produced by his daughter, Barbara Broccoli. Following Roger Moore's decision to leave the series after A View to a Kill, Dalton was cast after an extensive search that saw the producers almost cast Pierce Brosnan, who would later portray Bond starting with GoldenEye (1995). Dalton approached the character differently from Moore, wanting to be more faithful to Fleming's original character. Filming took place in various locations, including the United Kingdom, Austria and Morocco. The Living Daylights was the final Bond film to be scored by composer John Barry, while the title song was performed by the Norwegian group A-ha.
The film was a commercial success, grossing $191.2 million worldwide. It initially received mixed critical reviews, with Dalton's performance drawing both praise and criticism. Retrospective reviews have been more positive, with many critics praising The Living Daylights as one of the best Bond films, although some have criticised its portrayal of the mujahideen. It was followed by Licence to Kill in 1989.
Plot James Bond, alongside fellow MI6 agents 004 and 002, participates in a training exercise in Gibraltar. During the exercise, an assassin kills 004 and several British military personnel. Bond manages to chase down the assassin, who dies after a vehicle chase.
Some time later, Bond is assigned to help KGB General Georgi Koskov defect to the West, acting as a counter-sniper covering his escape from a concert hall in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. During the mission, Bond notices that the KGB sniper assigned to "protect" Koskov is a female cellist from the orchestra. Disobeying his orders to kill the sniper, he shoots the rifle from the cellist, then uses the Trans-Siberian Pipeline to smuggle Koskov across the border to the West.
In his post-defection debriefing, Koskov informs MI6 that the KGB's old policy of Smert Shpionam, meaning "Death to Spies", has been reactivated by General Leonid Pushkin, the new head of the KGB. Koskov is later abducted from the Blayden estate safe-house and is assumed to have been taken back to Moscow. Bond is ordered to track down Pushkin in Tangier and kill him, to stop further killings of agents and escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West. Bond agrees to carry out the mission when he learns that the assassin who killed 004 left a note reading "Smiert Spionam".
Bond returns to Bratislava to track down the cellist, Kara Milovy. He finds out that Koskov's defection was faked, and that Kara is actually Koskov's girlfriend. Bond convinces Kara that he is a friend of Koskov's and persuades her to accompany him to Vienna, supposedly to be reunited with him. They escape Bratislava while being pursued by the KGB and Slovak police, crossing over the border into Austria. Meanwhile, Pushkin meets with arms dealer Brad Whitaker in Tangier, informing him that the KGB is cancelling an arms deal previously arranged between Koskov and Whitaker.
During his brief journey with Kara in Vienna, Bond visits the Prater to meet his MI6 ally, Saunders, who discovers a history of financial dealings between Koskov and Whitaker. As he leaves their meeting, Saunders is killed by Koskov's henchman Necros, who again leaves the message Smert' Shpionam. Bond and Kara promptly leave for Tangier. There, Bond confronts Pushkin, who denies any knowledge of Smert' Shpionam and reveals that Koskov is evading arrest for embezzlement of government funds. Bond and Pushkin then join forces, and Bond fakes Pushkin's assassination, causing Whitaker and Koskov to progress with their scheme. Meanwhile, Kara contacts Koskov, who tells her that Bond is actually a KGB agent and convinces her to drug him so that he can be captured.
Koskov, Necros, Kara, and the drugged Bond fly to a Soviet air base in Afghanistan, where Koskov betrays Kara and imprisons her, alongside Bond. The pair escape, and in doing so, free a condemned prisoner, Kamran Shah, leader of the local Mujahideen. Bond and Kara discover that Koskov is using Soviet diamonds to buy a massive shipment of opium from the Mujahideen, intending to keep the profits with enough left over to supply the Soviets with their arms and buy Western arms from Whitaker.
With the Mujahideen's help, Bond plants a bomb aboard the cargo plane carrying the opium but is discovered and has no choice but to barricade himself in the plane. Meanwhile, the Mujahideen attack the air base on horseback and engage the Soviets in a gun battle. During the battle, Kara drives a jeep into the cargo hold of the plane as Bond takes off, and Necros also jumps on board at the last second from a jeep driven by Koskov. After a fight, Bond sends Necros falling to his death and deactivates the bomb. Bond then notices Shah and his men being pursued by Soviet forces. He re-activates the bomb and drops it out of the plane and onto a bridge, blowing it up and helping Shah and his men escape the Soviets. The plane subsequently crashes, destroying the drugs, while Bond and Kara escape.
Bond returns to Tangier to kill Whitaker, infiltrating his estate with the help of Felix Leiter. Pushkin arrests Koskov, ordering him to be sent back to Moscow "in the diplomatic bag".
Sometime later, Kara is the solo cellist in a Vienna performance. Kamran Shah and his men jostle in during the intermission and are introduced to now-diplomat General Gogol (Pushkin's predecessor at the KGB), and the Soviets. After her performance, Bond surprises Kara in her dressing room, and they embrace.
Cast
Timothy Dalton as James Bond 007, an MI6 agent assigned to look into the deaths of several KGB defectors and conspiracies against several of his allies
Maryam d'Abo as Kara Milovy, Koskov's girlfriend and later Bond's love interest Joe Don Baker as Brad Whitaker, an American arms dealer and self-styled general, who serves as Koskov's primary ally. Baker called his character "a nut" who "thought he was Napoleon". Baker later appeared in the franchise as CIA agent Jack Wade in GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Art Malik as Kamran Shah, a leader in the Afghan mujahideen John Rhys-Davies as General Leonid Pushkin, the new head of the KGB, replacing General Gogol Jeroen Krabbé as General Georgi Koskov, a renegade Soviet general who attempts to manipulate the British government into assassinating his rival, General Pushkin
Andreas Wisniewski as Necros, Koskov's henchman, who poses repeated threats to Bond. His voice was dubbed by an uncredited Kerry Shale. Thomas Wheatley as Saunders, head of MI6 Section V (Vienna), Bond's ally Julie T. Wallace as Rosika Miklos, Bond's contact in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, who works at the TransSiberian Pipeline. Desmond Llewelyn as Q, MI6's "quartermaster", who supplies Bond with multi-purpose vehicles and gadgets useful in the latter's mission Robert Brown as M, the head of MI6 and Bond's superior Walter Gotell as Anatol Gogol, the retired head of the KGB, now a diplomat shown in a cameo at the end of the film Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary Geoffrey Keen as Frederick Gray (credited as Minister of Defence), the British Minister of Defence Virginia Hey as Rubavitch, General Leonid Pushkin's mistress in Morocco John Terry as Felix Leiter, a CIA agent and ally to Bond Nadim Sawalha as the Tangier police chief. Sawalha also appeared as Aziz Fekkesh in a previous Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). John Bowe as Colonel Feyador, the leader of the Soviet air base in Afghanistan.
Belle Avery as Linda, a woman Bond meets in the pre-credits sequence. Her voice was dubbed by an uncredited Nikki van der Zyl. Catherine Rabett as Liz, a CIA agent Dulice Liecier as Ava, a CIA agent Alan Talbot as Koskov's KGB minder
Composer John Barry makes an uncredited cameo appearance as an orchestra conductor.
Production Originally the film was proposed to be a prequel in the series, an idea that eventually resurfaced with the reboot of the series in 2006, Casino Royale. SMERSH, the fictionalised Soviet counterintelligence agency that featured in Fleming's Casino Royale and several other early James Bond novels, was an acronym for 'Smiert Shpionam' —'Death to Spies'.
Casting
In autumn 1985, following the mixed reception of A View to a Kill, work began on scripts for the next Bond film, with the intention that Roger Moore would not reprise the role of James Bond. Moore, who by the time of the release of The Living Daylights would have been 59 years old, chose to retire from the role after 12 years and seven films. Albert Broccoli, however, claimed that he let Moore go from the role.
During an extensive search for a new actor to play Bond, a number of actors, including New Zealander Sam Neill, Irish-born Pierce Brosnan, and Welsh-born stage actor Timothy Dalton, auditioned for the role in 1986. Bond co-producer Michael G. Wilson, director John Glen, Dana and Barbara Broccoli "were impressed with Sam Neill and very much wanted to use him." However, Albert Broccoli was not sold on the actor. In 2022, Neill stated that he had never wanted the role. Meanwhile, Jerry Weintraub, the chairman of MGM/UA Communications, suggested hiring Mel Gibson for a two-picture deal valued at $10 million, but Broccoli was not interested. Other actors touted in the press included Bryan Brown, Michael Nader, Andrew Clarke, and Finlay Light. Antony Hamilton was in talks to play Bond but Broccoli was reportedly hesitant to cast Hamilton as the womanising Bond because, in real life, Hamilton was gay..
The producers eventually offered the role to Brosnan after a three-day screen-test. At the time, he was contracted to the television series Remington Steele, which had been cancelled by the NBC network due to falling ratings. The announcement that he would be chosen to play James Bond caused a surge in interest in the series, which led to NBC exercising (less than three days prior to expiry) a 60-day option in Brosnan's contract to make a further season of the series. NBC's action caused drastic repercussions, as a result of which Broccoli withdrew the offer given to Brosnan, saying that he did not want the character associated with a contemporary television series. This led to a drop in interest in Remington Steele, and only five new episodes were filmed before the series was finally cancelled. The edict from Broccoli was that "Remington Steele would not be James Bond."