The Living Daylights (1987)
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James Bond must navigate a web of deception involving a rogue Soviet general and an American arms dealer.
The story
James 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 mission takes him from the streets of Bratislava to the markets of Tangier, where he must navigate the dangerous landscape of international espionage and high-stakes deals to prevent a surge in tensions between the Soviet Union and the West.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After an assassin kills a fellow agent in Gibraltar, Bond is assigned to assist KGB General Georgi Koskov in a faked defection. He teams up with Koskov's girlfriend, Kara Milovy, a cellist. They flee to Vienna and then to Tangier, where Bond discovers a conspiracy involving an American arms dealer, Brad Whitaker, and a rogue Soviet general, Leonid Pushkin. Bond and Pushkin temporarily join forces to expose the truth, but the plot thickens as Kara is drugged and taken to an Afghan air base. There, Bond and Kara must fight through a drug-smuggling operation involving the Mujahideen. Bond eventually thwarts the plot, destroys the drug shipment, and ensures the safety of the Mujahideen leader, Kamran Shah. The film concludes with Bond and Kara reuniting in Vienna while the villains are dealt with by the Soviets.
- First release year
- 1987
- Runtime (minutes)
- 131
- Production countries
- United Kingdom; United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Glen
- Writers
- Richard Maibaum · screenplay; Michael G. Wilson · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Timothy Dalton · James Bond 007; Maryam d'Abo · Kara Milovy; Joe Don Baker · Brad Whitaker; Art Malik · Kamran Shah; Jeroen Krabbé · General Georgi Koskov; John Rhys-Davies · General Leonid Pushkin; Andreas Wisniewski · Necros; Thomas Wheatley · Saunders; Julie T. Wallace · Rosika Miklos; Desmond Llewelyn · Q; Robert Brown · M; Caroline Bliss · Miss Moneypenny
- Genres
- action; adventure; spy; thriller
- Themes
- espionage; betrayal; international intrigue
- Tone and mood
- serious; action-packed
- Setting
- Various international locations including Gibraltar, Bratislava, Vienna, Tangier, and Afghanistan during the Cold War era.
- Premise and plot tags
- Cold War; Spy Thriller; Action Adventure
- Source material / true-story basis
- Ian Fleming's short story 'The Living Daylights'
- Franchise connections
- James Bond
- Reception
- The film was a commercial success but received mixed critical reviews initially, with more positive retrospective reviews praising the serious tone and action.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 73% · scale: percentage · review count: 59; Metacritic · score: 59 · scale: 100 · review count: 18; CinemaScore · score: A · scale: A to F
- Production trivia
- The film's title is taken from an Ian Fleming short story.; It was the first Bond film to feature Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny.; The film was the final Bond entry scored by John Barry.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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