Timothy Dalton - James Bond 007 1987-1989
1980s Bond is Dark and Sophisticated - The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill
May 2, 2009
Harking back to the gritty Bond of Sean Connery's first two films, Timothy Dalton, a Welsh actor who like Moore had just finished a contract on a television series, Remington Steele, when he was signed to play Bond, brought a sense of realism to the role at the end of the eighties. Though he still seems a little young for the part even at the age of 43 in his Bond debut The Living Daylights in 1987, he was originally considered to be Sean Connery's successor in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969 where he would only have been 25.
Dalton's Bond Reflects The Zeitgeist And Returns To Fleming's Original Perception Of The Character
In his debut, Dalton's Bond reflects the Zeitgeist: the Aids curio, and is monogamous, falling only for Maryam D'Abo's Kara Milovy, a Russian cellist. Dalton's first Bond is a taut thriller utilising John Barry's atmospheric Bond score to strong effect and succeeds in injecting young blood into the role of Fleming's energetic secret agent. Timothy Dalton wished to play Bond not as a superhero, which arguably was the fashion with many of the Moore films, but as a real man with real feelings and gut instincts. Consequently Dalton has very little time for the humour in his films, focussing instead on giving a straight, masculine impact for audiences hoping to embrace a new kind of James Bond.
Bond Goes Rogue In One Of The Most Radical Moves In The Series To Date
The follow up film and subsequently Dalton's last Bond adventure before the six year hiatus leading up to Brosnan's debut in Goldeneye is perhaps the most subversive entry in the series; an anomaly in the Bond canon like On Her Majesty's Secret Service was 20 years before hand. Licence To Kill (1989) sees Dalton's Bond embark on a violent revenge mission tailing Robert Davi's villainous drugs baron Sanchez. The film was a major departure from the family friendly PG rated Bond films that preceded it and therefore Licence To Kill was given a 15 rating in the UK for its depiction of the villain on fire and a man exploding in a decompression tank, as well as Bond ally Felix Leiter (David Hedison) being attacked by a shark.
Dalton Paves The Way For Brosnan's Nineties Bond
Dalton's approach to the character, despite the change in style with his last Bond film, does not alter drastically from his first. His Bond is still determined and head strong, reminsicent of Connery in From Russia With Love, relying on his own intellect rather than gadgetry. Licence To Kill opened in the summer of 1989 to little publicity compared to the other big releases Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade and Tim Burton's Batman. The film suffered by grossing only $35 million in the US, the lowest result since On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The Cold War was upon us and many doubted whether Bond was needed. Pierce Brosnan would prove them wrong.
