Licence To Kill
  • Licence To Kill

Licence To Kill

Synopsis

En route to the wedding of his friend Felix Leiter in Florida, Bond and Leiter take a detour to arrest drug baron Franz Sanchez. It doesn’t take too long, however, for Sanchez to break himself out of jail, and kill the new Mrs Leiter and maim Felix. Bond seeks revenge. With his licence revoked by the British government, and with the aid of CIA operative Pam Bouvier as well as MI6 gadget specialist Q, they bring Sanchez and his entire corrupt drug empire to its knees.

Cast

Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto, Anthony Zerbe, Frank McRae, Wayne Newton, Benicio Del Toro, Desmond Llewelyn, David Hedison, Robert Brown

Producers

Albert R. Broccoli
Michael G. Wilson

Director

John Glen

Release Date

13 June 1989 (UK)
14 July 1989 (USA)

World Premiere

13 June 1989, Odeon Leicester Square, London 

Locations

Key West, Florida; Churubusco Studios in Mexico City, Isla Mujeres, Cancun, Veracruz, Mexicali, near Alcapuco, near Toluca, Mexico

Music

“Licence To Kill” – performed by Gladys Knight, written by Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen and Walter Afanasieff

Vehicles

Kenworth tankers; The WaveKrest ship; Q’s 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow; Pam’s crop duster plane

Gadgets/Weapons/Technology

  • Walther PPK 7.65mm
  • Beretta 950 Automatic known as the Jetfire
  • Cigarette packet detonator used in conjunction with plastic explosives disguised as Denton toothpaste
  • Laser camera
  • Exploding alarm clock
  • Signature gun disguised as a Hasselblad camera
  • Rappelling cummerbund
  • Manta ray cover
  • Iguana tail whip
  • Broom radio transmitter
  • Decompression chamber
  • Kevlar vest
  • Stinger missiles

Trivia

The final Bond film produced by Cubby Broccoli

Dalton did many of the stunts himself, including running from the exploding tanker

This was the fifth and final Bond film directed by John Glen

The film also marked the final appearances of Robert Brown as M and Caroline Bliss as Moneypenny

This was the first film to not use the title of an Ian Fleming story

This was the first Bond film to be shot outside the UK in its entirety, with Estudios Churubusco in Mexico replacing Pinewood for interior shots

The film was originally called ‘Licence Revoked’

This was the last film that Maurice Binder designed/shot the main title credit sequence

Michael Kamen wrote the film score for the first time after John Barry’s run of 26 years

Trailer