Bond Films: The Living Daylights

The Living Daylights is the first of two Bond films starring Timothy Dalton. Dalton had actually been tapped to play Bond following Sean Connery, but took himself out of the running, stating that he was too young (early twenties) at the time. When Dalton replaced Roger Moor, I remember this being a Big Deal, and the Dalton Bond was pitched as a return to the "original" Bond, the "Fleming Bond", the "real Bond" - claims that are made pretty much every time a new actor comes in to play Bond. Dalton gets short shrift among most Bond fanatics, but I like him: he's handsome, more badass than Moore but more charming than Connery.

The basic plot of The Living Daylights is: Bond is assigned to help transport a defecting Russian general from an opera house in Hungary to a safe house in Austria. In so doing, he deliberately wounds, rather than kills, a female sniper (the girl) perched to assassinate the general outside the opera house. During a debriefing of the general in England, one of his henchman masquerades his way in and  is able to retrieve the General, though the British assume it's the Russians kidnapping him back. With intelligence pointing at a Russian general Bond knows personally, he is sent to kill the general, but takes a detour to pick p the girl, where he quickly learns the truth - the Russians don't have the general either. After a madcap chase through snowy mountains on a car, on skis, and eventually a cello case, Bond and the girl escape and make their way to a conference in Morocco, where the learn the general is in cahoots with an American arms dealer. Captured, they are put in a Russian jail in Afghanistan, where they escape and join forces with mujahideen forces to thwart the arms deal, capture the general, and eventually return to kill the American arms dealer.

Just writing out the plot makes my head spin. I think this is one of the better Bond stories, and it holds up pretty well plot-wise, with exotic locations and epic set-piece battles in addition to the standard madcap chases, gadgets, and romance. the love story here is like From Russia With Love turned sideways; Bond poses as the general's friend in order to bring the girl along and pump her for information, until she finally realizes the general never really cared about her.

This is also the first time we see a new Moneypenny, following the death of original Moneypenny Lois Maxwell, and thank God; it would have been just creepy to Moneypenny leering after a man young enough to be her son. The new Moneypenny is a bright young thing, apparently untainted by spycraft. The Living Daylights also features a theme song by the band A-ha, which is underrated. When it comes to Eighties pop Bond songs, I usually go straight to Duran Duran. The Living Daylights is not a bad song. I just didn't know it existed. Also: A-ha.