The Living Daylights

Synopsis: James Bond 007's mission is to firstly, organise the defection of a top Soviet general. When the general is re-captured, Bond heads off to find why an ally of General Koskov was sent to murder him. Bond's mission continues to take him to Afghanistan, where he must confront an arms dealer known as Brad Whitaker. Everything eventually reveals its self to Bond.
Director(s): John Glen
Production: MGM Home Entertainment
  3 wins & 4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.7
Metacritic:
60
Rotten Tomatoes:
71%
PG
Year:
1987
130 min
1,741 Views


(# "James Bond Theme")

Gentlemen, this may only be an exercise so

far as the Ministry of Defense is concerned,

but for me it is a matter of pride that

the 00 Section has been chosen for this test.

Your objective is to penetrate

the radar installations of Gibraltar.

The SAS have been placed

on full alert to intercept you,

but I know you won't let me down.

Good luck, men.

- (papers rustling)

- Oh, blast!

Damn!

That's it, chum.

You're out of it.

Game's up, mate.

You're dead.

No!

Aaaargh!

Argh!

Halt.

Here, hold on. You're dead.

Argh!

It's all so boring here, Margot. There's

nothing but playboys and tennis pros.

If only I could find a real man.

I need to use your phone.

She'll call you back.

- Who are you?

- Bond. James Bond.

Exercise control, 007 here.

I'll report in an hour.

Won't you join me?

Better make that two.

# Hey, driver, where are we going?

# I swear my nerves are showing

# Set my hopes up way too high

# The living's in the way we die

# Comes the morning

and the headlights fade away

# Hundred thousand people

# I'm the one they blame

# I've been waiting long

for one of us to say

# Save the darkness,

let it never fade away

# In the living daylights

# In the living daylights

# All right, hold on tight now

# It's down, down to the wire

# Set your hopes up way too high

# The living's in the way we die

# Comes the morning

and the headlights fade away

# Hundred thousand changes

# Everything's the same

# I've been waiting long

for one of us to say

# Save the darkness,

let it never fade away

# In the living daylights

# In the living daylights

# In the living daylights

(# Mozart's Symphony No. 40)

Saunders, head of Section V, Vienna.

You're bloody late.

This is a mission, not a fancy-dress ball.

We have time.

- Where's our man?

- In the box, between the KGB minders.

Lovely girl with the cello.

Forget the ladies for once, Bond.

Koskov will leave the concert

at the interval.

Shh!

We'd better go.

(bell tinkles)

Turn off the light.

Now, let's understand one another, Bond.

General Koskov is a top KGB mastermind.

His defection is my baby. He contacted me.

I've planned this out to the last detail.

- You'll want the soft-nosed ones, I expect.

- No, the steel-tipped.

KGB snipers usually wear body armor.

- What's your escape route?

- Sorry, old man. Section 26, paragraph 5.

That information is on a need-to-know

basis only. I'm sure you understand.

Koskov is under

intensive KGB surveillance.

A sniper has been assigned to watch him,

and he expressly asked

for you to protect him.

- Why me?

- He's under the impression

you're the best.

- Where's the car?

- In the alley out the back.

Bring the chair.

It'll take him about

Plenty of time for a sniper

to make strawberry jam of him.

(music ends)

There's Koskov now.

What's he waiting for?

Sniper.

Two floors up, center window.

The girl with the cello.

Fire, Bond. Fire.

Shoot her. What are you waiting for?

You missed deliberately.

(siren)

Where is he?

- In the boot.

- First place they'd look.

- But my escape route...

- Scrubbed.

Get in the front.

- James! James Bond!

- Later, General.

Lose them. I'll pick you up at the border

at 2300 hours. Be there.

- How will you get him out?

- Sorry, old man.

Section 26, paragraph 5: need-to-know.

I'm sure you understand.

- The sniper was a woman.

- I noticed.

- Some of the best KGB shots are women.

- Mm-hm.

- Did you...?

- I'd rather not talk about it.

No, no. Of course not.

They are looking for me. If they close

the border, how will I get out?

Don't you worry about that, Georgi.

We have a pipeline to the West.

Rosika Miklos.

- Our man here.

- Good to work with you again, Mr. Bond.

Come.

Keep quiet.

(football commentary on TV)

- We must hurry. Get him in the pig.

- "Pig"? What is "pig"?

Scouring plug to clean out the pipeline.

This one's been designed to carry a man.

Pipeline? You mean our pipeline?

Great Soviet achievement -

piping natural gas into the West.

- But... but not me!

- Don't worry, Georgi. It's a piece of cake.

Never mind cake. If you open

valve before 100, he will be borscht.

Pigs, borscht, cake...

There must be another way.

Get in.

- Put on the mask and breathe normally.

- Not talk!

Relax. Our engineers have

spent months perfecting this.

- How many times have you done this?

- You're the first.

Remember, when this says 100, turn this.

Not before.

- Where are you going?

- To take care of the supervisor.

When pig goes, his control panel

will light up like Christmas tree.

(football commentary)

(alarm)

(roaring sound)

(barks)

Welcome to Austria, General.

Come on. Up you go.

Come on! Come on, hurry up! Come on!

That's all right. We've got him.

Excuse me.

Shut it now.

Thank you.

Cheer up, Saunders. The operation's

a success... and officially still yours.

I have no intention

of leaving it at that, 007.

I'm reporting to M that you deliberately

missed. Your orders were to kill that sniper.

Stuff my orders.

I only kill professionals.

That girl didn't know

one end of a rifle from the other.

Go ahead. Tell him what you want.

If he fires me, I'll thank him for it.

Whoever she was, I must have

scared the living daylights out of her.

Russian general defects.

Ula Yarkhov. Confirmed kills, three.

Probable kills, two.

Assassination methods:

strangulation with hands or thighs.

- James, she's just your type.

- Wrong again, Moneypenny. You are.

I'll file that

with the other secret information.

Specialist in child impersonations.

Assassination method:

explosive teddy bears.

That's all the KGB female assassins.

You know, we could try freelancers

stationed outside the Soviet bloc.

It'll have to wait. M wants you

out at the Blayden safe house.

Right... Looks like

it's a dead end here anyway.

- (loud rock music)

- Ah, good.

Something we're making for

the Americans. It's called a ghetto blaster.

You'd better hurry. M wants you

to pick up a parcel at Harrods on your way.

Be a dear and ask Records to monitor

Czech publication and news services

for any mention of a woman cellist

at the conservatoire in Bratislava.

I didn't know

you were such a music lover, James.

Any time you want to drop by and

listen to my Barry Manilow collection...

(sighs)

Sorry, sir. Excuse me.

Bloody Yanks.

(whistling)

(pop music)

(car horn)

Good morning, sir.

Control here. 007's on his way.

- (rapid bleeping)

- Morning.

Sorry, Mr. Bond.

You'll have to leave the metal.

Thank you, sir.

- Good morning, sir. May I help you?

- No, thanks. I'll manage.

- They're expecting you in the drawing room.

- Thank you.

- (knocks)

- Come.

James! James, I will never forget

what you did for me.

Thank you so... What's this?

Ohh!

From Harrods. A godsend.

- The food here is horrible.

- The foie gras is excellent.

As Russians say:
"Hearts and stomachs

good comrades make." (laughs)

What's this? Caviar. That's peasant

food for us, but with champagne it's OK.

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Richard Maibaum

Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his screenplay adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.His widow, Sylvia Maibaum, pointed out that her husband was more than just a marvelously entertaining writer. He was, she said "innovative. Among his works are 'firsts': The first anti-lynching play on Broadway, The Tree (1932); the first anti-Nazi play on Broadway, Birthright (1933); the first movie that dealt with the problem of medication abuse, Bigger Than Life, written in 1955, released in 1956; the first movie that dealt with the ethical and moral decisions in kidnapping cases, Ransom!; the first movie that introduced the American public to the importance of training airmen for the defense of the United States in a war many recognized as coming, I Wanted Wings (Spring, 1941); and Diamonds Are Forever, begun 1970, the first film that discussed the use of laser-like satellite mounted weapons for global warfare."His papers now reside at his alma mater, the University of Iowa. more…

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