Licence to Kill (1989)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1989
Running Times:
Format: colour
Ratio:
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Eon Productions / Danjaq LLC / United Artists
Production Executive (Key West): Ned Kopp
Producers: Albert R. Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson
Associate Producers: Tom Pevsner, Barbara Broccoli
Production Manager: Philip Kohler
Production Manager (Mexico): Efren Flores
Production Manager (Mexicali): Crispin Reece
Unit Manager: Iris Rose
Production Supervisor: Anthony Waye
Production Supervisor (Mexico): Hector Lopez
Production Supervisor (Florida): Ned Kopp
Production Co-Ordinator: Loolee DeLeon
Production Co-Ordinator (Mexico): Georgina Heath
Production Co-Ordinator (Florida): Patricia Serafina Madiedo

SCRIPT
Script: Michael G. Wilson, Richard Maibaum
Characters: Ian Fleming

DIRECTION
Director: John Glen
Underwater Director: Ramon Bravo
2nd Unit Director: Arthur G. Wooster
1st Assistant Directors: Miguel Gil, Miguel Lima
2nd Assistant Director: Callum McDougall
2nd Unit Assistant Director: Terry Madden, Sebastien Silva, Marcia Gay

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Alec Mills
Aerial Photography: Mike Frift
Camera Operator: Michael Frift
Underwater Photography: Ramon Bravo
2nd Unit Director of Photography: Arthur G. Wooster
2nd Unit Camera Operator: Malcolm MacIntosh
2nd Unit Camera Focus: Michael Evans
Electrics Supervisor: John Tythe

EDITING
Editor: John Grover
Editor (Mexico): Carlos Puente
Assembly Editor: Matthew Glen

MUSIC
Music: Michael Kamen
Music Performed By: London National Philharmonic Orchestra
Music Prog: Stephen McLaughlin
Music Editor: Andrew Glen
Music Recording: Richard Lewzey
Music Consultant: Joel Sill
Song: Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen, Walter Afanasieff (License To Kill)
Song Arranged By: Narada Michael Walden, Walter Afanasieff (License To Kill)
Song Performed By: Gladys Knight (License To Kill)

SOUND
Sound Recording: Edward Tise
Sound Re-Recording: Graham V. Hartstone, John Hayward
Sound Editor: Vernon Messenger, Peter Musgrave, Mark Auguste
Additional Sound Effects: Jean-Pierre Lelong

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Supervisors: George Frost, Naomi Dunne, Norma Webb
2nd Unit Make Up: Di Holt
Hair Supervisor: Tricia Cameron
Costume Designer: Jodie Lynn Tillen
Costume Supervisors: Hugo Pena, Barbara Scott
Costume Supervisor (Florida): Robert Chase
Wardrobe Master (Mexicali): Enrique Villavencio

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Visual Effects: John Richardson
Special Effects Co-Ordinator (Florida): Larry Cavanaugh
Special Effects Supervisor: John Richardson
Special Effects Supervisor (2nd Unit): Chris Corbould
Special Effects Supervisor (Mexico): Laurencio Cordero, Sergio Jara
Special Effects: Neil Corbould
2nd Unit Special Effects: Andy Williams, Paul Whybrow
Underwater Special Effects: Daniel Dark
Special Effects Technicians: Peter Pickering, Clive Beard, Nick Finlayson

VISUAL EFFECTS
Main Title Designer: Maurice Binder
Title Opticals: General Screen Enterprises

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Peter Lamont
Supervising Art Director: Michael Lamont
Art Director: Dennis Bosher
Art Director (Florida): Ken Court
Assistant Art Director: Andrew Ackland-Snow
Set Decorator: Michael Ford
Set Decorator (Florida): Richard Helfritz, Fred Weiler
Scenic Artist: Gillian Noyes-Court
Sketch Artist: Roger Deer
Sculptor: Daniel Miller
Graphics: Robert Walker
Construction Manager: Tony Graysmark

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: June Randall
Production Accountant: Douglas Noakes
Director of Marketing: Charles Juroe
US Coast Guard Technical Advisor: John McElwain
Special Production Consultants: Sparky Greene, Jillian Palenthorpe
Marine Co-Ordinator: Lorentz Hills
Underwater Co-Ordinator: Rita Sheese
Divers: Emilio Magana, Juan Dario Corona, Alex Arnold, Jorge Cardenas, Manuel Cardenas
Aerial Co-Ordinator: Corkey Fornof
Helicopter Pilots: Ken Calman, Randy Meade III, Neil Hughes, R. Allen
Armourer: Harris Bierman, Tony DiDio

STUNTS
Stunt Supervisor: Paul Weston, Gerrado Moreno, Marc Boyle, Artie malesci, Simon Crane, Jake
Lombard, Steve Dent, David Reinhardt, Julio Bucio, Javier Lambert, Mauricio Martinez, Alex Edlin,
Mark Bahr
2nd Unit Stunt Supervisor: Marc Boyle
Vehicle Stunt Supervisor: Remy Julienne
Driving Stunts: Gilbert Bataille, Didier Brule, Jo Cote, Jean-Claude Houbart, Dominique Julienne
Parachute Co-Ordinator: B.J. Worth
Production Assistant: Ignacio Cervantes, Marcia Perskie, Gerardo Barrera, Monica Greene

LOCATIONS
Locations: Churubusco Studios, Mexico; Acapulco, Isla Mujeres; Mexicali; Durango; Vera Cruz; Key
West, Florida
Location Manager (Mexicali): Laura Aguilar
Location Manager (Underwater): Nicole Kolin, Tony Broccoli
Location Manager (Florida): Colette Hailey

CASTING
Casting: Jane Jenkins, Janet Hirshenson
Casting (Mexico): Claudia Becker

CAST
Timothy Dalton (James Bond)
Carey Lowell (Pam Bouvier)
Robert Davi (Franz Sanchez)
Talisa Soto (Lupe Lamora)
Anthony Zerbe (Milton Krest)
Frank McRae (Sharkey)
Everett McGill (Killifer)
Wayne Newton (Professor Joe Butcher)
Benicio Del Toro (Dario)
Anthony Starke (Truman-Lodge)
Pedro Armendariz (President Hector Lopez)
Desmond Llewellyn (Q)
David Hedison (Felix Leiter)
Priscilla Barnes (Della Churchill)
Robert Brown (M)
Caroline Bliss (Miss Moneypenny)
Don Stroud (Heller)
Grand L. Bush (Hawkins)
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Kwang)
Alejandro Bracho (Perez)
Guy De Saint Cyr (Braun)
Rafer Johnson (Mullens)
Diana Lee (Hsu Loti)
Christopher Neame (Fallon)
Jeannine Bisignano (stripper)
Claudio Brook (Montelongo)
Cynthia Fallon (Consuela)
Enrique Novi (Rasmussen)
Osami Kawawo (Oriental)
George Belanger (doctor)
Roger Kudney (Wavekrest captain)
Honorato Magaloni (chief chemist)
Jorge Russek (pit boss)
Sergio Corona (bellboy)
Stuart Kwan (ninja)
Jose Abdala (tanker driver)
Teresa Blake (ticket agent)
Samuel Benjamin Lancaster (Della's uncle)
Juan Peleaz (casino manager)
Mark Kelty (Coast Guard radio operator)
Umberto Elizondo (hotel assistant manager)
Fidel Carriga (Sanchez's driver)
Edna Bolkan (Barrelhead waitress)
Edie Enderfield (Clive)
Jeff Moldervan, Carl Ciarfalio (warehouse guards)

PLOT SUMMARY

When his friend Felix Leiter is crippled on his wedding day and his new bride murdered, a vengeful James Bond resigns from the British Secret Service and goes looking for the men responsible - a drugs smuggling ring led by notorious South American drugs baron Franz Sanchez.

Not as bad as A View To a Kill (1985), perhaps, but still near the very bottom of the James Bond barrel. Dalton is excellent, but this simply isn't a Bond film - it's a big budget edition of Miami Vice, nothing more nor less. The action scenes are top notch, but since when have Bond films been about personal vendettas?

Europe
A special European cut was prepared by Eon that played down some of the violence, though it was still noticeably more violent than the British version.

Japan
This was the only country in the world where the film was released completely uncut.

UK
The increased levels of extreme violence on display in Licence to Kill caused it to be the most heavily cut of all Bond films. Eon had wanted a 15 certificate, to attract as many of its target audience as it could. The then secretary of the British Board of Film Classification would only grant a 15 certificate if 38 seconds of violence were trimmed from the film. The death of Milton Krest in the decompression chamber was particularly cut back, losing several gruesome shots of Krest's head swelling.

USA
Rating: R
Only the bare minimum of cuts were made to some of the more excessive scenes of violence.

1988
July
16: Filming begins

1991
July
Day Unknown: UK - television broadcast (on Sky Movies)

1994
January
3: UK - television broadcast (on ITV - Carlton)

1998
August
24: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

1999
September
4: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

License Revoked - early title
The Cancelled License - translated Japanese title
Private Revenge - translated Italian title

SEQUEL TO
Dr No (1962)
From Russia with Love (1963)
Goldfinger (1964)
Thunderball (1965)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Live and Let Die (1973)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Moonraker (1979)
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Octopussy (1983)
A View To a Kill (1985)
The Living Daylights (1987)

SEQUELS
Goldeneye (1995)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Die Another Day (2002)

SEE ALSO
Casino Royale (1967)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (1987)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
The James Bond Story (1999)
Premiere Bond: Die Another Day (2002)

Empire August 1989 p.90 (UK)
review by (David Hepworth)

Empire June 1990 p.78 (UK)
illustrated review (by Tom Hibbert)

The Incredible World of 007 pp.146
Illustrated article

Monthly Film Bulletin July 1989 pp.207-208
review (by Julian Petley)

Screen International 17 June 1989 p.22
illustrated review (by Q.S.F.)

Starburst no.131 (July 1989) p.42
illustrated review (by Gary Russell)

Variety 14 June 1989 p.7
review (by Coop)

KEYWORDS

aircraft, airports, alarm clocks, banks, barroom brawls, boats, cameras, cards, casinos, cats, cd roms, chinese, churches, cigarette lighters, cliffs, coast guards, disguises, drug dealers, drug enforcement officers, drugs, eels, escaped prisoners, escapes, extortion, fires, frogmen, gadgets, gambling, helicopters, hospitals, hotels, james bond, laboratories, lasres, london, maggots, mansions, military, mini subs, missiles, money, murder, ninjas, oil tankers, parachutes, pipelines, police, radar, rape, resignations, revenge, seaplanes, secret agents, sharks, ships, soldiers, speedboats, spies, submarines, tv evangelists, underwater, vans, waiters, warehouses, water skiing, weddings

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009