From the historical drama classic THE LION IN WINTER to the very campy FLASH GORDON to being the Errol Flynn-esque baddie in THE ROCKETEER to being the villain in the very recent comedy HOT FUZZ, Timothy Dalton has proven himself to be an actor capable of being incredibly awesome. Yet he unfortunately is still tainted as somewhat of a failure by many because of the perception that he's one of the lesser men to have played cinema's greatest spy in James Bond.
I held that same opinion for years, if based simply from the fustrating mess that was LICENSE TO KILL and the parts of THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS I had seen here and there on televsion over the years, all unimpressive but I never actually sat down and watched it from beginning to end. Now that I have, I will shock people (all ten who care) and say that not only was I wrong, but Dalton was actually pretty darn good here, and doesn't deserve the loser rap at all.
What sold me on Dalton for DAYLIGHTS is after he refuses to kill the cello player-turned-sniper, instead shoots her gun off her hands, his co-worker threatens to report to M that he disobeyed a direct order. His response?
"Stuff my orders! I only kill professionals. That girl didn't know one end of a rifle from the other. Go ahead. Tell M what you want. If he fires me, I'll thank him for it."
In the pre-CASINO ROYALE era, that bit of dialogue just blows my mind. I mean Sean Connery and Roger Moore both never said anything to this effect, and in fact I always had the impression that they wouldn't because they really enjoy their jobs of killing too much. But Dalton here, he has a code of honor (only Bond movie to have one, I believe) and if it comes down to a choice between honor and the best gig in the world, he'll go drinking shaken, not stirred, martinis in the unemployed line. Plus, you gotta love that one shot of him smoking at the estate meeting, giving off the body and facial language of, "what the hell am I doing here wasting my time?"
Later on, there is this scene where Dalton holds a Russian general (John Rhys-Davies) at gunpoint. Now every other action film where this occurs, we accept that the hero won't pull the trigger...but I tell ya, Dalton convinced me with his acting that he would. Did I ever believe that Connery was a badass? Yes. Did I ever buy Moore as a manwhore? Yes. But did I or you ever buy either simply skull-capping anyone?
Nope.
But the most badass Dalton moment is his finale brawl with the top henchman. The thug is hanging on for dear life on Dalton's shoe, and Bond takes his blade and starts cutting the laces off. The poor guy begs Bond to not do it, and Dalton does it anyway. Now that's just damn cold-blooded gangsta of him.
I've never read the original Ian Fleming books, but apparently Dalton here was quite faithful to the violent-operating professional bastard that was the literary Bond. So my question now is, why is it that people rejected Dalton but fully embraced Daniel Craig in CASINO ROYALE?
The chief culprit I fear may be the formula. As like every other pre-ROYALE 007 movie, we get the obligatory gadget scene, and later set-pieces for Bond to display their effectiveness. That gag of a stereo boombox bazooka labeled a "Ghetto Blaster," is that racist? Anyway, the problem is that the whistle gas-bomb or whatever is rather underwhelming. I mean how useful is such a device if you're stuck in the desert, and can't produce enough moisture in your mouth to whistle? Better yet, what if you can't whistle period? Then with Bond's trusty wheels the Aston Martin with the rockets, shit explodes of course but....I just sorta don't care. Why?
I blame that partly on director John Glen. Originally a second-unit director in the franchise, he got promoted and shot all the Bond movies in the Reagan Decade. He's a competent and serviceable filmmaker, but the same could be said for Spam. For all those ages that EON produced a new Bond picture every 2-3 years with pretty much with the same crew, the formula and action cinema of the franchise has been locked down into an expensive if bland science. In fact, I would argue that the least interesting scenes in DAYLIGHTS is the action stuff, including that whole Mujahideen raid on the Soviet airport in Afghanistan. Not boring or bad mind you, I just think that's the overall story of the action scenes in all the 80s Bond entries. I also noticed how so many Bond movies seem to have the guy getting chased by enemies on snow, and that DIE ANOTHER DAY stole the "escaping falling airplane by driving car off it" schtick from DAYLIGHTS.
Still, he had some touches I dug. For one, the opening action teaser in most 007 flicks are either irrelevant or significant to the plot. With DAYLIGHTS, it seems totally random until its tied in as being a consequence of the apparent new Soviet directive Smiert Spionam ("Death to Spies.") Second, when the top KGB henchman assaults a MI6 stronghold using grenades shaped like milk bottles. Whatever I loved that because it was campy stupid or awesomely stupid, I can't tell. Also, what other movie you know of where diamonds are being smuggled in a cooler with a heart transplant?
No what works best in DAYLIGHTS is early on with the spy intrigue in Czechslovakia, when Dalton is trying to pull off a Soviet defection, and realizing that all this shit just doesn't calculate. People have criticized DAYLIGHTS for having bland villainy, but I like that they aren't yet some more egomaniacs trying to take over the world or blow it up, in fact the stake of all creation doesn't rest on Bond's shoulders as usual. It's a good down-to-Earth pulpy throwback having an arms dealer (Joe Don Baker) and his asshole clique try to scam both Americans and Russians to get their high-tech weaponry sold.
I had criticized LICENSE TO KILL in that Dalton was not convincing as a Moore-scripted seducer or as a one-liner spouting machine, but he does both good if not great in DAYLIGHTS. I grinned at his delivery of "make that two," as seen in the trailer above, or talking about how he has a "pipeline to the west," and we cut to an oil pipeline. He also had good chemistry with DAYLIGHT's Bond Girl Maryam d'Abo, who herself wasn't just another pretty model that couldn't act her way out of a paper bag (Denise Richards anyone?). Not saying that she was special or anything, but competent as a villain's mistress jammed into this deadly conpiracy not out of free will, and having a BOURNE IDENTITY relationship of convenience with Dalton. Before the action goes I laughed when after escaping from their prison cell, she cries of how they're free and Dalton calmly replies as matter of fact: "Kara, we're inside a Russian airbase in the middle of Afghanistan."
Speaking of which, there is something stupid and uncomfortable about the ending when those Afghan "freedom fighters" arrive at Carnegie Hall. With one strapped to deck with bullets, how did he get them passed customs? Also, why was it that 1980s Western movie heroes like Rambo and Bond were foolish enough to help guys who would later become Al Qaeda? Oh and to twist the knife even further, I read somewhere that DAYLIGHTS was the favorite 007 movie of former Taliban leader Mohammed Omar, but I can't confirm it.
Overall I would say that THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS was the best Bond film from the 1980s, and Dalton got screwed. Audiences and critics used to Moore's cheekyness trashed DAYLIGHTS as being "too serious", an opinion echoed by Roger Ebert who ironically would later give full four stars to CASINO ROYALE. At its peak it's a nice reality and balls check for the franchise, at its worst a return to same-old, same-old. I wished that the gritty spirit of the first half had been retained throughout the whole feature, but still its a pretty good movie.
In other words, respect the Dalton or he'll give you the boot off the plane as well.
