As a busy Thanksgiving month winds down, we realized that we haven't talked about a James Bond film for literally 200 episodes. To that end, we decided to get in a little 00-vember action with the severely underappreciated James Bond film The Living Daylights!
The first of Timothy Dalton's two films as 007 (a criminally short tenure), The Living Daylights is one of the most thrilling Bond pictures no one talks about. Sure, the story is a bit muddy and convoluted - a disorienting spy caper involving botched defections, diamonds, opium, arms deals, cellos and two different villains (Joe Don Baker and Jeroen Krabbe)- but Dalton's stripped-down, intense take on the secret agent is a breath of fresh air after 14 years of Roger Moore camp.
The Living Daylights also has some of the most exciting, comparatively grounded action scenes in the franchise, and a cracking final score from John Barry that mixes electronic sounds in an unobtrusive way long before David Arnold came along. This film tends to be one of the unsung children of the Bond franchise, but damnit, we're going to sing its praises till the opium comes home.
Check out our thoughts on the film and its legacy in the Bond franchise, along with our custom drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)