20 Things You Didn't Know About Licence To Kill (1989)
It's dangerous to cross James Bond, so these facts about Licence to Kill are provided in confidence!
James Bond missed out on the opportunity to have a pure revenge film after the death of his bride in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), so it is hard to imagine what audiences in 1989 thought when faced with Timothy Dalton’s second outing as Double-0 Seven: Licence to Kill.
Certainly, it faced stiff competition at the box office that year in the form of Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Back to the Future Part II, and Lethal Weapon 2, but the late 1980s were a perfect time for the Bond saga to launch a revenge-fueled adventure.
Despite this, the 16th Bond film was sadly not the most financially or critically successful entry in the franchise, although it has become something of a cult film since then and has gone on to inspire similar revenge films in the James Bond series.
When his CIA pal, Felix Leiter (David Hedison) and Leiter’s new wife, Della (Priscilla Barnes) are maimed and murdered respectively by South American drug lord and de facto dictator, Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), James Bond goes rogue from MI6 to avenge his friends. Teaming up with one of Leiter’s informants, former US Army pilot, Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), Double-0 Seven infiltrates Sanchez’s operation and gains his trust in a daring and dangerous mission that remains powerful, but grossly underrated.
Don't wait until you’re asked: here are 20 things that you may not know about Licence to Kill.
20. "If They Hurry..."
Much like Sir Alfred Hitchcock, current Bond film producer, Michael G. Wilson frequently makes cameo appearances in the franchise, first featuring as a soldier at Fort Knox in Goldfinger (1964), before featuring in some form (and sometimes several) in every James Bond film from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) to the present day.
Admittedly, he is difficult to find in Licence to Kill, but he actually has one of the earliest roles in the film.
After the gun barrel sequence, the film opens to show a tracking plane flying over the Florida Keys. The audience hears a voice onboard which explains that the DEA may be able to capture Sanchez if they hurry; that voice belongs to Michael G. Wilson.