Producer: Albert Broccoli
Director: John Glen
Scriptwriter: Richard Maibaum
Score: John Barry
Title Song: a-ha
Locations: Morocco, Gibraltar, Austria, England, USA, Pinewood Studios
Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

     The Living Daylights was produced by Eon Productions in 1987. After Moore decided to leave the role of Bond, a search was on for a new actor to play the role. The first choice was Dalton, but he was working on the movie Brenda Starr. Since he was busy, Pierce Brosnan was the next choice. However, Brosnan was working on Remington Steele, and could not do the part. Because of this, shooting was delayed, and Dalton became able to take the part. He stopped working on Brenda Starr on a Saturday, and started shooting Bond that Monday!
     Dalton wanted to change Bond's style away from the joking, lighthearted style of Moore, to a grittier, hard-edged style of the book. Therefore, a story was written tailored to his style. The Living Daylights has Bond immediately see one of his fellow OO-Agents killed. After Bond helps organize the defection of a top ranking Soviet General, he tells Bond of a KGB plan to kill all of its enemy spies, in an operation called Smient Spionen. (Death to Spies.) Bond is suspicious, and manages to discover a plot between Whittaker, an arms dealer, and General Koskov, the supposed defector. Bond manages to stop their plot. (With a little help.)
A NOTE ABOUT THE THEME SONG: John Barry not only scored the action scenes, but also the title song, which is performed by a-ha, the Norwegian rock band. It peaked at #5 on UK charts.
MY GRADE: A+  I really like the style that Dalton brings to Bond. It is very strong. However, Dalton acted well with the female lead, with sensitivity and caring. Along with Dalton's great performance, the plot was also well developed and had lots of action and suspense.
BEST MOMENT: The opening scene is not only action packed, but also gives a rare chance to see OO-Agents other than 007 in action.
ALSO NOTICEABLE: *The car chase scene is, in my opinion, the best use of gadgets in a car since Goldfinger.
*The scene where Bond uses the cello case to get away is very unusual, and was a clever idea.
DID YOU KNOW: *Dalton read all of Ian Fleming's books to prepare for the part.
*Dalton did as many of his own stunts as possible, including hanging on to the jeep in the opening scene.
*Princess Di and Prince Charles visited the set during shooting. (She broke a break-away bottle over his head.)