Licence to Kill

Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the James Bond film series by Eon Productions, and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming story. It is the fifth and final consecutive Bond film to be directed by John Glen. It also marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in the role of James Bond. The story has elements of two Ian Fleming short stories and a novel, interwoven with aspects from Japanese Rōnin tales. The film sees Bond being suspended from MI6 as he pursues drugs lord Franz Sanchez, who has ordered an attack against his CIA friend Felix Leiter and a rape and murder on Felix's wife during their honeymoon. Originally titled Licence Revoked in line with the plot, the name was changed during post-production because too many people did not know what revoked meant.

Budgetary reasons caused Licence to Kill to be the first Bond film shot completely outside the United Kingdom, with locations in both Florida and Mexico. The film earned over $156 million worldwide, and enjoyed a generally positive critical reception, with ample praise for the stunts, but attracted some criticism of Dalton's dark and violent interpretation of Bond and the fact that the film was significantly darker and more violent than its predecessors.

Licence to Kill (disambiguation)

Licence to Kill is a 1989 James Bond film.

Licence to Kill or License to Kill may also refer to:

Fiction

Music

Licence to Kill (soundtrack)

The soundtrack to Licence to Kill, the 16th James Bond film of the same name, was released by MCA Records in 1989.

Because the usual James Bond composer John Barry (who had scored almost every film from From Russia with Love onwards) was not available at the time as he was undergoing throat surgery, the soundtrack's more upbeat and suspenseful score was composed and conducted by Michael Kamen.

Initially Eric Clapton and Vic Flick were asked to write and perform the theme song to Licence to Kill. The theme was said to have been a new version based on the James Bond Theme. The guitar riff heard in the original recording of the theme was played by Flick.

The prospect, however, fell apart and Gladys Knight's song and performance was chosen, later becoming a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. The song was composed by Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen and Walter Afanasieff, based on the "horn line" from Goldfinger, which required royalty payments to the original writers. At five-minutes twelve seconds it is the longest Bond theme. The music video of "Licence to Kill" was directed by Daniel Kleinman, who later took over the reins of title designer from Maurice Binder for the 1995 Bond film, GoldenEye.