MovieChat Forums > Licence to Kill (1989) Discussion > Was this film Too American??????

Was this film Too American??????

posted 11 years ago by Ronsin1976
7 replies | jump to latest

A reason why this film did not resonate with many folks? It did with me, but may have turned some off.

This was the most Americanized Bond film out of all 23 films with Live and Let Die close by.

The reasons:
The Bond girls played by two Americans.
The Villains (Krest, Sanchez, and their minions)played by American actors.
Bond's allies Leiter (and his wife), Sharkey played by Americans
Even a couple of Hong Kong narcotic agents played by Americans
The opening theme song sung by an American, ending theme song sung by an American. The music by Michael Kamen an American
Produced and written by Americans, it was directed by a Brit though.
Half of the movie takes place in Key West, US.
The plot settles around drug lords and the drug problem which was major issue in the United States in the late 80s.
This is a movie in which the plot has nothing to do with British interests.

[–] JohnnyWeissmuller 11 years ago

I think audiences still held an affection for Roger Moore and couldn't easily accept another actor playing Bond. It's a fine movie, of course, and done well at the box office. Bearing in mind that audiences wouldn't have been aware of the finer plot points you've mentioned above. Whilst some of the more typical and common Bond themes feel shoehorned into the narrative, which was one of the better written Bond films in some time. Yes, it played on themes created in Yojimbo, with shades of Casino Royale, but it worked in most areas.

NOW TARZAN MAKE WAR!

[–] Liker_of_things 11 years ago

The American feeling is why I love this Bond so much.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

This was the most Americanized Bond film out of all 23 films ...

Well you're probably right, but it was pretty much a studio choice brought on by budgetary concerns. With 007's international profile, I really don't think it's a big deal anyway and it gave us an excuse again to see Q's talents as a field operative.🐭

[–] BoSoxRule 10 years ago

A View to a Kill was pretty Americanized, too.

[–] sludgefoot0999 10 years ago

If you ask me, this film was basically just an american action film with james bond as the main character, as opposed to a typical 007 british espionage MI6 mission. This is my personal favorite bond film for that very reason. I am not bashing the other bond films, I enjoy most of them, but this one is my personal favorite.

Q.)What should be done if a user or a technician gets hurt on the job?
A.)Escalate the problem

[–] baheidstu-351-733122 10 years ago

The Bond films set their own trend in the 60s but beyond that in order to survive, they mimicked other popular trends. Live and Let Die was Bond as blaxploitation, The Man With The Golden Gun was influenced by kung-fu films, Moonraker by Star Wars, Quantum of Solace by the Bourne films, Skyfall by the Nolan Batman films. Licence to Kill was clearly influenced by the late 80s Lethal Weapon, Die Hard style action flicks right down to the Michael Kamen score.

Some of your points are a bit disingenuous though, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson were the writers and are American, yes, but Maibaum wrote virtually all of the classic Bond films including the more "British" ones, plus Albert R. Broccoli was the series producer right from the beginning and he was American.

[–] RParmly-3 10 years ago

Well, it does make sense, since the story is about Bond avenging his best friend from CIA (now DEA?), which means wandering into very American turf.

I dunno, it doesn't bother me - Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, and this one were all heavily U.S. centric, so "American James Bond film" seems like a common, recurring staple of the franchise to me. Haven't really had any since then, though, so maybe people agreed with you and thought this movie overdosed on it.

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