Synopsis:

James Bond changed in the 1980s. With the retirement of Roger Moore and introduction of Timothy Dalton, we transition from action movie with-a-wink to spy thriller. Well... mostly. Dalton, inspired by the novels, presents a colder, more cynical Bond. His approach to win the confidence of a beautiful woman behind the Cold War's Iron Curtain, reminds of Richard Burton's performance in the Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Perhaps the filmmakers feared that changing Bond overnight from the suave, cheery gentleman to a cynical smoking alcoholic, would feel as jarring to the audience as dislocating your shoulder. Perhaps they were right to fill Dalton's first adventure with comedic moments. In hindsight, however, we know the audience responded just fine to the comparable transition from suave and jocular Pierce Brosnan to steely-eyed and cynical Daniel Craig.

Intentions:

What if Timothy Dalton's first Bond adventure was a more complete break from Roger Moore's jokes? This edit tries to answer that. We keep the lies and manipulation. Keep the rough and gruff. Tighten the pacing. Ditch the romance (Bond charms the girl because she's a useful asset in the case, that's all). Cut the slapstick (the ghetto blaster felt like a left-over Moore-era joke). Cut the cello sledding (I can't picture Connery, Craig, or Lazenby's Bond doing that). Cut the caricature Felix Leiter. Cut the sappy happy ending.

Change List:

- Clean up Opening Title music card: erase 1 Pretenders song. - Mute off-screen Bond tapping Moneypenny's behind, cut Moneypenny sighing after Bond. - Cut real milkman. - Trim Q Branch: cut ghetto blaster, cut turning couch. - Bond and Kara in tram: micro-trims for pacing. - Bond with cello in toilet: micro-trim to reduce comedy. - Bond / Kara in her apt: micro-trims to long pauzes in dialog for pacing. - Begin car chase: cut "must be atmospheric anomaly". - Cut cello bobsled chase! - Tangier: cut Leiter's rooftop lookout and yacht. - Mute/cut 2x Where Has Everybody Gone around Prater Cafe, copy Living Daylights tune from Hercules plane scene in its place. - Cut several Dabo's swooning one-liners. - Cut shot of Moroccan harem during Bond's rooftop escape. No plot relevance. - Cut officer inspecting the heart-transplant container. - Add establishing shot of heart from previous scene when Kara opens the container. - Trim Bond and Kara in Soviet jail to reduce comedy. - Replace Bond line "save for harem" with "come". - Small trims when Bond and Kara are with Mujahideen, for pacing. - Bond carries bag to truck: cut Necros stops Bond. - Cut Dabo rides away from Afghans. - Trim Afghans attack Russian base. - Bag out of airplane: trim 1 cycle of Barry theme for pacing, mute/cut Necros "please, no". - Cut Leiter lookout in Tangier. - Cut Leiter. - Small trims when Bond faces Whitaker, for pacing. - Edit closing concert: remove bullet-hole in cello (using photoshop). - End on applause at Kara's concert: cut Gogol, Afghans, Bond. I love General Gogol, but his appearance here didn't strengthen the film. No armed Mujahideen in Vienna, no Bond and M fawning over a cellist. Just a happy ending where for once our spies were able to do something nice for someone. - Remove "Gogol" and "Felix Leiter" from end credits. - Replace end credits song w Aha instrumental TLD.

Other Sources:

Special Thanks:

LastSurvivor and Problem Eliminator for their many Bond edits that set a high bar to follow.