The Living Daylights - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Living Daylights or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Living Daylights

[bryan]

Morten Harket, of the band A-ha, is the only person to sing lead vocals in a Bond theme song who is neither British nor American.

[sandra]

James Bond falls through the roof of a boat. He did so before in A View to a Kill (1985).

[bryan]

Naturally, with a movie that features orchestras and cellos, this Bond film features numerous pieces of classical music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 40th Symphony in G minor (1st movement) is heard being played at the Bratislava Conservatoire during the defection sequence. Aleksandr Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D major (3rd movement) is heard the second time James Bond is in the audience hearing Kara perform at the Bratislava Conservatoire. When Bond and Kara arrive in Vienna, they hear Johann Strauss's Wine, Women, and Song Waltz. The opera they hear in Vienna is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Il Nozze di Figaro (act 2). Kara practices Antonín Dvorák's Cello Concerto as Bond returns to the hotel room. At the film's end, Kara is playing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. These pieces of music were not included on the movie's soundtrack, because they were only excerpted for the film.

[manuel]

This film features two remarkable "Quick Change" acts. Firstly the ex-KGB assassin transforms his uniform from milkman to paramedic, simply by whipping off an apron and putting on a stethoscope. Secondly it seems that Kara turns into a cello case simply by exiting the phone booth when a tram passes by; but editing all obscuring shots from the video reveals that Maryam d'Abo (or her stunt double) actually makes an early exit "during" a cutaway to the watching KGB agent, not while the tram is in the way - thus foiling audience expectations in the finest tradition of stage magic.

[lynn]

Paul Weston: The Stuntman as Gibraltar Soldier #3.

[kylie]

The Red Cross organization in the U.S., UK, and Canada protested against the use of the Red Cross emblem and symbol in the movie. It can be seen on a helicopter during the escape from the Blayden House siege, and later in the film on sacks containing opium. They maintained that its use in the film was inappropriate, and unauthorized. Interestingly, helicopters showing a Red Cross logo can be seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

[clayton]

John Barry: The composer appears as the conductor of Kara's (Maryam d'Abo's) orchestra in the final scene.

[linda]

There are four parallels in the film to the earlier James Bond movie 'For Your Eyes Only' (1981). When Koskov is being detained and debriefed during lunch, he mentions Gogol's dislike for the new policy of détente. At the end of 'For Your Eyes Only' (1981), Bond throws the A.T.A.C. off of the mountain, and tells Gogol, "That's détente General. You don't have it, I don't have it". In the kitchen of the same building, is a parrot that has a striking resemblance to Max, the Havelocks' parrot from 'For Your Eyes Only' (1981) ('The James Bond Encyclopedia' by John Cork and Collin Stutz confirms it is the same bird). During the lunch, Koskov says of Pushkin, "We were once like brothers". In 'For Your Eyes Only' (1981), Kristatos also uses the same line when speaking about Columbo. In Morocco, Brad Whitaker's villa features a swimming pool with a bevy of bikini-clad Bond Girls, similar to the villa with bikini-clad Bond Girls in 'For Your Eyes Only' (1981).

[clayton]

In Sextette (1977) Dom DeLuise refers to Timothy Dalton's character as the biggest spy in England, bigger than 007.

[tom]

A-ha and John Barry did not collaborate well, resulting in two versions of the theme song. Barry's film mix is heard on the soundtrack (and on A-ha's later greatest hits album Headlines and Deadlines). The version preferred by the band can be heard on the 1988 A-ha album Stay on These Roads. However, in 2006, A-ha complimented Barry's contributions: "I loved the stuff he added to the track, I mean it gave it this really cool string arrangement. That's when, for me, it started to sound like a Bond thing."

[marc]

Christopher Reeve turned down a million-dollar offer by Albert R. Broccoli to play Bond in this film. Had he accepted, he would have been the only American (as of 2018) to play the role.

[brent]

Was released in the 25th anniversary year of the James Bond films. To mark the occasion, a television special Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (1987) was produced as part of the promotional campaign for this film.

[kyle]

This is the first time James Bond had been seen smoking since The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). He's back on cigarettes for the first time since On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

[oscar]

Maryam d'Abo had previously screentested for the role of Pola Ivanova in A View to a Kill (1985). Barbara Broccoli remembered her audition, and recommended her for the role of Kara Milovy.

[wallace]

The first time James Bond drives an Aston Martin since On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

[michele]

This marks the first time Alec Mills was the director of photography on a Bond film, though he had first worked second unit on On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

[aaron]

In this film Bond's new choice of champagne is Bollinger. In subsequent Bond film it is Bollinger. In this movie It is Bollinger RD specifically.

[kristina]

The film seemed to reuse a lot of the elements of Octopussy (1983). The plot moves along through the use of two 00-Agents (both of whom are eliminated at some point). Both are set at one point in Eastern Europe, then Austria for this film, Germany for that. Both involve a villain who is a rogue Russian General, and use another villain to further his ultimate goals. Both films have the reasonable head of the K.G.B. (Gogol and Pushkin) trying to preserve the status quo against these rogue elements. Smuggling is an activity conducted or mentioned in both films. Both films have henchmen, played as K.G.B. Agents who murder Bond's ally. (In this film, Saunders gets chopped up by a glass door, in the other, Vijay gets chopped up by the Saw Yo-Yo. Both films wind up in or near Afghanistan, and both films end with a climactic air battle with Bond disposing of the henchman from an airplane. Bond and the heroine escape from the aforementioned plane at the last moment before it crashes in both films. Interestingly, the title of both films was taken from the title of the same book, a collection of short stories, among them: Octopussy and The Living Daylights.

[violet]

In the opening scene in Gibraltar, real military installations were used. These included a Ministry of Defence road not open to the public. The machine gun nest on the airstrip was not authentic, which is a moot point, since this is a fictional story.