The Living Daylights (1987)
1987 John Glen Bond film with Timothy Dalton's debut. Soviet defector plot, Maryam d'Abo as cellist, return to serious tone.
John Glen directed five consecutive James Bond films between 1981 and 1989, more than anyone else, having previously worked on the series as an editor and second unit director. That progression matters, because his entries are built around action sequences he knew how to cut before he knew how to stage them.
For Your Eyes Only deliberately stripped back the gadget excess of Moonraker and returned the series to something closer to procedure. He then handled the transition from Roger Moore to Timothy Dalton, and Licence to Kill remains the darkest film in the franchise, close enough to a revenge thriller that it damaged the series commercially.
His Bond run is the most consistent stretch of direction the franchise has had, and it went largely uncredited because the producers were always the authors of record.
John Glen1987 John Glen Bond film with Timothy Dalton's debut. Soviet defector plot, Maryam d'Abo as cellist, return to serious tone.
John Glen1981 John Glen Bond film with Moore. Greek Mediterranean setting, ATAC recovery mission, return to grounded espionage after Moonraker.
John Glen1983 John Glen Bond film with Moore in India. Maud Adams as Octopussy, jewel-smuggling circus train, Soviet nuclear plot.
John GlenA View to a Kill is John Glen's 1985 British spy film. The work represents Moore's final Bond appearance at age fifty-seven and the weakest late Moore Bond entry.
John Glen1989 John Glen Bond film with Dalton's final outing. Bond's personal revenge against drug lord Sanchez.
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