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Is LICENCE TO KILL a Partial Remake of TWWTGG?

posted 11 years ago by TMC-4
4 replies | jump to latest

With some unused story elements from Live and Let Die (such as Felix Leiter being maimed by a shark) and the short-story the The Hildebrand Rarity thrown in for good measure:

http://debrief.commanderbond.net/topic/37381-is-license-to-kill-an-ada ptation-of-flemings-mwtgg/

Disregarding the vengeance story, the villain in Sanchez is a Spanish descended thug whom adopts Bond into his entourage.

Both stories also take place in hotels owned by the main villain.

They're also stories that take Bond far away from his area of comfort in the service and deep into Latin influence subculture away from the genteel world of spycraft.

Certainly Sanchez has more in common with the elevated thug of Fleming's story than Christopher Lee's Scaramanga.

[–] IndianaMcClane 10 years ago

I'd say that's hardly enough similarities to call it a partial remake. Though the fact that this film's Francisco Scaramanga and Franz Sanchez both draw on elements of the book Scaramanga and flesh them out into two separate characters in this series very interesting. In part because I do think those are two of the best villains this series has given us. It's sort of like the relationship between Hugo Drax from the novel Moonraker and the Drax from the film version as well as Moon/Graves in Die Another Day. (The difference being though, that I don't think as highly of those two)

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

I certainly never thought so. Sanchez is a drug runner for a start and Scaramanga is an assassin. There's lots of other differences as well. Because it's a franchise, there's always going to be a few similarities.🐭

[–] IndianaMcClane 9 years ago

I know I commented on this before, but I thought I'd give a better answer this time around upon reflection. What I disagree with is the idea it's a partial remake of this film, but I'd definitely agree that it feels like it's channeling Fleming's novel. With attributes of the book Scaramanga that weren't used in his film counterpart showing up in Franz Sanchez. (I still maintain that they are two of the best villains we've had in the series though. So it's interesting that he is in such ways that he was "decomposited" into the two so to speak)

Interestingly, when it comes to the film version I'd actually argue the film with the most parallels to it is Skyfall. The prominent Asian locations including a club of some kind, Bond going up against a villain of Hispanic heritage who is touted as a dark counterpart to him complete with a "we're two of a kind" speech, the villain having an Asian island of his own as his headquarters, he's got a stylized ship of his own, the villain having a mistress who fears him and hopes that Bond can killer her master only for her to eventually be killed by him, and a key plot point being tracking down an assassin through his specialized bullet are the ones I can think of. (That's not me ragging on Skyfall by any means. It's got plenty that makes it different. But those are still some interesting similarities to consider)

[–] franzkabuki 9 years ago

I don't recall any parts of TMWTGG taking place in "hotels owned by the main villain". And while in LTK Bond does indeed go rogue and out of his comfort zone, the one in TMWTGG is one of his routine globe trotting missions, fully authorized with back-up close by (M's temporary submarine headquarters in Hong Kong).

"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan