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Location Guide - Licence To Kill
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The Bahamas
En route to Felix
Leiter's wedding, the best man (007)
and the CIA agent are stopped by the DEA who have the
opportunity to nail the drug baron, Franz
Sanchez, whilst he is out of hiding and in the
Bahamas. Bond tags along "strictly as an observer" but
is soon involved in the firefight. When the villain
escapes, Bond and Felix go fishing, with 007 using
the winch
on the Coast Guard chopper to capture Sanchez's plane.
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Key West, Florida
Back on the ground, Bond attends the wedding
and reception on South Street, Key West. Bond receives
the "Felix Lighter" but when Della, Felix's
bride, is murdered and Felix maimed by a shark as retaliation
for Franz's capture, Bond takes it upon himself to take
down the drug lord. Bond arrives at Garrison Bight Marina
to investigate Milton
Krest who he suspects is harboring the escaped drug
lord. After disturbing the peace Bond is summoned
by M to Hemingway House.
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Florida Straits
Off the coast of the
Keys, the Wavekrest is
continuing the Sanchez drug operation. 007, determined
to take down the operation infiltrates the boat and when
the Sentinel submarine is deployed with the drugs, Bond
hacks wildly at the merchandise destroying millions of
dollars worth of cocaine. 007 then makes good his escape
by barefoot water skiing behind the escaping aeroplane
and once
onboard,
dispatches with the pilot and makes off with the drug
money.
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Isthmus City, Isthmus (Fictional)
Arriving in the corrupt city of Isthmus (with help
from CIA pilot Pam Bouvier),
Bond poses as a freelance "problem eliminator" to
get close to Sanchez. Bond discovers that Sanchez is
on the verge of a deal with a party of Eastern businessmen
to claim rights to his distribution channels in Asia
and chooses this time to try an assassination. Midway
through scoping out the villain, Bond is interrupted
by Hong Kong narcotics and restrained. Sanchez and
the Isthmus army (who are in his pocket) arrive in
time to find 007 appearing to be the victim in the
whole
affair.
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Olimpatec Meditation Institute
As a cover for the
drug business, Professor
Joe runs an elaborate meditation institute in the
Isthmus foothills. Deep in the bowls of the facility
is Sanchez's processing plant where he takes the Asian
drug barons for a preview. Bond tags along, having gained
Sanchez's trust but his cover is blown by the young protoégé, Dario,
who recognizes Bond from a bar brawl in Florida. The
climax of the mission occurs in and around the winding
roads as fuel tankers (carrying the drugs) snake their
way away from the Olimpatec facility.
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Shooting Licence To Kill
Whilst much of the regular team behind the Bond films (including
long-time director John Glen and
Bond actor Timothy Dalton) returned for the hard-hitting Bond
adventure, one key piece of the puzzle would be missing this
time around. Pinewood studios would not be home to the 007 family
and instead, all of the cast and crew journeyed to Mexico to
shoot the picture. Churubusco Studios would play
host to the crew, whilst extensive location shooting throughout
Mexico would double for the fictional city and republic that
is harbouring the story's villain.
On 18th July, 1988, Glen rolled cameras on
his fifth and final 007 adventure as helmsman at Churubusco.
The crew were occupying seven of the eight available soundstages
at the Mexican film studio.
Above: Bond is wedding bound but when
the opportunity for Felix to corner Sanchez arrives, Bond follows
the CIA man to the Bahamas in order to capture the villain. |
The grand Casino de Isthmus was not actually
a casino at all, as gambling is illegal in Mexico. The building
that doubled for its exterior (and Sanchez's hideout) was a gentlemen's
club. Where possible, the casino was shot in the studio but that
did not preclude stunt men abseiling from the building.
One of the more striking location shoots was
conducted at Otomi Ceremonial Center, Toluca, Estado de Mexico
which would double for the Olimpatec Meditation Institute. John
Richardson and his team would later replicate the surroundings
in model in order to show the seemingly gigantic "trapdoor" open
and close to engulf Sanchez's helicopter.
It was on the Rumorosa Pass in Mexicali, Baja California, that the crew shot the explosive and troublesome climax. For seven weeks Reme Julienne and his crew worked in the baking heat to can this sequence. Many of the crew returned from this location with a haunted memory. The trouble began with the normally steadfast Kenworth trucks failing to start or encountering problems mid-shoot. By the end of the location time some of the crew were reporting ghostly happenings.
Above: After scoring a few million from the drug bust onboard the Wavekrest, Bond departs for Isthmus - the fictional republic harbouring Franz Sanchez. |
By mid-August, the crew were across the border
in Florida, shooting extensive locations for the first act of the
film. St. Mary's Star of the Sea Catholic Church played host to
Felix and Della's wedding whilst Robert "M" Brown gets
out of the office to scold 007 at the famous Hemingway House in
Florida, which gives writers Maibaum and Wilson the chance to use
the pun "farewell to arms" as Bond resigns from Her Majesty's
Secret Service.
Aside from a few exteriors the crew (let alone the actors themselves) never set foot on British soil to shoot the film. The offices of M and Moneypenny were both painstakingly recreated at Churubusco. This would be the first time that a Bond film did not use any part of Pinewood (whilst "Moonraker" shot primarily in France, Derek Meddings and his crew created the outer-space sequence on the 007 Stage). Glen finally wrapped shooting with a hot and tired cast and crew on 18 November 1988. |
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