Licence to Kill treatment: Conclusion

Timothy Dalton

Continuing the blog’s examination of a March 1988 treatment by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson for Licence to Kill. The treatment was provided by Gary J. Firuta.

At the end of the blog’s last installment, Pam was flying Bond and Lupe and indicated some turbulence was ahead. She wasn’t kidding.

The plane does “a barrel roll.” Lupe is tossed off a bed in the plane onto to the floor. “Bond is amused but Lupe shouts ‘Beetch! at the top of her lungs.”

Meanwhile, in this treatment, Sanchez now is very suspicious of Bond, something that wouldn’t happen until later in the finished film. Sanchez orders his people to look out for Bond.

Bond & Co. have reached their destination, Oaxaca, near the site of the Bible Institute. Bond is in a taxi with Q, Pam and Lupe. Bond and Pam will get off at a hotel. Q is to take Lupe to Leiter in Miami “on the next available flight.” Lupe is hesitant to leave Bond. Bond tells her that Q will look after her until he can rejoin her.

Bond observes some “obviously working class Americans in their best duds” exiting a bus from the institute. Bond remembers that Sanchez had been watching institute programming. Bond tells Q to contact Leiter in Miami that the institute may be a Sanchez front.

Bond and Pam then get on a bus headed to the institute.

At the same time, Sanchez shows up and Dario is surprised to see him. “I had to come,” Sanchez tells Dario. “The Chinese are having second thoughts. They’ve heard rumors about Krest. That Kwang business upsets them. Then Bond taking Lupe and my plane. I have to show my face to prove everything’s alright.”

The treatment includes a description of an assembly line-like operation where checks and cash are separated from letters with donations. Addresses are entered into a computer database. The letters are deposited into a large shredder.

The Asian group also is being given a tour of the grounds. Eventually Bond and Pam separate, with Bond infiltrating the group of visitors by knocking out a technician and taking his place. Bond wears a filter mask and a white lab coat. Bond also has an ID with the name Jose Pico.

Sanchez, not as dense as he was in the finished movie, is aware of Bond’s presence and tells Dario to find him.

What follows is a demonstration similar to the completed film, showing how cocaine can be dissolved in gasoline. Sanchez tells his visitors he has a plan for shipments to Asia by chartering a tanker ship to Hong Kong.

Pam, meanwhile, gets away from Sanchez’ men who have been observing her. Back at the lab, Bond has been spotted. He is overcome by Sanchez henchmen.

“What is this vendetta, Senor Bond?” Sanchez asks.

“Felix Leiter,” Bond replies.

“The American drug agent? What is he? Nothing!”

“My friend,” Bond says. “A man you couldn’t buy.”

Sanchez is undeterred. “Too bad for him. So where is he now? Selling pencils in the streets?”

“No, Sanchez,” Bond says. “He’s after your head. You can’t stop men like him.”

Bond is taken to an area with a detonator. It is set for 10 minutes. The complex will go up to remove evidence.

Bond is tied up. “Dario owes you some pain,” Sanchez tells Bond. “I promised he could have you.” Sanchez steps up to Dario and pats his cheek. “Amuse yourself, Amigo.”

Sanchez and his entourage depart except for Darui and some thugs. One of Sanchez’ men ask the boss if they should let Dario know has seven minutes left.

“No!” Sanchez replies. “He has made too many mistakes lately.”

Yikes! Sanchez must have studied at the Blofeld School of Management.

While this is going on, Pam is at the facility’s auditorium watching Joe Butcher give a performance. At the same time, Leiter is watching the telecast of Butcher. Leiter tells a colleague he had received a message it was tied to Sanchez.

Back in Mexico, Dario puts Bond on the conveyor belt leading to the shredder used for all the letters sent to Joe Butcher. Dario turns it on.

Bond gets out of it thusly:

Several feet away Bond spots a stainless steel bucket besides the belt. He has enough play in his straps to swing his legs and jam both feet into the bucket. Then he swings his legs back onto the belt the instant before his foot reaches the knives of the shredder. The knives shatter as they hit the bucket. Bond falls through the shredder miraculously unscathed.

A fight breaks out as Pam catches up to Bond. She shoots Dario, who falls into the shredder. A foot chase ensues, with Bond and Pam ending up in the auditorium where Joe Butcher is doing his television broadcast. Leiter, still watching on TV, recognizes Bond. Security guards break into the auditorium and Leiter’s TV feed is interrupted. An explosion breaks out.

Bond now moves to delay a convoy of trucks containing cocaine in gasoline, with Pam flying a plane. A long description follows. The treatment includes how many of the Asian group are arrested at Acapulco, where the convoy was headed.

Bond and Sanchez have their final meeting. As in the final film, Sanchez prepares to decapitate Bond with a machete. Except, in the treatment, Bond uses a flare he took from a truck emergency box. “He thrusts burning flare into Sanchez’ face,” the treatment says. “Sanchez’ clothes, drenched in gasoline, ignite, turning him into a human torch.”

The next scene takes place at the “Mexican fiesta Acapulco.”

The scene plays out somewhat differently than the final film. We’re told, “It seems Lupe has found her true vocation taking care of Leiter.” (!) Then, Q (!) tells Bond that M wants him back “at once for re-assignment.”

During the scene, Pam is wearing her leather vest. Pam says Bond needs R&R before reporting back for duty. She asks Bond: “Why don’t you buy a yacht for a three month sail on the Caribbean with me”?

Bond asks what they will do for money

Pam opens one of the padded sections of her vest, containing “packets of hundred dollar bills.”

“You didn’t think I was going to let you put all that cash in the decompression chamber, did you? I’m a practical woman.”

At this point, after all the violence, Bond has one bad arm. He tells Pam he won’t be of much use with one arm.

“For what I have in mind, you won’t need your hands,” Pam says.

THE END