Landing at Gibraltar

The Living Daylights starts off in Gibraltar, where the 00-section has been chosen to participate in a NATO exercise with the S.A.S. Three 00-agents are supposed to infiltrate the radar installations of Gibraltar. At the same time, a Soviet operation is going on called Smiert Spionam, with the objective to kill a 00-agent. The exercise begins with three 00-agents parachuting down on the rock from a Hercules aircraft.

The three agents actually eject their parachutes after passing the north point as they continue down the steep mountain. The city and the harbour, visible to the right of the rock, is located in western Gibraltar. The view over the north point (from the south side) is also seen in the picture below.

One of the three agents is seen steering his parachute down on the east side, landing right above the water catchment, which used to collect rain water that supplied Gibraltar for decades. This large water catchment was dismantled between 2001 and 2006. The slope on which they sat is the "Great Gibraltar Sand Dune", an ancient consolidated sand dune which dominates the east side of the Rock of Gibraltar.

The sand dunes that used to hold the water catchment

The first agent landing on the east side of the rock 

The third agent landing on the west side, facing the city 

There are a few continuity errors in the landing scenes, because all three agents are ejecting their parachutes just above the north point of the rock, only to end up on both the east side and on the west side facing the city.

The north point seen from Spain, above which the three agents eject their parachutes

Gibraltar is a magnificent and surreal experience. This tiny part of the United Kingdom, actually a British Overseas Territory, is enthroned right by the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, and the mighty rock with its two points that rises from the sea watches over both the Mediterranean as well as Africa. The main city, spreading out on the west side is probably more British than London itself with red phone booths and police officers from the Royal Gibraltar Police have British police uniforms. There is no cultural connection to Spain whatsoever, and hence the food in Gibraltar is just as bad as in England. Do not expect to find any Spanish delicacies in the restaurants.

I visited Gibraltar in September, which probably is one of the better months to visit the Rock, since there are less tourists and the climate is much nicer than during the too hot summer months. Avoid June-August for your life. Since you want to do a lot of walking around on the rock and in the city, the temperature should ideally not be above 25-28 degrees.

Gibraltar was captured from Spain in 1704 by an Anglo-Dutch force. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. During World War II it was an important base for the Royal Navy as it controlled the entrance and exit to the Mediterranean. The Straight of Gibraltar is only 13 km wide at this point.

The main city with the marina - The runway to Gibraltar airport seen to the right

Gibraltar car chase - Charles V Wall

During the car chase in the pre-title sequence of The Living Daylights, an assassin escapes in a Land Rover. While driving down the rock of Gibraltar, the car passes a few famous Gibraltar locations. Early on in the chase, the Land Rover drives through an opening in Charles V Wall. Charles V Wall is a defensive wall built in the 16th century that extends from the South Bastion (lover part of the rock) to the top of the rock, right in the middle between the north and the south top.

The Land Rover is coming down Charles Vth's Road when it drives through the opening in the wall. This road runs just below Queen's Road and intersects with Signal Station Road further down the rock.  

One of the British guards opens fire on the Land Rover and a crate with explosives catches fire. It falls off the car just before it explodes. The box explodes right by another part of Charles V's Wall, this time at the top of the rock. This scene was filmed closed to Douglas Path.

This part of the defensive wall can be found along St Michael Road, near the southern top and is today a feeding place for the apes. It was being renovated at the time of our visit but the location is unmistakable. If you walk in the southern direction from here you will end up at Douglas Path which ultimately leads to the Moorish Outpost, covered earlier.

The entire car chase is cleverly edited to make it seem like it is going down the rock, but in reality, the car is filmed in both upper and lover parts of the rock, as well as on the north and the south top. The part where the ammunition crate explodes is filmed very close to the southern top.

This wall was was actually built in 1540 and strengthened in 1552 by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and is a well known tourist location in Gibraltar.

Gibraltar guard post

The car chase during the pre-title sequence of The Living Daylights starts off at a guard post somewhere on the top of Gibraltar. Bond hears the unknown assassin kill one of the S.A.S. soldiers and runs after him as he drives off in the stolen Land Rover. Just like in the film, the radar installations that can be found on the northern top of Gibraltar, is still patrolled by the British forces and not accessible for tourists. 

As Bond runs towards the gate, the S.A.S. guard shoots paint at Bond thinking it is part of the exercise. This guard post and the gate can be found on the northern part of the rock, more specifically where the 'Rock Gun Road' intersects with 'Signal Station Road' close to the northern top. The road up to the right, the road where Dalton is running, is still off limits for tourists. The blue/red/blue sign that can be found on the gate today, is the sign of the British forces in Gibraltar. This road is probably Ministry of Defense property.

The S.A.S. guard is played by the renowned stunt man and stunt actor Paul Weston. Paul had actually begun his career in The Saint with Sir Roger in the 60's and started working in the Bond series already in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. But he would continue to do stunts for the Bond series for the next five decades.




       "Here, hold on you're dead!"






He doubled for Jaws, jumping between the cable cars in Moonraker, he fought Bond and Columbo at the monastery in For Your Eyes Only and he doubled for Sir Roger on top of the train in Octopussy. He returned for The Living Daylights and License to Kill and even came back to do stunts for Skyfall. He has been both a stunt coordinator and a 2nd Unit Director throughout his career.

Paul is charming and a great entertainer. I met him in September 2014 when he was in Stockholm for a charity Bond gala event in connection with the ten year anniversary of the Swedish Bond site "From Sweden With Love". He was there together with John Glen, Kristina Wayborn, Robert Davi, John Moreno, Mary Stavin and many other cast and crew from the Bond family. It was a great pleasure to see him teach the audience stunts on stage during the dinner.

Paul Weston is also a friend of Pierce Brosnan and did stunts in both Remington Steele, Death Train, Raiders of the lost ark among many many more.

But of all the dozens of movies during the past five decades, Paul will of course always be most appreciated and remembered for his work on the Bond series and it would be nice to see him on the big screen in another Bond cameo in the future.

Gibraltar parachute landing

During the exercise at Gibraltar in the pre-title of The Living Daylights, one of the 00 agents participating in the exercise makes a fairly poor parachute landing. He ends up in a tree somewhere at St Michael Road at the top of the rock.

From here you have a beautiful view over the entire city, a view that, unfortunately, was not used very much in the film. This location is easy to find when walking along St Michael Road. When visiting, I would definitely recommend to spend at least one day, or the better part of two days exploring the rock of Gibraltar. Not only because of all the locations, but because of the number of other attractions that should not be missed.

Immediately after landing, the 00-agent is surprised and shot by one of the S.A.S. guards patrolling the area. Glyn Baker, playing 002 in this scene, was cast because of his resemblance to Roger Moore. The other agent, 004, played by Frederick Warder resembled George Lazenby. They were both cast because the filmmakers wanted to play with the audience's expectations of which of the three 00 agents that in fact was Bond. It would however take a few more scenes before we get to see the new 007 for the first time.

"That's it chum! You're out of it..."
   - The S.A.S. guard to 002 -

Gibraltar is still a British Overseas territory, and has been since since the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. This naturally, made it an easy and convenient filming location for the Bond crew in 1987.

Today, Gibraltar still has a handful of military units stationed in the territory. Since 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defense and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of Her Majesty's Government in the UK.

The Land Rover cliff - Ape's den, Gibraltar

"It's all so boring here Margot. There's nothing but playboys and tennis pros. If only I could find a real man..."


The car chase in the pre-title sequence of The Living Daylights comes to an abrupt end when Bond steers the Land Rover towards a cliff on the rock of Gibraltar. As the car is falling into the sea with the assassin inside, Bond opens his parachute and escapes an explosion just before landing on a luxury yacht cruising in the strait of Gibraltar.

The Land Rover chase was filmed on several locations on the rock but the particular part that is seen through the windscreen of the car can be found at the Queen's Gate, or what is known today as Ape's Den, just above Prince Ferdinand's Battery. The Land Rover is coming down on Old Queen's road and crashes into the stone wall right by the Queen's Gate, which is an opening in Charles V wall.

When driving down Queen's road in the nature reserve you should take a left and continue down Old Queen's road in order to get to this location. Queen's gate can be found after a few hundred meters from the street crossing. The road breaches through the last part of the great wall (named Charles V's wall) that runs from the top of the rock all the way down. Earlier in the chase, the Land Rover has driven through another opening of Charles V's wall, a few hundred meters up the rock. Just below the Queen's gate is Prince Ferdinand's Battery. The car running through the kiosk, scaring a number of tourists, was filmed on another location.

Prince Ferdinand's Battery - Known as Ape's Den

The Barber Macuaque apes, the top tourist attraction in Gibraltar, feature prominently in the film and one even jumps down and scares Bond as he finds the dead guard on top of the rock. They are locally known as Barbary apes despite actually being monkeys and the Macaques in Gibraltar is the only wild monkey population in the European continent.
The part of the wall where the two monkeys are watching the Land Rover is probably located somewhere along Queen's road or the Old Queen's road in the nature reserve.

The monkeys watch as the Land Rover goes over the cliff.

The legend goes that as long as the monkeys exist on Gibraltar, the territory will remain under British rule.

God save the Queen

With this post I will reach 200,000 page views since my blog inauguration in 2011. I thank all of you who enjoy this blog and follow me in the search for more Bond locations. Long live England!

The Rock of Gibraltar

The Living Daylights, Dalton's first outing as 007 starts off in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, located in the southern part of Spain. The 00-section has been chosen to participate in an exercise together with the Special Air Services, the S.A.S. Their objective is to infiltrate the radar installations at the top of the rock.

You get the first view over the rock from the beach at the end of the runway that belongs to Gibraltar International Airport and the camera pans up on the north front cliff face. Bond and the other two 00-agents jump from a Hercules and release their parachutes just before landing one the cliffs.

M's office on-board a Hercules aircraft

The British army is seen guarding the border against Spain. They are located at the end of the runway. The runway is still owned by the Ministry of Defense for use by the Royal Air Force. A Hawker Siddley Nimrod from the RAF is seen in the background in the film.

The long white building seen in the film, has been painted yellow. 

Today, the Ministry of Defense has a little less aggressive approach without the Czech hedgehogs or trenches facing the water. However, an imposing sign can be found by the fence that runs along the Gibraltar-Spanish border. The sign states that the territory behind the fence is Ministry of Defense property and that there are police dogs on patrol.

The best view over the northern peak is from the beach on the Spanish side in the town of La Linea de la Conceptión. You should spend a few hours on this beach and enjoy this location. When you get close to the border you realise that the area still is the property of the Ministry of Defense and that they do not take kindly to uninvited visitors from Spain.

Gibraltar has been a British territory since the 18th century and is definitely worth visiting. Predominantly British in the city, with red phone booths and British pubs it is a part of England right next to Africa and Costa del sol, truly surreal.

The Gibraltar International Airport is one of the most extreme in the world with the runway from the airport that runs over the main road into the city. When an aircraft is landing or taking off, the cars are stopped with red lights on either side, a remarkable sight.