I have started a series of more comprehensive profiles of the original props in my own collection, and the second piece to be showcased is a hero Walther PPK from the James Bond film “Licence To Kill” staring Timothy Dalton.
James Bond Hero Walther PPK
Note: Most images throughout the article can be clicked on for higher resolution versions
Background: Walther PPK – The Signature James Bond Sidearm
The famous, iconic, and signature weapon for 007 in the James Bond movies has been the Walther PPK. Given limitations in supplying such weapons to production, in some cases the Walther PP and Walther P5 have served as “look alike” stand ins. Also, following Pierce Brosnan’s “Goldeneye“, the PPK was replaced with the more modern Walther P99. However, with the most recent film staring Daniel Craig, “Quantum of Solace“, the Walther PPK has returned as the sidearm weapon of choice for James Bond.
As most Bond films were produced in the UK, armourer Bapty’s supplied most of the hero weapons for the films. In December 2006, Christie’s, in conjunction with The Prop Store of London and Bapty’s, offered the last of what firearms they could attribute to use in the films through to the last Pierce Brosnan film. Given UK law, those pieces sold were deactivated to UK standards, regardless of the country of the buyer and the applicable firearms laws and regulations.
A prior OPB article includes a compilation of the weapons that I have found in my research of what Bond guns have been identified and offered for sale to the public and/or cataloged:
As I understand it, with the Christie’s sale event, two of the three PPKs were pulled from the auction and returned to EON (the PPK used by Sean Connery in “From Russia with Love” and the PPK used by Roger Moore in “For Your Eyes Only”) with the PPK used by Pierce Brosnan in “Goldeneye” being the only one made available for sale to the public.
Background: “Licence to Kill” (AKA “Licence Revoked”)
“Licence to Kill” was the second of two films starring Timothy Dalton in the role of James Bond. The 16th film in the series, it was released in 1989 and, due to legal disputes over the ownership of the franchise, the break between it and the first Pierce Brosnan film, “Goldeneye” (in 1995), was the longest between releases. Licence to Kill was also the last film produced by Albert R. Broccoli and the first original (non-Fleming) title. It was also the first Bond movie that featuring no filming at UK soundstages during production and was the first to feature a PG-13 rating.
The basis of the story revolves around Bond’s resigning from the M16 to seek revenge against a Latin American drug kingpin who was responsible for the maiming of Felix Leiter and murder of his new bride.
James Bond: Licence To Kill & Stembridge Gun Rentals
The Walther PPK pictured below was used by Timothy Dalton as James Bond in the John Glen film, “Licence to Kill” (AKA “Licence Revoked”).
This PPK is from the U.S. armourer, Stembridge Gun Rentals. “Licence to Kill” is one of the only Bond films with photography within the United States (as well as Mexico), so it is one of the only non-Baptys PPKs.
Unlike the pieces auctioned by Christie’s, this PPK has had no post production work done to alter the weapon – it has not be deactivated to UK specs as the others were as it was never imported into the UK.
This piece is actually “live fire” capable – fully functional with both the blank fire barrel and standard barrel:
Provenance includes the original Stembridge rental agreements (not copies) to the “License Revoked” production (the original name for the film, before being changed to “Licence to Kill”) and a letter from the film’s Production Supervisor, Anthony Waye, to (then) Vice President of Stembridge Gun Rentals, Syd Stembridge, outlining the business deal for 1st and 2nd Unit Armorers and rented firearms along with original postmarked envelope from the Mexico-based production.
Information from the paperwork is consistent with details outlined in the book, “The Making of Licence To Kill” (long out of print and never published in the U.S.):
Information about Stembridge Gun Rentals and the armorers employed by the production (discussed in the Anthony Waye letter to Syd Stembridge above):
Information about Production Supervisor Anthony Waye who drafted the letter to Stembridge (and photo):
Below are a series of stills and screencaptures from the film:
Note: The actual property depicted on this page ARE NOT assets of Original Prop Blog, LLC
Note: All original photos and descriptions are copyright Original Prop Blog, LLC – please contact me for permission to use