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| “ | When it gets up to your ankles, you're going to beg to tell me everything. When it gets up to your knees, you'll kiss my ass to kill you. | „ |
| ~ Sanchez taunting Bond while lowering him into a cocaine grinder |
Franz Sanchez is a powerful and ruthless Central American drug lord who was responsible for the maiming of CIA agent Felix Leiter and the death of the latter's wife Della Churchill. He is the main antagonist of the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill.
He was portrayed by Robert Davi, who also played Jake Fratelli in The Goonies, Robert Masterson in The Taking of Beverly Hills, Hans Zarba in Son of the Pink Panther, Juan Cortez in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Alejandro Sosa in Scarface: The World Is Yours and Goran Vata in The Expendables 3.
Biography[]
Franz Sanchez is successfully captured by the DEA with the help of M16 agent James Bond and his American best-friend named Felix Leiter; the latter is a highly decorated CIA operative assigned to capture Sanchez and requested Bond's help to do so. However, whilst in police custody, Sanchez bribes DEA agent Ed Killifer with a promise of a $2 million reward. Together, they escape custody when Killifer causes the prison van to crash into the sea and they are picked up by men working for Sanchez's associate Milton Krest. It is then Sanchez arranges for Leiter and his wife Della Churchill to be captured not long after the pair were married; Sanchez has Della raped and murdered by his right-hand man Dario before having Leiter mauled by a shark. However, Sanchez also shows his more lenient side as he spares the life of Killifer because of their deal even though Krest is worried about him snitching.
When Bond learns the fates of both Leiter and Della, he is distraught and becomes obsessed with getting revenge on Sanchez; he later resolves to hunting down Sanchez at all costs and even to resign from MI6 after M disapproves Bond's private vendetta and tells him to let it go and return to the assignment in Instabul. He sneaks aboard a boat named the WaveKrest, owned by Sanchez's associate Milton Krest, steals $5 million of Sanchez's drug money, and ruins the latest drug shipment. Sanchez returns to his home in Isthmus City, where Bond meets with him in person, going undercover as a freelance assassin looking for work. Later on, after Sanchez has held a meeting with several drug barons from across the world, Bond destroys the bulletproof window in front of Sanchez's office with explosives and attempts to assassinate him. Unfortunately, he is captured at the last minute by Hong Kong Narcotics officers and M16 operative Fallon under the latter's instructions by M to return Bond to London.
It is then Sanchez's army of the Isthmian militia. led by his head of security Colonel Heller, rescue Bond and kill Fallon along with all the officers; mistakenly believing them to be the assassins. Sanchez and Heller located Kwang who was revealed to be a Hong Kong Naroctics who was posing as a drug lord to infiltrate Sanchez's organization. He interrogated him and demanded to know who sent him, only for Kwang to take a Cyanide Capsule to avoid questioning, Sanchez then shot his body twice in anger.
Later on, Sanchez and his cohorts then take Bond back to the drug lord's villa after noticing his unconscious body tied to a table (having previously been interrogated by the agents). Once there, Bond convinces the paranoid Sanchez that someone in his organization had paid the agents to kill him. Suspecting Krest, Sanchez visits him later that night on board the WaveKrest. Bond sneaks aboard and plants the money he had stolen earlier in a decompression chamber, which Sanchez soon discovers. Believing that Krest stole from him and tried to have him killed, Sanchez throws him into the decompression chamber and kills him via explosive decompression.
Soon afterwards, Sanchez rewards Bond for the information he had given him and takes him to his drug plant, where Bond discovers Sanchez's plan to smuggle cocaine into Asia by dissolving it in gasoline. Bond is spotted by Sanchez's henchman Dario, who had previously met Bond and blows his cover, prompting Bond to set Sanchez's laboratory on fire. Realizing that Bond is in fact a spy, Sanchez orders him to be placed into a cocaine crusher, but Bond is saved at the last moment by CIA pilot Pam Bouvier. After killing Dario by dropping him into the crusher, Bond pursues Sanchez in one of his gasoline-filled tanker trucks and a high speed chase ensues. Once most of Sanchez's tanker trucks are destroyed, Bond catches up to Sanchez and they fight on the back of the final truck before reaching an incline and tumbling to the ground.
Moments later, Sanchez - battered and gasoline-soaked following his confronation with Bond - prepares to kill Bond with a machete while declaring that Bond could have had everything if he had worked with him, but stops short of doing it when Bond distracts Sanchez by offering to explain why he went out of his way to destroy his empire. Bond then shows Sanchez the cigarette lighter Felix and Della had given him on their wedding day to show his purpose of vengeance, before igniting it and immolating Sanchez. As the villain flails and screams in burning agony, he stumbles against the leaking tanker truck that causes it to explode - killing Sanchez and thus completing Bond's vengeance against him for what he did to Leiter and Della respectively.
Personality[]
| “ | Sanchez: Relax. We wait for Vario. Krest: Are you crazy? You got everybody looking for you. What about Killifer? The cop here is nuts. I wanna deep sink 'em. Sanchez: I made a deal with this guy and I'm gonna keep my word. Krest: I don't like it, he can finger me. I spent a fortune on this company. Sanchez: Something you'd better understand, amigo; loyalty is more important to me. |
„ |
| ~ Sanchez's contradictory personality as shown after Milton Krest insisted on killing Ed Killifer due to him knowing too much. |
As a Central American drug lord running his own empire, protected by an army of henchmen and controller of the city President, Sanchez either bribed, intimidated or killed most of the city’s officials. Heading an international drug cartel, Sanchez was both ruthless and merciless but is also cultured, refined and a man of his word. Sanchez rewarded loyalty but promised death to anyone who double-crossed him; coldly and brutally murdering Milton Krest for betraying him. With paranoid tendencies relating to the loyalty of his men, Bond was able to exploit this weakness to get Sanchez to kill several of his own lieutenants when Bond convinced him they are cheating him.
Powers and Abilities[]
- High Intelligence: Franz Sanchez was a very intelligent man, being able to easily run a complex drug cartel and control his men and come up with the idea of holding drugs in petrol.
- Marksmanship: Sanchez was a very skilled marksman, being able to trade shots with James Bond and keep the MI6 Agent at bay.
- Breath Holding: Franz Sanchez was able to hold his breath and keep from drowning for a long time until Milton Krest's divers rescued him.
Weaknesses[]
- Paranoia: Franz Sanchez was an extremely paranoid man who inflicted brutal punishments on those he felt betrayed or posed a threat to him. James Bond was able to exploit this weakness to get Sanchez to kill several of his own lieutenants when Bond convinced him they are cheating him.
Arsenal[]
- Pistol: Franz Sanchez's main weapon throughout the film was a standard pistol that used to fight James Bond and kill Truman-Lodge.
- Axe: When he killed Milton Krest, Sanchez used an axe to destroy the decompression chamber's air vent and rapidly cause the air pressure inside to decrease.
Quotes[]
| “ | I want you to know that this is nothing personal. It's purely... business. | „ |
| ~ Sanchez to Leiter before lowering him in the shark pond. |
| “ | Señor Bond, you got big cojones. You come here, to my place, without references, carrying a piece, throwing around a lot of money... but you should know something: nobody saw you come in, so nobody has to see you go out. | „ |
| ~ Franz Sanchez to James Bond. |
| “ | Then I guess it's time to start cutting overhead. | „ |
| ~ Sanchez before killing Truman-Lodge. |
| “ | When it gets up to your ankles, you're going to beg to tell me everything. When it gets up to your knees, you'll kiss my ass to kill you. | „ |
| ~ Sanchez about to feed James Bond to a Machinery used to produce cocaine after discovering his M16 status. |
| “ | Sanchez: You could have had everything. Bond: Don't you want to know why? |
„ |
| ~ Franz Sanchez's last words to James Bond. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Davi based his performance in part upon Le Chiffre, the villain of the first Bond novel, Casino Royale.
- Sanchez was seen at some points in the film accompanied by a pet iguana wearing a jewel-encrusted collar. The gaudy pet collar was likely a sign of Sanchez's ostentatious display of ill-gotten wealth. The iguana itself may have been homage to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who became most recognized for stroking a pet Persian cat.
- Sanchez is arguably the darkest Bond villain in the franchise, due to his incredibly brutal methods of torture and killing (i.e. allowing Dario and his men to rape Della, maiming Felix Leiter by feeding his leg to a shark, and killing Milton Krest via decompression).
