A tall ex-model from New York, Carey Lowell portrayed CIA agent/pilot Pam Bouvier, whom Bond (Timothy Dalton) briefly meets in Felix Leiter’s (David Hedison) home office. There she’s dressed formally in a skirt with stylish hairdo; when Bond meets her on the front lines of the drug wars, in Bimini’s Barrelhead Bar, she’s decidedly less formal, armed with a shotgun and ready for action. She’s going to need it because Bond and Pam are soon visited by Franz Sanchez’s lead goon, Dario (a very thin Benicio Del Toro), and the rest of his posse. In the following bar fight, Pam proves her worth in spades, literally blowing a wall out of the bar so they can escape.
Watch the Barrelhead bar fight in Licence to Kill directed by John Glen:
For me personally, Carey is the highlight of a decidedly un-Bond like Bond film, which plays more like a two-hour episode of Miami Vice. She’s also a perfect example of the new type of Bond girl – introduced a decade earlier with Barbara Bach’s Major Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Resourceful, courageous and bold, Pam Bouvier kicks serious butt. Her piloting is also critical in Bond’s final assault on Sanchez’s (Robert Davi) cocaine convoy.
So let's raise a zesty margarita to Miss Bouvier! Happy Birthday, Carey. Thanks for the memories.