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"Where's my wife?"
"Don't worry. We gave her a nice honeymoooon.
"
Felix Leiter and Dario[src]

Dario was a henchman and one of the Sanchez Cartel's three main personal henchmen alongside Braun and Perez; serving as the youngest of the three. He is the secondary antagonist in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill, portrayed by famous actor Benicio del Toro, and also appeared in John Gardner's accompanying novelisation. Still portrayed by del Toro, the character would later be re-imagined for Activision's 2012 James Bond video game 007 Legends.

Biography[]

Background[]

Dario is the youngest of Franz Sanchez's three main henchmen (the others being Perez and Braun) and arguably his favorite. A ruthless and psychotic killer, Dario was kicked out of the Nicaraguan Contras for his brutality and found his way into Sanchez's drug cartel as one of his chief enforcers.

Florida[]

DarioPreparesToKillAlvarez

Dario prepares to kill Lupe Lamora's lover

Dario was present alongside Sanchez when the latter caught his mistress, Lupe Lamora, sleeping with another man in the Bahamas. Sanchez ordered Dario to give Lupe the man's heart and the enforcer complied by cutting out the heart with his switchblade knife. Dario later escaped into hiding when Sanchez was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Dario later resurfaces after Sanchez is liberated from U.S. custody by Ed Killifer and Milton Krest. Surprising them on their wedding night, the drug lord has Dario, Braun and Perez kidnap Felix Leiter and murder his wife Della. He is also culpable in the subsequent maiming of Felix by a shark.

Fight in the Bar[]

Later on, Dario tried to assassinate one of Leiter's contacts, CIA informant Pam Bouvier, under the guise of hiring her for a job due to her piloting skills. Dario and another one of Sanchez's men met with Pouvier at the Barrelhead Bar, where they were surprised to find James Bond was there with Bouvier. However, when Dario attempted to kill Bouvier, the intervention of Bond disrupted Dario's plans, leading to a bar-room brawl. As Bouvier and Bond fled on a boat moored outside, Dario shot her in the back and grinned to himself sadistically, unaware that she was wearing a kevlar vest underneath her blouse.

Death[]

Licence to Kill - Dario tries to kill Bond on the conveyor

Dario trying to drop Bond into the Processing machine

Dario made his final appearance by attending a tour of Franz Sanchez's cocaine processing plant with Bond and a group of Asian investors. Attending the meeting, he noticed the undercover spy and covertly held him at gunpoint during the laboratory demonstrations, pressing a Walther P5 into his spine. His suspicions about Bond's presence were confirmed when Bond set the lab on fire.

DarioDeathScene

Dario was crushed by a machinery

On Sanchez's orders, Dario binded Bond's ankles and wrists with rope and placed him on a conveyor belt that dropped the cocaine bricks into a Processing machine to be mixed with gasoline. After Sanchez left them, Bond managed to grab hold of the edge, prompting Dario to cut his ropes in order to shove him in. Before he can do so, Dario became distracted by the sight of Pam Bouvier, whom he believed to be dead, noting that she was dead, only for Bouvier to shoot at him, replying that he had taken the words out of her mouth, knocking him off his feet. However, Bouvier's gun jammed, and as Dario attempted to get back up laughing, only for Bond to grab him by his feet and pull him into the Processing machine. Dario managed to grab onto Bond and screamed for Sanchez to stop the machine, but he was caught by the proocessing machine which slowly and agonizingly pulled him in, killing him crush until the bones break and die.

Alternate continuities[]

Dario appears in the video game 007 Legends alongside Franz Sanchez. Still portrayed by Benicio del Toro, Dario takes part in the battle in his boss's refinery except that his last appearance is not the same as in the film. Instead of being simply crushed by wanting to detach Bond, he attacks Bond to defend Sanchez who then orders him to kill both Bond and Bouvier. The player must then face Dario until he strikes him over a barrier

Behind the scenes[]

According to director John Glen, Benicio del Toro was chosen to play Dario for being "laid back while menacing in a quirky sort of way".[1]

Gallery[]

Dario/Gallery

Trivia[]

  • Licence to Kill is one of the few James Bond films that does not follow exaggerated conspiracies of organizations like SPECTRE or have Cold War themes, instead addressing the social problems of the 1980s. In addition to drug trafficking, there are other issues involving Sanchez's henchmen; as previously mentioned, Dario turns out to be a former member of the Contras, referring to the Iran-Contra scandal.
  • Like many James Bond villains who have distinctive features, Dario wears a silver crown with one tooth.
  • Robert Davi, who plays Sanchez, agreed with Benicio del Toro that the henchman should be the closest to Sanchez, giving them a brotherly relationship, even suggesting to del Toro to shout "Sanchez" when Dario dies in the machine[2].
  • Among most of Sanchez' accomplices, Dario was the only one who recognized Bond from the start as an opponent rather than a future associate.
  • Because of his extreme cruelty and bloodthirsty methods, Dario is considered one of the most diabolical side villains in the films of the series, along with Xenia Onatopp, General Medrano and Valdo Obruchev. Indeed, despite his simplicity, he is perhaps even more frightening and disturbing than the "classic" henchmen of the saga such as Red Grant, Oddjob and May Day, while being just as effective as them. Dario is therefore sometimes seen as one of the best villains of the series, sometimes even more than Sanchez himself[3].

References[]

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