Did this have a Casino Royale/Goldeneye type effect?

I remember when this movie came out. It performed very well. Most of the reviews were positive and Dalton was praised for bringing realism back to the series. However, I have heard that many people were turned off by Dalton as Bond simply due to the fact that Roger Moore had been Bond for SO long. Moore's version of Bond (as anyone who is a fan of the series knows) was very comical. He broke the fourth wall all of the time and had almost (no insult intended) become a parody of the spy genera. This film had very little humor, was very true to real world events (that were happening at the time) and Dalton had a very hard edge to his version of Bond. Despite the fact that this movie did quite well and Dalton was initially well received its followup License to Kill barley recouped its budget (in the United States which at the time was the gold standard). Thus (along with legal battles)spelled the end of Dalton as Bond. I like License to Kill, but (to me) there is just something off about it. The Cold War had ended and as a result I don't think that the writers knew where to take the Bond character. I also believe that the viewing public (for the most part) were not yet ready to give up on Moore's goofy version of the Bond character. Personally, I like Dalton's version of Bond. To me it was (as you put it)a breath of fresh air after most of Moore's work. I preferred (even then) a more gritty reality to Bond. I also never really cared for the non stop womanizing that had become such a staple of the franchise. Sure, he's Bond, he's the man, he should get whomever he wants, but the series had gotten to the point where Bond ended up sleeping with every woman (friend and foe) that he ran into with the exception of Miss Money Penny. In this film in particular it feels like Bond actually loved Kara and was falling more and more in love with her as the film progressed. I actually preferred this over having Bond just bed everyone. Kara isn't my favorite Bond girl by any stretch, but when License to Kill came out a few years later I was dissapointed that Kara didn't return as Bond's love interest and that was the first time that I had ever that feeling while watching (up to that point) the entire Bond franchise.

I should be clear that I do like Roger Moore as Bond, but that I thought that he should have left the franchise a lot earlier than he did. I my opinion he simply stayed too long. However, if he had left earlier, than this movie, with this cast would not have been made. So, I am actually happy (in a way) that Moore stayed so long.

When this came out in 1987, it did better than Octopussy and A View to a Kill worldwide at the box office, but about the same as A View to a Kill at the U.S. box office. It was in the Top 20 films for the U.S. for the year, but the producers were hoping for something better than that. Most of the Bond films through Octopussy had been in the Top 10 for their year

It received alot of positive reviews, but also alot of mixed reviews. I think Roger Ebert gave it 2 1/2 stars, and many people sad Dalton was bland

Ironically, Ebert LOVED License to Kill, giving it 3 1/2 stars, but as everyone knows, License was crushed at the box office in 1989. It was barely in the Top 40 of all films released that year

I saw The Living Daylights in the theaters in 1987 when I was 13