Pam Bouvier

Pamela "Pam" Bouvier is a fictional former United States army pilot and CIA informant. The character appears as the main Bond girl in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill, portrayed by Carey Lowell and was also featured in John Gardner's accompanying novelization. Lowell later reprised the role for the 2012 video-game 007 Legends.

Biography[]

Background[]

Pam Bouvier is a former United States Air Force (USAF) fighter pilot turned Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) informant who collaborates with DEA agent Felix Leiter to arrest and convict Franz Sanchez, a powerful Central American drug trafficker. Because she has vital information about the ruthless smuggler and his notorious associates, she has become a target of his cartel, remaining Leiter's only living contact. While still employed by the CIA, Bouvier pretended to have resigned from the agency to sell her services as a pilot to Sanchez's associates on his mission. James Bond first witnesses Bouvier talking to Leiter at the reception of his wedding, but she leaves before Bond can speak with her.

Helping James Bond[]

Leiter was thrown into a Shark Tank by Sanchez and Bond throws Ed Killifer in the same tank, resulting in Bond being fired from MI6. After Bond steals $5 million from Milton Krest, he sneaks into Leiter's office to find he had set a meeting at the Barrelhead Bar in Bimini^[1], Bouvier was disappointed in seeing Bond but soon trusts him. When Dario soon comes into the bar, she asks Bond if he has a gun, after seeing his Walther PPK, she shows him a Mossberg 500 Cruiser which she soon uses to blast a hole in a wall before escaping on Bond's boat. She is soon shot by Dario, but is luckily unharmed because she wore a Kevlar vest. They escape and have implied sex. She agrees to help Bond track down Sanchez, playing herself off as Bond's executive secretary while he infiltrates Sanchez's operations. The pair stay at the Hotel Mary Tierra, before travelling to the Casino de Isthmus, where Bond and Bouiver gambled in order to get Sanchez's attention. At the same time, she meets Colonel Heller to set up a deal granting him immunity if Sanchez is arrested.

Bouvier, with the assistance of Q, follows Bond and Sanchez to the Olympatec Meditation Institute, where Sanchez has taken Bond. Bouvier has made her way to the OMI by disguising herself as a student, she steals a key from Professor Joe Butcher and sneaks into the distribution centre where she shoots Dario and helps destroy Sanchez's drug convoy.

After dealing with Sanchez, Bouvier and Q go to a party with Bond at the drug lord's former residence. Bouvier sees Lupe Lamora and Bond kiss. Bouvier, always jealous of Lupe, runs down the stairs to the pool. Bond sees this, Lupe insists he stay with her. Bond, not wanting to break her heart, sets her up with a date with the president Hector Lopez, he leaps off the balcony into the pool. He pulls Bouvier in the pool and they kiss.

Alternate continuities[]

Licence to Kill (novelisation)[]

007 Legends[]

Loosely following the plot of previous James Bond films such as Licence to Kill, the 2012 video-game 007 Legends features a mission where Bond finds his CIA agent friend Felix Leiter maimed in his house alongside his dead wife. As with the film, the man responsible is Franz Sanchez, a drug lord whom Bond and Leiter had unsuccessfully attempted to take down weeks earlier. On a quest for vengeance, Bond and DEA agent Pam Bouvier infiltrate Sanchez's facility inside an old Otomi temple, intent on killing him. Unlike the film, the video-game has Bouvier (not Bond) going undercover at the drug kingpin's distribution facility. In addition, 007 is operating under the blessing of MI6, who have sent him to expose Sanchez's ties to international terrorism. After her cover is blown, Bond rescues Bouvier and a car chase ensues; culminating in Sanchez's death.

Personality[]

Pam Bouvier is an experienced operative, accustomed to the murky environments of South American drug traffickers. She is also a woman of character who is rebellious, adventurous, fearless, intelligent and a bit of a tomboy, not afraid to assert herself in front of her enemies or her male colleagues like Bond in a haughty and sometimes contemptuous manner. Despite her affiliation with the CIA, Pam is an independent person who does not appreciate being subjected to the sexism of her partners. Although she can be naive and sensitive in certain situations, the former pilot is by no means a fragile woman and is fully capable of surviving in hostile environments, conducting her operations successfully and handling almost any situation.

Behind the scenes[]

After Carey Lowell was chosen to play Pam Bouvier, she watched many previous films in the series for inspiration. Lowell had described becoming a Bond girl as "huge shoes to fill", as she did not see herself as a "glamour girl", even coming to her audition wearing jeans and a leather jacket. While Lowell wore a wig for the scenes set in the United States, a scene where Bouvier cuts her hair was added so Lowell's natural short hair could be used.^[2] Her surname is a reference to American First Lady Jackie Kennedy as her maiden name was Bouvier. By coincidence, athlete Rafer Johnson, who plays Mullens in this film, was present at the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Gallery[]

Pam Bouvier/Gallery

Trivia[]

• Unlike most previous Bond girls, who were often over-sexualized and portrayed as "damsels in distress," Pam was independent and fearless, marking an important step in the evolution of female characters in the series. Indeed, from Licence to Kill onwards, Bond girls such as Wai Lin, Jinx Johnson and Nomi would be portrayed more as Bond's alter-egos than as fragile objects of conquest serving as a pretext for the storyline. Moreover, although he was sometimes sexist towards Pam, Bond himself seemed to have accepted her as an equal at some point in their collaboration.
• A reference to Pam seems to have been made in Die Another Day (2002) where the masseuse Peaceful Fountains hides her service weapon on her thigh under her dress in a manner similar to the CIA agent.
• According to Robert Davi, who plays Sanchez, Pam's purple dress was inspired by a similar dress worn by Talisa Soto, who plays Lupe, during her audition.

References[]