The Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Key West, Florida, is one of the city’s most historic Catholic churches. Located on the corner of Truman Avenue and Windsor Lane, the church is part of the older residential area of Key West, away from the busier waterfront and tourist streets. Its white exterior, arched entrance and palm-lined surroundings make it a distinctive Key West landmark, with a calmer and more traditional atmosphere than many of the island’s better-known attractions.
The basilica is best known to film fans from “Licence to Kill” (1989), where it appears during the opening section of the James Bond film. The Key West scenes use several real locations around the island, including the church, Felix Leiter’s house, the Ernest Hemingway Home, Key West Lighthouse and Mallory Square. The Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea is used as itself, giving the film’s early wedding sequence a real Key West setting before the story turns darker.
In “Licence to Kill” (1989), Felix Leiter and Della Churchill are married at the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea. Bond and Leiter are on their way to the ceremony when they are pulled into the operation to capture drug lord Franz Sanchez. After the airborne arrest, the two men parachute down outside the church and arrive just in time for the wedding. The scene gives the film one of its lighter and more playful Bond moments before Sanchez escapes, Della is murdered and Leiter is brutally attacked, setting Bond on his personal path of revenge.
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill was shot entirely outside the United Kingdom, making it the first Bond film not to use Britain for principal photography.
The Ernest Hemingway Home
The Ernest Hemingway Home has appeared in films including "Licence to Kill" (1989) and "The Leisure Seeker" (2017).
Key West Lighthouse
Key West Lighthouse is most closely connected to "Licence to Kill" (1989), where it appears during the Key West section of the James Bond film.
The Moorings Village
The Moorings Village is best known as the Rayburn family inn in "Bloodline" (2015–2017). The Netflix series was filmed largely in the Upper Florida Keys.
Caribbean Club
Caribbean Club is best known for its connection to "Key Largo" (1948). Decades later, the bar also appeared in "Bloodline" (2015–2017).
CVS Miama Beach
In Scarface (1983), 728 Ocean Drive is used for the Sun Ray Apartments, now a CVS, where Tony Montana and Manny Ribera go to make a drug deal.
Colony Hotel
Colony Hotel has appeared in productions including Miami Rhapsody, Dexter and Bad Boys for Life. It is also strongly connected to the Scarface.
The Carlyle
The Carlyle has appeared in several productions, including Scarface (1983), Miami Vice, The Birdcage, Pronto, Random Hearts and Bad Boys II.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
Fontainebleau Miami Beach appears in Goldfinger (1964), Scarface (1983), The Bodyguard (1992), Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988), and many more.
Swifty Laundromat
In Striptease, Swifty Laundromat is used for one of the scenes showing Erin Grant’s everyday life away from the club world that dominates much of the film.
Leave a Reply