50th Anniversary Cinematic Special
The Man with the Golden Gun
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Starring Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, and Britt Ekland
Premiered December 19, 1974
Wiki said:
The Man with the Golden Gun is a 1974 spy film, the ninth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. A loose adaptation of Ian Fleming's posthumously published 1965 novel of the same name, the film has Bond sent after the Solex Agitator, a breakthrough technological solution to contemporary energy shortages, while in a game of cat and mouse facing the assassin Francisco Scaramanga, the "Man with the Golden Gun". The action culminates in a duel between them that settles the fate of the Solex.
The Man with the Golden Gun was the fourth and final film in the series directed by Guy Hamilton. The script was written by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz. The film was set in the face of the 1973 energy crisis, a dominant theme in the script; Britain had still not yet fully overcome the crisis when the film was released in December 1974. The film also reflects the then-popular martial arts film craze, with several kung fu scenes and a predominantly Asian location, being set and shot in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Macau. Part of the film is also set in Beirut, Lebanon, but it was not shot there.
TMWTGG is easily the most mediocre installment of the franchise to date...a bit too low stakes, and too obviously following trends, not just with the martial arts, but also with the plot revolving around the energy crisis, which has already been buzzed to death in our TV viewing at this point. Nevertheless, it's perfectly watchable and has its strong points, chief among them the casting of the lead antagonist. I've long felt that Christopher Lee was wasted as the wrong Bond villain--he would have been a much better Blofeld than any of the ones we got. Fun fact: Lee was a cousin of Ian Fleming, who wanted him to play Dr. No.
Edited Wiki said:
An American gangster, Rodney [former Diamonds Are Forever gangster Marc Lawrence], visits famed crack shot hitman Francisco Scaramanga [Lee] to kill him and collect a bounty, but he is directed into a funhouse section of the estate, where Scaramanga eventually retrieves his golden gun and kills him.
We also meet secondary Bond Girl Andrea Anders (future Octopussy Maud Adams), compact main henchman Nick Nack (pre-
Fantasy Island Herve Villechaize), and Scaramanga's third nipple in this sequence. I can't help thinking that the fun house with its live-firing figures must have been inspired by
Westworld, particularly the way they lead off with the cowboy (uncredited Leslie Crawford, who was Moore's double; uncredited Ray Marioni plays Al Capone). This is one of those odd teasers that Bond technically isn't in, just his likeness (as with the series' first teaser in
From Russia with Love).
Ah, how far Lulu has fallen from
To Sir, with Love. The
title song is generally regarded as one of the weakest in the series. The lyrics are silly and the sexual references are too on-the-nose to be called innuendo. But being by John Barry, the music is pretty good and works well as used in the film, though Barry came to consider it his weakest Bond score.
In London, a golden bullet etched with "007" is received by MI6; it is believed to have been sent by Scaramanga. Because no one knows of his appearance outside of having a third nipple, M relieves Bond of his current mission involving the location of a solar energy scientist named Gibson.
Here we get an unusual number of characters in M's office. This is the first of a few odd movie appearances of Chief of Staff Bill Tanner (here portrayed by uncredited Michael Goodliffe), who had been a regular character in the MI6 scenes of the Fleming books. I can't see why he was needed, though. Colthorpe (James Cossins), at least, is being set up for appearing in a later scene, though one that Q could have handled solo. Bond getting his chief's tacit approval for going after Scaramanga is a noteworthily good bit of M business.
In Moneypenny's office, we get what I think is our first case of a 00 agent whose death (in this case offscreen and years prior) is meant to set the high stakes--002, Bill Fairbanks.
At a hint from Moneypenny, Bond sets out unofficially to locate Scaramanga, first by retrieving a spent golden bullet from a belly dancer in Beirut.
Bond kissing the bullet out of Saida's (Carmen Sautoy) navel only to swallow it when accosted by the thugs (uncredited Terence Plummer, George Silver, and Rocky Taylor) is a good bit of Moore comic business; following which we get a pretty good closed-space fight scene in which Roger appears to be doing most if not all of his own physical business.
Desmond Llewelyn returns as Q after skipping
Live and Let Die. It is a cute bit of business that he has someone to bounce off of in identifying the bullet's maker.
He traces the bullet to a gun maker in Macau, and forces him to reveal how he ships the bullets.
I always thought Bond was being a little harsh with Lazar (Marne Maitland) here. He's a shady character, but a non-combatant who takes pride in his work and admires Bond.
Bond follows the shipment carried to Hong Kong by Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's mistress.
As Bond's attempting to tail Andrea, we meet local support agent Mary Goodnight (Ekland), who appears to be an intelligence officer on the embassy staff.
In her Peninsula Hotel room, he coerces her to expose information about Scaramanga, his appearance and his plans.
Bond: How will I recognize him?
Andrea: Tall, slim, and dark.
Bond: So's my aunt. Anything distinctive about him?
Bond being so rough with Andrea is an unusual bit of Early Moore Weirdness, though one of the moments in his run that he's closest to the Fleming version of the character that he couldn't take seriously. Reportedly this was Guy Hamilton's idea, and Moore didn't agree with it.
She directs Bond to the Bottoms Up Club where Scaramanga snipes Gibson [uncredited Gordon Everett] when he steps outside, and Nick Nack steals a small device called the Solex Agitator off his body.
Uncredited Wei Wei Wong plays the Bottoms Up waitress.
Bond, who had pulled out his pistol outside the club, is arrested by Hong Kong police lieutenant Hip.
we've seen Soon-Taik Oh in lots of stuff at this point, including
The Wild Wild West,
Ironside,
M*A*S*H, three appearances on
Kung Fu, and five appearances so far on
Hawaii Five-O. He's mostly dubbed here, which was common practice for ESL actors in the Bond films up to this point, but is odd in this case, given the actor's fluency in English and extensive experience in American productions. A noticeable place where his own voice is retained is when he says "you will" in the car while taking Bond to the boat.
But instead of going to the station, he is transported to the wreck of RMS Queen Elizabeth in the harbor, where he meets M and Q and is assigned to work with Hip to retrieve the Solex.
The station house in the half-sunken ship is a good bit of classic Bond business, and reminiscent of the slanted camera angles used for villain hideouts in
Batman. Gerald James appears as Prof. Frazier, and Michael Osborne as the naval lieutenant.
Bond: Q, I'll need this. [Writes on a pad and hands the sheet to Q.]
Q: Really, 007!
Bond: Well, I admit it's a little kinky.
Bond travels to Bangkok to meet Hai Fat, a wealthy Thai entrepreneur suspected of arranging Gibson's murder.
Richard Loo's been around a bit as well, including six appearances on
Kung Fu, three of which were as a recurring master. Uncredited Francoise Therry (voiced by Nikki Van der Zyl) appears as Chew Mee, the flirtatious girl in Fat's pool who doesn't need no stinkin' swimsuit.
Posing as Scaramanga by showing off his fake third nipple, Bond is invited to dinner, but his plan backfires because, unbeknownst to him, Scaramanga himself is operating at Fat's estate.
Bond (as Scaramanga): There are very few people who haven't heard of Bond.
Apparently Richard Maibaum and/or Tom Mankiewicz were under the impression that Bond was supposed to be a celebrity in his own world, as they also portrayed him as a being well known outside of espionage circles in
Diamonds Are Forever.
It looks like Moore himself grabbed the sumo's butt cheeks in Fat's garden. Now that's dedication to the craft.
Bond is captured and taken to Fat's martial arts academy, where the students duel to the death and then are instructed to kill him. Bond battles high grade scholar Chula [Chan Yiu Lam].
Uncredited Qiu Yuen and Joie Vejjajiva play Hip's nieces, Nara and Cha. It's really odd how Hip, who's otherwise portrayed as a pretty competent support agent, takes off without verifying that Bond's in the car, and doesn't seem to make any effort to correct the error.
Bond speeds away on a long-tail boat along the river.
Bond navigates the klongs of Bangkok
I had to search outside of IDMb to identify uncredited Sayan Jantanarat as the boy selling elephants. Bond pushing him in the water, while arguably for the boy's safety, is another example of Bond's Hamilton-directed dickish behavior. Clifton James reprises his role of J. W. Pepper, the redneck sheriff from
Live and Let Die...here vacationing with his wife, Maybelle (uncredited Jay Sidow). The clip above cuts away before he gets a look at Bond, accompanied by a motif from
Live and Let Die.
Scaramanga subsequently kills Fat with his golden gun and assumes control of his empire and the Solex.
Anders reveals to Bond that she sent the bullet to London. She wants him to kill Scaramanga, and promises to give him the Solex as they spend the night together.
Two Girls, One Bond
As Bond girls go, Goodnight's low-hanging fruit...a comically mishap-prone sex object, though Ekland's entertaining and easy on the eyes doing it. Surprisingly, Adams is a few years younger than Ekland...those cheekbones make her look more mature. But I was familiar with her from the later
Octopussy first, which was at an age when women in their forties looked ancient.
At a Muay Thai event the next day, Bond finds Anders sitting and staring silently, dead from a bullet to the heart. Scaramanga arrives and introduces himself to Bond, but Bond is able to smuggle the Solex to Hip, who passes it to Goodnight.
A Gun and a Bag of Peanuts
Scaramanga's circus background story is one of the few things they kept from the book, in addition to the third nipple, which was pure Fleming. This was another case of Moore having an easy rapport with one of his co-stars from having worked with them before. By contrast, he reportedly found Villechaize to be "creepy".
When Goodnight follows Nick Nack to place a homing device on Scaramanga's car, Scaramanga traps her in the car's boot. Bond discovers Scaramanga driving off and steals an AMC Hornet from a showroom to give chase, coincidentally with the holidaying J. W. Pepper sitting inside.
Pepper: Nowww...I know you!
Bond: Oh, no.
Pepper: You're that secret agent! That English secret agent from England!
As comical Moore-era business goes, I find Pepper to be somewhat entertaining...a good contrast to Moore's Bond, but I think Connery probably would've kicked him out of the moving car.
While infamously undermined by Barry's choice to play a slide whistle over it, the corkscrew jump is this installment's claim to fame--an unprecedented stunt that was worked out with the help of a computer, which was reportedly also a first. It's also played in slow motion, as in reality it happened very quickly.
The chase concludes when Scaramanga's AMC Matador hides in a building and then transforms into a plane that flies off.
The Flying Car
By contrast, this was fakery--a practical modified car for the ground shots, but a model when it becomes airborne.
M: So if I heard correctly, Scaramanga got away.
Bond: Yes, sir.
M: In a car that sprouted wings.
Q: Oh, that's perfectly feasible, sir. As a matter of fact, we're working on one now.
M: Oh, Q, shut up!
Tracking Goodnight's homing beacon, Bond takes an RC-3 Seabee seaplane and flies to Scaramanga's island in Red Chinese waters.
N87545, reportedly flown all the way there by the owner, who was an American fan of the series.
De plane, de plane! The location became a tourist attraction following the film,
commonly referred to as James Bond Island.
Scaramanga shows Bond the solar power plant facility that he has obtained from Hai Fat, the technology for which he intends to sell to the highest bidder. While demonstrating the equipment, Scaramanga uses a solar-powered energy beam to destroy Bond's seaplane, preventing him from escaping.
Scaramanga reveals his plans
A rather underwhelming MacGuffin as Bond plots go...not much of a world threat, just a fictional technological advancement on the market with some localized destructive power. Kra is played by uncredited Sonny Caldinez.
During lunch, Scaramanga proposes a pistol duel with Bond on the beach.
Bond and Scaramanga's Dinner Party
While we get things like the flying car and the titular weapon--which is assembled from a pen, lighter, cigarette case, and cufflink--this film is notably lacking in Q gadgets used by Bond (artificial third nipple notwithstanding). There were a couple featured in deleted scenes, one of which was a gag--a camera so loaded with gadgets that it couldn't take pictures, which can be seen in Q's lab.
With Nick Nack officiating, the two men take twenty paces, but when Bond turns and fires, Scaramanga has vanished.
This sequence was originally longer, and cut for pacing issues. It would have included some action on the beach featuring the other gadget, an explosive martini shaker--a bit of business that survives in
the film's teaser trailer. How Bond smuggled a martini shaker in without drawing suspicion I don't know.
Nick Nack leads Bond into Scaramanga's manor and funhouse section. Bond eventually outwits and kills Scaramanga by posing as his mannequin.
Chekhov's Wax Bond Sculpture with a Loaded Walther comes through!
Goodnight kills Scaramanga's security chief, Kra, but the latter's fall into a liquid helium vat causes the plant's temperature to spiral out of control.
The sign said,
ABSOLUTE ZERO MUST BE MAINTAINED
TO PREVENT PROMPT CRITICALITY--
Ugh!
Bond retrieves the Solex unit just before the plant is destroyed,
Reportedly Ekland wasn't acting Goodnight's fright while the facility was exploding all around them.
and they escape unharmed in Scaramanga's Chinese junk.
Goodnight: But, darling, who's at the wheel?
Bond: George.
Goodnight: George?
After Bond fends off a final attack by Nick Nack, he romances Goodnight.
In the fine tradition of a surviving villain taking one last shot at Bond...
I'll Kill You
The ensuing bit of business with M interrupting Bond and Goodnight via phone and being hung up on is also per tradition. "She's just coming, sir."
Lulu's lead-in to the closing credits version of the theme song is a striking if silly bit of business, which will be echoed in the male chorus lead-in to the closing credits of the next film.
Wiki said:
The film received mixed reviews from critics, who described it as the lowest point in the canon up to that time. Christopher Lee's portrayal of Scaramanga as a villain of similar skill and ability to Bond was praised, but reviewers criticized the film as a whole, particularly its comedic approach and Britt Ekland's performance. Whilst profitable, the film is the fourth lowest-grossing in the series, and its relatively modest returns by comparison with those of Live and Let Die (1973) reportedly placed the continuation of the franchise in jeopardy.
The Man with the Golden Gune was the last Bond film to be co-produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, with Saltzman selling his 50% stake in Danjaq, LLC, the parent company of Eon Productions, after the release of the film.
