Customer Reviews

The Man With The Golden Gun

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(47)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I know this one doesn't usually appear near the top of many critics' Best Bond Movie lists, but it's near the top of mine. Roger Moore was really in his prime in this one, and this was one of his tougher, more physical Bond performances. Moore has always been suave, and he posesses perhaps the best comic timing and delivery of any of the Bond actors, and he uses that well in Golden Gun. Also, in regards to the melody of the title song, and it's use throughout the movie, this is, IMO, the most effective scoring in the whole Bond series. There are great, exotic locales, exciting stunt sequences, and definitely one of the strongest villains in the whole series. I thought Lee's character of Scaramanga was perhaps a bit more realistic than many Bond villains, as he was more of an intelligent, psychotic loner rather than some megalomaniac set on world domination As a fan of the series, I also appreciated the Bond vs. Scaramanga final showdown as a nice change of pace from the common large scale "good commandos" vs. "evil army" battle that's used in a lot of Bond films. I also find the J.W. Pepper character to be one of the funniest in the series, so his appearance was a plus for me--this Bond movie had just enough humor to enhance the action and make it fun, without it going overboard and getting too cheesy, as they did with some of the later Moore movies. I just found this movie to be incredibly entertaining, and it just had that great Bond "feel" to it. Great picture and sound on the DVD, and a really cool documentary on the stuntmen and stunts from the whole series.

`The Man with the Golden Gun' is an interesting Bond film that stands out from the rest although not necessarily for good reasons. There is a definite cheapness to the film that becomes apparent right from the opening scene which features a gun battle between Scaramanga and an unremarkable thug. The gunfight is held in Scaramanga's funhouse which looks like the set of a 1960's freak out movie. At one point the gangster is startled by a quintuplet of mechanical wax manikins dressed like prohibition era gangsters including Al Capone. The problem is that when the manikins' fire blanks at the thug Capone CLEARLY blinks... TWICE. Rather than pony up for actual wax manikins or re-shoot the scene they kept it as is. Near the end of the battle Christopher Lee's Scaramanga does some kind of sliding move down an incline in order to quickly retrieve his Golden Gun. The stunt looks ridiculous and that's the problem with the film, lots of parts look cheap and silly. Even the title song seems goofy. The song is sung by `Lulu' and features double entendres like `HE has a powerful weapon' and `he COMES just before the kill'. The pinnacle of silliness has to be the corkscrew jump half way through the film. It's one of the most amazing stunts in film history and the first one ever calculated on a computer. Unfortunately it's ruined by the playing of a cartoon slide whistle as the car soars and spins.

Want to know how cheap the film is? Bond's car is an orange AMC Hornet Hatchback.

Somehow, miraculously Roger Moore and Christopher Lee manage to retain their dignity throughout all the silliness. Christopher Lee's Scaramanga is nothing like the book version but in this case the movie vastly improves on the original character. Scaramanga's henchman, Nick Nack, is like a diminutive Oddjob but he certainly is unforgettable. I also enjoyed Scaramanga's island hideout which resides in a beautiful section of East Asia featuring huge towering rock outcroppings jutting from the sea.

Love it or hate it you won't forget it. `The Man with the Golden Gun' is a polarizing film and I place its quality below average for a Bond film but there is some greatness that still shines through as in the scene where Scaramanga kills boss Hai Fat. Hearing a gunshot one of Hai Fat's men rushes in to find out what happened. Christopher Lee delivers a perfect line. `Mr. Fat has just retired. I'm the new chairman of the board'. As Lee walks outside into the sunlight he shouts back, `He so loved that mausoleum. Put him in it!'.

The choice of car is symbolic of this entry -- the weakest of the entire series. The film does have some positives: Christopher Lee is very good as super assassin Francisco Scaramanga; Maud Adams is sexy and very sympathetic as the doomed Andrea Anders and the location photography in Thailand is beautiful. However, there are three very glaring weaknesses to the film that doom it to the bottom rung of Bond films.

First, Hervé Villechaize is absolutely ridiculous as the "super henchman" Nick Nack. Especially after Robert Shaw as Red Grant and Harold Sakata as Oddjob, Villechaize is laughable. He is never menacing or threatening, just irritating. Villechaize grates on the audience's nerves at an increasing rate until the end when Bond neutralizes him by stuffing him in a suitcase as he whines that Bond is "a big bully." Doesn't quite match the punch of Oddjob being electrocuted by Sean Connery, does it?

Britt Ekland, who is VERY sexy in Golden Gun, unfortunately is also the most inept and stupid female in the entire series. While believability has never been a hallmark of the Bond series, Ekland's Mary Goodnight is so dumb and so incompetent it makes the audience wonder why Bond doesn't have her replaced with someone who can find their butt with two hands and a copy of Gray's Anatomy. The Bond films have always been strongest when the heroines' beauty is matched by their brains -- Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore, Diana Rigg as Tracy DiVicenzo, Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova, Carole Bouquet as Melina Havelock, Halle Berry as Jinx, etc. When a Bond heroine is as blindingly idiotic as Ekland's Goodnight, the series earns its reputation for treating females like decoration.

Most damaging to the film, however, is its cartoonish and juvenille sense of humor. This was an unfortunate addition to the Bond series in Diamonds Are Forver which got worse in Live and Let Die and reaches its height (or nadir) in Golden Gun. Every time the film builds some dramatic tension or sets up a great action scene, it squanders the moment with stupid 10 year old level humor. During the chase along the Bangkok canals, for example, we suddenly see Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) from Live and Let Die who just happens to be vacationing in Thailand. James is a terrific character actor, but his J.W. Pepper is to the Bond films what Jar Jar Binks was to the Star Wars films. I wish the Bond producers had had Pepper come back for The Spy Who Loved Me so the audience would have the pleasure of seeing Jaws chew him to bits.

Even the film's greatest stunt is just about ruined by this infantile sense of humor. Bond, while pursuing Lee's Scaramanaga in the previously mentioned Hornet, executes a spectacular corkscrew jump over a canal. During the jump, however, the sound effects idiot in charge added a slide whistle sound effect, thereby lowering the level of the action to a Saturday morning cartoon. Time and time again, the audience is subjected to these stupid attempts at humor.

The Man With the Golden Gun could have been so much better. It's too bad that this was Harry Saltzman's swan song as a Bond producer. I love Warner Brothers cartoons, but not when they're masquerading as a James Bond film.

Roger Moore returns to the role of 007 in this excellent follow up to Live and Let Die. The film is certainly dependant on 007's evil counterpart, the hitman Francisco Scaramanga, played by Christopher Lee. He is the perfect match for Bond, which adds more excitement than any to the film. Bond finds himself racing to recover the Solex Agitator, which converts solar power to energy and has fallen into the hands of Scaramanga. There are very well done fight sequences and boat-car chases in hong kong and thailand. the redneck sherriff J.W. Pepper returns from Live and Let Die, but fails to provide the same humor as before. The film did try a little too hard to be funny like its preceding movie, thus it comes off a little cooky at some points. The Man with the Golden Gun Leads to an awesome climax in Scaramanga's island lair, where he and Bond face off in a "duel between titans", which also includes Scaramanga's servant Nick-Nack, a pint sized character who also tries to fool and beat Scaramanga in his deadly games of cat and mouse. With suspense, some humor, and exciting twists and turns, The Man with the Golden Gun is one Bond you won't want to miss!

Ignore the disparaging comments and enjoy an extremely well-made, entertaining film that was a worthy successor to Live And Let Die. The much-underrated Roger Moore is ideal as Bond, accurately portraying Flemming's character as charming but ruthless with a highly developed sense of social superiority -something that the revered Connery never quite managed. Christopher Lee is equally impressive as Scaramanga, the assassin who could be said to represent the dark side of Bond. Overall, an excellent movie.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is a bit of an odd entry in the Bond series. Overall, the film feels a bit "cheap" compared to the films that immediately followed it. The sets are not quite elaborate enough and appear flimsy, the locations are not exotic enough, and the villain is no supervillain. Despite these faults, however, I must say that I enjoyed THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN more than its predecessor LIVE AND LET DIE. The film does not feel quite as dated and the filmmakers seemed to have wanted a bit of a harder edge on Moore, now in his second outing. Thus, while THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN certainly fails to make it into the top five of the Bond series, it is no slouch and one of the better Moore films.

After the opening "gun barrel" sequence, we suddenly open up on a beautiful private island beach and get our first glimpse at the film's villain, Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) and his diminutive manservant Nick Nack (Herve Villechaize). Nick Nack plots an assassination attempt against his boss by hiring an assassin to take him out. After a duel throughout Scaramanga's house of mirrors studio, Scaramanga dispatches with the assassin with a single bullet from his trademark golden gun. Apparently, Scaramanga plays such games in order to keep his edge. The scene closes on a life-size replica of Bond himself before fading into the opening titles. The titles are another Maurice Binder treat, featuring the golden gun seamlessly blended with the silhouettes of acrobatic women twirling on its barrel. Despite the artistry, however, the title song is one of the worst in the entire series, with awful lyrics to boot--quite a letdown after the McCartney song in LIVE AND LET DIE.

The plot of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is a bit of a twist on the standard Bond plot and, were it not for the ridiculous addition of the Solex Agitator, would have been quite interesting. British intelligence has just acquired a golden bullet with Bond's codename "007" etched onto its surface and believes that Scaramanga, known for his trademark golden bullet, has been hired to assassinate James Bond. Bond fills us in on Scaramanga's backstory--a circus trickshot performer turned KGB assassin. After being overworked by the KGB, Scaramanga went private and charges one million dollars per assignment. Fearing that Bond's mission may be compromised, M relieves Bond of duty and Bond plans to kill Scaramanga first. Thus, everything is set up for what could have been a much better film--two top-level assassins matching wits in the ultimate game of cat-and-mouse. Instead, the screenwriters decided to introduce a plot involving a scientist working on a plan to end the energy crisis by harnessing solar power. Scaramanga lays his hands on a solex agistator, a critical device needed to increase the efficiency of solar power generation. With this device, Scaramanga can sell it to the highest bidder, extort the oil companies to delay its release, or use the device for his own evil plans. Overall, this plot twist is lame and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN would have been a better film if it had just focused on its title villain.

Despite the plot that falls apart at the end, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is still a reasonably entertaining Bond film. Roger Moore is more confident in his role and has adopted a bit of a harder edge. Make no mistake, he is still ever ready with a pun. But he looks better here. Christopher Lee's performance as Scaramanga is also quite interesting. I'd have to say that Scaramanga is one of the most interesting Bond villains in that he seems to exemplify the darker sides of Bond's personality. If only the script had allowed for more character development and a true duel, Scaramanga would have been even more memorable. Nick Nack, on the other hand, is nothing short of annoying. Perhaps the AUSTIN POWERS series has had an effect on me, but Nick Nack is not a very good henchman. He is annoying and feeble. Just compare him to Red Grant in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Enough said. Britt Ekland is beautiful, but boring, as Bond's love interest Mary Goodnight.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN has its fair share of exploitation. An extended martial arts sequence seems thrown in for no purpose, the entire solar energy plotline (that should have been cut) seems to be riding on the oil crisis of the 1970s, and the movie even brings back an annoying, but unforgettable, character from LIVE AND LET DIE: Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James). No one knows why he was included in LIVE AND LET DIE and he is even more out of place in this picture. Once again, he is on the chase (ala SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT), but this time he's riding shotgun with Bond. It's obviously pure comic relief, but it falls pretty flat. The highlight of this sequence is the best stunt in the film--indeed, it is one of the best Bond stunts period up until this point. Driving an AMC Hornet, Bond jumps the car over a river, performing a complete 360 roll. It is a spectacular stunt, but for some stupid reason, the sound effects guys decided to lay a "slide whistle" over it. It is completely ridiculous and an otherwise great stunt is cheapened by it.

After listing all of these defects, I find myself questioning why I defended the film in the first place. I guess it just comes down to the simple fact that it was more enjoyable to watch than LIVE AND LET DIE and the fact that Scaramanga easily creates interest as a villain, until he becomes wrapped up in a solar energy plot. The Ultimate Edition looks and sounds great, as usual, and includes all of the features you would expect, including a "Making of" documentary. All in all, this is one of the better Moore flicks and should be seen, if only for the sake of completeness.

IF you where to watch all of The Bond fims and made a list of all of theme that James Bond acted like James Bond these one shoud be #3 on your list, Roger Moore gives his best perfromence in his regin as James Bond it The Plot if almost perfect to witch there where some loosely scens that didnt have anything to do with the movie at all or the plot of it, When I first brought the DVD it only played to Chapter 21 I sent it to the company and they sent a nother one to me that plays al the way to the end, But you can tell when it goes from chapter 21 and chapter 22 after you watch it about 2 or 3 times.

Roger Moore is back (sigh) as James Bond, agent 007 of Her Majesty's Secret Service. This time he is chasing Scaramanga, a deadly assassain, played very well by Christopher Lee. Bond himself, however, is weak, and Moore struggles. But the movie is still pretty good. Bond chases Scaramanga around Asia until the final confrontation on his small island. The ending is the best ever in a Bond movie, the story is pretty good, although a little thin, this is a movie that is a good Bond experience, but not on par with Moore's later movies, namely Octopussy and The Spy Who Loved Me. The other things I did not like were the annoying sheriff near the end and the Bond girl. Worth checking out if you are a Bond fan.

The 007 series continued its downhill slide in "Man With the Golden Gun." Once again, Roger Moore sleepwalks through the proceedings, which gives Christopher Lee carte blanche in terms of scene stealing. The film starts promisingly, then plummets to absurd depths. Not as bad as "View to a Kill," but pretty close.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN has always been one of my favorite James Bond movies. It has a great cast, great special effects, a good John Barry score and it does not take itself too serious. The location photography and epicurean surroundings of the opulent sets are stunning. It brought "Q" back to the series after being absent from LIVE AND LET DIE and re-established him as a major team member. Roger Moore firmly establishes himself as James Bond in this film, re-posturing his interpretation of 007 from his first appearance as Bond in LIVE AND LET DIE. Moore is much tougher in this film as he blends his urbane humor with a no-nonsense approach to vanquishing the villain, namely Christopher Lee in the title role. Christopher Lee is without doubt one of the best villains in the Bond series. Sheriff Pepper was one of the most curious characters to ever appear in a Bond film. Why do so many people think this is bad film? The DVD is really nice looking and it is Stereo which is indicated in fine print on both the DVD and VHS versions.