The James Bond Film Festival. Part 9: The Man with the Golden Gun

Cafe Society
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The James Bond Film Festival. Part 1: Dr. No
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 2: From Russia with Love
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 3: Goldfinger
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 4: Thunderball
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 5: You Only Live Twice
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 6: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 7: Diamonds are Forever
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 8: Live and Let Die

“So that’s a Matador!”

But more on that later.

It’s a little soon for Part 9 of The James Bond Film Festival, but I’ve just watched The Man with the Golden Gun and I thought I’d post.

Many people disparage this film, calling it a “yawner”; but I like it. I think it’s better than Live and Let Die, which was Roger Moore’s first outing as Agent 007.

M (Bernard Lee) calls Bond (Moore) into his office where he presents him with a golden pistol cartridge with “007” engraved on it. Bond is removed from the case he’s working on, tracking down Dr. Gibson (Gordon Everett), inventor of the Sol-X, because M thinks it’s too dangerous for Bond to be on the case when the million-dollar-a-hit assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) is out to get him. The Sol-X, by the way, is a device that is key to the workings of a super-efficient solar energy generator. The only way Bond can get back on active duty is to track down Scaramanga. We find out that Scaramanga is working for Hong Kong industrialist Hai Fat (Richard Loo) who hopes to increase his already-vast fortune by eliminating Gibson and stealing the Sol-X for himself.

But Scaramanga has other plans. He kills Hai Fat and takes the Sol-X. He explains with glee later in the film that he wants to sell it to the highest bidder – or perhaps be paid by the oil sheiks not to sell it. Since he’s paid a million dollars per assassination, he doesn’t really need the money. But he’s greedy. Now Bond is in fact back on his original case – tracking down the Sol-X.

Bond discovers the person who makes Scaramanga’s golden bullets and follows the trail to Scaramanga’s assistant, Andrea Anders (Maud Adams, who will go on to play the title role in Octopussy). He finds out from her where Scaramanga is expected to be. This is where Scaramanga guns down Dr. Gibson, fulfilling his contract with Hai Fat – and not shooting Bond who was standing nearby. Bond is picked up by Hong Kong agent Lt. Hip (Soon-Tek Oh) and taken aboard the wreck of the Queen Elizabeth where M is waiting for him.

Anders hates Scaramanga (“He’s a monster!”) and agrees to get the Sol-X for Bond. Unfortunately she’s found out and is killed in a kick-boxing arena. Bond searches her purse, but the Sol-X isn’t there. Scaramanga sits down next to him for a little chat. He’s backed up by his diminutive butler Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize). Bond sees the Sol-X on the floor among the debris. He gets it and passes it to Hip, who gives it to inept agent Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland). Scaramanga, meanwhile, is telling Bond what an honour it is to meet him. He says, “Personally I have nothing against you, Mr. Bond; so let’s hope that our paths never cross again.” It’s strange that Scaramanga apparently has no intrest in killing Bond, considering he delivered to him a bullet with Bond’s name on it.

Scaramanga bids Bond adieu. Goodnight trails Nick Nack to Scaramanga’s car and is in the process of putting a homing device on it when she is dumped into the boot by Scaramanga. Bond and Hip are unable to commandeer a car, so Bond takes a red AMC Matador from a showroom. (See? I told you I’d get back to that! “So that’s a Matador” was the tag line from the Matador commercials.)

And who should be in the passenger seat (as if he’s going to buy an American car in Asia) but our old friend J.W. Pepper (Clifton James)? Yes, the old racist redneck is back, playing the Ugly American Tourist. For the life of me, I can’t understand why he was in the film. Okay, comic relief; but it’s really embarassing to see this racist, ignorant, good-ol’-boy. What an idiot.

There’s a car chase, Scaramanga escapes to his island, Bond follows him, and Scaramanga plays the perfect host. Now Scaramanga wants to go mano a mano against his professional rival/idol. He lures Bond into his funhouse where Bond (predictably) gets the better of him. Goodnight bonks a henchman (“Chula”, Chan Yiu Lam) on the head and he falls into a vat of liquid helium. This sets off a chain reaction that blows up the island retreat (don’t ask) – but not before Bond gets the Sol-X. Nick Nack, who stood to “inherit” all of Scaramanga’s fortune upon his employer’s demise, is a little miffed at this turn of events. He makes an attempt on Bond’s life, but Bond stuffs him in a suitcase.

The end.

As I said, I liked this better than Live and Let Die. And I felt kind of sorry for Scaramanga. I mean, he wasn’t trying to take over the world. He wasn’t holding the world for ransom. He just wanted to engage in some high-stakes Capitalism, selling what he has to the highest bidder. Is that so wrong? Well, he does murder people to do it. And he likes killing. He sees it as an art. But he’s not “bad” in the way that SPECTRE was. He’s not even “bad” in the way Kananga was in Live and Let Die. Unlike other villains, he seemed to actually like Bond. He was delighted when Bond stopped by for a visit. (Of course, his profession made it necessary to challenge Bond, but he still liked him.)

The chase scene after Goodnight is captured has a spectacular jump by the Matador, which rotates 360° as it flew through the air. Really quite good. Except. Except the producers felt the need to put in one of those sliding whistle effects. :smack: What were they thinking? The stunt was great, and they had to spoil it with the whistle! :rolleyes: They also shot it in slo-mo, and I think it would have been better at normal speed.

The Man with the Golden Gun has some pretty good eye candy, too. Just little things that I like. There was a nice shot of a hydrofoil in Hong Kong. Goodnight drives up in an MGB, and I’m a big-time MGB (and other British car) fan. The wreck of the Queen Elizabeth, which was sunk under mysterious circumstances in 1971, three years before the film was released, was interesting to see; and the set that was built to represent the inside was very good. But what I really enjoyed was the footage of the Republic Sea-Bee. I’ve always thought this was a remarkable little plane. Very pretty. And so is Britt Eckland in a bikini.

Why do many people not like this film? I thought it moved along pretty well. The locations were good, and the story was certainly better than the heroin-smuggling thing last time. And there’s a certain creepiness to it. Come on, shirtless Hervé Villechaize in a mask! What’s more creepy than that? (Okay, so that was the only creepy thing.) I liked the fight scene at Hai Fat’s karate dojo, and Hip’s teenaged nieces (Cheung Cheun Nam and Joie Pacharintraporn) kick ass!

I’ll leave it to others to fill in the parts I’ve left out, and to agree or disagree on the quality of the film. In the meantime, would anyone care to join me in a bottle of 1974 Phuyuck?

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Scaramanga didn’t send the bullet. Miss Anders sent it, hoping Bond would kill him so she’d be free of him.

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:smack: Of course! I should have remembered. She told Bond she’d sent it.

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This one brought the Bond franchise to new levels of puerility. I cringed when I heard Bond deliver the line about “the energy crisis” at the beginning, and it as fully justified. Goodnight was awful. The model wrk was awful. Sherriff Pepper’s re=-appearance was awful. The slide whistle used during the car loop-the-loop was awful. The cartoon gangster used in the “Maze” at the begining as even worse than the cartoon gangsters in Diamonds are Forever. The whole “Bond vs. Scaramanga” business in the Maze felt like a potentially wonderful opportiunity hopelessly wasted. Reportedly, veteran scripter Richard Mibaum wanted to play it straighter, but Saltzman and Broccoli decided o go for more childish slapstick.
The One Good Thing: Two good things, really – Christopher Lee as a wonderful Bond villain. If only he’d been given a good role. And Herve Villichaise as Tattoo was wonderfully quirky.
Really Annoying Thing – at the very end, wen Bond finally nabs Tattoo, the voice doesn’t sound at all like Roger Moore.

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Not Tattoo, Nick Nack; you’re thinking of Fantasy Island.

There must have been some damn serious energy crisis. You’re dropping a licensed-to-kill agent for a meeting with a corrupt industrialist and an assassin, and you’re carpooling with your nieces? Then, the agent escapes from a major ass-whuppin’ just when you’re driving past. And after you lay some major hurt on a bunch of ninjitsu dudes, you drive off without him! Stop the car, stupid! What, your nieces were late for their class in full-contact flower arranging?

Whoa, I think I was channeling Joe Bob Briggs there for a minute.

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I can’t remember much about the film, except the song, which was annoying. And Maud Adams, who in my opinion, is the best looking female in any Bond film.

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I love that movie. I always wanted to get a white octopus tat on my…self. Just like Maudie’s.

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Uh, Maureen, I think you’ve got the wrong movie, and the wrong woman. Maud Adams does play the lead in Octopussy, but she’s not the one with the tattoo.

[sub]Am I being a huge pain-in-the-ass, here? It seems like all I’m doing is dropping in and correcting people, but, dammit, somebody’s got to get these things right![/sub]

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Nahhh, I gert the saame way.

I’m embarrassed to have flubbed the name, but it was late. Besides, every time I see the damned film I want Nick Nack to say “Boss, da plane! Da Plane!” when Bond flies in.

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Love is required, wheneeeeeeeeever he fires

It comes just before the kiiiiiiiiiiilll

No one can catch him, no hitman can match him,

with his million-dollar skiiiiiiillllllll!

I love that song!

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Smiling Bandit, it’s not “whenever he fires”, it’s “whenever he’s hired”. Makes a better rhyme with “required” that way, too.

[sub]I swear I’m trying to stop doing this.[/sub]

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Indeed, the Jumpin’ Matador is a wonderful stunt (actually figured out on a computer, which was innovative for its time), but I agree it was marred by a ridiculous sound effect that would make Tregowith Brown vomit.

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Unfortunately, Mr. Moore seems to have been in all the worst Bond flicks, although once again, IMO he did a reasonable job in here. Too bad about the rest of the picture. This one, much like Live and Let Die, is let down by a horrible script and piss-poor direction.

Although I loathed this film when it first came out, on re-view there are some bits that work: the Thai locations, the secret service headquarters in the sunken ship, the barrel roll with the car, a decent boat chase in odd craft driven by car motors mounted on pivots, Hip’s nieces opening up a case of whup-ass at the dojo. But there’s so much that’s bad: Johnny L.A. hit most of the low points.

I like Christopher Lee in this flick, but his character, as written, doesn’t seem to have the smarts to be the criminal mastermind he’s supposed to be, and his ‘golden gun’ simply looks silly. Britt Eklund runs neck and neck with Lois Chiles and Denise Richards as biggest bimbo of the series. And seeing Herve Villechaise in his underwear has scarred me for life.

A couple more corrections (sorry). In the centerpiece car chase, the red car driven by Moore is a Hornet, not a Matador. There IS a Matador in the scene, though; that’s the car driven by Scaramanga that later turns into a singularly unconvincing (model) plane.

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I’m one of those rare folks who’s crazy about this movie. One reason and one reason only: Scaramanga, the most original villain of the series. I felt that the climactic duel between him and Bond was one of the most suspenseful snippets I ever remember seeing in a Bond film.

Other things I liked were the theme song (kickin’!), and the detective work Bond did to find Scaramanga was top-notch. That bit with Bond swallowing the golden bullet from the belly dancer’s belly button was fantastic.

On the down side were the hokiness of the martial arts stuff and that idiot redneck making another appearance.

So many people seem to have been genuinely perturbed by the sound effect during the car-jump. I have to say, it’s something I hardly even noticed until I saw it harped upon in Bond discussions.

But in the end, it comes down to Scaramanga for me. It’s so refreshing to see a villain who’s not bent on world domination, either politicially (most of them) or economically (e.g., Max Zorin or Electra King). And the final duel…great.

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Oh, by the way…was the sunken ship from this flick also where Bond was being held after his release from North Korea in “Die Another Day”? Definitely when he escaped, he was on a ship of some sort, and he immediately went to a hotel in Hong Kong. I wonder if that was intended as an easter egg there.

Chaim Mattis Keller

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cmkeller: According to my imperfect memory and a page I found on the web:

So she was long gone by the time James Bond XX came out.

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Holy cow…I didn’t realize that it was a real ship! I thought that the “ship in Hong Kong harbor secret headquarters” was purely fictitious for the Bond series.

Chaim Mattis Keller

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Too bad they scrapped it. Shipwrecks are cool and sad.

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Lee as Scaramanga is great. Maud Adams is good. The movie looks great.
But Moore is horrible–as is most of the dialogue that comes out of his mouth. Sherrif Pepper is embarassing. The worst in the series. No wonder Harry Saltzman walked away.

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Don’t be ridiculous! We haven’t even gotten to the Christopher Wood films yet!