it 's complicated is a 2009 american romantic comedy film written and directed by nancy meyers .

it stars meryl streep as a successful bakery owner and single mother of three who starts a secret affair with her former husband , played by alec baldwin , ten years after their divorce – only to find herself drawn to another man : her architect adam ( portrayed by steve martin ) .

the film also features supporting performances by lake bell , hunter parrish , zoe kazan , john krasinski , mary kay place , robert curtis brown and rita wilson , among others .

the film was met with average reviews from critics , who praised the acting of its ensemble cast but declared its story rather predictable .

it became another commercial hit for meyers , however , upon its christmas day 2009 opening release in the united states and canada .

it played well through the holidays and in to january 2010 , ultimately closing on april 1 with $ 112.7 million .

worldwide , it 's complicated eventually grossed $ 219.1 million , and surpassed the holiday ( 2006 ) to become meyer 's third highest-grossing project to date .

for their performances , the cast was awarded a national board of review of motion pictures award for best ensemble cast the same year .

in addition , the film was nominated at both the critics ' choice awards and the satellite awards and garnered meyers two golden globe nominations , including best motion picture – musical or comedy and best screenplay .

streep and baldwin each were individually recognized with best actress and best supporting actor nominations at the golden globe and bafta award ceremonies , respectively .

it ' s complicated ( film )

it ' s complicated … meryl streep and alec baldwin . photograph : public domain
it ' s complicated … meryl streep and steve martin . photograph : public domain
will the notorious unreleased holocaust film the day the clown cried finally surface following its director ' s death ? it ' s complicated .
it ' s complicated … ' meet jane ' title card . photograph : public domain
while it may be complicated for the characters , it ' s a simple formula for light movie entertainment .
it ' s complicated
stars meryl streep , steve martin , alec baldwin and lake bell .
judging by trailer alone ( it ' s what we do here ) , it ' s complicated is the story of when meryl met alec .
ever - youthful … alec baldwin and meryl streep in it ' s complicated . photograph : melinda sue gordon
grief , it ' s complicated . . . . . 10 % of the time | susan delaney | tedxucd
the idea of “collapsed contexts” is just one way that boyd’s book helps us understand our new environment . “it’s complicated” will update your mind .
the hidden valley ranch , which was featured in the 2009 film
it ' s complicated ,
sold for $ 10 . 5 million . ( everett fenton gidley )
“there’s no good way to battle it , ” said colligan about the film’s abysmal 19 percent score on rotten tomatoes . one assumes making a better film is not in the playbook .
“it’s a complicated insidious disease , ” kidman said . “it exists far more than we allow ourselves to know . by you acknowledging me with this award , it shines a light on it even more . ”
for only the second time in box office history a film has reached $ 1 billion internationally . that film is of course
it ' s complicated is a movie starring meryl streep , steve martin , and alec baldwin . when attending their son ' s college graduation , a couple reignite the spark in their relationship . but the complicated fact is they ' re divorced and he ' s remarried .
poitras’s 2006 film my country , my country , which was nominated for an academy award .
it ' s complicated is absolutely hilarious ! the acting is phenomenal , and the messages are heartwarming too ! seeing jane ' s transformation throughout t . . . continue reading
“if it’s in the teens , ” says joshua beveridge , an animation director , “it’s pretty much a skip . ”
slightly less expensive - looking than james cameron’s epic , nancy meyers’ romantic farce “it’s complicated” is basically “avatar” for women of a certain age , with blond highlights replacing blue skin .
lovely film . very enjoyable , sweet and sad simultaneously . a good night ' s entertainment !
as the film winds down , boom ratchets up the tension , and when the fateful bullets are finally fired , it’s hard not to hope for a different outcome . it’s also hard not to hope for a better film to give them the context they deserve .
a lawyer ( alec baldwin ) who left his wife ( meryl streep ) for a younger woman suddenly wants his ex back in
it ' s complicated .
it ' s complicated ,
is a new romantic comedy starring meryl streep , steve martin , and alec baldwin . the film , which was written / directed by nancy meyers , is being released on christmas day by universal pictures .
it ' s complicated is a subtitled french language romantic comedy in which a young man , about to be married , unexpectedly meets the girl he was once besotted with .
generally when a movie will admit to being confusing right from the outset , that ' s not a good sign . this christmas , meryl streep , alec baldwin and steve martin will show you just how complicated things can get from a movie called it ' s complicated . it ' s a love triangle this time around , and a divorcee finds herself neck - deep in a bizarre choice - - get back with her ex , or hook up with the charming but nerdy architect who ' s making a play for her affections ? who will come out ahead , and who will end up the bottom point ? check out the trailer . so who ' s your money on to take over the part of jane ' s man of choice ? hit the comments section below to make your best guess , and thanks for watching ! it ' s complicated cast : meryl streep , alec baldwin , steve martin , john krasinski , zoe kazan , lake bell , hunter parrish , pat finn , rita wilson it ' s complicated movie trailer courtesy universal pictures . it ' s complicated opens in us theaters december 25th , 2009 . it ' s complicated is directed by nancy meyers .
tags : alex baldwin , celebrities , celebrity homes , entertainment , famous houses , famous places , filming locations , it ' s complicated , it ' s complicated filming locations , john krasinski , meryl streep , movie locations , movies , nancy meyers , potrero road , steve martin , w . c . fields , westlake village , westlake village filming locations
it ' s really not all that complicated . but it is entertaining . it ' s pure , simple fun , with meryl streep and alec baldwin playing doris day and rock hudson as they might have been if they had ruled in the sexually knowing oughts , instead of the virginal ear
and that ' s about as simple as it gets . it ' s as low a common denominator as the plot with the dowdy girl who ends up attracting the handsome boy and becoming the homecoming queen even though she has the misfortune of wearing glasses and being clever . it ' s not that this film is bad , exactly . it just is what it is . and what it seems to be is high school musical for the over - 50 divorcee . and just to wind it up , there ' s a list of things that this film is .
when attending their son ' s college graduation , a couple reignite the spark in their relationship . but the complicated fact is they ' re divorced and he ' s remarried .
exciting , challenging , liberating , mysterious … rutting ? ( as seen above , actually , yes ) , frustrating , confusing , funny and most of all … it ' s complicated .
it ' s complicated couldn ' t be a more appropriate title for this unbalanced adult comedy . the story is full of situations that could potentially work for some people but not others , not to mention characters who are easily distracted and confused by what they want . it would be hard for them to sum up their problems with just one phrase , just like it ' s hard for me to tell you whether the movie is worth seeing . you see , it ' s complicated .
with something’s gotta give and the new it’s complicated , writer - director nancy meyers has cornered the market on poorly titled dramedies about revitalized older women finding love after menopause . both films are shrewdly and even cynically calculated to some extent , aggravated further by meyers’ habit of backing away from thorny dramatic situations with broad , pandering stabs at crowd - pleasing humor . ( it’s complicated should really be it’s far less complicated than it initially appears to be , but that wouldn’t solve her title problems . ) but say this for meryl streep , alec baldwin , and steve martin : they’re professionals , and their relaxed chemistry and good humor together carries the film surprisingly far , doing a lot to confirm meyers’ wish - fulfillment fantasies about life beginning after 50 .
this , though , i fear , may be if not the climax of the film , then certainly among the more excitable moments . and there ' s the rub . not only is there apparently no centre to this film , it seems to not care . it doesn ' t think it needs any marketing points beyond the basic plot .
“alec is our spencer tracy , ” rudin states . “he’s got unbelievable skill , but it’s almost completely invisible . you simply cannot deconstruct what he does ; it’s that original and unique .
ew : your soul . streep yeah . but i don’t think if we had romped through half of this movie completely naked it would have added to the film . it’s about the intimacy of marriage and the comfort and the mess of it . it felt like what we did was exactly right .
good film got better , it mirrored my life choices , and enjoyed it more because of the story - line . loved the characters and the actors played them very well . cheered me up and made me laugh . what more do you want from a film .
in fact , the name itself does the best job , if only they ' d been able to fit it in a box . it ' s a film named after a facebook relationship status . and when that ' s the best you have to offer for a very large audience indeed ? it ' s a bit sad .
alec baldwin does the near impossible : he steals a meryl streep film from meryl streep .
there’s another darkness at work in the film . nancy meyers’s hallowed materialism—her vision of a personal utopia in which pretty much everyone is white and rich and loves drinking virgin mimosas in exquisite kitchens while they kvetch about nothing—turns somewhat sour when it’s re - created in a knock - off . as a result , it’s a little gross how great everything looks in home again . maybe it’s the dire times surrounding the movie that put it in such negative contrast , or maybe it’s that this veneration of haute boomer - bourgeoisie trappings goes from silly to insidious when it’s passed down generationally . shouldn’t a child born of this rebel against it , rather than crafting a filmic paean to its god ?
james bond and mr . darcy were just the beginning for meryl streep . “turns out [ she’s ] a bit of a slut . ” in nancy meyers’ it’s complicated , the mamma mia ! star juggles jack donaghy and a mild - and - crazy guy . in the film’s trailer , streep’s bitter divorcee becomes the other woman when she and her remarried ex ( alec baldwin ) renew their passions . caught in between is steve martin’s sweet , square architect .
good , clean fun : meryl streep and alec baldwin in it ' s complcated .
this romantic comedy isn’t a nancy meyers movie—but it’s not not a nancy meyers movie .
poitras’s relationship with wikileaks was further complicated when it emerged in 2016 that jacob applebaum , one of assange’s closest wikileaks confidantes , has also been accused of sexual abuse . poitras discloses that she and applebaum had “been involved briefly in 2014” . she then realised she was making a very different film from the one she started out making . “it does take on a question about gender and sexism . when there is another person in the film who has been accused of abuse of power and sexual misconduct , how could i not address it ? ”
some of the best - - and dirtiest - - lines in
it ' s complicated
can ' t be printed in a family newspaper . heck , some of the best lines aren ' t even lines .
why do i think we ' re persisting in this use if we know that even the companies know that it ' s bad for us ? because it ' s enjoyable .
announced their nominations this week , but looking over the list of films chosen , it is hard to declare any one film as the big winner .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
at $ 2 . 50 million on 250 screens . it ' s way too early to tell where the film will end up , but matching its domestic run internationally is a solid goal .
no american film since zodiac has exhibited such a love for the way information travels than the post .
the film is also written and directed by a straight woman , eliza hittman , a fact noted not long after its premiere at the sundance film festival . beach rats has earned widespread critical praise , but it’s also drawn some angrier responses for , in very reductive terms , linking gay sex with violence . pointing to the film ' s ending , one sundance audience member quickly weaponized hittman’s gender in a post - film q & a , questioning the movie and her right to tell this story all . “ beach rats has a # buryyourgays problem , ” a headline soon decreed .
her snowden film is gripping – a complex , real - life seat - of - the pants thriller . the assange film , risk , is very different . at times , it could be a black comedy – part the office , part brass eye .
the spanish hacienda - style home used for exterior shots in the 2009 movie
it ' s complicated ,
starring meryl streep , alec baldwin and steve martin , has sold in thousand oaks for $ 10 . 5 million .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
it ' s mea culpa week in the movie business . first , it was harvey weinstein trying to put the best face possible on his financial woes in sunday ' s new york times . and now it ' s universal trying to explain away its series of summer duds .
“i think it ' s an interesting dialogue , who gets to tell what story . i think it’s slightly complicated at this moment , ” she said . “i think that the conversation should be more about how we create more opportunity for people who don ' t get to tell their story , to tell their story . ”
it’s complicated is the kind of movie where people keep telling meryl streep what a great cook she is , but you never see close - ups of any of her food . the film opens with scenic sweeps of santa barbara , where frigid , single pastry chef streep jealously eyes her ex alec baldwin’s much younger new wife . soon baldwin tells her that he’s actually unhappy , and they leap into the sack . he’s into it , she’s less sure , and a cute - but - shy architect ( a wasted steve martin ) mucks matters up further .
“i may have seen it with a kid or something ! but if it’s a big studio release and it’s low ? yeah , no way . i’m not gonna go see it . like , the tower [ sic : the dark tower ] . i’m not gonna go see the tower . ”
that’s a familiar theme for it’s complicated ‘s writer - director , nancy meyers , who explored similar terrain with diane keaton and jack nicholson in 2003’s something’s gotta give — raking in $ 125 million in the process . if early buzz is to be believed , it’s complicated could be headed in the same direction , which would give streep , 60 , her fourth box office smash in three years and baldwin , 51 , his first big - screen hit since he started winning emmys for nbc’s 30 rock . on a recent afternoon in new york city , the ebullient costars chatted about working together for the first time . baldwin supplied the deadpan humor and streep , plenty of magnetic laughter .
i can ' t seem to bring myself to hate it ' s complicated ( universal studios ) as much as i ' m supposed to . this is the kind of film that critics tend to reflexively dismiss as sticky - sweet fluff or bourgeois wish - fulfillment . the latter accusation is tough to deny : rather than kitchen - sink realism , it ' s complicated traffics in kitchen - sink fantasy . much of the plot hinges on meryl streep ' s character ' s long - held dream of building herself a new kitchen , one that would replace the entirely perfect kitchen she has already . but just beneath this movie ' s gleaming high - end surfaces beats the heart of a classic screwball comedy .
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the fact that it’s been played everywhere , feeds back into the phenomenon , ” kaufman says .
the only thing complicated about nancy meyers ' latest rom - com is its depiction of familial relationships . why do meryl streep ' s adult children keep on cuddling and squeezing one another ?
“i’m not making movies for them , ” he said of critics . “would i love them to love it ? of course , everybody would , but that’s not really the endgame . we made a film for audiences and not critics so my great hope is they will find it and they will appreciate it . ”
danai gurira — as tupac’s beloved mother afeni — comes out swinging during the film’s opening sequence and never lets up , believably burning right through the screen , conjuring the kind of passion the rest of the film lacks . if anyone makes off with a movie star turn in “all eyez on me , ” it’s “walking dead” star gurira , next bound for a major part in the upcoming “black panther” feature .
streep cites her leading men as a primary reason she wanted to film it’s complicated . about martin and baldwin , she reflects : “they’re both so wildly and inventively funny . i just love them both . everyone that’s cast in this film is perfectly chosen . the men don’t shy away from the feelings of the story . they’re not just willing to be funny . they’re willing to reveal themselves , which is not always that easy . steve has a very graceful presence . he’s who he is , with no cover on it . he’s more than a match for the ex - husband . jake is more of a bull moose . he storms into the picture , sees what he wants and goes after it . alec is irresistible in this part . his drive to make things feel right is really the engine of this film . ”
“it’s to serve fans . our goal is to get you to the entertainment , the film and tv shows , that you , as a fan , want to experience . ” —jeff voris , rotten tomatoes vice president
it’s a persistent problem throughout a film , which is choppily cut by editor joel cox , with nearly every scene snipped oddly short . it’s a technique that diffuses energy and forward motion at every turn , and one that really does a disservice to shipp , who’s at his best when he’s given more time to settle into a scene . ( a second act meeting with record execs that sees tupac delivering as close to a manifesto as he’s allowed is a highlight specifically it allows shipp to show his range . )
richard lawson is a columnist for vanity fair ' s hollywood , reviewing film and television and covering entertainment news and gossip . he lives in new york city .
somehow , shannon and matt managed to agree on a movie . they saw detroit , the latest film from director kathryn bigelow , in its first week of limited release . when they caught it , the film did indeed have a 97 percent score . since expanding to a wide release , detroit ’s rotten tomatoes score has dipped to 84 percent freshness , averaged from 164 reviews . ( 60 percent is considered “passing , ” delineating a “fresh” score . ) but it’s still the 13th best - reviewed film of the summer , according to the site .
does she think that assange was right to trust her ? “i think that’s a question for julian . ” i tell her i think it’s a fine film , and her response surprises me . she sounds upset – almost heartbroken . “i don’t want to have fallings out with people that i have respect for , ” she says . “for me it’s a tragedy . ”
it ' s a beautiful thing to watch , baldwin being funny ; it suggests he ' s better off without his talentless ex wife kim basinger , that he ' s shaken off the lame - ass brothers and that he ' s a little happier in his skin these days . welcome home !
on kramer vs kramer with dustin hoffman since it ' s meryl streep ' s 68th birthday today , let ' s gawk at some behind the scenes photos . it ' s a good way to pay tribute since the grand dame of american cinema has been working pretty much non - stop ( except during the 90s when she spent a lot of time with her little children ) since the world first fell for her . lots more after the jump including death becomes her , plenty , it ' s complicated , out of africa , and more . . .
since variety provided no detail about who anyone is playing , i guess it’s up to me to deduce .
“i don ' t think that men are questioned for taking on , or inhabiting , the world of women , ” she said . “it feels more taboo to take on the world of men for some reason . ” i asked if she thought taking the world of gay men , or at least men who have sex with men , complicated that discussion . “i am not so sure if we followed this character into his life further that he would identify as a gay man , ” she said . “it ' s not a film about coming out , it ' s a film about exploration—it ' s about desire , and it ' s about putting yourself in sexual situations because you don ' t know your worth in the world , and putting yourself into risky situations because you don’t have that sense of who you are and what you’re worth . i don’t see that as appropriation . ”
“it’s a really transparent way of saying , ‘we made a really shitty movie and everyone has called us out for it , and we’re trying to spin it . ” —david ehrlich on blaming rotten tomatoes for poor box - office results
so there ' s a midlife crisis and a cougar thing of sorts and a single - parent thing , well - worn territory that might still be made human and thoughtful , as nancy meyers did for the dilemmas of aging early boomers with something ' s gotta give and it ' s complicated : romantic comedies at once glib , washed with privilege and somehow true .
unfortunately , meyers’ next production will never be seen on film . she is building her own house with the help of her long - time interior designer and film collaborator james radin ( whose california design aesthetic can be seen on meyers’s past three films ) . a true design aficionada ( she admits to following the design blogs ) , meyers looked at hundreds of images for the film’s interiors , and plans to purchase some of the set decor for her own house .
“the office” star john krasinski is joining meryl streep , alec baldwin , and steve martin in nancy meyers upcoming untitled film .
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this article is related to : film and tagged all eyez on me , benny boom , demetrius shipp jr . , reviews
it is this scene that led to poitras and assange’s falling out . she promised him she would show him the film when it was ready . and shortly before an early version of risk premiered at cannes , he did see it – and blew a gasket . “his lawyers demanded we took this scene out , and another one where he talks about the investigation and the women involved . we didn’t , and then he sent a text saying the film is a threat to his freedom and he is forced to treat it accordingly . ” what right did he have to make that demand ? “he had no right . he had no editorial control over the film . ”
“it’s to serve fans , ” says jeff voris , vice president at rotten tomatoes . “our goal is to get you to the entertainment , the film and tv shows , that you , as a fan , want to experience . ”
it ' s complicated
is a rearrangement of the goods in nancy meyers ' bakery , and some of them belong on the day - old shelf . oh , how i hate food analogies in reviews . in a season of blessings , there are several better choices than this one . truth in criticism : i must report that i expect
it ' s complicated
will be terrifically popular with its target demographic , which includes gal pals taking a movie break after returning christmas presents . not everybody is in a mood for
avatar .
yes , the plot groans and creaks , and it ' s padded out with needless scenes of meryl visiting her shrink and apologising to her three flaxen - haired children . no one ' s calling it great art . but as an indulgent confection , it ' s more filling and less embarrassing than we had any right to expect .
“it’s a really transparent way of saying , ‘we made a really shitty movie and everyone has called us out for it , and we’re trying to spin it , ’” says david ehrlich , senior critic for indiewire . “i think spin is what’s made a comeback more than anything else . ”
liaisons ensue — some adorable , others unpersuasively dangerous — until all parties come to the realization that they can mature into one big , happy alterna - family , chowing down in a gleaming kitchen that is surely an outtake from the set of mother meyers ' it ' s complicated .
it wouldn ' t be worth mentioning that meyers - shyer comes from industry royalty but for the fact that this film would never have made it past a pitch meeting — still less attract the top - drawer likes of reese witherspoon , michael sheen and a very game candice bergen — without the cachet of her famous writer mother . nancy meyers made something ' s gotta give , it ' s complicated and a very good remake of the parent trap . meyers sr . also produced home again , which , not coincidentally , is a slapped - together knockoff of a nancy meyers movie .
many of us want to make our parents proud . but precious few of us get the opportunity to express that desire as fully and garishly as hallie meyers - shyer does in her new film , home again . her mother is writer - director nancy meyers , the legendary purveyor of wealthy white neurosis whose films— it’s complicated , something’s gotta give —communicate their sophistication through impeccable home decor and glassware . ( her father is charles shyer , nancy’s collaborator on baby boom and father of the bride , among others . )
“i think , on the internet now , we’re getting to the stage where it seems like people enjoy either loving a film or hating a film , ” says the 23 - year - old filmgoer ryan . “a lot of the gray area is disappearing . there’s a lot of ‘that was fine ! ’ that’s why wonder woman was kind of hard for me . because i liked wonder woman . i enjoyed watching it . i didn’t think it was like—its importance to film can’t be [ overstated ] . but as a movie , i was like , ‘yeah , it was solid , as far as superhero movies go . ’ but i felt terrible having that opinion because in the way that things are communicated online , it had really built up this energy . you have an expectation of how you’re supposed to feel about it . and i felt like i was not understanding . ”
written and directed by nancy meyers ( who has given us such design - rich films as something ' s gotta give and the holiday ) , it ' s complicated is reminiscent of the classic hepburn - tracy comedies of the ' 50s ( think desk set ) . in true meyers fashion , it features a strong female lead , snappy dialogue , a memorable sound track , and trend - setting interiors .
“considering how significantly a great theatrical run can elevate the profile and the value of ancillaries of a film , amazon’s model is a development just waiting to happen , ” predicted braun .
we don ' t have to worry about her suffering any more ,
says film historian jeanine basinger , referring to her penchant for painful roles .
it looks as if she ' s matured to a point that very few actresses get to , arriving at the ' hell , i don ' t really care anymore ' place . she ' s not afraid to be mean or hated . she ' s not afraid to be unglamorous . she ' s more at ease with it . it looks like she ' s over the career part and just having fun with the roles . that energizes everything she ' s done .
as a result , the bigger all - rights distributors will no longer touch these films , while smaller companies will be far less financially motivated to spend money on a theatrical release . one of the reasons companies will put publicity and advertising dollars , to say nothing of the tireless work of their smaller staffs , toward bringing a film to theaters is not simply for box office dollars . they are marketing a film and building its value for its post - theatrical life as well . in other words , they are partially investing in the film’s vod , svod , and premium cable potential . things get even more complicated on the international front as netflix also demands the international svod rights — netflix is rapidly and aggressively trying to build its dominance abroad — which all but eliminates an international theatrical distributors’ interest in the film . as one sales agent recently explained to indiewire , “why would a german distributor spend money theatrically releasing an american indie if it doesn’t own the the film’s more valuable german svod rights ? ”
and its sheer entertainment value - - the way that mr . gaghan , with remarkable conviction and confidence , both honors and scrambles the conventions of the genre - - is worth emphasizing . since it deals with some contentious contemporary realities , it is likely to be greeted with a fair amount of chin - rubbing commentary . though
syriana
is expressly a work of fiction , it will no doubt be subjected to a round of pseudo - fact - checking , and its dark , conspiratorial view of the present and recent past is likely to be challenged , either because it is too complicated or not complicated enough .
there are parts of it ' s complicated that are serious and really explore the situations in which the characters find themselves . and it was a relief to find out they don ' t regret their behavior since it ' s made them learn and grow as people . still , there are other parts that feel yanked right out of a sitcom and seem amateurish and lazy . nancy meyers and the cast show they ' re more than capable of making a good movie , and to some degree they have , but the goofy moments overshadow the more powerful and interesting ones . there are comedies that have proved you can mix the serious with the silly and succeed at both ( mrs . doubtfire ) , but it ' s complicated isn ' t so lucky . i found the silly moments to be too much of a distraction . it ' s funny , because the characters seemed to feel the same way .
two - time academy award® winner meryl streep , steve martin and alec baldwin star in this hilarious look at marriage , divorce and everything in between . with a thriving bakery , a new romance and her divorce finally behind her , jane adler ( streep ) has her life all figured out… until her ex - husband jake ( baldwin ) decides he’ll stop at nothing to win her back . from writer / director nancy meyers ( the holiday ) , it’s complicated is the feel - good comedy hit that will leave you laughing out loud ! special features : feature commentary the making of it ' s complicated
. this week it added $ 10 . 87 million from 581 , 000 units , giving it totals of 6 . 31 million units and $ 107 . 09 million . it is very close to overtaking
the screenplay by real - estate - porn specialist meyers ( “something’s gotta give” was better ) is distantly derived from noel coward’s classic farce “private lives , ” not that even his estate’s lawyers would want to take credit for it .
this distinction seemed useful , if easy to caveat , and i also think it’s wise to follow hittman in focusing on the work first rather than on who made it . as she put it , “when i watch films about women that are imagined by men , for me , i don ' t walk into a theater ready to criticize it because it was written by a man . for me the criticism often comes from a place of feeling like it ' s underdeveloped or superficial . that would provoke my response . ”
“there’s a standard procedure , ” voris says . “the way it works is that reviews can come into the system in one of two ways . either a critic can put the review in themselves , and if they do they put it in , they choose whether it’s fresh or rotten . if it’s one that we get , we have a curation team here , and the process works this way : we go and find the reviews , read or watch them depending on the format they’re in , and then a curator will make a determination if a film is fresh or rotten . ”
' s unbelievable hold , as the film again beat expectations . the overall box office also beat expectations with $ 162 million . this was 27 % lower than last weekend , but , more importantly , it was up 9 . 5 % compared to the same weekend
since its release , “frozen” has earned $ 1 . 2 billion worldwide , becoming the fifth - highest - grossing film of all time and by far the highest - grossing animation . that’s not to mention two academy awards , a bafta , a golden globe , a soundtrack that’s garnered more than a million album sales and seven million spotify streams , official youtube video views in the hundreds of millions , and a dvd that became amazon’s best - selling children’s film of all time based on advance orders alone .
when this film first came out , i thought it was just going to be one of those
run - of - the - mill chick flicks
. how wrong could i be ? ! i first saw the film on a plane and thoroughly enjoyed it , but the sound wasn ' t good so i bought my own copy . even second viewing was laugh out loud funny . meryl streep is so good in this part and the relationship / chemistry she has with alec baldwin is brilliant . plus the supporting actors are really good too , especially the guy playing the son - in - law . i thoroughly recommend this film as it ' s the sort i film i don ' t think i ' ll tire of seeing time after time . i passed my copy to my daughter to watch and she thought it was brilliant too , so it appeals to all ages . meryl streep is such a good actress ( not to mention singer in mamma mia ) covering anything from comedy to serious acting - she just gets better . i don ' t think i ' ve ever seen her in a bad film .
here’s a way that she needs to improve . it’s ok , in rough economic times , to make a movie about upper - middle - class people who are cushioned from the anxieties that afflict so many of us , but it seems more than a trifle obnoxious to tell a story that unfolds in a bubble of hollywood privilege and to present it as if it were something that everyone could relate to .
it is hard to watch risk and not compare it with citizenfour . in fact , for a long time poitras thought they were going to be one and the same film . assange and snowden seem such different men , i say . “i don’t feel it’s my job to judge and compare them – but , yes , they have different motivations . certainly , my feelings that come through in the film are much more conflicted . ” is there a moral purity to what snowden did ? “people would ask me when i was releasing the film : is he a hero ? people are defined by their actions , and he did something deeply heroic . and i think it was selfless . he knew the consequences could be the end of his freedom or the end of his life . ”
“if you like movies of a certain genre , then you can understand that , ‘ok , [ new york times film critic ] manohla dargis isn’t gonna like it . ’ and so , if you’re a critical - thinking consumer of how the system works , then you can use it to figure out what you wanna see . and i use it every week ! ”
but for now , she is focusing on the release of risk . after assange complained about the film , poitras took it away , spent a year re - editing it – and returned with a film that was tougher on him . was that her response to his intimidation ; a form of revenge ? again , she exhales loudly and pauses . “i don’t make vengeful films , but i do have to make films that are honest . ”
when jane and jake both come to new york city for their son ' s college graduation , they cross paths in a bar , drink a lot of alcohol and sleep together . jane brags to her girlfriends about all the sex she ' s having but says she ' s become the woman they all hate . what ' s interesting is jane ' s psychiatrist tells her to keep the affair going because it ' s allowing her to open up and explore herself like she never has before . plus it ' s letting her see what she really wants .
may have slipped out of the top five internationally , but it still added $ 8 . 32 million on 3053 screens in 28 markets for a total of $ 143 . 18 million . it had no major market openings again this week , but it added $ 2 . 84 million on 689 screens over the weekend in france for a total of $ 27 . 30 million after a month of release there . this weekend the film debuted in japan , which could help it return to the top five . regardless , it has made enough money that it should show a profit , eventually .
. it ' s very early in the year , but 2010 already has more than a $ 100 million lead over 2009 ' s pace , leading $ 447 million to $ 341 million .
a romantic comedy for the empty - nest crowd , it’s complicated isn’t the most well - written movie in the world , but its leading actors could make up for just about any shortcoming . it stars meryl streep and alec baldwin as jane and jake , a couple who weathered a messy divorce a decade earlier , following over 20 years of marriage . now that all their kids . . . read more
by way of example , i present you with the stars of it ' s complicated . miss meryl streep and mr alec baldwin , she now 60 , he a relative stripling of 51 , yet joined in marriage , sundered by divorce and then reunited as adulterous exes - with - benefits in nancy meyer ' s sprightly ( albeit slight ) romcom for the underserved middle - aged moviegoing demographic .
julia child ' s story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger julie powell ' s 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in child ' s first book .
families can talk about the movie ' s message about how divorce affects children , even grown - up ones . what ' s the impact of jane and jake ' s affair ?
the other element , of course , is that intangible that litman calls “buzz” and simonson calls “information cascades , ” the word of mouth that makes people embrace the story , want to pass it on , and persuade others that they actually want to see it . it’s the force that made bizer’s daughter identify the fact that she would love “frozen” even though she hadn’t yet seen it , because she knew in advance it would have the other kind of princess—the one who wasn’t at all princess - like .
she says she’s exhausted and could do with a break , but she’s hooked on film - making : surveillance and the intelligence services in particular . what would she like to do next ? “i’d love to look at what’s happening in the investigation into trump . i don’t think i am going to get that access ! ” she laughs . “i don’t think comey would take my phone call , unfortunately . he’d be top of the list of people i’d love to film at the moment . ”
‘i don’t want to have fallings out with people that i have respect for’ : film - maker laura poitras . photograph : malte jaeger / archimedes exhibition gmbh
“the reviews really hurt the film , which scored great in test screenings . we were all surprised , ” paramount’s megan colligan , the president of worldwide marketing and distribution , told the hollywood reporter . “it is a brand that maybe relied on a positive critical reaction more than we recognized . ”
a nancy meyers movie is instantly recognizable . they are signature and without compare—which is what makes home again so fascinating and strange . the film throws you deep into the uncanny valley , presenting a synthetic version that’s so close to the real thing—which is to say , a genuine nancy meyers movie—that its small differences drive you mad . home again is an homage so slavish it becomes grotesque . i loved it . but i also found it kind of unnerving .
can we achieve a balance , considering that every other day there ' s a new app coming to take over and draw people ' s attention ? right now you have twitter , instagram , facebook and snapchat . that ' s already a handful of things for people to lose themselves in . oh yeah , for sure . as the kids say ,
the struggle is real .
i think it ' s possible , and that brings up a whole conversation that ' s not included in my film . but it ' s a conversation i ' ve had with a lot of people after the festival screening :
what about our kids ?
every generation has their own complaint about something taking up too much time . way back when , it was sitting in front of the radio for too long . and then it was that sitting in front of the television is going to kill you . and now it ' s that holding a device in your hand is going to take your life early . that ' s existed for a long time , but we can ' t let this new generation grow up without understanding that they have to make choices for themselves and form their own boundaries . parents ask me all the time ,
what am i supposed to do about my kid ?
well , the answer is not to take away their phone . do you think that there ' s any social media or digital backlash brewing ? i think so , just because it ' s so ubiquitous . i think that there will be a segment of people who are able , possibly higher - income earners , who are going to choose to send their kids to school with no technology . it ' s possible . and i think that it ' s interesting that a lot of this conversation around the complicated relationship with technology is coming from the tech world itself . . . mark zuckerberg ' s sister has that whole dot complicated platform which does podcasts all the time . yeah , it ' s about new technology , and she also is not saying we shouldn ' t use it , but just again creating that awareness and thinking about how are we gonna have balance in our lives and not get lost in the interwebs .
“i’ve gotten good reviews most of my life , ” levine says . “i don’t want to discount those . so i have to kind of take it a little bit and just use it to move forward . not that you make a movie to get good reviews , but it’s always nice . ”
set in that bicoastal world known best to showbiz folk of perfectly appointed california homes and first - class new york hotels , where characters’ only concerns are their own neuroses and libidos , “it’s complicated” spins on the not - unthinkable idea that a relationship that withered and died over years of distrust , children and routine could suddenly revive again under illicit circumstances .
novick came away from her interviews in vietnam with a fresh sense of how deadly the war had been and how difficult each day had been for the soldiers who fought in it . one soldier told her a story that didn’t make it into the final film about what it was like when he returned home in 1975 , having departed the north in 1967 when he was just 19 years old .
fifteen days later , tom cruise’s bid for a new expanded franchise to call his own—universal’s long - gestating “dark universe” monster - movies reboot—wilted with the mummy ’s weak first weekend domestic box office gross of $ 31 . 7 million against a budget of $ 125 million . rotten tomatoes delivered a 16 percent score to the movie—not fresh . mummy director alex kurtzman went on the record about the film’s negative critical response .
it ' s actually not that complicated : a woman has an affair with her ex - husband while engaging in a budding courtship with her architect . i haven ' t seen all of nora ephron ' s films , but what strikes me about the ones i have seen are the reaction shots . in this film especially , every reaction shot displays the actor ' s pearly whites . it seems like people in nora ephron films are grotesquely , annoyingly happy all the time . and while this may seem like the ramblings of a hopeless cynic to some of you , i suggest that ephron ' s emotional palette is restricted , and thus the stories she can tell and the notes the actors can play are also restricted . after all , the characters in this film are often dealing with heavy relationship - busting issues , but the shots in this film only display
aw - shucks
disappointment and life - is - beautiful glee . overall , nora ephron is now on my list of directors to avoid , and actors as good as meryl streep and steve martin can ' t come to the rescue .
: oh no . of course not . just add it to the list .
another it’s complicated location that i stalked while visiting the santa barbara area a few weeks back was the historic el paseo shopping center located in the heart of downtown state street . in the movie , the spanish - style marketplace stood in for the “santa barbara medical building” where jane adler’s ( aka meryl streep’s ) therapist , dr . allen ( aka peter mackenzie ) , worked . in reality , el paseo does not actually house medical offices , but is in fact california’s very first and oldest shopping center . i found the location thanks [ … ]
“it had over a 93 percent ! i think it was actually 97 percent , ” says shannon as she exits a saturday - evening screening of detroit at los angeles’s glendale galleria mall . “i just trust rotten tomatoes . ”
the film’s success transcends the commercial realm . it’s on the streets in the guise of little girls ( and boys ) belting at the top of their lungs . ( the wait time recently at disney world to meet elsa : five hours . ) “frozen” birthday parties , high - school boys leading “let it go” choruses , college students arranging movie nights . adults , too , have been hit hard—many of them without children of their own to spur them on . “frozen” has a twitter hashtag that spans all age groups— # thecoldneverbotheredmeanyway—and fan videos that include adolescents and adults along with toddlers and teenyboppers . jennifer lee , one of the film’s directors , has documented “let it go” interpretations that touch on autism , cancer , and divorce . even people who haven’t seen the film feel its constant presence . “i haven’t seen it but i know all the songs , ” molly webster , a producer at radiolab , told me . how ? “there isn’t a single time i’ve walked down the street in n . y . c . the last two months and some kid isn’t singing it . ”


the man with the golden gun is a 1974 british spy film , the ninth entry in the james bond series and the second to star roger moore as the fictional mi6 agent james bond .

a loose adaptation of ian fleming 's novel of the same name , the film has bond sent after the solex agitator , a device that can harness the power of the sun , while facing the assassin francisco scaramanga , the " man with the golden gun " .

the film saw mixed reviews .

christopher lee 's performance as scaramanga , intended to be a villain of similar skill and ability to bond , was praised , but reviewers criticized the film as a whole , particularly the comedic approach , and some critics described it as the lowest point in the canon up to that point .

although the film was profitable , it is the fourth lowest grossing bond film in the series .

it was also the last 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 .

the man with the golden gun ( film )

the £80 , 000 golden gun used in the 1974 james bond film the man with the golden gun has been stolen from studios in hertfordshire .
to ask other readers questions about the man with the golden gun , please sign up .
the literal translations of some of this film ' s foreign language titles include : 007 against the man with the golden pistol ( brazil ) ; the man with the golden colt ( germany ) ; 007 and the golden gun ( finland ) ; and 007 versus the golden gun ( china ) .
the golden gun is one of the most famous movie weapons . in the photo : the factory entertainment golden gun prop replica
in the original novel the man with the golden gun , scaramanga uses a golden revolver , but the weapon can ' t be taken apart as in the film .
the golden gun used by villain scaramanga in the james bond movie the man with the golden gun has been stolen from its film studio home , british police said today , according to the bbc .
we’d love your help . let us know what’s wrong with this preview of the man with the golden gun by ian fleming .
back in 1974 , lulu recorded the title song for the ninth ‘bond’ film ‘the man with the golden gun’ , which starred roger moore as 007 .
roger moore comes up against the excellent christopher lee in our look back at the man with the golden gun . . .
ours is the loneliest profession , mr . bond . a deeper look at the man with the golden gun ( 1974 )
if you want to answer the questions ,
who starred in the movie the man with the golden gun ?
and
what is the full cast list of the man with the golden gun ?
then this page has got you covered .
anyway , the man with the golden gun received one from a famous artist too : alice cooper . yes , really .
this cast list of who was in the man with the golden gun includes both lead and minor roles . ( 28 items )
ours is the loneliest profession , mr . bond . a deeper look at the man with the golden gun ( 1974 ) : truefilm
the man with the golden gun cast list , listed alphabetically with photos when available . this list of the man with the golden gun actors includes any the man with the golden gun actresses and all other actors from the film . you can view additional information about each the man with the golden gun actor on this list , such as when and where they were born . to find out more about a particular actor or actress , click on their name and you ' ll be taken to page with even more details about their acting career . the cast members of the man with the golden gun have been in many other movies , so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with .
the man with the golden gun was the last 007 film that harry saltzman would produce . he had started the series with cubby broccoli in 1962 , but ended up in financial troubles .
the $ 136 , 0000 prop weapon from the james bond movie
the man with the golden gun
was stolen from its film studio home , the bbc reported saturday .
he decides to track down francisco scaramanga , an assassin known as
the man with the golden gun
whose assassinations cost $ 1m each .
the man with the golden gun ( 1974 ) roger moore . james bond island in phang nga bay thailand with james bond 007 museum founder gunnar james bond schäfer urltoken
the man with the golden gun certainly isn ' t worth $ 1 million , but it ' s fine for the price of a video rental .
m :
what do you know about a man called scaramanga , 007 ?
bond :
scaramanga . oh yes , the man with the golden gun .
―m to james bond
it was in hong kong that moore first met the diminutive actor hervé villechaize , who plays the henchman nick nack in the man with the golden gun .
the golden gun , as it appears in goldeneye : rogue agent ( 2004 ) .
scaramanga uses the golden gun to kill a number of his foes , before a final confrontation with bond .
the golden gun from the 1974 james bond film starring sir roger moore and christopher lee has been stolen from elstree studios .
scaramanga ' s golden gun features prominently in the james bond video games , as an easy one - shot kill . it usually has either limited ammunition , or is available to all players , in a the man with the golden gun mode .
the man with the golden gun - an original prop solex agitator used by christopher lee as scaramanga in the man with the golden gun the circuit board encased in resin , the metal casing engraved on the front h / 220 , and engraved post - production james bond , the back engraved a / 6b and h / 220 , with bond archive label .
christopher lee in the man with the golden gun : ‘one of the very best villains’ opposite roger moore’s best bond . photograph : ronald grant archive / eon productions ltd
the theme tune , the man with the golden gun , was performed by lulu and the lyrics to the song were written by don black . alice cooper claims his song the man with the golden gun was to be used by the producers of the film until it was dropped for lulu ' s song instead . cooper ' s song appears on his album muscle of love .
the man with the golden gun , which also starred swedish star britt ekland as bond ' s lover mary goodnight , was moore ' s second outing as 007 .
in the film , when bond receives a golden bullet inscribed with 007 , he is distracted from his mission .
the final mention of ernst stavro blofeld , in an ian fleming bond story , was at the start of the novel ,
the man with the golden gun
( 1965 ) .
alice cooper wrote a song titled
man with the golden gun
to be used by the producers of the film , but they opted for lulu ' s song instead . cooper released his song in his album muscle of love .
i found saramanga boring . he ' s just a flashy , cocky guy who ' s really good with a gun . big deal . the gun is golden and shoots golden / silver bullets . big deal . i was not impressed .
back in the 1970s , rocker alice cooper claimed that he’d initially been approached to record the title track for ‘the man with the golden gun’ , but his effort was ditched when producers heard lulu’s song .
travelling to los angeles for the johnny carson show to promote the film , sir christopher lee had his golden gun confiscated by u . s . customs .
the golden gun used by scaramanga in the movie the man with the golden gun ( 1974 ) consisted of customised everyday objects , so it could be smuggled and put together . the single - shot , 4 . 2mm weapon consisted of a golden cufflink ( the trigger ) , a colibri molectric 88 gas lighter ( bullet chamber ) , a golden waterman fountain pen ( the barrel ) and a cigarette case ( the handle ) .
christopher lee played his enemy , scaramanga , a three - nippled assassin who only ever needed one golden bullet fired from his golden gun to kill his target .
the bond girl : it’s a tribute to maud adams’s timeless glamour and good nature that this was her second bond film , almost a decade after the man with the golden gun . still , her character is a relic of diaphanous female intrigue .
the man with the golden gun is the ninth spy film in the james bond series and the second to star roger moore as the mi6 agent james bond . a loose adaptation of ian fleming ' s novel of same name , the film has bond sent after the solex agitator , a device that can harness the power of the sun , while facing the assassin francisco scaramanga ( christopher lee ) , the
man with the golden gun .
the action culminates in a duel between them that settles the fate of the solex .
christopher lee , who played scaramanga , has said that the golden gun prop was extremely difficult to assemble , though he makes it look easy in the film .
factory entertainment golden gun in 2011 , factory entertainment created an officially licensed replica of the golden gun and 007 - engraved bullet . a 1000 pieces were made of the ' standard ' golden gun limited edition model ( $ 479 ) , and 400 pieces of the golden gun dual signature edition , which came with signatures of roger moore and christopher lee ( sold for $ 649 ) . all guns are currently sold out and can fetch high prices , if you can even find them , on ebay .
two official prop replicas of the golden gun were released : the first by sd studios and the more recent factory entertainment version .
albert r . broccoli and harry saltzman intended to follow you only live twice with the man with the golden gun , inviting roger moore to the bond role . however , filming was planned in cambodia , and the samlaut uprising made filming impractical , leading to the production being cancelled . on her majesty ' s secret service was produced instead with george lazenby as bond . lazenby ' s next bond film , saltzman told a reporter , would be either the man with the golden gun or diamonds are forever . the producers chose the latter title , with sean connery returning as bond .
the man with the golden gun opens with a game of death . a gangster named rodney is invited to francisco scaramanga ' s private island , with a challenge to kill him . rodney gets a fully loaded gun , while scaramanga gets only one golden bullet . but , rodney is lead into a fun house , and scaramanga has the advantage , killing rodney and winning another of his games .
the man with the golden gun ( 1974 ) is the ninth entry in the james bond series and the second to star roger moore as the fictional mi6 agent james bond . a loose adaptation of ian fleming ' s novel of the same name , the film has bond sent after the solex agitator , a device that can harness the power of the sun , while 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 .
in the man with the golden gun , as bond investigates a mysterious golden bullet , he travels from beirut to macau , and then to hong kong . the film includes scenes shot at the peninsula , the bottoms up girlie bar in tsim sha tsui , and the wreck in victoria harbour of the rms queen elizabeth , which in the film housed the secret headquarters of british intelligence in the then colony .
in ian fleming ' s novel , the golden gun is a gold - plated . 45 - calibre revolver that carried gold dum - dum bullets with silver jackets . scaramanga also carried a golden derringer whose bullet was coated with snake venom .
double meaning title : scaramanga points out that in addition to having a weapon made of gold , after the solar - powered beam is shot
you must admit i am now undeniably the man with the golden gun .
and they weren ' t the only ones . the long simmering dispute between saltzman and broccoli finally boiled over during the making of the man with the golden gun . broccoli had done most of the work on the film while saltzman was left telling the press that he had no desire to stay with the series much longer .
the famous solex agitator is central to the plot of the man with the golden gun and is seen throughout the film . a revolutionary solar energy device , it can harness the power of the sun . it is bond ' s mission to retrieve the stolen solex from scaramanga . the film climaxes with scaramanga ' s death and bond recovering the solex before the island power plant explodes .
the man with the golden gun is frequently derided as the worst film of the roger moore era , guilty of taking all the excesses of the period and turning them up to eleven . being honest , i’m not entirely convinced . don’t get me wrong , it’s a bad film – one of the worst bond films – but i’m not entirely convinced that it is as universally disappointing as moonraker or as ridiculously underwhelming as octopussy . there is , i’d argue , very possibly one tiny little gem buried amid this trainwreck of a bond film – the man with the golden gun himself , as played by christopher lee .
for the film , it was a single - shot weapon that fires a custom - made 4 . 2 - millimeter ( . 165 calibre ) golden ( 23 - carat gold with traces of nickel ) dum - dum bullet . scaramanga used the golden gun in numerous assassinations of officials , political enemies , gangsters , and a 00 - agent , bill fairbanks ( 002 ) . scaramanga later used the golden gun to kill british scientist gibson and his own employer , hai fat . when scaramanga was killed after losing a gun duel with james bond , and his island destroyed , the golden gun was presumably also lost .
stan lee and steve ditko ' s spider - man - the amazing spider - man omnibus , vol . 1 ( review / retrospective )
while secret agent 007 has so far been to hong kong three times ( in the movies you only live twice , the man with the golden gun and die another day ) , only roger moore - who died of cancer on tuesday - came to the city for a film shoot .
the golden gun — scaramanga ' s weapon of choice , it could fire a 4 . 2 caliber golden bullet specially made for the gun . the gun contained only a single round , which was sufficient for scaramanga given his legendary marksmanship . the gun also separated into a gold cigarette lighter , a gold cigarette case , a gold cuff link , and a gold pen so as to avoid detection .
the gun is owned by assassin francisco scaramanga ( played by christopher lee ) , who charges one million dollar per shot . scaramanga uses golden bullets , strengthened with nickel , which were stored in scaramanga ' s golden bullet belt .
the man with the golden gun had its world premiere at the odeon leicester square on 18 december 1974 and , like previous films in the series , it started off well at the box office but the returns were to tail off dramatically after the first few days .
scaramanga is not the only bond villain to use a golden gun . auric goldfinger , known for his love of gold , uses a golden revolver when plundering fort knox in the movie goldfinger ( 1964 ) .
the man with the golden gun looks cheap and small - - for a bond movie . the budget for bond movies had held steady at $ 7 million since the late sixties , and $ 7 million didn’t buy as much in 1974 as it did in 1969 . adjusted for inflation , this movie had a lower budget than the previous six in the series . i’ve heard the man with the golden gun described as “looking like a tv movie , ” and that’s accurate . honestly , the tail end of the movie with scaramanga’s “giant laser gun” plot , felt tacked on in an effort to give the story scope .
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 .
the throbbing information that “the energy crisis is still with us” isn ' t what you need or want to learn from a james bond picture . but that poverty of invention and excitement characterizes guy hamilton ' s “the man with the . golden gun , ” which opened yesterday at neighborhood theaters .
the golden gun is the signature weapon of assassin francisco scaramanga . it first appeared as the titular weapon in ian fleming ' s posthumously published novel , the man with the golden gun . in the novel it is merely a gold - plated . 45 - calibre revolver . in the film adaptation , the weapon is a custom - built , single - shot pistol assembled from four seemingly innocuous golden objects : a pen , a lighter , a cigarette case and a cufflink . its popularity led to appearances in most of the james bond video games .
the man with the golden gun is the ninth official james bond movie and the second to star roger moore as british secret service agent commander james bond . the man with the golden gun was made by eon productions and released in 1974 . the film was produced by albert r . broccoli and harry saltzman and was the final bond film to be co - produced by saltzman as his partnership with broccoli dissolved after the film ' s release . saltman ' s 50 % stake in eon productions parent company , danjaq , was then purchased by united artists . the resulting legalities over the bond property delayed production of the next bond film , the spy who loved me for three years . the interval would be the longest break in the series until the six - year hiatus between licence to kill in 1989 and goldeneye in 1995 .
sir christopher lee and britt ekland appeared in the wicker man ( 1973 ) .
broccoli and saltzman originally intended the man with the golden gun as the film to follow you only live twice , in 1969 , but production was cancelled , because it was to have been filmed in cambodia , the ongoing vietnam war in the region made filming impractical . roger moore was invited to be bond in the 1969 version .
alice cooper ' s
muscle of love
album has a song
man with the golden gun
on it . the cd version includes notes claiming it was to be the theme song of the movie , but the producers opted for the version sung by lulu instead .
the golden gun was made from three accessories . the barrel was a fountain pen , the handle was a cigarette case , and the chamber was a lighter .
like its predecessor , the man with the golden gun borrowed from the cinematic trends of the time . live and let die borrowed from blaxploitation ; the man with the golden gun took a couple of kicks at kung fu , though in a distinctly half - hearted fashion . its most memorable piece of violence , in fact , is never seen : when bond takes his seat beside scaramanga ' s girlfriend – who is to hand him a
solex agitator
, the mcguffin of the film – it takes him a few moments to realise she ' s already been shot dead in her seat .
barry had only three weeks to score the man with the golden gun and the theme tune and score are generally considered by critics to be among the weakest of barry ' s contributions to the series—an opinion shared by barry himself :
it ' s the one i hate most . . . it just never happened for me .
the man with the golden gun was also the first to drop the distinctive plucked guitar from the theme heard over the gun barrel opening . a sample from one of the songs ,
hip ' s trip
, was used by the prodigy in the
mindfields
track on the album the fat of the land .
only a lighter : inversion : the titular gun is a working cigarette lighter as well as an actual gun when not being used to shoot .
bond is sent on an assignment to kill scaramanga , a professional assassin who kills with a golden gun . the latter has also stolen a device for using the sun ' s energy .
opinion on the man with the golden gun has not changed with the passing of time : as of november 2015 , the film holds a 45 % rating from rotten tomatoes ( although these contain contemporary reviews ) , while ian freer of empire found the film
an entertaining 007 adventure , something that tonally , if not qualitatively , could happily sit within the connery era .
ign chose the man with the golden gun as the worst bond film , claiming it
has a great concept . . . but the execution is sloppy and silly
, and entertainment weekly chose it as the fourth worst , saying that the
plot is almost as puny as the sidekick
. on the other hand , norman wilner of msn chose it as the tenth best , with much praise for christopher lee ' s performance .
the film references the then - recent 1973 energy crisis . britain had not yet fully overcome the crisis when the film was released .
after the novel was published , and this movie was made , two james bond novels were written with similar title prefixes beginning
the man . . .
. these are 1991 ' s
the man from barbarossa
by john gardner , and 2002 ' s
the man with the red tattoo
by raymond benson .
instead , stigwood turned to a visionary british film director who had made his name with an extravagant film version of d . h . lawrence ' s
clifton james as sheriff j . w . pepper : a louisiana sheriff who happens to be on holiday in thailand . hamilton liked pepper in the previous film , live and let die , and asked mankewicz to write him into the man with the golden gun as well . pepper ' s inclusion has been seen as one of
several ill - advised lurches into comedy
in the film .
the fourth and final bond film to be directed by guy hamilton ,
the man with the golden gun
had bond searching for a device that contained the power of the sun called the solex agitator . bond must duel assassin francisco scaramanga to secure the apparatus , which was meant to tie in thematically to the 1973 energy crisis taking place in britain .
moore and the rest of the cast and crew , including actress britt ekland and director guy hamilton , stayed at the peninsula hotel in tsim sha tsui in 1974 during filming of the man with the golden gun . this was the ninth film in the james bond series and the second starring moore as 007 ; the first was live and let die from 1973 .
in 1966 when i finished the last page of the paperback edition of the man with the golden gun the immediate thought jumped into my 14 - year - old brain : ian fleming did not write this book . i changed my mind around the third of eight or nine re - readings of the man with the golden gun . eventually i collected most of what fleming published , the diamond smugglers , thrilling cities , chitty chitty bang bang ( a nod & wink to kiss kiss bang bang ? ) and read every bond book two or three times . my favori
speaking to robert osborne of the hollywood reporter ( april 12 , 1982 ) , albert r . broccoli noted that
i can ' t say there is a single ( bond film ) i ' d like to completely redo if i had the chance , although there are parts of the man with the golden gun i ' d change .
the man with the golden gun is the twelfth and final novel written by ian fleming , featuring the fictional british secret service agent james bond . it was published posthumously in the united kingdom by jonathan cape in 1965 . the novel was adapted in 1966 as a comic strip in the daily express newspaper , and in 1974 as the ninth film in the eon productions james bond series with roger moore playing bond .
hai fat ' s business corporation this way , by shooting him with his golden gun and steals the solex agitator as well . an assistant to hai fat arrives shortly after scaramanga kills hai fat
the gun was noticed to be missing from elstree studios on friday . it was made for the film starring sir roger moore and christopher lee .
broccoli and saltzman then decided to start production on the man with the golden gun after live and let die . this was the final bond film to be co - produced by saltzman as his partnership with broccoli was dissolved after the film ' s release . saltzman sold his 50 % stake in eon productions ' s parent company , danjaq , llc , to united artists to alleviate his financial problems . the resulting legalities over the bond property delayed production of the next bond film , the spy who loved me , for three years .
main article : the man with the golden gun ( soundtrack ) the theme tune to
the man with the golden gun
, released in 1974 , was performed by scottish singer lulu , and composed by john barry . the lyrics to the song were written by don black . alice cooper claims his song
the man with the golden gun
was to be used by the producers of the film , until it was dropped for lulu ' s song instead . [ 6 ] [ 14 ] cooper ' s song appears on his album muscle of love . the theme tune and score are generally considered by critics to be among the weakest of barry ' s contributions to the series — an opinion shared by barry himself
it ' s the one i hate most . . . it just never happened for me .
[ 15 ] the film was also the first to drop the distinctive plucked guitar from the bond theme heard over the gun barrel sequence — in all subsequent john barry bond scores , this theme would be heard on strings and trumpet . a sample from one scene in the film was taken and used by the prodigy in the
mindfields
track on the album the fat of the land .
the idea of a
golden gun
in the james bond universe predates the 1965 novel and movie . ian fleming ' s villain auric goldfinger in the 1959 novel and the movie goldfinger ( 1964 ) brandished a golden pistol while disguised as a military major .
still , the man with the golden gun is never dull . it’s far from the worst bond movie , but it’s nowhere near as bad as i remember it being . i recommend it for anyone who enjoyed live and let die , given that it attempts to repeat that film’s formula but adds a slide whistle , kung - fu , and tabasco sauce .
to sir with love
singer lulu ' s
the man with the golden gun
is — like the film that inspired it — one of the blander and more forgettable songs in the bond canon . but producers initially targeted a far less conventional singer for the title theme : metal icon alice cooper , best known for the 1972 hit
school ' s out .
cooper claims that his
the man with the golden gun
was actually the frontrunner for the opening credits — but when he delivered it a day too late , the producers had already signed with lulu .
even christopher lee , who played scaramanga in the movie , said , ' oh , man , why did we take the lulu song ? this song is the one ! '
recalled cooper in a 2011 interview with the av club . instead , the song appeared on the 1973 alice cooper album muscle of love .
mi6 has received an alarming piece of mail : a golden bullet with 007 ' s number etched onto it . this can only mean that the infamous , kgb - trained independent killer - for - hire scaramanga , the legendary man with the golden gun ( a sign of his affluence and elegance ; more importantly , it is a way to kill opponents with one shot in multiplayer mode , making it supremely useful in addition to looking super - cool .
fan reviews - the man with the golden gun fan reviews of the james bond films can be submitted to mi6 via the contribute page , or on the reviews board of the
keeping the british end up
discussion forums . the views expressed on this page are those of the individual and not mi6 - hq . com .
at the dinner following bond ' s arrival on the island , the golden gun parts are shown disassembled next to scaramanga ' s dinner plate , in the following two scenes bond and scaramanga are briefly shown talking and neither is doing anything with their hands , but in the next scene scaramanga suddenly levels a fully - assembled golden gun at bond , without having even assembled the parts . that ' s not true . when bond doesn ' t react the way scaramanga expected or hoped , you can clearly see , that he takes the parts for the golden gun from the table and starts to combine the parts , without bond noticing . when bond grabs for his walther , scaramanga reveals his golden gun , just built under the table .
the golden gun consisted of several gold components from pistols scaramanga ' s personal effects . these included : a gold 15 x 1 . 5 centimeter fountain pen , which became the gun barrel ; a 8 x 4 centimeter gold cigarette lighter , which formed the hammer and bullet chamber ; a 10 x 6 centimeter gold cigarette case doubled as the gun ' s magazine hand grip ( or gun butt or handle ) ; while a solid gold cuff link from his shirt cuff was adjoined to the cigarette case that turned into the gun ' s trigger . in the movie , custom - made twenty - three carat golden bullets , with nickel trace elements , were manufactured for the gun by eastern expert portugese gunsmith lazar .
it is said during the duel that the golden gun can fire only one bullet , yet at the beginning of the movie scaramanga shoots the fingers off of the bond dummy using multiple bullets . that ' s because he ' s using his dead opponent ' s gun .
the theme tune was performed by lulu , composed by john barry , and the lyrics to the song were written by don black . alice cooper claims his song
the man with the golden gun
was to be used by the producers of the film until it was dropped for lulu ' s song instead . cooper ' s song appears on his album
muscle of love
.
the garden ' s architecture was interesting enough to catch the eye of hollywood film producers . in the 1974 james bond movie the man with a golden gun , dragon garden serves as the estate of a nefarious thai - chinese businessman , hai fat , who intercepts bond after he sneaks into the garden and tries to join fat ' s girlfriend as she skinny - dips in the pool .
since it first appeared in the first star wars film in 1977 , the lightsabre has become one of the most famous props in film history .
the gun was being cared for by elstree props , a tenant based at the studios .
ikea weaponry : scaramanga keeps his gun disassembled to pass it safely through customs .
a nice , lighthearted bond movie can be a good thing , but the man with the golden gun is not funny at all . it ' s boring and very painful to watch . the darker story that tom mankiewicz wrote gets mixed up in richard maibaum ' s story and it all goes down the toilet .
gervasi , who also is a journalist , conducted the last interview with villechaize — best known for his roles as evil henchman nick nack in the 1974 james bond film , the man with the golden gun , and as mr . roarke’s assistant , tattoo , in the tv series fantasy island , shortly before villechaize committed suicide in 1993 at the age of 50 . in the extensive interview , villechaize shared the story of his tumultuous life and career .
in addition to the substantial effort in validation of the mathematical model , the hvosm was also uniquely tested by designing an automobile stunt which was used both in a traveling auto - stunt thrill show and in the 1974 james bond movie , “man with the golden gun” produced by united artists corporation . please see below for additional information
one of the rumored titles for spectre ( 2015 ) , which proved to be false , was the title
devil may care
. this is the name of a retrospective 2008 james bond novel by sebastian faulks , set in 1967 , and is a book sequel to the man with the golden gun ( 1974 ) .
bond - iest lyric : “another ringer with the slick trigger finger / for her majesty / another one with the golden tongue / poisoning your fantasy” class lyrics . awful tune .
one golden shot means another poor victim has come to a glittering end .
no . 7 - at 21 years , is the james bond 007 pistol with silencer . this fired 100 - shot cap rolls , was otherwise known as the p . 38 automatic pistol and its shape is very similar to that of the luger pistol . it had a gunmetal finish from 1965 to 1986 and a gold finish from 1975 to 1984 to coincide with the screening of the man with the golden gun .
it is said during the duel that the golden gun can fire only one bullet , yet at the beginning of the movie scaramanga shoots the fingers off of the bond dummy using multiple bullets . that ' s because he ' s using his dead opponent ' s gun . see more »
the gun was in the care of elstree props , a firm which is based at the studios .
second of three movies starring sir roger moore , which have included the phrase
the man . . .
in the title . they are the man who haunted himself ( 1970 ) , this movie , and the man who wouldn ' t die ( 1994 ) , the latter being made - for - television . moore also appeared in episodes of the saint ( 1962 ) , such as the saint : the man who gambled with life ( 1969 ) .
. when scaramanga walks into the room , the hitman aims for him . the gun makes a loading sound . upon the hitman ' s arrival to the room he racks a bullet into the chamber therefore no other action would be required to make the gun ready to fire . a loaded gun does not make a sound when you aim it - and why would he have unloaded the gun while waiting for his victim ? when you load the gun , the hammer is back and the gun is ready to fire . no further actions are necessary . and a professional hitman does not wait to turn off the safety on his gun until his victim has arrived .
the villain : destroys the received wisdom that a bond film is measured by its antagonist . were that the case , the man with the golden gun would be a stone cold classic . francisco scaramanga is the baddie benchmark . he is far more compelling than bond and certainly the one i’m rooting for during the final duel . christopher lee deserved better . he elevates a terrible film into something vaguely watchable but a wonderful actor is totally squandered . arguably the biggest crime perpetuated in a bond flick .
: andrea pulls a gun on bond when he walks in on her in the shower .
in the world is not enough for the nintendo 64 , the gun must be assembled from the pen , lighter , and case before it could be used . in each of the games ( except everything or nothing and the single player portion of agent under fire ) , the golden gun would count for an instant kill , which reflected that scaramanga never missed , although in the games the player can and because of this , the golden gun is not available in single player mode ( except everything or nothing ) but golden versions of the game ' s standard weapon ( s ) are usually available ( such as a golden walther ppk , p99 and desert eagle ) .
right before the man is hit with the chair in the belly dancer ' s dressing room , we can see the pad on his back to absorb the impact .
scaramanga shoots the solar agitator inventor square between the eyes from across the street with a piston ( the golden gun ) , from an upper story window . given the distance and angle , that is an impossible shot for even the most fantastic marksman .
while live and let die had borrowed heavily from the blaxploitation genre , the man with the golden gun borrowed from the martial arts genre that was popular in the 1970s through films such as fist of fury ( 1972 ) and enter the dragon ( 1973 ) . however , the use of the martial arts for a fight scene in the film
lapses into incredibility
when lt hip and his two nieces defeat an entire dojo .
three golden gun props were made ; a solid piece , one that could be fired with a cap and one that could be assembled and disassembled , although christopher lee said that the process
was extremely difficult .
the gun was
one of the more memorable props in the bond series
and consisted of an interlocking fountain pen ( the barrel ) , cigarette lighter ( the bullet chamber ) , cigarette case ( the handle ) and cufflink ( the trigger ) with the bullet secured in scaramanga ' s belt buckle . in the film , the gun was designed to accept a single 4 . 2 - millimeter , 23 - carat gold bullet produced by lazar , a gunsmith in macau who specialized in custom weapons and ammunition . the golden gun ranked sixth in a 2008 20th century fox poll of the most popular film weapons , which surveyed approximately 2 , 000 film fans .
the last scene filmed was bond trying to steal the golden bullet from the belly dancer ' s navel .
sd studios ltd golden gun sd studios ltd created a golden gun replica in the 1990s . two versions were made , the first generation and an improved ' second generation ' version . the gun was made from gold plated brass , could be taken apart and came in a wooden box with a 007 - engraved bullet . the limited edition sd studios guns were sold for $ 675 , and numbered between 1 - 7500 , although only about 700 were made , making them currently very sought after and expensive .
above : bond heads east to china and hong kong , following the golden bullet . . .
scaramanga , a hit man who is known as
the man with the golden gun
, because of the golden gun he carries and the gold bullets he uses on his targets . bond receives a message supposedly from scaramanga saying that bond is his next target . so m decides to relieve bond of his duties till the danger has been neutralized . but bond feeling that the mission he was on is of the utmost urgency decides to go and find scaramanga himself . and he thinks he found him but discovers that scaramanga is not after him when he had a clear shot at him and missed , which he doesn ' t do . but the man who was killed is the man he was originally looking for . a scientist working on a device that can make harnessing the sun ' s energy possible . so he must now find the device .
, with general release in the united kingdom the same day . the film was made with an estimated budget of $ 7 million ; despite initial good returns from the box office ,
as a kid , i was fairly confident that “the man with the golden gun” was the best of the bond movies . it featured my favorite villain ( peerless character actor christopher lee as scaramanga ) , my favorite stunt ( an evel knievel - style spinning car jump across a broken bridge ) and two of the loveliest bond girls of the [ … ]
three golden gun props were made ; a solid piece , one that could be fired with a cap , and one that could be assembled and disassembled , although sir christopher lee said that the process
was extremely difficult .
an unofficial , but quite realistic and working prop replica was created by bond fan quartermaster mick who made a bullet belt and golden gun with a real waterman pen , colibri lighter and custom made parts , see the video here .
a brainwashed james bond has tried—and failed—to assassinate m , his boss . now bond has to prove he is back on form and can be trusted again . all 007 has to do is kill one of the most deadly freelance hit men in the world : paco “pistols” scaramanga , the man with the golden gun . but despite his license to kill , 007 is no assassin , and on finding scaramanga in the sultry heat of jamaica , he decides to infiltrate the killer’s criminal cooperative—and realizes that he will have to take him out as swiftly as possible . otherwise 007 might just be the next on a long list of british secret service numbers retired by the man with the golden gun . . .
the sad thing about the man with the golden gun is how great it might have been . south - east asia in the mid - 70s ? you ' d think even the most inept scriptwriter might have conjured something out of events there – i believe there was some sort of war going on nearby – rather than an implausible assassin with a luxury hideout on a secret island . instead , the setting is just a background , as if the film were just a duran duran video with extra guns and safari suits .
a spokeswoman for hertfordshire police said :
we were called to elstree studios in borehamwood at 1325 bst after a report of a theft of a prop , which was the golden gun .
shooting the man with the golden gun guy hamilton returned to the directors chair once again directing his fourth ( third consecutive ) bond film . the production began in november 1973 with a small unit filming in and around kowloon bay , hong kong - notably bond ' s arrival aboard the genuine queen elizabeth wreck , having sunk just a year before . bond was stood in for by a stunt double as roger moore was not due to join the production until early into 1974 .
the film version ' s title character is francisco scaramanga , a high - priced assassin who charges $ 1 million per hit . he ' s known for using a golden gun and only needs one golden bullet per hit . nothing is really known about scaramanga in the beginning of the film except that he has a third nipple ( information which bond later uses to get in touch with scaramanga ' s financier , hai fat ) ; no pictures or physical descriptions of him exist .
staff have no idea when the gun was taken , but it was discovered missing on friday .
the year is 1974 , and yours truly was almost a teenager . following on the heels of the series ' most commercially successful entry since 1965 ' s thunderball , united artists asks broccoli and saltzman to immediately begin production on what turns out to be their final collaboration , ian fleming ' s posthumously released final novel , the man with the golden gun .
: instead of the famous custom gun of the film , the titular golden guns of the book are a colt single action army and a derringer . nick nack holds bond up in the stadium with a derringer and scaramanga uses a colt saa to shoot a bottle of champagne on his beach - which he then proceeds to call a
scaramanga special : the golden gun itself . scaramanga combines specially designed parts disguised as a pen , a cigarette lighter , a cigarette box and a cuff link . the trope namer and trope maker .
for example , the movie begins with a look instead novelty gun culture , as bond investigates the assassin he believes has set his mark against him . there’s a scene in beirut which almost feels like it was taken from a csi episode investigating gun subculture , as bond wanders into an underground gun shop . it feels like the kind of thing that the team would do , as they discover all the strange quirks of the subculture . bond finds a man developing a gun for a person missing his fingers , and the informant even offers a defence of gun culture – “bullets don’t kill people , ” he observes , like a member of the nra .
felix leiter appeared in the novel , but is absent from the film . he would not appear in a bond film again until the living daylights ( 1987 ) .
this is the first bond film since you only live twice ( 1967 ) , in which james bond is played by the same actor as in the previous film .
after the scenes in hong kong , the action in the man with the golden gun moves to thailand , where the famous scenes involving bond and villain francisco scaramanga ( played by christopher lee ) were shot off phuket . khao phing kan island in phang nga bay , where scaramanga had built his secret lair , is still referred to locally as “james bond island” .
seriously , why are people reviewing the film versions on a book site ? ok , so published after fleming died , and not fully edited , so no need to pick over the details . suffice to say the a more polished version might have avoided some of the pitfalls evident in the premise as we have it . so 007 is offered a chance to redeem himself , after being brainwashed by the kgb into attempting to assassinate m . his mission , to kill the number one hired gun , scaramanga , the man with the golden gun . gaps in the
, who played the film’s bond girl mayday , is a truly baffling question .