The Man with the Golden Gun

Plot synopsis:
The pre-title sequence opens with an international assassin, Scaramanga, relaxing on a tropical beach with a woman, Andrea Anders, his lover. Scaramanga and Anders leave the beach, a short time later a gangster, Rodney, arrives and is met by Nick-Nack, a dwarf who works as a servant for Scaramanga. Rodney has been hired by Nick-Nack to kill Scaramanga, who has promised to leave everything he owns to his small servant. The gangster stalks Scaramanga through a funhouse-like wing of his home. Scaramanga has been caught without his gun and must find it first. He does so and is able to kill his would-be assassin first. Nick-Nack jovially tells Scaramanga he will find an adversary that will beat his master; the two seem to have an unspoken agreement that humors them both. Scaramanga picks up the gangster's gun and turns suddenly, shooting the fingers off a nearby wax dummy of James Bond.MI6's top agent, James Bond, has been called to the office of his boss, M. M asks what Bond knows about Scaramanga, to which Bond recites a laundry list of characteristics, the most important being that Scaramanga charges $1 million per assassination, uses gold bullets marked with then name of his target and is known as "The Man with the golden gun." M shows Bond a gold bullet, assumed to be one of Scaramanga's, marked with Bond's service number, "007" and a partial fingerprint of the villain's. Bond is puzzled as to why anyone would want him killed and M orders him to travel to Beirut.In Beirut, Bond speaks with an exotic dancer who is the last person to see a fellow agent 002 alive who had allegedly been killed by Scaramanga. Bond finds that the woman has kept the gold bullet since her lover's death and uses it as a lucky charm which she holds in her navel. A small group of thugs break into her dressing room and Bond, in the middle of kissing the woman's abdomen, swallows the bullet. He takes it back to Q who, along with an metallurgist, is able to identify the manufacturer, a man named Lazar who lives in Macau. Bond is sent there to investigate and, while threatening Lazar, is shown an order for more golden bullets to be delivered shortly. Bond accompanies Lazar to the drop point, a local casino, where they are picked up by Andrea Anders.Bond trails Anders to Hong Kong but loses her at the hydrofoil port. He meets his assistant, Mary Goodnight. Bond finds out where Anders is staying and enters her hotel room and roughly interrogates her, citing the bullet sent to MI6 with his number on it. She admits she works for Scaramanga, both as a courier but also as his lover; Scaramanga, like a bullfighter, uses her for sex before he makes a kill. Bond also finds out that Scaramanga is due to be at the Bottoms Up exotic dancers club that night. While staking the club, Bond sees Nick-Nack nearby. As he watches, a man exits the club and is immediately shot by Scaramanga, who is hiding nearby. The man, Gibson, is a solar energy expert. Bond is arrested by Lieutenant Hip as a suspect in the murder. Hip takes Bond to the rusted hulk of the RMS Queen Elizabeth (actually ruined by fire in 1972) in Hong Kong harbor, which turns out to be MI6's base of Asian Operations; M is there. Bond is informed that Gibson's invention, the Solex Agitator, a small but powerful device used to convert solar energy into electricity, had been stolen from him immediately after the shooting. Scaramanga had been hired to kill Gibson by a Chinese gangster, Hai Fat. Because Fat had never met Scaramanga face-to-face, Bond is able to impersonate the killer; he even has Q supply him with a fake third nipple, one of Scaramanga's known physical characteristics.Bond travels to Bangkok and Fat's home. Fat invites Bond back to his house for dinner that evening, however, Bond is unaware that Scaramanga himself is has already met with Fat in person. Fat arranges for Bond to be killed when he arrives. When Bond shows up at Fat's place, he is subdued and captured by Nick-Nack & two sumo wrestlers. Nick-Nack nearly stabs Bond but is stopped by Fat, who sends Bond to a nearby martial arts dojo. The class' best student engages Bond in combat but Bond defeats him and jumps through a window. Hip arrives with his nieces, who beat the students with their own skill at martial arts. When they jump in Hip's car, they take off without Bond, who must escape using a high-powered canal boat, chased by Thai long-tail boats, and comically assisted by a chance run-in with Sheriff Pepper (from Live and Let Die) who is vacationing in Thailand with his wife.Back at Hai Fat's house Scaramanga kills the gangster (the gun he uses is assembled from personal items such as a ball point pen, cigarette lighter and a cuff link) and takes control of his assets. Bond plans to spend a romantic evening with Goodnight at their hotel room but they are interrupted by Anders. Bond sleeps with her and she confesses she is afraid of Scaramanga. She asks Bond to kill him. Bond says he will do so but only in exchange for the Solex. Bond goes to a kickboxing match where Anders is waiting. She is dead, having been killed in public by Scaramanga, who had discovered her betrayal. Scaramanga introduces himself to Bond, while Nick-Nack covers him with a tiny pistol. Scaramanga tells of his circus up-bringing, and warns Bond not to follow him, while Bond locates the Solex on the floor among the spilled contents of Anders' purse, and covertly passes it to Hip, disguised as a peanut seller. Hip passes the Solex to Goodnight, waiting outside. Scaramanga and Nick-Nack leave the arena, but find Goodnight trying to plant a tracking device in Scaramanga's car and lock her in the trunk. Bond pursues in a stolen car. He chases Scaramanga along a canal and nearly loses him when Scaramanga mysteriously appears on the other side of the water. Not able to find a suitable bridge nearby, Bond drives his car across a wrecked bridge, executing a corkscrew jump and landing on the other bank. Meanwhile, Scaramanga reaches a barn where his car is converted into a plane and takes off, Goodnight still in the trunk.Goodnight's tracking unit informs MI6 and Bond that Scaramanga has returned to his private island off the coast of China (actually the Khao Phing Kan archipelago on the west coast of Thailand). Bond flies there under radar and lands. He is met by Nick-Nack and Scaramanga and given a tour of the facility. Scaramanga shows how the Solex provides power for his compound. Though he doesn't understand the science involved, Scaramanga knows the applications can extend to weapons; he destroys Bond's sea plane with a blast from a laser weapon in his control room. Scaramanga plans to hand over the Solex technology to whomever pays him the highest price for it. He also reveals that he has long desired to duel with Bond to see whom is the better marksman. Bond agrees to the match.The two face off with Scaramanga stalking Bond through his compound and Nick-Nack keeping tabs on the match from a control console. After several minutes of both gunmen evading each other, Bond gains the advantage by taking the place of the wax dummy that resembles him; Scaramanga enters the room and is shot dead by Bond. In the meantime, Goodnight has subdued the bodyguard Scaramanga had posted in the electric generator room and the man falls into a vat of liquid nitrogen. The change in temperature upsets the balance needed to maintain production and the compound begins to self-destruct. Bond is able to regain the Solex and he and Goodnight escape the compound before its destruction.To reach civilization, Bond takes Scaramanga's personal junk and leaves the island with Goodnight. On the boat, finally able to enjoy some romantic time alone, they are attacked by Nick-Nack, who begins a surprisingly furious battle with Bond. Bond is able to trap the diminutive servant in a suitcase and takes him on deck. When he returns, Goodnight is horrified, thinking that Bond threw the midget overboard, however, Bond has locked him in a small cage. As they begin their romantic encounter again, Bond and Goodnight are once again interrupted by a call from M, which the two ignore.

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
There'a also the most outrageous car stunt ever seen in a motion picture, rendered all the more impressive by the fact that it is not a computer enhanced sequence but was filmed for real (including that infamous loop-the-loop in the red sports car).Bond is played by Roger Moore for the second time.
Everything is a little slower than usual, the film has neither the liveliness of "Live and let die" -the first Moore Bond flick- nor the liveliness of the previous episodes.Here Bond has to face a refined assassin -that's all, there isn't a real thrilling intrigueOn the other hand landscapes and John Barry score are fantastic.
Maybe this tensions had an influence on "The man with the golden gun", who knows...Luckily in 1977 Bond came back with one of the best films of the series -"The spy who loved me", a real classic, the definitive Roger Moore entry as Bond..
Hailed by many Connery fans as the film that marked the downfall of the 007 franchise, 'The Man With The Golden Gun' turns out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the entire series and one of the 'better' Roger Moore films.
All-in-all, 'Gun' is another good 007 adventure and is quite possibly the 4th best Roger Moore Bond film.
The most stunning scenes are at the end, when Bond flies to Scaramanga's secret base.The other great thing about GOLDEN GUN is casting Christopher Lee as Scaramanga.
The abrupt "kick to the head" joke was even copied years later with Indy shooting the big man with the big sword in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK; the arena scene (excellent direction there); the whole 1970s look; a confident Roger Moore who gives his best performance as 007 and says some of the funniest one liners of the series with impeccable timing.
This is mainly due to the fact I just think they could have crafted a better story around the assassin whose skill set matches Bond and they could have and should have omitted a return character from the previous Roger Moore film.
Bond soon finds himself in Hong Kong where he soon learns that he is not Scaramanga's target and that a solar energy device is at the center of everything.This film has some good action in it and some great scenes, but as I said, they could have crafted a better story around the man with the golden gun.
Also, it makes little sense that Bond goes, "Oh no" when he sees the sheriff as he had virtually no interaction with Bond in Live and Let Die. Pepper ruins what should have been an awesome car chase scene with his lame humor and he just drags the film down.Overall, I enjoyed this film.
While some can never get over Sean Connery not being Bond, and while 'Live and Let Die" may be more fun, "The Man With the Golden Gun" may be one the of the best made of all Bond Films.No, this movie did not have many of the tell-tale eye-candy and explosive action of other Bond films, it had a thorough story, instead.
Scaramanga is played aptly by Christipher Lee and has all the genteel education and affectations as Bond, but with a 180-degree moral view.The movie is quieter and much subtler that the explosive "Live and Let Die" which preceded it and the return to the more-formulaic cheesy-super-villain Bond films which followed ("The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker.") The lone weakness of this film is the one formulaic character of the clumsy and scattered-brained female agent.
This is Roger Moore's second time portraying Agent 007, where he meets hit man Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), aka the Man with the Golden Gun. Bond decides to go track down Scaramanga and find a device that can make harnessing the sun's energy possible.
Overall, another descent Bond film, which I thought wasn't as good as the Live and Let Die (the first 007 adventure with Moore), but certainly one to enjoy on a Saturday night.
The year after Roger Moore first appeared in the role of James Bond in 1973's "Live and Let Die", marking the beginning of his twelve-year stint in the role, he returned for the ninth film in the franchise, and his second of seven.
After that, a lot of suspense takes place on the island.Like "Live and Let Die", this second Bond film starring Roger Moore is rather polarizing with Bond fans, but both films, while not the best, I have found to be reasonably satisfying, and in my opinion, while Moore can't quite match Sean Connery (the first actor to play Ian Fleming's famous character, as I'm sure you know), he was a decent replacement, unlike George Lazenby, who was only in one film in the franchise (1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"), in between Connery's last two (1967's "You Only Live Twice" and 1971's "Diamonds Are Forever").
Bond is back and he has to out smart a hit-man who charges $1,000,000 a shot (Christopher Lee) is the man with the golden gun, and he has the usual delusions of world domination and a thirst to pit himself against the best spy in the business.The plot in this one does have its holes and the script has a little too much silliness and comedy to make it a classic bond film, but if it's entertainment your after then this hits the mark without question, and it still has one of the most awesome car stunts ever.It's not the best in the series, but there's enough here to entertain you, and Christopher Lee makes a great Bond bad guy.7/10.
As Bond films go, maybe this isn't the best of the lot, but, hey, it deserves points for giving us ROGER MOORE in another good turn as James Bond.
In my opinion The Man with the Golden Gun is a solid Bond film with great action and a good theme song.
Lee is a master of his craft and takes a role here that could have been great, but wasn't written very well -- yet still manages to elevate it to outstanding.If you're looking for great performances by a Bond girl, Britt Eklund's turn as Agent Goodnight may be the best of any Bond film.
In this movie he was matched against an opponent who could be considered his equal.The great Christopher Lee played Scaramanga-the assassin who had already killed several British agents and who performed hits for 1 million dollars.
Maybe the plot is more absurd than the usual one at time but as the best villain, Christopher Lee (easily his best performance and one of the best performances of the series!) plays Scaramanga with such charm and style- you can tell he loved making the film.
This film boasts a fine performance by Christopher Lee as the lead baddie Francisco Scaramanga, but Moore is obviously unsatisfying in this entry and Britt Ekland only manages to steal a scene in the last half hour in her sexy bikini, otherwise she's totally useless.
Because The Man with the Golden Gun is not a fitting film for them to part on, their fall out most likely impacting on why this is a pretty unadventurous entry in the James Bond franchise.
The Man with the Golden Gun takes on 007 one on one to see who is the best killer.This movie does have a few things that helps it out - a good car chase with a wonderful car stunt, Britt Eklund in a bikini and the return of Clifton James as Sheriff J.W. Pepper but those are off-set by the stagnant plot and the arrival of diminutive Herve Villechaize as the main bad-guy's chief henchman - OddJob, he is not.6 (out of 5) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis).
Ignoring about 99.2% of Ian Fleming's weakest novel, as Bond (antihero in the book, turned into suave super spy in film) is both searching for, and being hunted by, Scaramanga (villain in the book, turned into anti-villain in the film, he even jovially offers Bond a glass of champagne at one point) and his gold-plated .45 and bullets.Bond's search for Scaramanga takes him to Macau, Hong Kong, and ultimately Thailand (all replacing the books rather dull setting in Jamaica) and an anticlimactic duel in Scaramanga's very own personal island fun park, in an ending possibly inspired by the ghost town sequence in the book Diamonds Are Forever, and which can be guessed from five minutes into the film's run-time.Potentially good mystery/ action thriller is drenched in one-liners and gags, but it is still fun to watch Roger Moore, clearly having a good time with it, in all of its splendid locations, that it is easy (for me, anyway) to overlook its goofball contrivances and just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Even Scaramanga's wildly improbable flying AMC Javelin (actually a scale RC model) was far more interesting even though it's time on camera was very short; the "gun", on the other hand, is regularly and tediously displayed time after time, looking for all the world like a Lego toy that's been spraypainted gold.As if all this wasn't bad enough, we're treated to a return appearance of J.W.Pepper, the redneck sheriff who first appeared in "Live and Let Die" (itself a dog of a Bond film), who, um, "dogs" (sorry) Bond periodically throughout this picture, most notably during the by-now obligatory spectacular car chase.
Indeed, as spectacular as the 360 degree roll performed by the stunt car was, even this scene misfires through the use of a cartoonish sound effect."The Man with the Golden Gun" remains, as of this writing, one of the poorest grossing Bond films yet made, and one look at the finished product will tell anyone why.
OK If you have seen Live and Let Die and you did not like Roger Moore in that then I am going to fail to convince you but this really is the best bond movie.
But everything in the middle, especially all instances of Sheriff J.W. Pepper (yes.he's back), and the clichéd villain lair (Scaramanga's solar power planttotally unnecessary addition that comes with the solex plot) ruin what could've been something fun and different.THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN was Roger Moore's second film as James Bond and he had pretty much found his groove by now.
Moore nicely grows into his role as 007 in this second outing of his.The storyline is intriguing and most of the actors (especially Lee)are rather good.The movie has some amazing stunts and Moore's humor starts to shine through more and more.The film does tend to be a bit boring in certain parts, but it's never the less an improvement over the previous one.Not the most successful Bond film financially, it took one more film for the audience to forger Connery and to take Moore to their hearts as James Bond..
Hervé Villechaize is on hand as Scaramanga's little assistant, Nick Nack."The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974) was Moore's second outing as Bond.
There's also the aforementioned Adams as Andrea and a cameo by Chew Mee. Memorable moments include an entertaining martial arts academy sequence; the amusing return of redneck Sheriff JW Pepper (Clifton James), who's vacationing in Bangkok with his wife; a great car-jumping stunt; and Scaramanga's secret solar power plant operation.The film runs 2 hours, 5 minutes and was shot in Thailand (Phang Nga Bay and Bangkok) and Hong Kong/ Macau, with additional work done in England.GRADE: B.
"The Man with the Golden Gun" is Roger Moore's second film as secret agent 007, James Bond.
Christopher Lee plays the rival hit-man, Scaramanga, with typical charm and menace, making him almost appear as Bond's 'dark side.' There's plenty of near misses between the two in what could be described as a 'cat and mouse' type affair until the inevitable climax.So, the plot is simple and deadly in nature, but it wouldn't be a Roger Moore Bond film without humour.
James Bond (Roger Moore) is led to believe that he is targeted by the world's most expensive assassin (Christopher Lee) while he attempts to recover sensitive solar cell technology that is being sold to the highest bidder.The highs and lows of this film.
I find the new machinery to be one of the funnest and most unique aspects of every Bond film, and not bringing in any this time around left me underwhelmed.The story is also extremely by the numbers, there is no plot point that is unexpected or exciting, it feels as if it's all going through the motions.More so than the action, the performances are what stand out in The Man with the Golden Gun, and I feel that is the main thing that makes it a worthwhile watch, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good adventure film.
There's nothing wrong with a comical Bond adventure, pretty much every Roger Moore film was made for laughs, maybe with the exception of For Your Eyes Only, Roger Moore even said so himself that he played the role for laughs.The Man with the Golden Gun is not supposed to be taken seriously, and if you accept that, you'll find it to be quite a fun adventure that is a nice way to spend a couple of hours!
An Eye For An Eye. After the Connery films sadly took a bit of a tumble in quality towards the end, Roger Moore really picked the franchise back up with a few gems in my opinion, Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun. The latter took a slightly different approach to its villain.
A lot of the elements from this film are retreaded from previous entries, especially the speedboat chase, but I think watching Moore and Lee go mano y mano for the last 20 minutes makes it all worth while.+Scaramanga was another great villain+Goodnight+Action-Retreads same plot points as other Bond films-No need for J.W. Pepper7.5/10.
But one of the major flaws in the film is that all of the characters are ill tempered, and most of them are dosey eg Sheriff Pepper and Hip.Christopher Lee who played Francisco Scaramanga was superb and Roger Moore was superb as well.
The Man With the Golden Gun was Roger Moore's second Bond movie.
The second Bond film starring Roger Moore is not only the worst I've seen of the whole series, but it's also the total opposite of what a good James Bond-movie should be like.
However, Christopher Lee does a reasonably good job as Scaramanga, stealing the show from Roger Moore.By the way, this isn't the first time we see a golden gun in a Bond movie.
Watched The Man With The Golden Gun Starring Sir Roger Moore(Marverick) as James Bond/007, Bernard Lee(Percys Progress) as M , Herve Villechaize(Fantasy Island) as Nick Nack ,Desmond Llewelyn(Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Q , Soon Tek-Oh(Hawaii Five-0) as Lieutenant Hip, Britt Ekland(Get Carter) as Mary Goodnight, Maud Adams(Rollerball) as Andrea Anders ,Lois Maxwell(The Adventurers) as Ms.Moneypenny and Sir Christopher Lee(The Horror Of Dracula) as Francisco Scaramanga The films Main Villain.This was one the best bond films while i still consider Skyfall to the best i really enjoyed a game of cat and mouse between Bond and Scaramanga also Scaramanga respected Bond who is one the best bond villains also his endgame was Logical yet sinister also really enjoyed the 70's aesthetic of the film as well and the character was great even though it was thin at times overall a top 3 Bond Film.
Those are my thoughts on the film,first,I'll start with the pros.The acting is decent,Moore isn't as good as last time,but he's still pretty good.Christopher Lee and his character,Scaramanga,are great,and a great idea for a Bond villain.The henchmen Nick Nack is fun too.The action is decent,with amazing stuntwork and good choreography.The climax is pretty good and the very ending is very creative.The locations,are,okay,not much excitement,but they include some interesting scenes.I also thought Moore's quips were decent at best.Now,the cons,for one,I thought the Bond Girl,wasn't very good,she wasn't insanely dumb,but she was a bit annoying.I also thought that the interrogation scenes well interesting,didn't fit Moore at all,and felt awkward.Also the character of JW Pepper returned...moving on.Another bad thing is how slow the movie is,I was kind of bored,but I never fell asleep or anything.The biggest and last flaw is how generic and unmemorable.Everything that happens in a Bond movie,happens in this,and is not well done.The Man With The Golden Gun is a boring,uninteresting movie with great villains..
James Bond is sent to retrieve the Solex Agitator device— which pits him against expert assassin Scaramanga also known as the Man with the Golden Gun. Amongst the usual clichés synonymous with Bond, director Guy Hamilton delivers some interesting visuals and great moments usually between Scaramanga played wonderfully reserved and refined by Christopher Lee and Roger Moore's comfortable looking 007, these few scenes touch on what they stand for, and give the characters deeper meaning.
"The Man with the Golden Gun" is the second Bond film starring Roger Moore.
Especially the car chase scene should be mentioned, which includes one of the most amazing stunts made in cinema history.Roger Moore delivers his usual witty performance as Bond, but it's Christopher Lee as the villain Scaramanga who steals the show.
(I actually feel sorry for her in one particular bedroom scene.) The much better Bond girl in this film is Maud Adams as Scaramanga's mistress.Roger Moore returns to play James Bond for the second time.
The Man with the Golden Gun, released in 1974, is the ninth film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional British secret agent James Bond.
The Man With The Golden Gun is Roger Moore's second Bond film, but doesn't quit live up to his first.
Bond meets him while chasing his enemy, and, well, it makes for some GREAT laughs!Because of that scene, I give The Man With The Golden Gun a 7 out of 10 for having some good laughs, and interesting features in the film..