The Man with the Golden Gun (film)


The Man with the Golden Gun is a 1974 spy film, the ninth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. A loose adaptation of Ian Fleming's posthumously published 1965 novel of the same name, the film has Bond sent after the Solex Agitator, a breakthrough technological solution to contemporary energy shortages, while in a game of cat and mouse facing the assassin Francisco Scaramanga, the "Man with the Golden Gun". The action culminates in a duel between them that settles the fate of the Solex.
The Man with the Golden Gun was the fourth and final film in the series directed by Guy Hamilton. The script was written by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz. The film was set in the face of the 1973 energy crisis, a dominant theme in the script; Britain had still not yet fully overcome the crisis when the film was released in December 1974. The film also reflects the then-popular martial arts film craze, with several kung fu scenes and a predominantly Asian location, being set and shot in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Macau. Part of the film is also set in Beirut, Lebanon, but it was not shot there.
The film received mixed reviews from critics, who described it as the lowest point in the canon up to that time. Christopher Lee's portrayal of Scaramanga as a villain of similar skill and ability to Bond was praised, but reviewers criticised the film as a whole, particularly its comedic approach as well as Roger Moore's and Britt Ekland's performances. Whilst profitable, the film is the fourth lowest-grossing in the series, and its relatively modest returns by comparison with those of Live and Let Die reportedly placed the continuation of the franchise in jeopardy.
The Man with the Golden Gun was the last Bond film to be co-produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, with Saltzman selling his 50% stake in Danjaq, LLC, the parent company of Eon Productions, after the release of the film. The series would go on a hiatus until The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977.

Plot

An American gangster, Rodney, visits famed crack shot hitman Francisco Scaramanga to kill him and collect a bounty, but he is directed into a funhouse section of the estate, where Scaramanga eventually retrieves his golden gun and kills him.
In London, a golden bullet etched with "007" is received by MI6; it is believed to have been sent by Scaramanga. Because no one knows of his appearance outside of having a third nipple, M relieves Bond of his current mission involving the location of a solar energy scientist named Gibson.
At a hint from Moneypenny, Bond sets out unofficially to locate Scaramanga, first by retrieving a spent golden bullet from a belly dancer in Beirut. He traces the bullet to a gun maker in Macau, and forces him to reveal how he ships the bullets. Bond follows the shipment carried to Hong Kong by Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's girlfriend. In her Peninsula Hotel room, he coerces her to expose information about Scaramanga, his appearance and his plans. She directs Bond to the Bottoms Up Club where Scaramanga kills Gibson when he steps outside, and Scaramanga's midget assistant Nick Nack steals a small device called the Solex Agitator off his body. Bond, who had pulled out his pistol outside the club, is arrested by Hong Kong police lieutenant Hip. But instead of going to the station, he is transported to the wreck of in the harbour where he meets M and Q, and is assigned to work with Hip to retrieve the Solex.
Bond travels to Bangkok to meet Hai Fat, a wealthy Thai entrepreneur suspected of arranging Gibson's murder. Posing as Scaramanga by showing off his fake third nipple, Bond is invited to dinner, but his plan backfires because, unbeknownst to him, Scaramanga himself is operating at Fat's estate. Bond is captured and taken to Fat's martial arts academy, where the students duel to the death and then are instructed to kill him. Bond battles high grade scholar Chula. Escaping with the aid of Hip and his nieces, Bond speeds away on a long-tail boat along the river, and reunites with his assistant, Mary Goodnight. Scaramanga subsequently kills Fat with his golden gun and assumes control of his empire and the Solex.
Anders reveals to Bond that she sent the bullet to London. She wants him to kill Scaramanga, and promises to give him the Solex as they spend the night together. At a Muay Thai event the next day, Bond finds Anders sitting and staring silently, dead from a bullet to the heart. Scaramanga arrives and introduces himself to Bond, but Bond is able to smuggle the Solex to Hip, who gives it to Goodnight. When Goodnight follows Nick Nack to place a homing device on Scaramanga's car, Scaramanga traps her in the car's boot. Bond discovers Scaramanga driving off and steals an AMC Hornet from a showroom to give chase, coincidentally with the holidaying J.W. Pepper sitting inside. The chase concludes when Scaramanga's AMC Matador hides in a building and then transforms into a plane that flies off.
Tracking Goodnight's homing beacon, Bond takes a RC-3 Seabee seaplane and flies to Scaramanga's island in the Red Chinese waters. Scaramanga shows Bond the solar power plant facility that he has obtained from Hai Fat, the technology for which he intends to sell to the highest bidder. While demonstrating the equipment, Scaramanga uses the solar-powered energy beam to destroy Bond's seaplane, preventing him from escaping.
During lunch, Scaramanga proposes a pistol duel with Bond on the beach. With Nick Nack officiating, the two men take twenty paces, but when Bond turns and fires, Scaramanga has vanished. Nick Nack leads Bond into Scaramanga's manor and funhouse section. Bond eventually outwits and kills Scaramanga by posing as his mannequin. Goodnight kills Scaramanga's security chief Kra, but Kra's fall into a liquid helium vat causes the plant's temperature to spiral out of control. Bond retrieves the Solex unit just before the plant is destroyed, and they escape unharmed in Scaramanga's Chinese junk. After Bond fends off a final attack by Nick Nack, he romances Goodnight.

Cast

  • Roger Moore as James Bond – 007, an MI6 agent who receives a golden bullet, supposedly from Scaramanga, indicating that he is a target of Scaramanga.
  • Christopher Lee as Francisco Scaramanga, an assassin who is identified by his use of a golden gun; he also has a 'superfluous papilla', or supernumerary nipple. Scaramanga plans to misuse solar energy for destructive purposes. Lee was Ian Fleming's step-cousin and regular golf partner. Scaramanga has been called "the best-characterised Bond villain yet."
  • Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight, Bond's assistant. Described by the critic of the Sunday Mirror as being "an astoundingly stupid blonde British agent". Ekland had previously been married to Peter Sellers, who appeared in the 1967 Bond film Casino Royale.
  • Maud Adams as Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's girlfriend. Adams described the role as "a woman without a lot of choices: she's under the influence of this very rich, strong man, and is fearing for her life most of the time; and when she actually rebels against him and defects is a major step." The Man with the Golden Gun was the first of two Bond films in which Maud Adams appeared; she played a different character, Octopussy, in the 1983 film of the same name: rumours that she also had a cameo as an extra in Roger Moore's last Bond film, A View to a Kill, are untrue.
  • Hervé Villechaize as Nick Nack, Scaramanga's midget manservant and accomplice. Villechaize was later known to television audiences as Tattoo in the series Fantasy Island.
  • 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.
  • Richard Loo as Hai Fat, a Thai millionaire industrialist who was employing Scaramanga to assassinate the inventor of the "Solex agitator" and steal the device. He himself is later killed by Scaramanga. This was Loo's final film role before his death in 1983.
  • Soon-Taik Oh as Lieutenant Hip, Bond's local contact in Hong Kong and Bangkok. Soon-Taik Oh trained in martial arts for the role, and his voice was partially dubbed over.
  • Marc Lawrence as Rodney, an American gangster who attempts to outshoot Scaramanga in his funhouse, and loses, being shot in the head by Scaramanga. Lawrence also appeared in Diamonds Are Forever.
  • Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary.
  • Marne Maitland as Lazar, a Portuguese gunsmith based in Macau who manufactures golden bullets for Scaramanga.
  • Desmond Llewelyn as Q, the head of MI6's technical department.
  • James Cossins as Colthorpe, an MI6 armaments expert who identifies the maker of Scaramanga's golden bullets. The first draft of the script originally called the role Boothroyd until it was realised that was also Q's name and it was subsequently changed.
  • Chan Yiu-lam as Chula, the black-belt student at Hai Fat's dojo
  • Bernard Lee as "M", the head of MI6.
  • Carmen Sautoy as Saida, a Beirut belly dancer. Saida was originally written as overweight and wearing excessive make-up, but the producers decided to cast a woman closer to the classic Bond girl.
  • Francoise Therry as Chew Mee, Hai Fat's mistress, whom Bond memorably finds swimming nude in a swimming pool. She is voiced by Nikki van der Zyl, who has voiced a number of Bond girls.
Other, uncredited cast members include Michael Goodliffe as Bill Tanner, MI6's Chief of Staff; Sonny Caldinez as Kra, Scaramanga's security chief; Joie Vejjajiva and Yuen Qiu as Hip's nieces Cha and Nara, and Thohsaphol Sitiwatjana as a martial arts student.

Production

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 combined with Moore's commitments in The Saint, made filming impractical, leading to the production being canceled. 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 after Lazenby's resignation.
United Artists greenlit another James Bond film after viewing dailies of Moore's performance in Live and Let Die. 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.
The novel is mostly set in Jamaica, a location which had been already used in the earlier films, Dr. No and Live and Let Die; The Man with the Golden Gun saw a change in location to put Bond in either the Far East or the Middle East for the second time. After considering Beirut, where part of the film is set; Israel; Iran, where the location scouting was done but eventually discarded because of the Yom Kippur War; and the Hạ Long Bay in North Vietnam; the production team chose Thailand as a primary location, following a suggestion of production designer Peter Murton after he saw pictures of the Phuket bay in a magazine. Saltzman was happy with the choice of the Far East for the setting as he had always wanted to go on location in Thailand and Hong Kong. During the reconnaissance of locations in Hong Kong, Broccoli saw the wreckage of the former and came up with the idea of using it as the base for MI6's Far East operations.