Bondathon: The Man with the Golden Gun

You go from one fantastic movie, to one lackluster movie. Such is the life of Roger Moore’s tenure as Bond.

The Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth installment of the series, made in 1974, and is the second film to star our (still) new Bond, Roger Moore. Live and Let Die proved to be a major success, and it had seemed at the time that Moore was an ideal choice for the role. He had brought certain amounts of class and style to the role not seen from Connery and Lazenby, and when trailers aired for his second round in the tux, people seemed rather excited.

TMWTGG largely revolves around the pressing energy crisis that was a problem in the early 1970s. Bond has been hot on the trail of finding a man named Gibson, who is a specialist in a device known as a Solex agitator, a device that is key in using solar power to create strong and clean energy. However, his tracks are stopped when he receives a golden bullet at MI6 with, “007,” inscribed on the side, who could only belong to a man named Francisco Scaramanga (played by Christopher Lee), a marksman for hire who uses a gun made of golden every day items for his kills.

Bond tracks the bullet to its maker, a man named Lazar, who has a new shipment of golden bullets for Scaramanga. He aids Lazar to the casino where the bullet exchange is to be made, and witnesses Scaramanga’s mistress, Andrea Anders (played by Maud Adams), take hold of the bullets. Bond follows Anders back to her hotel and forces her to give information for where Scaramanga will show up next: a strip club called, “Bottoms Up.”

Bond goes to the club expecting to meet up with Scaramanga. Whilst waiting, he catches a glimpse of Scaramanga’s henchman, Nick Nack (played by Herve Villachez), on the street outside the club. As Bond approaches the club, Gibson steps out, accompanied by a man, and is immediately shot by a hidden gunman. Bond immediately knows it’s Scaramanga, but before he is able to investigate and get back at the killer, the man accompanying Gibson reveals himself as Hong Kong police, and arrests Bond for the killing of Gibson. Meanwhile, Nick Nack has made off with the agitator.

The officer takes Bond to MI6’s HQ in Hong Kong (cleverly stationed inside the partially-sunken Queen Elizabeth liner in Hong Kong bay), and reveals he to truly be Lieutenant Hip of MI6 (played by Soon-Tek Oh). Bond learns that it’s possible that a man named Hai Fat, an energy tyrant, could have hired Scaramanga to kill Gibson. Accompanied by Hip, Bond goes to Fat’s palace under the guise of Scaramanga (using the marksman’s signature third nipple as a signifier), and talks to Fat about the possibility of eliminating James Bond and whether he’s considered it. Fat tells Bond that he will possibly make it so, and for him to meet back for dinner at his palace at 9:00 that night. After Bond leaves, Fat is shown talking to the real Scaramanga, and says that Bond will not get in his way.

Bond returns to Fat’s that evening, and is let into the palace campus, before being ambushed by Nick Nack and a few sumo wrestlers. He is taken, under Fat’s orders, to his, “school,” a karate academy which Fat owns. Bond is pitted against a few skilled karate students, but ends up making it out on boat (feels…familiar, doesn’t it?). Later that evening, he rendezvouses with agent Goodnight (played by Britt Eckland) for a night together while Hip gathers information. Before they’re able to do what they need, Andrea confronts Bond. She reveals that she was the one who sent the bullet to 007, knowing that he might be the only man in the world to kill Scaramanga. She agrees to retrieve the agitator for Bond, if he agrees to kill her lover. Meanwhile, Scaramanga shoots and kills Fat, taking over his businesses.

They meet at a wrestling match the next day, but by the time Bond arrives, Andrea has already been shot and killed by Scaramanga. Scaramanga tells Bond that he has no ill will towards him, just as long as Bond stays out of the equation. Bond manages to pick up the agitator anyway, as it was lying on the floor of the arena, presumably having fallen out when Andrea was killed. He manages to give it to Hip, who in exchange gives it to Goodnight. As Scaramanga and Nick Nack leave, Goodnight attempts to plant a tracking device on his car, but Scaramanga catches her, throws her in the trunk, and makes off.

Bond steals a car from a dealership and chases after Scaramanga, with a old friend in the co-pilot’s seat: Sheriff J.W. Pepper (-sigh-). After some action through the streets of Bangkok, and a corkscrew jump over a broken bridge, Bond chases the assailants to a barn, where Scaramanga’s car had disappeared.  It reappears within a few minutes, now sprouting wings. The car takes off, with Goodnight and the agitator still in the trunk.

Through use of a tracking device on her dress, Goodnight is found within a small group of islands in the Chinese seas. Bond, of course, goes there, expecting to see Scaramanga there. When he arrives, Scaramanga appears to be most gracious and offers his best hospitality, giving a tour of his small island base. He eventually shows off that he indeed is in possession of the agitator, and that he’s using it for laser properties. He also shows that he has a gun powered by the agitator, and in turn uses it to destroy Bond’s plane, leaving Bond trapped. He joins Scaramanga for lunch, reunites with Goodnight, and they both agree to a duel between the two of them, Bond’s Walther PPK vs. Scaramanga’s Golden Gun.

As the duel begins, Scaramanga runs off as Bond wastes his first bullet. Nick Nack leads Bond to the fun house maze where Scaramanga is hiding. After wasting two more bullets on props, Bond eventually fools Scaramanga and Nick Nack as he climbs down rafters to the next level of the maze, disguises himself as a Bond figurine that Scaramanga used for target practice, and gains the edge on Scaramanga, shooting, and killing the man. During this, Goodnight disposes of a guard who was watching over her, pushing him into a helium tank. The guard’s body temperature causes a reaction with the helium, and the island is set to blow, but Bond and Goodnight get out just in time.

This one is such a hot mess, that I don’t even know where to begin with it. Okay, I guess casting, first. It’s…a bit…ehhhhhhh. Goodnight for one, is horrible. I don’t know if Britt Eckland is that much of a dolt in real life, but it makes no sense how anyone can be that literally clueless. Herve Villachez, while proposing a truly new and interesting idea for a henchman, going against the trope of tall, buff, blonde men, he ends up being largely annoying at most times. The Asian cast is rather bland and all pull off rather wooden performances. I suppose the only new cast members that really shines is Christopher Lee as Scaramanga, and Maud Adams as Andrea Anders. Lee is a very striking and fearsome character, often standing over other cast members on screen and providing a presence like no other, and Adams is beautiful and full of talent. Her character’s death is rather saddening to see, but it’s gracious to know that we’ll see Adams once more in a future installment.

The plot is a total wreck. It’s often unclear who the big villain behind everything is until Fat is killed, and even then, you’re not even sure what the big master plan is. What’s Scaramanga gonna do with that Agitator gun, fry duck on the spot? And then there’s the constant moving around from place to place that’s going on. Besides London, Bond films usually take place in two to three locations, but in this, it seems like Bond is going from place to place, ending up with bad leads in each. All this together just makes things seem rather jumbled and incomprehensive. You’re actually thankful to know that the island is the final destination when you get to it.

You know, it feels like EON really bit off more than they could chew with this one, and all the things they tried to push within it to talk about current events largely leaves it dated and confusing. All in all, I think TMWTGG gets a 2.5 out of 5 stars for me. It’s a solid effort, but there’s so much polishing that needs to be done.

But, all does not stay dark, as Moore returns once more in his third film next week, which I regard as my favorite from him. So, stay tuned.