The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Director:

Guy Hamilton

Writers:

Richard Maibaum (screenplay) and
Tom Mankiewicz (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 December 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

He never misses his target, and now his target is 007.

Plot:

Bond is led to believe that he is targeted by the world's most expensive assassin and must hunt him down to stop him.

Plot Keywords:

Gambling Casino | Official James Bond Series | Island | Pun | Casino Owners

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Roger Moore	...	James Bond
Christopher Lee	...	Francisco Scaramanga
Britt Ekland	...	Mary Goodnight
Maud Adams	...	Andrea Anders
Hervé Villechaize	...	Nick Nack (also as Herve Villechaize)
Clifton James	...	Sheriff J.W. Pepper
Richard Loo	...	Hai Fat
Soon-Tek Oh	...	Lieutenant Hip (as Soon-Taik Oh)
Marc Lawrence	...	Rodney
Bernard Lee	...	'M'
Lois Maxwell	...	Miss Moneypenny
Marne Maitland	...	Lazar
Desmond Llewelyn	...	'Q'
James Cossins	...	Colthorpe
Yiu Lam Chan	...	Chula (as Chan Yiu Lam)

Also Known As:

Ian Fleming's The Man with the Golden Gun (UK) (complete title) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Thai

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG (1987) (video rating) | Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | USA:PG (certificate no. 24040) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1974) | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16 | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Andaman Sea, Thailand

Company:

Danjaq

Trivia:

James Bond likens the red wine served by Nick Nack on the island at lunch with Scaramanga and Mary Goodnight to a '34 Mouton.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In the establishing shot of Hai Fat's hillside house, patches of light dart about on the ornate arch/frontage. This is from hand-held reflective panels, held by crew members out of sight (off the bottom corners of the image), who are trying to give the booklet guards some light/contrast on their faces.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Francisco Scaramanga: Nick Nack! Tabasco!
Nick-nack: Right away, Monsieur Scaramanga.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Harry Saltzman: Showman (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Man With The Golden Gun

Golden Gun is Golden Surprise!

Roger Moore's second outing as Agent 007 puts him against the evil trick shot artist/assassin, Scaramanga (Christopher Lee). 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. 'Gun' does take some getting used to, in fact, more times than not, you need to see it a few times to really begin to enjoy the film.

The cast is great, one of the better ones of the entire series. There are two leading ladies in this film, the wonderful Maud Adams, who would later star in Octopussy (1983), and the terrible Britt Ekland who just acts so dumb and hopeless that it almost angers viewers. The villain Scaramanga is top notch as well as his comical, yet silently evil assistant, Nick Nack, played by French painter Herve Villechaize. The plot of the film is very interesting, the locals are exotic (which is always an extremely important part of a bond film), and Roger Moore continues to develop his character from a Connery-clone to putting his own, charming spin on 007.

All-in-all, 'Gun' is another good 007 adventure and is quite possibly the 4th best Roger Moore Bond film. Any fan of the series should give it a second look before they hail it as 'bad'.