Mission Summary

When James Bond (Moore) receives a golden bullet with his number on it, he assumes that international assassin Francisco Scaramanga, (Christopher Lee), "the man with the golden gun," has announced his contract on Bond. "M" immediately ends Bond's current mission trying to retrieve a missing solar energy expert should Scaramanga be successful. On leave, Bond travels to Beirut, where a fellow Double-O agent was killed by Scaramanga and retrieves the bullet to trace its origin. This leads him to Hong Kong, where he finds that Scaramanga has bigger plans than just killing Bond, he also wants the solar energy device that Bond was after originally. Bond must not now only fight to survive but also stop Scaramanga's plans to control the world's solar energy.

Analysis

Rank: 15

As the title of the film suggests, "The Man with the Golden Gun" justifiably places all the attention on Bond's latest villain. However, this is one of the few films where I find the villain more likeable than Bond by the end of the film, which shouldn't be the case. Also, this film tries to rely on suspense, rather than action, to dominate the plot, and since it fails, it makes a pretty dull two hours.

I enjoyed the plot twist halfway through the movie where Bond realizes that Scaramanga is actually after the same solar device he was after before "M" relieved him, but that was about it. This film had the potential to be unique, where Bond was the target for once and see how he reacted when the tables were turned, but that was never the case. I thought there could have been an epic game of cat-and-mouse throughout the film, but that was never the case. After Bond discoverer's Scaramanga's real plan, it became a standard Bond film for the remaining hour.

As I said in the summary, the writers tried to make this film about the tension between Scaramanga and Bond and therefore had limited action sequences. Since the anxiety was about as believable as Moore's acting, the action was noticeably absent. I mean, Bond only kills two people! The big martial arts sequence shows Bond watching as Lt. Hip's (Soon-Tek Oh) nieces take out entire karate school. But the film does have one of the cooler stunts in the series where Bond flips an AMC Hornet over a crooked bridge (it probably would be the coolest if it didn't have the whistle in the background).

I loved Lee in this film. He is probably more famous for his roles in the new "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" series, but still delivers a solid performance in this film. He captures the mood of a cold-blooded assassin and enjoys his work. This is supposed to be the same personality as Bond, but of course Moore makes him into an immature adolescent with raging hormones. When Scaramanga and Bond sit down to the traditional meal before killing each other, Bond is the one who comes across as the jerk and I almost wished Scaramanga would be successful. Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) is one of my favorite Bond Girls, not for her acting (which is dreadful), but the combination of her name and her looks is irresistible. Shockingly, the writers never made a Goodnight/good night reference at any point in the film. Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) was an interesting henchman, but didn't have a large enough role to have an impact in the plot.

This film really is the story of "The Man with the Golden Gun." Bond is absent from the pre-title sequence and Lee dominates every scene he is in. I think it's obvious I'm not a Moore fan, but this time he was pathetic. He came across as bumbling and arrogant at times and asking him to feign suspense was a mistake. Had anyone else played Scaramanga, this film probably would have finished last, but Lee manages to make this an average Bond outing.