The Man with the Golden Gun (film)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. An adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel of same name, the film has Bond sent after the Solex Agitator — a device which can harness the power of the sun. He teams up with agent Mary Goodnight against Francisco Scaramanga — the titular "Man with the Golden Gun". The action culminates in a duel between them.

The Man with the Golden Gun was the fourth and final film in the series to be 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 Kung Fu film craze, with several kung-fu scenes and a predominantly Asian location.[1] Reviewers praised Christopher Lee's performance as Scaramanga, but criticized the comedic approach.

Contents

Plot

In the pre-title sequence, Rodney (Marc Lawrence), a hired hitman can be seen arriving on Francisco Scaramanga's island. The assassin receives his instructions from Scaramanga's dwarf servant named Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize), who later has the two of them pursue each other through Scaramanga's funhouse. The assassin is startled by automated gun firing mannequins of a western gun slinger, Al Capone and his gang from the 1920s (which the assassin was revealed to be an admirer of Capone), and of James Bond. Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) eventually kills the gangster in the hall of mirrors and jokingly says that Nick Nack will have to try harder to inherit his fortune. He then shoots the fingers off the mannequin of Bond.

In London, a golden bullet with Bond's code "007" etched into its surface is received by MI6. It is believed that Scaramanga has been hired to assassinate Bond (Roger Moore) and has sent the bullet to intimidate him. Bond's mission revolves around the work of a scientist named Gibson, thought to be in possession of information crucial to solving the energy crisis by inventing a new technique of harnessing the sun's power. But because of the perceived threat to the agent's life, M (Bernard Lee), his boss, forces him to go on a leave. Bond sets out unofficially to find Scaramanga.

After tracking the bullet via a Saida (Carmen du Sautoy), a belly dancer in Beirut and Lazar (Marne Maitland), an expert gunsmith in Macau, Bond sees Andrea Anders (Maud Adams), Scaramanga's mistress, collecting golden bullets at the Macau casino. Bond follows her to Hong Kong and after encountering her in the shower and a brief fight, pressures her to tell him about Scaramanga, his appearance and his plans. He is led to a strip club but unbeknownst to him, this is the location of Scaramanga's next 'hit'. The target is Gibson (Gordon Everett) who is shot while leaving the club. Before Bond can assert his innocence, however, Lieutenant Hip (Soon-Taik Oh) whisks him away from the scene as the police arrive. Nick Nack steals the "Solex Agitator" needed for operating a solar power plant from Gibson's pocket. Bond is ferried out of Hong Kong; inside the shipwreck SS Seawise University, formerly the RMS Queen Elizabeth, he meets M and Q and also learns that Hip is their ally.

Bond's mission is now to retrieve the solex agitator in the face of the energy crisis and assassinate Scaramanga. He travels to Bangkok to meet a Thai entrepreneur, Hai Fat (Richard Loo), who is suspected of hiring Scaramanga to murder Gibson, speculating that they never met personally. Bond uses a fake, synthetic nipple to make him look as if he has three nipples (Scaramanga is known to have three himself) and meets Hai Fat at his estate. Hai Fat, however, having already met with Scaramanga, captures and places Bond in his personally owned dojo, instructing his fighters to kill the agent. Bond escapes with the aide of Lt. Hip and his karate-adept nieces, who defeat the entire dojo. Bond speeds away by boat on a Bangkok canal and reunites with his British assistant Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) during dinner.

Later, Anders enters his room, revealing that she had sent the bullet to London and wants Bond to kill Scaramanga. In payment, Anders promises to hand over the Solex to him at a boxing venue the next day. Instead of spending the night as he promised with Goodnight (whom he hid in a closet), Bond spends the night with Anders. At the match, Bond discovers that the mistress has been quietly shot and meets Scaramanga for the first time. Bond is able to smuggle the Solex from Anders' purse away to Hip, who passes it to Goodnight waiting outside. Attempting to place a homing device, she is locked into Scaramanga's car, an AMC Matador, as he drives away. Bond follows him in an AMC Hornet 'X' with Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) at his side — whom he encounters when acquiring the vehicle — and a car chase across Bangkok ensues, concluding at a barn in the countryside outside the city with Scaramanga's car transforming into a plane and flying away to his island in the Yellow Sea near China.

Picking up Mary Goodnight's tracking device, Bond flies a Republic RC-3 Seabee into Red Chinese waters low under radar, and lands in his seaplane at Scaramanga's island. On arriving, Bond is welcomed by Scaramanga and is shown the high-tech solar power plant that Scaramanga has taken over by killing Hai Fat. Scaramanga intends to show off his technology built by Hai Fat to the world superpowers; and sell the technology to the highest bidder. That bidder will be able to build hundreds of the solar energy plants as well as sell franchises. As a result there will be a monopoly on solar energy, and the oil sheiks will be forced to pay Scaramanga millions to keep it off the market. He is also shown the solar gun operated by the Solex, which "comes with no extra charge" that is powered by a receptor hidden in a mushroom-shaped rock nearby. Bond's plane is destroyed by the gun, much to his annoyance and Scaramanga's enjoyment. They then enjoy a brief meal prepared by Nick Nack, until Bond becomes angered by Scaramanga's belief that they both enjoy killing in their profession. Scaramanga proposes a pistol duel with Bond on the beach, a "duel between titans". The two men stand back to back and are ordered by Nick Nack to take twenty paces, but when Bond turns and fires, Scaramanga has vanished.

Nick Nack leads Bond into the Funhouse. After a few minutes, Bond poses as the mannequin of himself while Scaramanga walks by, taking him by surprise and killing him, but not before Goodnight, in way-laying a henchman into a pool of liquid helium, upsets the balance of the solar plant, which gradually goes out of control. Bond retrieves the Solex unit at the last moment just before the island explodes, and they escape unharmed in Scaramanga's Chinese junk ship. While trying to take some relaxation on the ship, however, they are attacked by Nick Nack, who is out for revenge for being deprived of his inheritance. He is put out of commission by Bond, who stuffs him into a wicker cage strapped to the mast, and the ship sails off into the sea.

Cast

This is the first of three Bond movies in which Maud Adams appears.[2] In 1983, she plays a different character, Octopussy, in the film of the same name. She would later have a cameo as an extra in Roger Moore's last Bond film, A View to a Kill.[3] The Man with the Golden Gun marks the second film appearance of Sheriff J.W. Pepper (the first being in Live and Let Die), played by Clifton James, who is coincidentally on vacation with his wife in Bangkok. He accompanies Bond in the car chase scene in which Bond chases Scaramanga.

Production

In 1969, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman intended to follow You Only Live Twice with The Man with the Golden Gun, inviting Roger Moore to the Bond role. But production was cancelled, because it would have been filmed in Cambodia, and the outbreak of war in the region made filming impractical. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was produced instead. Broccoli and Saltzman then decided to start production after Live and Let Die.[4][5]

Tom Mankiewicz delivered a script, but refused to continue working on it as he couldn't "go further in it". Richard Maibaum, who had worked on six Bond films previously, delivered his own draft based on Mankiewicz's work. Broccoli's stepson Michael G. Wilson researched about solar power to create a MacGuffin, the Solex, for Maibaum's text.[4]

This was the final Bond film to be co-produced by Saltzman as his partnership with Broccoli dissolved after the film's release. Saltzman sold his 50% stake in EON Productions parent company, Danjaq, LLC to United Artists to alleviate his financial problems.[5] The resulting legalities over the Bond property delayed production of the next Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me for three years.[6]

Casting

Originally, the role of Scaramanga was offered to Jack Palance[5]. Christopher Lee, who was eventually chosen to portray Scaramanga, is the cousin of Ian Fleming. Fleming had suggested Lee for the role of Dr. Julius No in the film Dr. No (1962), although Lee noted Fleming was a forgetful man and by the time he mentioned this to Broccoli and Saltzman they had cast Joseph Wiseman in the part.[7] Due to filming on location in Bangkok, his role in the film affected Lee's work the following year, as director Ken Russell was unable to sign Lee to play The Specialist in Tommy (1975). The part was eventually given to Jack Nicholson.

Mary Goodnight, played by 1970s sex-symbol Britt Ekland, is a recurring character in several Ian Fleming Bond novels, even appearing in lieu of Miss Moneypenny; in the novels, Goodnight is Bond's secretary. Ekland originally auditioned for the role of Scaramanga's mistress, but director Guy Hamilton offered her the Mary Goodnight role after seeing her in a bikini.[5]

Marc Lawrence, who plays the gangster shot dead by Scaramanga at the start of the film, played a similar character in Diamonds Are Forever, although this film does not indicate whether Lawrence is playing the same character.[5]

Yuen Qiu, cast as one of the young girls Bond meets at the dojo, would showcase her martial art skills almost 30 years later as the chain smoking Landlady in Stephen Chow's blockbuster Kung Fu Hustle (2004).[8]

Filming

Scaramanga's Island (high tide).

Filming commenced in Hong Kong on November 6, 1973,[5] and continued in Macau, Bangkok, and Phuket. Studio work including Scaramanga's solar energy plant and island interior were filmed at Pinewood Studios. The canal scene where Bond disables the dojo's boat was filmed in Thon Buri, Thailand.

Stunt driver "Bumps" Williard[5] (as James Bond) driving an AMC Hornet leaps a broken bridge and spins around 360 degrees in mid-air, doing an "aerial twist". The stunt was shown in slow motion as the scene was too fast. Willard was paid £30,000 for the stunt, which was held under EON Productions copyright for several years afterward. The British show Top Gear attempted to repeat the stunt in June 2008,[9] but failed. The stunt was conceived after a crew member discovered a physics simulation at Cornell University in New York predicting the theoretical possibility of such a stunt. Numerous calculations were created by Cornell, since they at the time had one of world's most powerful computers, to analyze the stunt and develop the ramp systems, prepare weight distribution in the car, and otherwise prepare for the stunt.

The scenes featuring the island hideout of Scaramanga were filmed in Phang Nga Province in Thailand, northeast of Phuket on the island of Ko Khao Phing Kan (Thai: เกาะเขาพิงกัน) and the adjacent Ko Tapu (Thai: เกาะตะปู). Scaramanga's hideout is on Ko Khao Phing Kan, and Ko Tapu is often now referred to as James Bond Island both by locals and in tourist guidebooks.[10] Both islands are significant tourist attractions in the area.

1972: The wreck of the Seawise University, the former RMS Queen Elizabeth, in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.

One of the more interesting locations is the use of a derelict former Atlantic Ocean liner, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, as a top-secret MI6 base grounded in Hong Kong harbour.[10] The interior of the ship, however, was shot in Pinewood Studios. The announcer on the Hong Kong-Macau hydrofoil ferry announces, when passing the wreck of the Queen Elizabeth, that it sank in 1971. It actually sank in January 1972.[11]

Three Golden Gun props were made; a solid piece, one without a cap, and the one that could be disassembled.[7]

Music

The theme tune to "The Man with the Golden Gun", released in 1974, was performed by Scottish singer Lulu, and composed by John Barry. The lyrics to the song were written by Don Black. Alice Cooper claims his song "The Man with the Golden Gun" was to be used by the producers of the film, until it was dropped for Lulu's song instead.[5][12] Cooper's song appears on his album Muscle of Love.

The theme tune and score are generally considered by critics to be among the weakest of Barry's contributions to the series — an opinion shared by Barry himself "It's the one I hate most... it just never happened for me."[13]

The film was also the first to drop the distinctive plucked guitar from the Bond theme heard over the Gun Barrel sequence — in all subsequent John Barry Bond scores, this theme would be heard on strings and trumpet.

A sample from one scene in the film was taken and used by The Prodigy in the "Mindfields" track on the album The Fat of the Land.[14]

Release and reception

The Man with the Golden Gun was released on December 18, 1974.[15] Made with an estimated budget of $7 million, the film earned a total of $97,600,000 worldwide at the box office[16], with $21 million earned in the USA, making it the sixth lowest-grossing Bond film, adjusted for inflation.[17]

The Man with the Golden Gun was met with mixed reviews upon its release and as of June 2010 currently holds a 52% "rotten" rating from Rotten Tomatoes.[18] Luke Y. Thompson of the New Times LA said, "Bond versus Hervé and Dracula. How can such a thing possibly be disliked?"[18] IGN chose The Man with the Golden Gun as the worst Bond movie[19], while Norman Wilner of MSN[20] chose it as the tenth best, and Entertainment Weekly chose it as the fourth worst.[21]

Some critics saw it as uninspired and a tired or boring film.[22] Roger Moore was also criticized for playing Bond against type in a style more reminiscent of Sean Connery, although Lee's performance received acclaim. Danny Peary wrote that The Man with the Golden Gun “lacks invention...is one of the least interesting Bond films” and “a very laboured movie, with Bond a stiff bore, Adams and Britt Ekland uninspired leading ladies, stale humor, and a cruddy title song by Lulu.” Peary believes that the shootout between Bond and Scaramanga in the funhouse “is the one good scene in the movie, and even it has an unsatisfying finish” and also bemoaned the presence of Clifton James, "unfortunately reprising his unfunny redneck sheriff from Live and Let Die."[23]

Legacy

The Golden Gun.

Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly argues that Scaramanga is the best villain of the Roger Moore James Bond films.[24] Scaramanga has also been featured as a villain in various video games. His golden gun first appeared in the video game GoldenEye 007 in the Egyptian level and multiplayer portion of the game. Due to its popularity it was also added into subsequent James Bond games The World Is Not Enough, Agent Under Fire, Nightfire, Everything or Nothing, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, From Russia with Love, and, most recently, Quantum of Solace. In the Quantum of Solace video game, however, the gun appears to be designed on the gun from the novel, similar to a gold-plated revolver, rather than the design used in the film. It is likely to be based on a Smith & Wesson Model 686 in the game.[25] In The World is Not Enough for the Nintendo 64, the gun must be assembled from the pen, lighter, and case before it can be used. In most of the games, the gun counts for an instant kill, which reflects that Scaramanga never misses (although the player can), and because of this the golden gun is rarely available in single player mode.[5][26]

Scaramanga appears as a playable character in the multiplayer portion of Nightfire.

In 2004, Scaramanga returned for a third time for the game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, as an ally of Auric Goldfinger. He is the manufacturer of the synthetic eye given to the player (GoldenEye) and makes a virus used against Goldfinger's O.M.E.N. device. Once again, Scaramanga was voiced by Christopher Lee. The game also features a Multiplayer "Funhouse" level, including the traps that caused Bond to lose most of his bullets, such as Al Capone and Cowboy mannequins, and an image of Scaramanga. In addition, the level includes a Bond mannequin, whose gun the player can take and use.[27]

In many other video games, a weapon capable of killing an opponent in a single shot is referred to as a golden gun. In killer7, the main character, Garcian Smith, having just lost his team of assassins to an enemy, must use a Golden Gun to complete the team's mission. The gun appears to be designed after the Golden Gun in the original novel of The Man with the Golden Gun, rather than the one in the film.[28] This gun is capable of killing all the enemies he comes across in one shot.

On October 10, 2008, it was discovered that one of the real Golden Guns used in the film, which is estimated to be worth around £80,000, was missing (suspected stolen) from Elstree Props, a company based at Hertfordshire studios.[29][30][31]

Broadcast television versions

The first American TV broadcast on ABC in the 1970s featured alterations to the opening credits to obscure partial nudity. Speaking of nudity, the Bond Picture Show airing on ABC (which by the way, has the opening song sped up) edited Chu Me's rear nudity when James Bond meets her in Scaramanga's swimming pool. To obscure the nudity, more waves were added to the water.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Man With the Golden Gun". MI6.co.uk. http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/movies/tmwtgg_reviews.php3?t=tmwtgg&s=tmwtgg. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  2. ↑ "Biography for Maud Adams". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000726/bio. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  3. ↑ "James Bond Mystery SOLVED: Maud Adams Found in 'A View To A Kill'". CommanderBond.net. http://commanderbond.net/article/2410. Retrieved 2009-06-22. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 (NTSC, Widescreen, Closed-captioned) Inside The Man with the Golden Gun: The Man with the Golden Gun Ultimate Edition, Disc 2. [DVD]. MGM/UA Home Video. 2000. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 "Trivia for The Man with the Golden Gun". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071807/trivia. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  6. ↑ (NTSC, Widescreen, Closed-captioned) Inside The Spy Who Loved Me: The Spy Who Loved Me Ultimate Edition, Disc 2. [DVD]. MGM/UA Home Video. 2000. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Christopher Lee: The legendary actor on Scaramanga, Fleming and playing pure evil". Empire. 2009. http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=844. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
  8. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0115583/
  9. ↑ "Top Gear - Season 11, Episode 2 - June 29th, 2008". Final Gear.com. http://www.finalgear.com/shows/topgear/11/2/. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/m/mangolden.html
  11. ↑ http://www.ocean-liners.com/ships/queenelizabeth.asp
  12. ↑ http://www.mjnewton.demon.co.uk/bond/tmwtgg.htm
  13. ↑ Barry, John (interviewee). (2006). James Bond's Greatest Hits. [Television]. UK: North One Television. 
  14. ↑ http://www.theprodigy.info/samples/fotl.shtml
  15. ↑ [1] September 5, 2007
  16. ↑ http://www.007.info/FactfileGG.asp
  17. ↑ http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/movies/galleries/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=10441245&imageindex=11
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "The Man with the Golden Gun". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/man_with_the_golden_gun/. Retrieved 2007-09-24. 
  19. ↑ "James Bond's Top 20". IGN. 2006-11-17. http://movies.ign.com/articles/746/746573p1.html. Retrieved 2007-12-21. 
  20. ↑ Norman Wilner. "Rating the Spy Game". MSN. http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=22784.0;wap2. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 
  21. ↑ "James Bond: Ranking 21 films". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20237777_4,00.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  22. ↑ The Man with the Golden Gun, James Berardinelli
  23. ↑ Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic (Simon & Schuster, 1986) p.264
  24. ↑ Chris Nashawaty, "Moore...And Sometimes Less: A look at the most—and least—memorable bad guys, babes, and Bonds in Roger Moore's 007 oeuvre," Entertainment Weekly 1025 (December 12, 2008): 37.
  25. ↑ http://www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=007:_Quantum_of_Solace_(VG)#S.26W_686
  26. ↑ Rare. Perfect Dark. Nintendo 64.
  27. ↑ EA Los Angeles. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. (Electronic Arts). Level/area: Funhouse.
  28. ↑ Grasshopper Manufacture. killer7. (Capcom).
  29. ↑ "Bond's assassin's golden gun stolen". BBC News. 2008-10-11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7665014.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 
  30. ↑ Stephen Adams (2008-10-10). "James Bond golden gun stolen from Elstree Studios". Telegraph.co.uk (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3174163/James-Bond-golden-gun-stolen-from-Elstree-Studios.html. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 
  31. ↑ "James Bond golden gun stolen from Elstree Studios". MI6 News. http://www.mi6.co.uk/news/index.php?itemid=6837&t=mi6&s=news. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 

External links

Preceded by
Live and Let Die		 James Bond Films
1974		 Succeeded by
The Spy Who Loved Me
James Bond films
EON Productions
Dr. No (1962) · From Russia with Love (1963) · Goldfinger (1964) · Thunderball (1965) · You Only Live Twice (1967) · Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Live and Let Die (1973) · The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) · The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) · Moonraker (1979) · For Your Eyes Only (1981) · Octopussy (1983) · A View to a Kill (1985)
Non-EON films
"Casino Royale" (Climax! episode) (1954) · Casino Royale (1967) · Never Say Never Again (1983)
Films directed by Guy Hamilton
1950s
The Ringer (1952) · The Intruder (1953) · An Inspector Calls (1954) · The Colditz Story (1955) · Charley Moon (1956) · Manuela (1957) · The Devil's Disciple (1959) · A Touch of Larceny (1959)
1960s
The Best of Enemies (1961) · Man in the Middle (1963) · Goldfinger (1964) · Funeral in Berlin (1966) · Battle of Britain (1969)
1970s
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) · Live and Let Die (1973) · The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) · Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
1980s
The Mirror Crack'd (1980) · Evil Under the Sun (1982) · Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) · Try This One for Size (1989)