The Man with the Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun is a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming.
Fleming died before a final draft of the manuscript was completed (it was never a "lost" manuscript as some sources have suggested), and edited by others, reportedly including Kingsley Amis, before publication. It is also the ninth official James Bond movie and the second to star Roger Moore as British Secret Service agent, Commander James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and made by EON Productions. It was released in 1974.
Plot Summary
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
The title character is Francisco Scaramanga, a high-priced assassin (US$1 million per hit) and adversary of Bond. Nothing is really known about Scaramanga in the beginning of the film except that he has a third nipple, information which Bond later uses to get in touch with Scaramanga's financer, Hai Fat.
The movie begins with a golden bullet that had Bond's number etched into it being sent to MI6. At the time it was believed that Scaramanga, the famous assassin, had been hired to assassinate James Bond. Because of this M removes Bond from his current mission and forces him to resign until this matter is resolved. His current mission revolved around the work of a scientist named Gibson, who was thought to be the key to solving the energy crisis by creating an unlimited amount of energy from solar power.
When James Bond investigates the contract put on him he finds that it wasn't really on him, but on Gibson, the scientist Bond was previously assigned to. Immediately after the hit, but before Bond could get to Gibson's body, Scaramanga had stolen the "solex agitator", an important piece of hardware that made the entire solar energy invention work. It's Bond's mission to retrieve the solex agitator and duel it out with Scaramanga before Scaramanaga sells the solex to the highest criminal bidder or to an oil company looking to destroy the technology to keep the demand for oil and gas high.
Very little of the movie's story is taken from Fleming's novel, in which Bond, recently recovered from being brainwashed by the Russians and attempting to assassinate M, is given a chance to redeem himself by infiltrating a criminal organization run by one "Pistols" Scaramanga.
Theme Music
The theme tune, The Man With The Golden Gun, was performed by Lulu. The soundtrack was composed by Bond veteran John Barry. At the time, it was Barry's seventh Bond movie.
Vehicles & Gadgets
- AMC Hornet Hatchback - Bond steals this car in Hong Kong, unknowing that Sheriff J.W. Pepper was in it looking to test drive it.
- Car Plane - During a car chase, Scaramanga's car disappears in a shed for some time. When it emerges it has a wings attached to the car that allows the car to fly away.
- The Golden Gun - Scaramanga's weapon of choice, it could fire a 4.2 caliber golden bullet specially made for the gun. The gun also separated into a gold cigarette lighter, a gold cigarette case, a gold cuff link, and a gold pen as to evade security.
Locations
One of the more interesting locations is the use of a sunken cruise liner, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, as a secret MI6 base in Hong Kong harbor.
Cast & Characters
- Written By: Ian Fleming
- Screenplay By: Richard Maibaum, Albert R. Broccoli, John Barry
This is the first of three movies to either star or have a cameo by Maud Adams. In 1983 she plays a different character, Octopussy in the film of the same name. She would later have a cameo in the Bond movie A View To A Kill. This is also the second movie with Clifton James playing the role of Sheriff J.W. Pepper. He first appeared in Live and Let Die.
Trivia
- Christopher Lee is Ian Fleming's cousin and was Fleming's pick to play the role of Dr. Julius No in the film Dr. No. According to some Bond film historians, Lee was also considered for the role of Bond as well.
- In the video game GoldenEye the Golden Gun would count for an instant kill, which reflected that the villain Scaramanga never missed.
- This was the final film produced by the Albert R. Broccolli and Harry Saltzman partnership. A financial disappointment, the movie nearly marked the end of the Bond film series as Broccolli and Saltzman broke up and legal wrangling delayed the start of the next Bond film for quite awhile. The three-year interval between this film and The Spy Who Loved Me was the longest to date.
- This film was criticisized that, in addition to the perceived faults of production, it had the most sexist attitude in the series with James Bond's assistant, Mary Goodnight, being a stereotypical blond buffoon who was useless to Bond. On the other hand, when Bond was fleeing an enemy dojo chased by martial artists, he offered to protect two girls who were being menaced by them, only to have them demonstrate their superior fighting skills by easily thrashing Bond's pursuers.
See Also
Hong Kong in films
