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)
Homme au pistolet d'or, L' (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
007 - O Homem da Pistola Dourada (Portugal) [pt]
007 Contra o Homem com a Pistola de Ouro (Brazil) [pt]
007 ja kultainen ase (Finland) [fi]
Agente 007, l'uomo dalla pistola d'oro (Italy) [it]
Altin tabancali adam (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Czlowiek ze zlotym pistoletem (Poland) [pl]
Hombre de la pistola de oro, El (Spain) [es]
Hombre del revólver de oro, El (Argentina) [es]
Home de la pistola d'or, L' (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Ish Ba'al Ekdah Ha-Zahav, Ha- (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
James Bond 007 - Der Mann mit dem goldenen Colt (West Germany) [de]
James Bond, praktor 007: O anthropos me to hryso pistoli (Greece) [el]
James Bond: O anthropos me to hryso pistoli (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
Manden med den gyldne pistol (Denmark) [da]
Mannen med den gyldne pistol (Norway) [no]
Mannen med den gyllene pistolen (Sweden) [sv]

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Thai

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | UK:PG (1987) (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Brazil:12 | Iceland:L | USA:PG (certificate no. 24040) | 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:

The brand of sparkling white wine that James Bond and Mary Goodnight have at dinner in Bangkok was a Phuyuck '74. The wine bottle's label says that it is manufactured by Anand Products Co. Ltd. of Bangkok, Thailand.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Absolute zero cannot be "maintained" since it has never been "reached". Even if that was permissible in the movie, it wouldn't require a man's body temperature to raise it, as the temperature of the surrounding air would already have done the trick.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy: Pop Goes the Ed (#1.4)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

The Man With The Golden Gun

Underrated Moore Bond

Altho there's a lot of hate for this second Moore 007, I never understood it. For a change, most of the witty dialogue works well. I think it's one of Moore's best Bond performances.

So let's break it down: The Good: - Roger Moore is witty and action ready. His fight scene in the belly dancer's room is pretty good. Tough and violent. Don't know about that cigar, but it adds a little extra somethin'.

- Herve Villechieze as Knick Knack. Not threatening, but a fun memorable sidekick with lots of playful malevolence. I love it when he shushes Bond.

- Christopher Lee. Nuff said, tho they didn't build up this character to the level they could have. Where are those deleted scenes between him and Moore (from the trailer and photos)that obviously exist?

- John Barry. Yes, Lulu's song is ridiculous. Still, I love the brassy music and this is one of Barry's most memorable catchy Bond scores. Especially during the karate scenes and the jazzy swing of Scaramenga's fun parlor.

- Kung fu. The Bond films always lucked out when it came to latching onto the culture of the day. 1974 was the height of kung fu exploitation and Bond was there. Still have BLACK BELT magazine featuring this on the cover...

The Bad: - Miss Goodnight. Giving Bond a ditzy helper...well, bad night.

- Lack of compelling plot. The energy cell and Scaramanga are too loosely tied together and the film shouldn't have tried to pull a Blofeld at the end.

- Production design. Ken Adams is sorely missing here. And what's with that ONE GUARD in the massive solar laser set? Missed opportunity there.

The Ugly: - JW Pepper.

- Slide whistle.