The Man with the Golden Gun (James Bond) [Blu-ray]
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Movie Reviews of The Man with the Golden Gun (James Bond) [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: Moore and Lee Keep It Alive
Summary: 3 Stars
Aside from the superb title song and the espresso maker gag (punchline delivered with exquisite understatement by Bernard Lee), Live and Let Die was largely a waste of celluloid. Man With the Golden Gun, on the other hand, gave me hope for the franchise. Christopher Lee as a Bond villain was an absolutely perfect casting choice, and it's rather a puzzle to me that it wasn't made much earlier in the series. And Roger Moore, for his part, was bringing the role of Bond into his comfort zone enough so that he could even pull off Bond's ruthless side - which, frankly, was seldom seen to such good effect during the rest of Moore's tenure. Herve Villechaize's Nick Nack struck me as an obvious inversion of Oddjob - but with the intriguing wrinkle of being as much of an adversary to his employer, Bond's nemesis Scaramanga, as to Bond himself, and was certainly unforgettable. These three, as actors and characters, seemed to have a rappore that was very natural and fluid, giving the film a level of easy energy that compensated for some fairly mediocre material.
Some things were cringe inducing, such as the return of the redneck sheriff from the previous film, the swallowing of the golden bullet that killed 002, and the sound effect during the signature car stunt. And there were disappointments such as the underwritten Lt. Hip, which made less than full use of Soon-Tek Oh, Maud Adam's inability to convey any of the depth of her character's motivating conflict, and Britt Ekland's airhead version of Mary Goodnight. And let's face it, staging the car chases using AMC vehicles of the period was not the best way to deliver the visual thrill these scenes deserved.
Even so, this film had some unique touches. For once the main villain confessed to perpetrating his fiendish plot using facilities and technology he didn't really understand, and kept his operation admirably bare bones in terms of personnel. Maud Adams did play her final scenes well - and I'm not begin facetious, the effect she produced was downright eerie. As for Mary Goodnight, it was refreshing that Bond's leading lady was someone he already knew from work, and that as such, instead of being shunted aside and/or killed during the proceedings, actually stayed in the game and landed the big lug. Perhaps the character's ditziness was overcompensation for the previous outing's dour Solitaire, but give credit where credit is due; no Bond girl before or since has ever shown herself so adept at opening locked car trunks.
Movie Review: Thrilling, exotic, fun, sexy...
Summary: 5 Stars
Bond is sent after the Solex Agitator - a device which can harness the power of the sun. He teams up with agent Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) against Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) - The Man with the Golden Gun. The action culminates in a duel between the two men.
The issue of energy was of big concern at the time of the energy crisis of 1973-1974, when this movie was filmed, caused by Arab manipulation of oil supply and prices, in the wake of the Arab agression of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
This is everything a James bond thriller is meant to be, lots of riveting action, and humour, sexy girls galore, and exotic locations.
The gadgets were quite ingenious for the early 70s, Britt Ekland was extremely cute and sexy as Mary Goodnight, one of the hottest Bond girls
The others being Solitaire (Jane Seymour) in Live and Let Die, Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) in The Spy Who Loved Me, Honey Rider (Ursula Andress) in Dr No, Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama) in You Only Live Twice, Bibi Dahl ( Lynn-Holly Johnson) in For Your Eyes Only, Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) in A View to a Kill, Kara Milovy (Maryam d'Abo) in The Living Daylights, Pam Bouvier (CArey Lowell) in Licence to Kill, and Jinx (Haile Berrie) in Die Another Day.
My favourite parts were when Bond stole the golden bullet charm from belly-dancing Lebanese temptress Saida (Carmen du Sautoy) in Beirut, and she cries 'I've lost my charm'. Bond quips 'Not from where I'm standing you haven't'.
The other scene where were Lieutenant Hip's (Soon-Tek Oh) nieces show their karate experise after they beat up Hai Fat's (Richard Loo) gang of goons.
Christopher Lee was one of the best villains in the series artfully portraying the psychopathic assassin Francisco Scaramanga, and his creepy midget henchman Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) combined the perfect combination of comedy and sinister wiles.
The action and intrigue takes Bond from Beirut to Macao, Hong Kong and Thailand.
All in all a classic action adventure of the series and one of the best.
Still as thrilling for audiences today as it was in 1974.
Movie Review: Perhaps the most undervalued Bond of them all
Summary: 4 Stars
The Man With the Golden Gun was producer Harry Saltzman's last hurrah before selling out his share in the Bond series to United Artists to ensure the maximum inconvenience to his detested partner Cubby Broccoli. It's certainly not premium Bond: at times it threatens to turn into an episode of The Avengers, what with Scaramanga's funhouse, his midget servant Nick Nack, its human statues or the off-kilter angles of MI6's Hong Kong HQ located in the rusting wreck of the Queen Elizabeth, not to mention Roger Moore's more Steed-like Bond. Although there are hints of the lows to come in Moore's tenure - Bond being saved by a pair of schoolgirls or defeating a villain by pretending to be a tailor's dummy - this is still recognisable an old-school Bond film, with thankfully few gadgets, although it's disappointing that the producers provide Scaramanga with an island lair and super-weapon to give Bond something to blow up at the end (a rather half-hearted effort to be sure: instead of a private army, Scaramanga simply has Herve Villachaize and a maintenance man). Britt Ekland's irritating `typical silly woman' comic relief was a bit hard to take in 1974 and gets worse with each passing year, but Christopher Lee's Scaramanga is one of the more interesting Bond villains, not least because of his imagined empathy with his prey - he regards himself as Bond's moral and professional equal, the kind of pathological snobbery Fleming's books were full of but the films increasingly abandoned.
If you only want the film rather than the extras, the remasterd single-disc is a fair bet, including the new Roger Moore audio commentary from the two-disc Ultimate Edition which reveals Moore's friendship with George Lazenby and admiration for OHMSS and the reason his first scene had to be somewhat obviously dubbed later (a noisy bout of stomach ache!).
Movie Review: great underated Bond film...
Summary: 5 Stars
This Bond film does not have a lot of gadgets but it excels in good acting (Chris Lee is great) and scenery which is really great. This is a movie that kept the viewer glued to its chair without a lot of action scenes or technological stuff. Overall a great enjoyable movie.Movie Review: Under-rated Moore Entry Delivers the Goods.
Summary: 4 Stars
When 007 finds out he is on famed assassin Francisco Scaramanga's hit list, he sets off to find him. His mission leads him to Hong Kong, Bangkok and China where he gets mixed up with Scaramanga's beautiful but doomed girlfriend Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's pint-sized side-kick Nick Nack before coming face to face with the killer himself.
As a kid, I remember "The Man With The Golden Gun" was one of my least favorite film in the series. Having recently rewatched it, I remember why I disliked this film so much and his name is Hervé Villechaize. I was never of fan of this small actor and it was due largely to his TV show "Fantasy Island" which I despised for reasons I cannot recall at this time. Well fast forward 20 years later and although I still find the character of Nick Nack a bit on the annoying side, it did not keep me from enjoying this entertaining film. The action sequences are there, although technically less extravagant than the action scenes of other Bond films (the amazing spiral jump seen in the latter half of the film is the exception) and the exotic location shots are beautiful to behold (the opening shot is especially gorgeous).
The sinister Christopher Lee whom I watched as a kid in the Hammer Dracula movies, remains one of the most likable villians in a Bond film. Unlike previous villians, Lee's Scaramanga towers over Bond and is cool, cunning, charming yet lethal. He also has some of the best lines in the film which Roger Moore admits to almost with envy in his video commentary. Swedish beauty Maude Adams is stunning although a little stiff in her short turn as Scaramanga's ill-fated lover (she would return to the franchise in 1983 as the title character in "Octopussy") and another Swedish babe, Britt Ekland is at her charming best as 007's partner in crime Mary Goodnight who brings some comedy relief and looks smashing in a bikini. Many people have criticized this film due to it's more than abundant humour. I do not find this a problem at all and think that 007's (via Roger Moore) tongue-and-cheek humour just adds to the enjoyment factor and I did not find it at all distracting (J.W Pepper excluded) as I did in Connery's "Diamonds are Forever" (one of my least favourite in the series) released a few years prior. I have always been a fan of Roger Moore. Maybe it's because I grew up with his films and therefore they remain my favorites but I also like what he brought to the role of 007; charm, wit, humour and his low bass/baritone voice and delivery is in my opinion, perfectly suited for the character. He tackles the role of James Bond here with ease and his wit is more evident here than any of his other outings as 007. Yet despite his charming, friendly demeanor, Moore's Bond remains ruthless as is clearly evident when he twists Ms Anders' (Maude Adams) arm in her hotel room ("You're hurting me") and then slaps her when she refuses to co-operate.
As mentioned previously, the film delivers the goods as far as the action is concerned. There is a boat chase, a wildly amusing car chase (although it would have been better without the presence of Sheriff J.W Pepper), explosions, and some interesting fight scenes. The best being the karate fight that erupts when Bond escapes from the karate school he was being held prisoner in. The final showdown between Scaramanga and 007 is also interesting although I would have preferred Nick Nack meet the same fate as his charismatic boss.
Having recently seen that atrocious, CGI-infested cheese-fest "Die Another Day" for the first time, this laid back 007 entry is a refreshing change and I cannot tell you how much I prefer these films over the current sci-fi CGI extravaganzas. I personally find this film ridiculously under-rated and having recently rewatched it, I find it to be one of the better entries in the never-ending series. It may not be the best even by Moore's standards but I find it vastly superior to "You Only Live Twice", "Diamonds Are Forever" and the over-dressed turkey that is "Die Another Day". This film deserves a second chance; highly recommended.