Christopher Lee is a good addition as a villain and Nick Nack is a fun henchmen. This is a little too silly.
So far these Roger Moore flicks are pretty damn fun.
"You see, Mr. Bond, like every great artist, I want to create an indisputable masterpiece once in my lifetime; the death of 007".
In my opinion, 'The Man with the Golden Gun' is a solid Bond film with great action and a good theme song. But the biggest thing that held this movie down for me was the main character himself James Bond. At the start of the movie he was such a big jerk, like he tried to break a girl arm to try to get answers out of but she didn't know nothing, but as the film went on he wasn't such a jerk like the beginning of the film. I got to admit, I actually liked Roger Moore as James Bond in this film, as he felt like Bond towards their end of the film. The villain in this movie was so good and so interesting, and Christopher Lee played him so well. The visual effect's in this movie was well done and for a movie that was released in 1974, it had some pretty nice effect's.
Overall rating: A solid Bond flick with a great villain and a good theme song.
A nice return to form for the series, after wading in cheese up to their knees with the preceding Live and Let Die. It won't be giving From Russia With Love or Goldfinger a run for their money, but as the back-to-basics reality check that the series so desperately needed, this is more than acceptable.
Roger Moore confidently plays a tougher, more businesslike Bond this time around, and spends most of the production flexing his detective chops in search of a rival assassin with nothing more to go on than the color of his weapon and a quick, curious nipple count. Stocked with fresh, exotic locales, skimpy beauties dressed for the beach, an adequate number of wacky, themed sidekicks (as in, less than the full dozen of the former picture) and a cool, legitimate master threat, this is pretty much the root formula for a good adventure with 007.
Occasionally it gives in to a passion for pointless boat chases, and a few bad remnants of the era rear their head at inopportune moments (what was with the slide whistle during that massive car jump?) but such silly bits of self-indulgence are a part of the franchise's heritage at this point. Excellent work by Christopher Lee as the quirky titular assassin nudges this into the top half of Bond's catalog.
This is an enjoyable fun movie, not really the most sinister of plots as such; a hitman kind of stumbles on a plan to hold the world hostage for solar power - very very topical at the time it was made. The inclusion of the sunken ship, also very topical at the time it was made.
Moore is more whimsical then previously, whilst his Bond Girl [can we say that in metoo times] is pretty useless on any level; she berates him for suggesting she be a one night stand and then immediately changes her mind
The James Bond Films
1 Eon films
1.1 Dr. No (1962) https://trakt.tv/movies/dr-no-1962
1.2 From Russia with Love (1963) https://trakt.tv/movies/from-russia-with-love-1963
1.3 Goldfinger (1964) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldfinger-1964
1.4 Thunderball (1965) https://trakt.tv/movies/thunderball-1965
1.5 You Only Live Twice (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/you-only-live-twice-1967
1.6 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) https://trakt.tv/movies/on-her-majesty-s-secret-service-1969
1.7 Diamonds Are Forever (1971) https://trakt.tv/movies/diamonds-are-forever-1971
1.8 Live and Let Die (1973) https://trakt.tv/movies/live-and-let-die-1973
1.9 The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974
1.10 The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-spy-who-loved-me-1977
1.11 Moonraker (1979) https://trakt.tv/movies/moonraker-1979
1.12 For Your Eyes Only (1981) https://trakt.tv/movies/for-your-eyes-only-1981
1.13 Octopussy (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/octopussy-1983
1.14 A View to a Kill (1985) https://trakt.tv/movies/a-view-to-a-kill-1985
1.15 The Living Daylights (1987) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-living-daylights-1987
1.16 Licence to Kill (1989) https://trakt.tv/movies/licence-to-kill-1989
1.17 GoldenEye (1995) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldeneye-1995
1.18 Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) https://trakt.tv/movies/tomorrow-never-dies-1997
1.19 The World Is Not Enough (1999) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-world-is-not-enough-1999
1.20 Die Another Day (2002) https://trakt.tv/movies/die-another-day-2002
1.21 Casino Royale (2006) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-2006
1.22 Quantum of Solace (2008) https://trakt.tv/movies/quantum-of-solace-2008
1.23 Skyfall (2012) https://trakt.tv/movies/skyfall-2012
1.24 Spectre (2015) https://trakt.tv/movies/spectre-2015
1.25 No Time to Die (2021) https://trakt.tv/movies/no-time-to-die-2021
2 Non-Eon films
2.1 Casino Royale (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-1967
2.2 Never Say Never Again (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/never-say-never-again-1983
Roger Moore returns for the ninth film in the series. Bond gets a golden bullet in the mail with his name on it and takes it to be a threat from Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), an assassin who has a golden gun. Bonds sets off to find him and take him out before Scaramanga does the same to him.
This is a decent premise. Bond is anything but a secret agent at this point so it makes sense that someone would know who he is and want him dead. A battle of wits wouldn’t hurt after eight films following the same basic template.
How, then, does this end up being one of the worst films we’ve seen so far?
Whilst the light hearted tone sort-of worked in Live and Let Die, here things go way over the line. They give the villain three nipples, and we see them. There’s an entire scene with the clutzy sheriff from the last film. Bond gives someone a monster wedgie. The list goes on. None of this is funny at all. Not even in the “so bad it’s good” sense. It is boring, sloppy film making.
One scene sums up the whole film nicely. Towards the end Bond gets into a car chase and they pull off a very impressive 360 flip in a car. It’s an incredibly difficult stunt to do, but here it’s flawless. Why then, did they play a swanee whistle over the top? They had ONE good scene, and they pissed all over it.
The performances are lacklustre. Moore has dropped the charm and carefree attitude of the last film and instead tries to channel Sean Connery’s brute-ish persona. This does not work for him and gives Bond a slightly unpleasant tone.
Christopher Lee does manage to generate some interest in his wealthy hitman character, but he’s a bit of a ham. In a different setting he would have been a good villain but here he’s carrying the film, and it stands out too much.
Nobody wants to watch two old men floundering about yet Hamilton seems only too happy to provide this.
Britt Ekland plays the female lead, MI6 agent Mary Goodnight. She has striking good looks that stand out on-screen however she gets royally screwed by the writers who have her play a moronic, clumsy, dim-witted blonde. It makes her unappealing and makes it difficult for Moore to act alongside her; unlike Connery he’s better when he charms women that are smarter than him into doing things, rather than just slapping them about like part of the furniture.
Once again they are ignoring the fact that the most entertaining & compelling women in these films are those who can stand alone.
It wasn’t just Ekland who lost out, The Man with the Golden Gun is so sadistically boring we are lulled to sleep as an audience.
Much like how they tried to mimic the popular blaxploitation genre last time round, here they are going after Kung-Fu movies. It’s a shit-show of epic proportions. It’s hard to tell if this is parody or just a shameless knock-off, but it doesn’t matter; there are 30 minutes of dreary fight scenes that could have been cut straight out of the film.
It doesn’t help that the whole thing revolves around a solar death cannon, again. This time it’s “harnessing solar power” and the laser is on the ground rather than in space, but it’s still sun-based shit that makes other shit explode.
Even the MacGuffin looks like a cassette tape, the same device used in Diamonds are Forever.
The only difference is that Scaramanga killed the inventor of the machine, and now doesn’t know how it works or how to operate it. Bond seems to be an expert on the subject however. This is a sort-of funny idea but it doesn’t exactly make for a thrilling climax…
Nothing works in this film. The music (worst theme tune so far by quite some way), the direction, the editing - it’s all second-rate work made in too much of a hurry.
At this point it would not have been surprising if they had pulled the plug on the whole thing. The franchise showed promise with Moore’s new Bond, but it’s taken a real nose-dive here. The Man with the Golden Gun is forgettable dross; not fun, not clever and not entertaining in the slightest.
http://benoliver999.com/film/2015/06/10/themanwiththegoldengun/
This is the weakest Bond film in the Roger Moore era by a long shot, but it is definitely leaps and bounds better than Connery's weakest (Thunderball).
The weaknesses in this film do lie at Richard Maibaum's feet as he tried his hardest to turn Roger Moore into Sean Connery, but Roger Moore looked visually uncomfortable at times, especially during the scene when he had to slap Maud Adams around. But Christopher Lee does his best to save this film as he seems to be having a lot of fun in every scene he appears.
The Bond Girl, Mary Goodnight, is the worst I've ever seen as Mary Goodnight has no reason for being as stupid as she is due to her being an MI6 agent.
Also, the theme song is one of the worst I have ever heard as the hard sound doesn't go well with Lulu's vocals and almost makes me think Lulu can't sing when she was probably a fairly talented singer.
One of the best with Roger Moore.
Love to see Saruman in his earlier days.
Another solid Roger Moore outing that is cementing the Bond vibe in the post Connery era. Will not likely be one I am diving back in to rewatch frequently, but it is quality and glad to see the "formula" is starting to fall in place.
Rating: 2.5/5 - 70% - Worth Watching
Well in line for what a Bond movie ought to be.
A cool villain plaed by the amazing Christopher Lee who can't really diplay all his acting skills but for me ranks second behind Froebe's Goldfinger so far.
Two (!) swedish Bond girls. Althought they killed off the wrong one once again.
Great action scenes. Granted, the boat chase feels a bit repetitive especially with Sheriff Pepper appearing again. But we get one of the best car stunts in movie history and a Fantomas inspired escape that might actually work.
Cool sets and locations. I espcially like the QE wreck.
The story itself certainly isn't worse than many other Bond movies and is once more on the side of believability.
Quite entertaining alltogether.
Back in the day, I really enjoyed the James Bond movies, especially the ones starring Roger Moore. These days, however, they're getting more and more difficult for me to sit through (1) because they're such lengthy movies and don't hold my attention nearly as well and (2) they seem much more juvenile and silly nowadays. The Man With the Golden Gun was no exception, in spite of Roger Moore and Christopher Lee (another favorite). Just completely silly at many times with seemingly no interest at all in being a true "espionage and intrigue" story. Maybe I missed it (wouldn't be the first time) but for some reason, I always thought the James Bond 007 stories were geared towards just that: espionage and intrigue, a little action, a little daring thrown in (and of course the perennial love scenes with the smitten females swooning at Bond's feet). But rewatching these recently, they seem to be almost juvenile, silly... Case in point here was the idiotic sheriff's reappearance from Live and Let Die among other scenes. The "Evel Knievel" stunt (which also included a screaming sheriff) was incredibly ludicrous, and the "chase the midget" scene in the closing moments was something you would expect to see in a Three Stooges or Little Rascals episode…not a James Bond movie. I still have absolutely no idea what the plot was here (okay, there was a villain who owned a "golden gun", that much I got…but what was HIS story, and why was he out to kill James Bond? I still don't know…) I will continue watching them with the hope that they improve. I did miss Q and his gadgets in this particular movie (Q was here, but none of his unique gadgetry.) but I'm not sure anything would have improved this particular story. A solid "Meh" in my opinion.
I liked it more than when I first saw it. I see Roger Moore more settled as Bond
A few good puns and a good performance by Christopher Lee can't save this from being one of the most boring Bond adventures yet. Bond and Scaramanga chase each other throughout Hong Kong and Bangkok and... something, something Solar Energy... something something, To be honest, the film tries to make so much from nothing that it's so hard to tell which ones are actually relevant.
Bond is off to the Far East for high adventure in The Man With the Golden Gun. James Bond is marked for death by the world’s deadliest assassin, Francisco Scaramanga, when he’s sent a golden bullet with his number on it, forcing him to hunt down Scaramanga before Scaramanga kills him. One of the most beloved Bond henchmen, Nick Nack, makes his appearance and brings a lot of fun to the film. And, Christopher Lee delivers a strong performance as Scaramanga. But the story is all over the place, and the supporting characters are more distracting than supporting. Yet as messy as The Man With the Golden Gun is, it’s still an exciting film that’s full of campy fun.
Loved this movie.... a bullet with your name on it is always a bad sign especially when it is Christoper Lee as Scaramanga that is after you. This movie is nostalgic for me watching it many times in the 70’s as a child and never really understanding it. Great watch and fun as the Bond movies go.
The lack of action leading to Bond comedy.
'The Man With the Golden Gun' remains thin and obvious 007 extravaganza with conventional expensive excitements... The boat and car chases merely reprise sequences in both 'Live and Let Die' and 'Diamonds Are Forever.'
Just to be frank, I think this is one of the worst movies in the franchise. Now, I do enjoy watching it, but in a 'that was hilariously bad' kinda way. It's a shame though, because Christopher Lee is great in it. I do actually think he is a great villain for Bond, its just that they gave him a stupid plan instead of keeping it as simple as him wanting to kill 007.
Primary problems are a terrible Bond girl, dumb plot points, and SHERIFF JW PEPPER returning. Seriously, a terrible character from the last movie just shows up again. Oh, he's taking vacation across the world at the same time that Bond is there on a mission. Yea, sure that makes perfect sense. Then they do an awesome car flip and ruin it with a dumb sound.
I still enjoy watching it though. I mean, it is still a Bond movie.
Solid bond movie but not as good as the the previous ones ("Diamonds Are Forever" and "Live and Let Die").
Shout by PorterUkVIP 5BlockedParent2021-04-02T09:25:13Z
In the running for the strongest Moore movie... and one of the most enjoyable.
It's a decent plot (somewhat believable) and it moves along at a decent clip. There's good use of locations to keep it gritty. And the car carnage is high but fitting with the storyline.
The use of the Louisiana Sheriff comes down to personal taste. I just about let them off when the famous corkscrew stunt was performed.
Nick Nack is a great comedy Bond villain, something Moore's films really invented.
I enjoyed this after a few relative duds in a row.
7.75/10