Bondathon: The Man with the Golden Gun

The Man with the Golden Gun is one of the most infamous films in the Bond series. It was nearly a franchise killer and ended Harry Saltzman’s relationship with the franchise. Yet The Man with the Golden Gun was still able to provide some iconic Bond moments and imagery.

MI6 is sent a golden bullet with 007 engraved on it. The bullet was sent by Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), an elite assassin who charges a million dollars a shot and MI6 believes James Bond is his next target. Bond gets taken off his mission to find a missing scientist which results in Bond going on the hunt for Scaramanga.

The Man with the Golden Gun was a notorious production. After the success of Live and Let Die United Artist demanded a follow-up film be fast-tracked. Fast-tracking a major film like this doesn’t normally go well. The Man with the Golden Gun suffered from a muddled screenplay and direction that couldn’t hold the film together.

The Man with the Golden Gun had a solid foundation to work on. This was the first Bond film since From Russia With Love where Bond faced a villain that was his equal. Scaramanga had skills that could match Bond’s, was well-spoken, and had a tragic backstory. He was a dark mirror to Bond and the franchise had great success using these types of villains in Goldeneye and Skyfall. There was potential for a darker, more psychological Bond story. But there were two major issues affecting the film.

The first issue was the film also had a bigger story involving the Energy Crisis of the early ‘70s. The filmmakers were trying to make The Man with the Golden Gun a topical edge: but what the filmmakers were really doing was trying to ram two ill-fitting pieces together. In the film the villain was a ruthless assassin who wanted to test his skills against Bond and wanted to develop solar technology and make solar weapons. Compare this to Goldeneye where the villain had a personal grudge against Bond and Britain, and this added to his reasoning to launch an EMP attack on London.

The other issue was the choice of director: Guy Hamilton. Hamilton was known for making Goldfinger and Live and Let Live, two excellent films in the franchise. But Hamilton had a light touch as a director and The Man with the Golden Gun went into some dark territory. An example of this was the character of Andrea Anders (Maud Adams), Scaramanga’s mistress, trapped in an abusive relationship. She was terrified of Scaramanga and Bond was horrible to her. Bond slapped her, nearly broke her arm, and used her to get the solar technology from Scaramanga. Bond was an arsehole and it was hard to like the character. Someone like Terence Young or Peter R. Hunt would have been a better fit for this film.

Hamilton’s natural instincts were for comedy and jovial adventure. However, some of the creative decisions were detrimental to the film. One of the worst decisions was bringing back J. W. Pepper. His presence in Live and Let Die was justifiable because some of that film did take place in Louisiana. However, his appearance in The Man with the Golden Gun was so forced because the film has a racist Southern sheriff holidaying in Thailand at the same as Bond was on a mission. His use of racial slurs was grating and uncomfortable.

Hamilton and the creative team seemed like they wanted to recreate Diamonds Are Forever, one of the worst Bond films. Like Diamonds Are Forever there was a situation in The Man with the Golden Gun where the villains could kill Bond but there’s a contrivance that prevents them from completing the deed. Britt Ekland’s Mary Goodnight was in the mould of Tiffany Case because she was a klutz who made things worse for Bond. Both Case and Goodnight were captured by the villain and had to parade around in a bikini for the final act. One of the most specific similarities was Case and Goodnight’s bums played a part in their film’s climaxes.

The quick production led to sloppy writing and directing. A great example of this was when Lieutenant Hip (Soon-Taik Oh) and his nieces save Bond from Hai Fat’s (Richard Loo) martial arts school just for them to drive off and leave Bond behind.

One of the better aspects of the film was the action scenes. There were some decent hand-to-hand fights with one scene clearly referencing the martial arts craze of the early ‘70s. The most impressive stunt was the famous corkscrew jump. There has been criticism of the scene because of the use of the slide whistle, but I had more of a problem with J. W. Pepper screaming and rolling around in the car.

Christopher Lee was able to lift the film. He gave an excellent performance and showed that even the weakest Bond films have something redeemable. Scaramanga tells Bond his dark backstory about growing up in the circus and how he got into killing. Bond and Scaramanga had an excellent scene where they have dinner together at Scaramanga’s lair and they debate the ethics of their performance. The film should have played up the psychological duel between the two.

The Golden Gun has become an iconic item from the series. It was a cool device, especially when Scaramanga had to construct it. Fans of the multiplayer in Bond video game know the Golden Gun was something to want and fear.

Bernard Lee as M deserves a mention. He gave some biting comments, and he had the funniest lines in the film when he talked about all the people who would want Bond dead.

The Man with the Golden Gun was a film that had some potential because of its basic idea and some of the character work. But it was a film that needed more time in development to resolve its storyline and close plot holes.