| The Man with the Golden Gun | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byRobert McGinnis | |
| Directed by | Guy Hamilton |
| Screenplay by | Richard Maibaum Tom Mankiewicz |
| Based on | The Man with the Golden Gun byIan Fleming |
| Produced by | Albert R. Broccoli Harry Saltzman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Ted Moore Oswald Morris |
| Edited by | Raymond Poulton John Shirley |
| Music by | John Barry |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 125 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom[1] United States[2] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7 million |
| Box office | $97.6 million |
The Man with the Golden Gun is a 1974spy film, the ninth in theJames Bond series produced byEon Productions and the second to starRoger Moore as the fictionalMI6 agentJames Bond. A loose adaptation ofIan Fleming's posthumously published 1965novel of the same name, the film has Bond sent after the Solex Agitator, a breakthrough technological solution tocontemporary energy shortages, while in a game of cat and mouse facing the assassinFrancisco Scaramanga, the "Man with the Golden Gun". The action culminates in a duel between them that settles the fate of the Solex.
The Man with the Golden Gun was the fourth and final film in the series directed byGuy Hamilton. The script was written byRichard Maibaum andTom Mankiewicz. The film was set in the face of the1973 energy crisis, a dominant theme in the script; Britain had still not yet fully overcome the crisis when the film was released in December 1974. The film also reflects the then-popularmartial arts film craze, with severalkung fu scenes and a predominantly Asian location, being set and shot inThailand,Hong Kong, andMacau. Part of the film is also set inBeirut, Lebanon, but it was not shot there.
The film received mixed reviews from critics, who described it as the lowest point in the canon up to that time.Christopher Lee's portrayal of Scaramanga as a villain of similar skill and ability to Bond was praised, but reviewers criticised the film as a whole, particularly its comedic approach and Britt Ekland's performance. Whilst profitable, the film is the fourth lowest-grossing in the series, and its relatively modest returns by comparison with those ofLive and Let Die (1973) reportedly placed the continuation of the franchise in jeopardy.[3]
The Man with the Golden Gun was the last Bond film to be co-produced byAlbert R. Broccoli andHarry Saltzman, with Saltzman selling his 50% stake inDanjaq, LLC, the parent company of Eon Productions, after the release of the film. The series would go on a hiatus untilThe Spy Who Loved Me in 1977.
An American gangster, Rodney, visits famed crack shot hitmanFrancisco Scaramanga to kill him and collect a bounty, but he is directed into afunhouse section of the estate, where Scaramanga eventually retrieves his golden gun and kills him.
In London, a golden bullet etched with '007' is received byMI6; it is believed to have been sent by Scaramanga. Because no one knows of his appearance outside of having athird nipple,M relieves Bond of his current mission involving the location of a solar energy scientist named Gibson.
At a hint from Moneypenny, Bond sets out unofficially to locate Scaramanga, first by retrieving a spent golden bullet from abelly dancer inBeirut. He traces the bullet to a gun maker inMacau, and forces him to reveal how he ships the bullets. Bond follows the shipment carried to Hong Kong by Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's mistress. In herPeninsula Hotel room, he coerces her to expose information about Scaramanga, his appearance and his plans. She directs Bond to theBottoms Up Club where Scaramanga snipes Gibson when he steps outside, and Scaramanga'smidget assistant Nick Nack steals a small device called the Solex Agitator off his body. Bond, who had pulled out his pistol outside the club, is arrested by Hong Kong police lieutenant Hip. But instead of going to the station, he is transported to the wreck ofRMS Queen Elizabeth in the harbour where he meets M and Q, and is assigned to work with Hip to retrieve the Solex.
Bond travels toBangkok to meet Hai Fat, a wealthy Thai entrepreneur suspected of arranging Gibson's murder. Posing as Scaramanga by showing off his fake third nipple, Bond is invited to dinner, but his plan backfires because, unbeknownst to him, Scaramanga himself is operating at Fat's estate. Bond is captured and taken to Fat's martial arts academy, where the students duel to the death and then are instructed to kill him. Bond battles high grade scholar Chula. Escaping with the aid of Hip and his nieces, Bond speeds away on along-tail boat along the river, and reunites with his assistant, Mary Goodnight. Scaramanga subsequently kills Fat with his golden gun and assumes control of his empire and the Solex.
Anders reveals to Bond that she sent the bullet to London. She wants him to kill Scaramanga, and promises to give him the Solex as they spend the night together. At aMuay Thai event the next day, Bond finds Anders sitting and staring silently, dead from a bullet to the heart. Scaramanga arrives and introduces himself to Bond, but Bond is able to smuggle the Solex to Hip, who passes it to Goodnight. When Goodnight follows Nick Nack to place ahoming device on Scaramanga's car, Scaramanga traps her in thecar's boot. Bond discovers Scaramanga driving off and steals anAMC Hornet from a showroom to give chase, coincidentally with the holidayingJ.W. Pepper (theLouisianan sheriff Bond encountered inLive and Let Die) sitting inside. The chase concludes when Scaramanga'sAMC Matador hides in a building and then transforms into a plane that flies off.
Tracking Goodnight'shoming beacon, Bond takes aRC-3 Seabee seaplane and flies to Scaramanga's island in theRed Chinese waters. Scaramanga shows Bond thesolar power plant facility that he has obtained from Hai Fat, the technology for which he intends to sell to the highest bidder. While demonstrating the equipment, Scaramanga uses the solar-powered energy beam to destroy Bond's seaplane, preventing him from escaping.
During lunch, Scaramanga proposes apistol duel with Bond on the beach. With Nick Nack officiating, the two men take twenty paces, but when Bond turns and fires, Scaramanga has vanished. Nick Nack leads Bond into Scaramanga's manor and funhouse section. Bond eventually outwits and kills Scaramanga by posing as his mannequin. Goodnight kills Scaramanga's security chief Kra, but the latter's fall into aliquid helium vat causes the plant's temperature to spiral out of control. Bond retrieves the Solex unit just before the plant is destroyed, and they escape unharmed in Scaramanga'sChinese junk. After Bond fends off a final attack by Nick Nack, he romances Goodnight.
Other, uncredited cast members includeMichael Goodliffe asBill Tanner, MI6's Chief of Staff;Sonny Caldinez[18] as Kra, Scaramanga's security chief; Joie Vejjajiva andYuen Qiu[19][20] as Hip's nieces Cha and Nara, andThohsaphol Sitiwatjana[21] as a martial arts student.
Albert R. Broccoli andHarry Saltzman intended to followYou Only Live Twice withThe Man with the Golden Gun, inviting Roger Moore to the Bond role. However, filming was planned in Cambodia, and theSamlaut Uprising combined with Moore's commitments inThe Saint,[22][23] made filming impractical, leading to the production being canceled.[23]On Her Majesty's Secret Service was produced instead withGeorge Lazenby as Bond. Lazenby's next Bond film, Saltzman told a reporter, would be eitherThe Man with the Golden Gun orDiamonds Are Forever. The producers chose the latter title, with Sean Connery returning as Bond after Lazenby's resignation.[24]
United Artists greenlit another James Bond film after viewing dailies of Moore's performance inLive and Let Die.[25] Broccoli and Saltzman then decided to start production onThe Man with the Golden Gun afterLive and Let Die.[26] This was the final Bond film to be co-produced by Saltzman as his partnership with Broccoli was dissolved after the film's release. Saltzman sold his 50% stake in Eon Productions's parent company, Danjaq, LLC, toUnited Artists to alleviate his financial problems.[27] The resulting legalities over the Bond property delayed production of the next Bond film,The Spy Who Loved Me, for three years.[28]
The novel is mostly set in Jamaica, a location which had been already used in the earlier films,Dr. No andLive and Let Die;The Man with the Golden Gun saw a change in location to put Bond in either theFar East or theMiddle East for the second time.[25][29] After consideringBeirut, where part of the film is set;[30]Israel;Iran, where thelocation scouting was done but eventually discarded because of theYom Kippur War;[31] and theHạ Long Bay inNorth Vietnam; the production team chose Thailand as a primary location, following a suggestion of production designerPeter Murton after he saw pictures of thePhuket bay in a magazine.[26] Saltzman was happy with the choice of the Far East for the setting as he had always wanted to go on location in Thailand and Hong Kong.[32] During the reconnaissance of locations in Hong Kong, Broccoli saw the wreckage of the formerRMS Queen Elizabeth and came up with the idea of using it as the base for MI6's Far East operations.[30]
Tom Mankiewicz wrote the first draft for the script in 1973, delivering a script that was a battle of wills between Bond and Scaramanga, who he saw as Bond's alter ego, "a super-villain of the stature of Bond himself".[33] Tensions between Mankiewicz and Guy Hamilton[34] and Mankiewicz's growing sense that he was "feeling really tapped out on Bond" led to the re-introduction ofRichard Maibaum as the Bond screenwriter.[35]
Maibaum, who had worked on six Bond films previously, delivered his own draft based on Mankiewicz's work.[26] Much of the plot involving Scaramanga being Bond's equal was sidelined in later drafts.[36] For one of the two main aspects of the plot, the screenwriters used the1973 energy crisis as a backdrop to the film,[37] allowing theMacGuffin of the "Solex agitator" to be introduced; Broccoli's stepsonMichael G. Wilson researched solar power to create the Solex.[26]
WhileLive and Let Die had borrowed heavily from theblaxploitation genre,[38]The Man with the Golden Gun borrowed from themartial arts genre[39] that was popular in the 1970s through films such asFist of Fury (1972) andEnter the Dragon (1973).[40] However, the use of the martial arts for a fight scene in the film "lapses into incredibility" when Lt Hip and his two nieces defeat an entiredojo.[33]
Originally, the role of Scaramanga was offered toJack Palance, but he turned the opportunity down.[41]Christopher Lee, who was eventually chosen to portray Scaramanga, wasIan Fleming's step-cousin and Fleming had suggested Lee for the role ofDr. Julius No in the 1962 series openerDr. No. Lee noted that Fleming was a forgetful man and by the time he mentioned this to Broccoli and Saltzman they had castJoseph Wiseman in the part.[42] Due to filming on location inBangkok, his role in the film affected Lee's work the following year, as directorKen Russell was unable to sign Lee to play The Specialist in the 1975 filmTommy, a part eventually given toJack Nicholson.[43]
Two Swedish models were cast as theBond girls,Britt Ekland andMaud Adams. Ekland had been interested in playing a Bond girl since she had seenDr. No, and contacted the producers about the main role of Mary Goodnight.[26] Hamilton met Adams in New York, and cast her because "she was elegant and beautiful that it seemed to me she was the perfect Bond girl".[11] When Ekland read the news that Adams had been cast forThe Man with the Golden Gun, she became upset, thinking Adams had been selected to play Goodnight. Broccoli then called Ekland to invite her for the main role,[26] as after seeing her in a film, Broccoli thought Ekland's "generous looks" made her a good contrast to Adams.[11] Hamilton decided to put Marc Lawrence, whom he had worked with onDiamonds Are Forever, to play a gangster shot dead by Scaramanga at the start of the film because he found it an interesting idea to "put sort of a Chicago gangster in the middle of Thailand".[11]
Filming commenced on 6 November 1973 at the partly submerged wreck of theRMSQueen Elizabeth, which acted as a top-secret MI6 base grounded inVictoria Harbour inHong Kong.[44] The crew was small, and a stunt double was used for James Bond. Other Hong Kong locations included theHong Kong Dragon Garden as the estate ofHai Fat, which portrayed a location inBangkok.[45] The major part ofprincipal photography started on 18 April 1974 in Thailand.[26][46] Thai locations includedBangkok,Thonburi,Phuket and nearbyPhang Nga Province, on the islands ofKo Khao Phing Kan (Thai:เกาะเขาพิงกัน) andKo Tapu (Thai:เกาะตะปู).[47][30] Scaramanga's hideout is on Ko Khao Phing Kan, and Ko Tapu is often now referred to as "James Bond Island" both by locals and in tourist guidebooks.[48] The scene during the boxing match used an actualMuay Thai fixture atLumpinee Boxing Stadium.[30] The car chase in Bangkok was filmed near thekhlong on Krung Kasem Road.[49]
Production returned in late-April to Hong Kong, followed by filming in Macau for its famouscasinos, which Hong Kong lacks.[26][16] Some scenes in Thailand had to be finished, and production had to move to studio work inPinewood Studios; this included sets such as Scaramanga's solar energy plant and island interior.Academy Award-winning cinematographerOswald Morris was hired as a replacement forTed Moore, who fell ill during the shoot.[50] Morris was initially reluctant, as he did not like his previous experiences with taking over other cinematographers' work, but accepted after dining with Broccoli.[51] Production wrapped in Pinewood in August 1974.[16]
Bond's duel with Scaramanga, which Mankewicz said was inspired by the climactic faceoff inShane, was shortened as the producers felt it was causing pacing problems. The trailers featured some of the cut scenes.[16]
Hamilton adapted an idea of his involving Bond inDisneyland for Scaramanga's funhouse. The funhouse was designed to be a place where Scaramanga could get the upper hand by distracting the adversary with obstacles,[11] and was described by Murton as a "melting pot of ideas" which made it "both a funhouse and a horror house".[52] While an actual wax figure of Roger Moore was used, Moore's stunt double Les Crawford was the cowboy figure, and Ray Marione played the Al Capone figure. Thecanted sets such as the funhouse and theQueen Elizabeth had inspiration fromGerman expressionist films such asThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.[16] For Scaramanga's solar power plant, Hamilton used both the Pinewood set and a miniature projected byDerek Meddings, often cutting between each other to show there was no discernible difference.[11] The destruction of the facility was a combination of practical effects on the set and destroying the miniature.[26] Meddings based the island blowing up on footage of theBattle of Monte Cassino.[53]
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Three Golden Gun props were made: a solid piece, one that could be fired with a cap, and one that could be assembled and disassembled, although Christopher Lee said that the process "was extremely difficult".[42] The gun was "one of the more memorable props in the Bond series"[44] and consisted of an interlocking fountain pen (the barrel), cigarette lighter (the bullet chamber), cigarette case (the handle) and cufflink (the trigger) with the bullet secured in Scaramanga's belt buckle.[54] In the film, the gun was designed to accept a single 4.2-millimetre, 23-carat gold bullet produced by Lazar, a gunsmith in Macau who specialized in custom weapons and ammunition.[55] The Golden Gun ranked sixth in a 200820th Century Fox poll of the most popular film weapons, which surveyed approximately 2,000 film fans.[56]
On 10 October 2008, it was discovered that one of the golden guns used in the film, which is estimated to be worth around £80,000, was missing (suspected stolen) fromElstree Props, a company based at Hertfordshire studios.[57]
The film became famous for two vehicle stunts, one which made theGuinness Book of Records.
As part of a significantproduct placement strategy, a number of vehicles fromAmerican Motors Corporation were featured in the movie.[58][59] The flying car was the newly introducedAMC Matador Brougham Coupe in the Oleg Cassini edition,[60] used by Francisco Scaramanga, along with Nick Nack, to kidnap Mary Goodnight.[61] With the wings, the stunt car was 9.15 m (30 ft) long, 12.80 m (42 ft) wide, and 3.08 m (10 ft) high.[62] A stuntman drove the "car plane" to a runway. It was not airworthy, so a 1 m (39 in)-longremote controlledmodel, built byJohn Stears, was used for the aerial sequences.[62][63] The scene was shot atBovington Camp.[26]
A 1974AMC Hornet X was used for the "corkscrew" stunt which was first tested as a computer-simulation (the first of its kind) byCornell Aeronautical Laboratory. It was then performed as a live-action stunt, successfully filmed in one take.[64][58]
The stunt was performed by Loren "Bumps" Willert[65] (as James Bond) driving anAMC Hornet leaping a broken bridge and spinning around 360 degrees in mid-air about the longitudinal axis, doing an "aerial twist"; Willert successfully completed the jump on the first take,[47] and was given a $30,000 bonus on the spot.[66][67] The stunt was shown in slow motion, for the scene was otherwise too fast.[68] ComposerJohn Barry added aslide whistle sound effect over the stunt, which Broccoli kept in despite thinking that it "undercouped the stunt". Barry later regretted his decision, thinking the whistle "broke the golden rule" as the stunt was "for what it was all worth, a truly dangerous moment, ... true James Bond style".[69] The sound effect was described as "simply crass".[68] The writer Jim Smith suggested that the stunt "brings into focus the lack of excitement in the rest of the film and is spoilt by the use of 'comedy' sound effects".[29] Eon Productions had licensed the stunt, which had been designed by Raymond McHenry.[30] It was initially conceived atCornell Aeronautical Laboratory (CAL) in Buffalo, New York as a test for their vehicle simulation software. After development in simulation, ramps were built and the stunt was tested at CAL's proving ground.[70] It toured as part of the All American Thrill Show as the Astro Spiral before it was picked up for the film. The television programmeTop Gear attempted to repeat the stunt in June 2008, but failed.[71]
The corkscrew stunt made theGuinness Book of Records as the first "astro spiral" jump on film.[72]
The theme tune toThe Man with the Golden Gun, released in 1974, was performed by Scottish singerLulu and composed byJohn Barry. Tony Bramwell, who worked for Harry Saltzman's music publishing company Hilary Music, wantedElton John orCat Stevens to sing the title song. However, by this time, the producers were taking turns producing the films; Albert Broccoli—whose turn it was to produce—rejected Bramwell's suggestions. The lyrics to the Lulu song were written byDon Black and have been described variously as "ludicrous",[54] "inane"[33] and "one long stream of smut", because of theirsexual innuendo.[73] Bramwell subsequently dismissed the Barry-Lulu tune as "mundane".[74]
Alice Cooper wrote a song titled "Man with the Golden Gun" to be used by the producers of the film, but they opted for Lulu's song instead. Cooper released his song in his albumMuscle of Love.[75]
Barry had only three weeks to scoreThe Man with the Golden Gun[76] and the theme tune and score are generally considered by critics to be among the weakest of Barry's contributions to the series, an opinion shared by Barry himself: "It's the one I hate most ... it just never happened for me."[77]The Man with the Golden Gun was also the first to drop the distinctive plucked guitar from thetheme heard over thegun barrel opening. A sample from one of the songs, "Hip's Trip", was used byThe Prodigy in the "Mindfields" track on the albumThe Fat of the Land.[78]
The Man with the Golden Gun opened in the United States and Canada on 18 December 1974.[79] It opened to the public at theOdeon Leicester Square in London on20 December 1974, following its Royal premiere the night before.[80] Over the holiday period, United Artists had 1,240 prints of the film in release worldwide.[81] The film was made with an estimated budget of $7 million. Despite initial good returns from the box office,[82] including a gross of $3,441,228 in its first 3 to 5 days from 603 theaters in the United States and Canada,[83]The Man with the Golden Gun grossed a total of $97.6 million at the worldwide box office,[84] with $21 million in the US and Canada, making it the fourth lowest-grossing Bond film in the series.[85]
The promotion of the film had "one of the more anaemic advertising campaigns of the series"[54] and there were few products available, apart from the soundtrack and paperback book, althoughLone Star Toys produced a "James Bond 007 pistol" in gold; this differed from the weapon used by Scaramanga in the film as it was little more than aWalther P38 with a silencer fitted.[86]
The Man with the Golden Gun met with mixed reviews upon its release.Derek Malcolm inThe Guardian savaged the film, saying that "the script is the limpest of the lot and ... Roger Moore as 007 is the last man on earth to make it sound better than it is."[87] There was some praise from Malcolm, although it was muted, saying that "Christopher Lee ... makes a goodish villain and Britt Ekland a passable Mary Goodnight ... Up to scratch in production values ... the film is otherwise merely a potboiler. Maybe enough's enough."[87] Tom Milne, writing inThe Observer, was even more caustic, writing that "This series, which has been scraping the bottom of the barrel for some time, is now through the bottom ... with depressing borrowings from Hong Kong kung fu movies, not to mention even more depressing echoes of the 'Carry On' smut."[88] He summed up the film by saying it was "sadly lacking in wit or imagination".[88]
David Robinson, the film critic atThe Times, dismissed the film and Moore's performance, saying that Moore was "substituting non-acting for Connery's throwaway", while Britt Ekland was "his beautiful, idiot side-kick ... the least appealing of the Bond heroines".[89] Robinson was equally damning of the changes in the production crew, observing that Ken Adam, an "attraction of the early Bond films," had been "replaced by decorators of competence but little of his flair."[89] The writers "get progressively more naive in their creation of a suburban dream of epicureanism and adventure".[89] Writing forThe New York Times, Nora Sayre considered the film to suffer from "poverty of invention and excitement", criticising the writing and Moore's performance and finding Villechaize and Lee as the only positive points for their "sinister vitality that cuts through the narrative dough."[90]
TheSunday Mirror critic observed thatThe Man with the Golden Gun "isn't the best Bond ever" but found it "remarkable that Messrs. Saltzman and Broccoli can still produce such slick and inventive entertainment".[7] Arthur Thirkwell, writing in theSunday Mirror's sister paper, theDaily Mirror, concentrated more on lead actor Roger Moore than the film itself: "What Sean Connery used to achieve with a touch of sardonic sadism, Roger Moore conveys with roguish schoolboy charm and the odd, dry quip."[91] Thirkwell also said that Moore "manages to make even this reduced-voltage Bond a character with plenty of sparkle".[91] Judith Crist ofNew York magazine gave a positive review, saying "the scenery's grand, the lines nice and the gadgetry entertaining", also describing the production as a film that "capture[s] the free-wheeling, whooshing non-sense of early Fleming's fairy tale for grown-ups orientation".[92]
Jay Cocks, writing inTime, focused on the gadgets such as Scaramanga's flying car, as what was wrong with bothThe Man with the Golden Gun and the more recent films in the Bond series, calling them "Overtricky, uninspired, these exercises show the strain of stretching fantasy well past wit."[93] Cocks also criticised the actors, saying that Moore "lacks all Connery's strengths and has several deep deficiencies", while Lee was "an unusually unimpressive villain".[93]
Opinion onThe Man with the Golden Gun has for the most part remained the same as it was in 1974. OnRotten Tomatoes, 40% out of 52 critical reviews about the film were positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's critical consensus states, "A middling Bond film,The Man With the Golden Gun suffers from double entendre-laden dialogue, a noteworthy lack of gadgets, and a villain that overshadows 007."[94]Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 43 out of 100 based on 11 reviews from critics, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".[95]
Some critics saw the film as uninspired, tired and boring.[96] Roger Moore was also criticised for playing Bond against type, in a style more reminiscent of Sean Connery, although Lee's performance received acclaim.Danny Peary wrote thatThe Man with the Golden Gun "lacks invention ... is one of the least interesting Bond films" and "a very laboured movie, with Bond a stiff bore, Adams and Britt Ekland uninspired leading ladies".[97] Peary believes that the shootout between Bond and Scaramanga in the funhouse "is the one good scene in the movie, and even it has an unsatisfying finish" and also bemoaned the presence of Clifton James, "unfortunately reprising his unfunny redneck sheriff fromLive and Let Die."[97]
Chris Nashawaty ofEntertainment Weekly argues that Scaramanga is the best villain of the Roger Moore James Bond films,[98] while listing Mary Goodnight among the worst Bond girls, saying that "Ekland may have had one of the series' best bikinis, but her dopey, doltish portrayal was a turnoff as much to filmgoers as to fans of Ian Fleming's novels".[99]The Times put Scaramanga as the fifth best Bond villain in their list,[100] and Ekland was the third in their list of the top 10 most fashionable Bond girls.[101]Maxim listed Goodnight at fourth in their Top Bond Babes list, saying that "Agent Goodnight is the clumsiest spy alive. But who cares as long as she's using her perfect bikini bottom to muck things up?"[102]
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