with less than 8 weeks before the release of Casino Royale, i'd better get crackin'.
the Lee and Tattoo Comedy Show came to a grinding halt because of discriminatory labor practices - Tattoo only got a third of Lee's salary
James Bond DVD collection review #9
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - Guy Hamilton
The Plot
Someone is out to whack a scientist who has a design to harness solar energy into industrial-scale power. This assassin uses golden bullets, charges a million bucks for a kill ... and has a thing for James Bond (yeah, they kind of distribute Bond's dossier to every bad guy on the planet). And not only that - he's actually more of a threat to Bond's rep as the ultimate lady killer - he has freakin' three nipples!!!
Grade: C+
Locales
Beirut, Macau, Hong Kong, the insides of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, Bangkok, and some private island
Grade: B-
The Man
Roger Moore. almost trying to supress a smirk for most of the movie.
Grade: B
The Villain(s)
Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) - the Man with the Golden Gun, a master of the one-shot deal. Wonder what happens if he misses? That's right, he dies. Lee actually steals the movie from Moore here, and parlayed it into a longer career as well. The future Saruman/Count Dooku already showed he can play villains with terrifying ease.
Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) - Scaramanga's aide-de-camp, butler, bodyguard and possibly life coach as well. the diminutive Frenchmidget Villechaize paved the way for vertically-challenged actors - Weng Weng (who is said to be popular in France), Mini-Me (who probably isn't), Tony Cox (Bad Santa) and Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent), to name a few - to have substantial parts in films. But hold on - given his stature, its a wonder he didn't complain taking orders when his boss can do the same shit in less time. Villechaize, said to have some Filipino roots himself, made his mark in TV's Fantasy Island, before committing suicide back in 1993.
Hai Fat (Richard Loo) - stereotypical evil industrialist type who's eyeing this solar gadget thingy, and whose brains isn't enough to deduce that he should kill Bond asap, and not send him off to his private dojo to trade kicks and punches with ...
Chula (Chan Yiu Lam) - stereotypical martial arts bully, who thinks he's the bees knees, both to his sensei and the ladies
Grade: B+
The Girl(s)
Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) - Scaramanga's girl-everyday, who can't stand him so much that she sends a golden bullet to Bond so he can rescue her from her dreary lifestyle. So why the hell did she get into that relationship with a hitman in the first place. Geez, i don't understand women. At least Bond got his uhm point in the moment she threw herself at him. 'Cause you never know when a stray golden bullet might hit you. True enough, she gets offed in the midst of a Thai kickboxing match. But Adams would return 9 years later as a better-named character. K-Ching!
Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) - the poster girl for blonde+blue-eyed Swedes plays MI6's agent-in-place in HK. Mary had the hots for Bond for years and finally she gets what she wants ... but not before enduring the humiliation of being bundled by 007 inside the closet because Andrea Anders knocked on the door of his hotel room (and knocked boots with him thereafter).
Saida (Carmen du Sautoy) - Lebanese bellydancer who kept the the remains of the golden bullet that killed 002 as a lucky charm on her bully button. Of course you know Bond had to retrieve that somehow.
Chew Mee (Francoise Therry) - With only a few lines (and even less clothing), nothing further is known about this honey. Get those search engines going!
Grade: A-
Gadgets
Not much in use here, except for that homing device used by Goodnight to track Scaramanga's car - homing devices are a dime a dozen. And the fake 3rd nipple to gain access to Hai Fat? That really didn't get him anywhere, did it? Just an invitation to get beat up at dinnertime.
Scaramanga, of course, had his Golden Gun, his high-tech junk and his flying car (which looks ridiculous).
Methinks they were toning down the gadgetry here (and upping Q's intelligence work), just to establish Bond's resourcefulness and street-smarts (much like what they'll be doing in Casino Royale.
Grade: C-
Bond Moments
Who else would be vacationing in Bangkok during the motorboat chase scene? The redneck Sheriff JW Pepper, that's who! not to mention he gets "drafted into service" as Bond hijacks a car supposed to be test-driven by the cop.
What's with the stereotypical Asian sidekick? Oh yes, this was the height of the British Empire (snort). Lt. Hip (Soon Teck-Oh, below) even has a couple of teenage nieces whose only roles in the movie are to make sure Bond isn't beaten up further, and also to lend a subtle hint of ahhh, Oriental delights. I think the original script had them working at the Bottoms Up club. Naughty, naughty.
Hey, babyboomers! Recognize me from kungfu chopsuey flicks on TV?
Nick Nack: "Where could yourhh gun be, Mithh-ter Thhcaramanga?" (more of a moment than a quote)
MI6, avoiding Chinese and American spies, sets up shop in the dark recesses of the Queen Elizabeth, an ocean liner that sank in HK Harbor back in 1972. See what history can teach you, kids?
Nick Nack dressed in a ... what do you call that pseudo-Japanese midget demon schtick? And he had a pitchfork and would have gone down in history as the one to kill Bond, but noooooo ... Mr. Fat (Mr. Fat?? shouldn't it be Mr. Hai??) stops him.
Bond eschewing the rules in martial arts duels and just taking out the guy right at the bowing part. Did that not start a trend (see Jones, Indiana)?
And there's this persistent urchin on the canal selling a carved wooden elephant for 100 baht. He gets to Bond and it goes down to 20. Bond promises him 25,000 baht if he could get the malfunctioning motor going. Urchin does so triumphantly. Bond just pushes him off his motorboat. He's so mean! Nyahahaha.
Pleased To Meet You. Bond wont be invited as a VAW speaker anytime soon.
And speaking of mean, the first time he meets Andrea, he roughs her up - twists her arm, slaps her, grabs her by the robe neckline. She probably thinks its a lot better than living with a hitman. True. Scaramanga did shoot her later. But that was for sleeping around. I really don't get women. (note: Bond probably doesn't too, ergo his rep of mistreating women. Duh.)
and this says it all (circa 1974, this was just flat-out gutsy!):
Grade: B+
One Liners
(on M's concern that Scaramanga might be out to get Bond)
Bond: Who'd pay a million dollars to have me killed?
M: Jealous husbands! Outraged chefs! Humiliated tailors! The list is endless!
Bond: Moneypenny, you are better than a computer!
Moneypenny: In all sorts of ways ... but you never take advantage of them.
(after Bond swallows the golden bullet from Saida's belly button)
Saida: I lost my charm!
Bond: Not from where I'm standing.
Bond: He even invited me for dinner. He must've found me tit-tillating. (throws away fake nipple)
Sheriff JW Pepper: You just try that in my bayou, boy! I'd haul your ass!
(which he could have done, in the last movie)
Scaramanga: Fat has just resigned. I am the new Chairman of the Board.
(goes outside)
Scaramanga: Fat always did like that mausoleum. Put him in it.
Bond: Good morning, how's the water?
Girl: Why don't you come in and find out?
Bond: Sounds very tempting, miss...
Girl: Chew Mee.
Bond: Really?
Bond: Well, there's only one small problem, I have no swimming trunks.
Girl: Neither have I.
(and then that killjoy Hai Fat interrupts the festivities)
Bond: What made you change your mind?
Mary Goodnight: I'm weak. (goooooaaaaaaaalllll!!)
M: Bond? Bond, are you there? Goodnight?
Bond: She's just coming, sir.
M: Goodnight? Goodnight? Goodnight!
Bond: Good night, sir.
(you have to watch that)
Grade: B
Overall
One of the lesser Bond moneymakers. Bond didn't seem threatened at all. A veritable walk in the park.
Grade: B
Bond couldn't figure out why there were headlights in the bathroom ...
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