The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Review by Sean McGinnis for DVDVerdict.com

My favorite Bond film of the Roger Moore era, The Man with the Golden Gun is, I think, also one of the better Bond films of all. Populated with memorable characters played by gifted actors, the film is both familiar and unique. Based on Ian Fleming's final Bond novel, the film tells the story of Bond facing off against the finest hit man of his era, and living to tell the tale.

It is hard for me to determine whether the plot or the acting is the strongest part of this film. I find the characters so memorable and the plot line so unique among Bond films that the combination of the two is nearly overwhelming, no doubt accounting for my singular love for this among the Bond stable of offerings. Let's try to handle the two together.

In The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond faces off against Francisco Scaramanga, the most notorious hit man in the world, who is so good at his craft, he charges (and receives) one million dollars per shot. Played wonderfully by Christopher Lee Scaramanga is Bonds equal in nearly every way, save for the fact that he kills for money rather than for King and Country. He is suave, sophisticated and savy, Scaramanga is developed as a journeyman, gleefully plying his trade without a care in the world. We are even treated, during the opening scene, to the fact that Scaramanga hires hit men to test his own skill against. We are clearly led to believe that Scaramanga is a darker variation on the James Bond theme.

Bond is almost thrown together with Scaramanga out of happenstance. In typical Bond franchise fashion, several plot points and threads come together leading Bond to the inevitable face off against the ruthless man-for-hire. In between, we are treated to many stunts, action, twists, turns, women and guns.

Roger Moore plays bond in the installment of the series and by this time (1974) he has settled into the role nicely. Not quite as rough and tumble as Sean Connery, his version of Bond is a bit softer and classier. Moore's Bond is more of a Jaguar, as opposed to Connery's version, which resembles more of a Corvette. Perhaps that is why we Yanks, on the whole, prefer Connery to Moore. But The Man with the Golden Gun represents, for me, a bit of an exception to this rule.

The Bond girls present in this incarnation have to be considered a weak point of the film when compared with the legendary appearances of the best of their kind. But, Maud Adams and Britt Ekland hardly fall to the level of Denise Richards and Lynn Holly Johnson. Actually, I thought Maud Adams' performance had quite a decent amount of depth while Ekland's portrayal of Goodnight suffered from the weakness of the part.

The crew behind the Bond franchise comes up with yet another plot device, which drives Bond into his action. This time out, Bond is in search of a wonderful chip which will allow the governments of the world to capture the energy of the Sun, making solar energy ruthlessly efficient and the savior of the world. Being filmed during the energy crisis of the early '70s this device clearly resonated with the audience of the day.

 Filmographic details.

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