Review of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) by Drew O — 26 May 2012

The Man with the Golden Gun began the string of poor Bond films to be delivered by Roger Moore. Live and Let Die was a solid beginning for Moore, making up for the slip of Diamonds are Forever. Being the first one of Moore's adventures that I watched, Live and Let Die wasn't the reason I developed such a dislike for Moore's portrayal. It was this and all of Moore's films to follow (except Octopussy) that did him in.

The film begins with Scaramanga killing a hired gun in his funhouse. Right away this film lost me. I mean, a freaking funhouse of mirrors. Not helping the cause is Scaramanga's ridiculous henchmen Nick Nack, who tries to be a miniature Oddjob and ends up being the least intimidating villain in a Bond movie. This is just the first 5 minutes of the movie, too.

When the movie makes it to Bond it brings in an interesting plot of Scaramanga wanting to assassinate Bond, the only man he considers his equal, in order to prove his title of the greatest assassin in the world. This could have made for a great and entertaining plot, but quickly forgets its premise and returns to it's silly and stupid style. When you get to the point where Bond is doing Kung-Fu and Scaramanga's car grows wings and flies away, you realize just how bad of a Bond movie this is.

Christopher Lee is the lone bright spot of this film as the villain Scaramanga, and he remains one of my personal favorite villains from the series. However, like Max Zorin, it's unfortunate that such a great villain is wasted in such a bad film.

I'd rank The Man with the Golden Gun along with Moonraker as the worst films in the Bond series. There is hardly anything to enjoy about this film aside from Christopher Lee, and is better off staying on the shelf as films like From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service are being played on the TV.