Review of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) by Topher H — 12 Feb 2012

Though it is argued by many as having being created during the worst nadir of the entire Bond pantheon, it's also fair to admit that it had its marvelous points as well. To begin with, Christopher Lee's performance as Francisca Scaramanga was much more than just astounding: it was thoroughly appealing, villainously ambiguous, and above all, beautifully convincing. Few villain actors in the Bond franchise - among them Gert Frobe's Goldfinger and Joseph Wiseman's Julius No - have ever managed to keep talk and action on a cleverly balanced field. And we can see how Lee does it here. It was wonderful to witness.

However, it did have weaknesses, the main one being its slow-paced plot. At certain points, it seemed to lag on without any foreseeable end in sight. And the inclusion of Clifton James as Sheriff Pepper wasn't inviting either. But it did manage to keep up a tension filled array of memorable characters and "suspensions of disbelief", the latter being especially true in the scene where Nick Nack (played unforgettably by Herve Villechaize) raises a pitchfork to kill an unconscious Bond - only to be stopped moments later by the same man who ordered his murder in his own garden!

In the end, regarding its rather effective "villain's plot" regarding the Solex solar power source and world domination plans through an economic sense - creating a monopoly over the energy market during a major oil crisis period - took away at least part, though not the entire, weaknesses this film ostentatiously lavished from time to time. At best I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars.