Review of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) by Derick K — 30 Mar 2013

"The Man With the Golden Gun" is Roger Moore's second outing as James Bond and unfortunately had great potential to be one of the best Bond movies ever made but went the generic route with annoying characters, underdeveloped plotting and a great villain that could have been so much more utilized.

The plot once again is a mess as it involves Francisco Scaramanga aka The Man With The Golden Gun played by Christopher Lee who does an excellent job portraying Scaramanga as Bond's equal who's suave, charismatic, debonair and dangerous but for some reason has a third nipple which was totally unnecessary. The plot of Bond vs his equal could have been so much more had they not included the dated subplot involving a solar power Mcguffin which all leads to a disappointing climax where Bond fights Scaramanga at his island lair.

Roger Moore as James Bond in his second outing is alright but still hasn't found his stride as James Bond. The Bond girls are beautiful as always but are a hit and miss especially Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight who is an incompetent MI6 agent and it makes you wonder why shes a spy at all. Clifton James for some strange reason returns as J. W. Pepper even though it wasn't needed but was a little bit funnier than he was in "Live and Let Die".

Guy Hamilton returns as director for the final time but the tone was still too campy and all it was doing was taking the series downhill and it was for the best that he leave the series. Case in point a great car stunt ruined by a cartoonish car whistle.

A movie that could have been so much more but taken down by camp, bad plotting and an underused villain but still entertaining.