Review of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) by Jeff Z — 30 May 2010

This was the movie that almost ended the Bond franchise. Harry Satzman sold his rights after the film figuring the franchise had just about played itself out. Then "Spy Who Loved Me" was a HUGE hit and Bond was back in business again.

In seeing this again after many years I found I remembered all the bad, corny stuff (Clifton James Sheriff character, three nipples, goofy sound effects, etc.) that gave this film the reputation it has, but I had forgotten all the good scenes and how good Christopher Lee and was. Bernard Lee also puts in one of his best performances as "M". Moore still plays Bond as pretty ruthless here, beating up Maude Adams, smoking cigars, sucker punching karate opponants, and treating the fumbling Goodnight with distain. John Barry' score is terrific, Bond's stepping out of NikNak's amusement park works well. Guy Hamilton's last directoral effort is as least as good as "Live and Let Die" and much better than the mess called "You Only Live Twice" or the awful "Moonraker". All in all, a Bond film that falls pretty much in the middle of the scale that still has "Goldfinger" at the top.