The Man with the Golden Gun

In 1975 Roger Moore returned in one of my least favorite 007 film, The Man with the Golden Gun. This is the fourth and final James Bond film directed by Goldfinger's Guy Hamilton. For some reason after Diamonds are Forever and Live and Let Die, they still decided to use Hamilton.

His films were way too campy and only got worse with Roger Moore, who had already brought a lighter side to 007. This movie has one of the worse pre-title sequences. It takes place in a fun house and is not exciting in the slightest. The whole movie is pretty lackluster which sucks because it has some of my favorite characters.

Francisco Scaramanga played brilliantly by Christopher Lee is one of my favorite villains. He is the man with the golden gun and is intellectually equal to James Bond and is just as suave and sophisticated as 007. He is probably the only James Bond villain that you actually believe can take out 007 and he does so with one of the greatest henchmen of all time. Nick Nack played by Hervé Villechaize is awesome!!

As for the girls, this is one of the few times that i am not annoyed by at least one of them. Maude Adams is great, but getting slapped around by Roger Moore is a little unnerving. Britt Ekland plays the fumbling MI6 sidekick to 007 and would normally be annoying, but between the accent (which to me always makes someone sound smarter) and the bikini that she wears in the last half of the film, makes her one of my favorites.

There are some great action scenes, which include a car chase, which ends with 007 launching his car off of a ramp over a river while doing a barrel roll (as depicted in the poster image above)! Even though it is probably the coolest car stunt ever to be filmed, John Barry, who is usually amazing, decided to put in a slide whistle effect that turns it into a super ultra lame film moment.

Speaking of the music, Lulu's theme "The Man with the Golden Gun" is one of my favorite, especially when it is sung by my friend Ryan. I love when the producers feel the need to have the title of the film in the song, especially when it comes to a title as ridiculous as this one!

All in all, this film is a turd. It can be fun at points, but it is forgettable.

★ ★ ½