The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

James Bond is led to believe that he is targeted by the world's most expensive assassin while he attempts to recover sensitive solar cell technology that is being sold to the highest bidder.

Director:

Guy Hamilton

Writers:

Richard Maibaum (screenplay), Tom Mankiewicz (screenplay)

Stars:

Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roger Moore	...	James Bond
Christopher Lee	...	Scaramanga
Britt Ekland	...	Goodnight
Maud Adams	...	Andrea
Hervé Villechaize	...	Nick Nack (as Herve Villechaize)
Clifton James	...	J. W. Pepper
Richard Loo	...	Hai Fat
Soon-Tek Oh	...	Hip (as Soon-Taik Oh)
Marc Lawrence	...	Rodney
Bernard Lee	...	'M'
Lois Maxwell	...	Moneypenny
Marne Maitland	...	Lazar
Desmond Llewelyn	...	'Q'
James Cossins	...	Colthorpe
Yao Lin Chen	...	Chula (as Chan Yiu Lam)

Storyline

Scaramanga is a hit-man who charges a million dollars per job. He becomes linked to the death of a scientist working on a powerful solar cell, and James Bond is called in to investigate. As he tracks down Scaramanga, he realises that he is highly respected by the killer, but will this prove to be an advantage in the final showdown?

---

Plot Keywords:

girl in a bikini | bikini | golden gun | assassin | bullet | 

---

Taglines:

He never misses his target, and now his target is 007.

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

---

Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Thai Cantonese

Release Date:

20 December 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ian Fleming's The Man with the Golden Gun

Filming Locations:

Andaman Sea, Thailand

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$21,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eon Productions, Danjaq

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The same 1974 year's romantic spy film, The Tamarind Seed (1974), utilized two key major creative personnel who had been synonymous with the official James Bond film franchise: John Barry, who composed the film's score, was a composer of many of the Bond movie's music scores up until The Living Daylights (1987), whilst Maurice Binder, who designed the opening titles sequence, had done the same for most of the Bond films up until Licence to Kill (1989). Moreover, actor Terence Plummer, who played a KGB Agent in The Tamarind Seed (1974), portrayed a Beirut thug in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and later, one of Elliot Carver's thugs in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - both parts uncredited. About 007 other crew members worked on both The Tamarind Seed (1974) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).

---

Goofs

On the map that is produced to show the location of Scaramanga's island, the islands in the archipelago are clearly marked out as 'Ko', meaning 'island' in Thai. This correlates with the real location of the island that was used in the film, but does not correlate with the film's pretense of the islands being near Hong Kong.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Francisco Scaramanga: Nick Nack! Tabasco!
Nick-nack: Right away, Monsieur Scaramanga.

---

Crazy Credits

THE END of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN James Bond will return in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

---

Connections

Followed by The World Is Not Enough (1999)

---

Soundtracks

The Man with the Golden Gun
Music by John Barry
Lyrics by Don Black
Performed by Lulu

User Reviews

Beautiful landscapes in a so-so Bond adventure

Let me say I like Roger Moore very much, because I grew up watching his films -he's the first Bond I've ever seen. Many people prefer Sean Connery, who is really unique, true... But how can I say Roger Moore is not good? I've also a lot of affection for Moore because I watched on TV, when I was a kid, "The Persuaders" series.

Although that his second Bond outing is not very good. That's not his fault at all, the screenplay is not good and the story itself is not very interesting. Everything is a little slower than usual, the film has neither the liveliness of "Live and let die" -the first Moore Bond flick- nor the liveliness of the previous episodes.

Here Bond has to face a refined assassin -that's all, there isn't a real thrilling intrigue

On the other hand landscapes and John Barry score are fantastic. Also the cast is strong, because Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland bring a lot of glamour. It's a pity that the movie doesn't match the usual standard.

At the time producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman didn't get along well with each other any more. In '75 their partnership broke up and let Broccoli alone at the command of 007 empire. Maybe this tensions had an influence on "The man with the golden gun", who knows...

Luckily in 1977 Bond came back with one of the best films of the series -"The spy who loved me", a real classic, the definitive Roger Moore entry as Bond.