The Man with the Golden Gun

A few good puns and a good performance by Christopher Lee can't save this from being one of the most boring Bond adventures yet. Bond and Scaramanga chase each other throughout Hong Kong and Bangkok and... something, something Solar Energy... something something, To be honest, the film tries to make so much from nothing that it's so hard to tell which ones are actually relevant.

In the running for the strongest Moore movie... and one of the most enjoyable.

It's a decent plot (somewhat believable) and it moves along at a decent clip. There's good use of locations to keep it gritty. And the car carnage is high but fitting with the storyline.

The use of the Louisiana Sheriff comes down to personal taste. I just about let them off when the famous corkscrew stunt was performed.

Nick Nack is a great comedy Bond villain, something Moore's films really invented.

I enjoyed this after a few relative duds in a row.


7.75/10

So far these Roger Moore flicks are pretty damn fun.

This is an enjoyable fun movie, not really the most sinister of plots as such; a hitman kind of stumbles on a plan to hold the world hostage for solar power - very very topical at the time it was made. The inclusion of the sunken ship, also very topical at the time it was made.

Moore is more whimsical then previously, whilst his Bond Girl [can we say that in metoo times] is pretty useless on any level; she berates him for suggesting she be a one night stand and then immediately changes her mind

The James Bond Films
1 Eon films
1.1 Dr. No (1962) https://trakt.tv/movies/dr-no-1962
1.2 From Russia with Love (1963) https://trakt.tv/movies/from-russia-with-love-1963
1.3 Goldfinger (1964) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldfinger-1964
1.4 Thunderball (1965) https://trakt.tv/movies/thunderball-1965
1.5 You Only Live Twice (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/you-only-live-twice-1967
1.6 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) https://trakt.tv/movies/on-her-majesty-s-secret-service-1969
1.7 Diamonds Are Forever (1971) https://trakt.tv/movies/diamonds-are-forever-1971
1.8 Live and Let Die (1973) https://trakt.tv/movies/live-and-let-die-1973
1.9 The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974
1.10 The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-spy-who-loved-me-1977
1.11 Moonraker (1979) https://trakt.tv/movies/moonraker-1979
1.12 For Your Eyes Only (1981) https://trakt.tv/movies/for-your-eyes-only-1981
1.13 Octopussy (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/octopussy-1983
1.14 A View to a Kill (1985) https://trakt.tv/movies/a-view-to-a-kill-1985
1.15 The Living Daylights (1987) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-living-daylights-1987
1.16 Licence to Kill (1989) https://trakt.tv/movies/licence-to-kill-1989
1.17 GoldenEye (1995) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldeneye-1995
1.18 Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) https://trakt.tv/movies/tomorrow-never-dies-1997
1.19 The World Is Not Enough (1999) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-world-is-not-enough-1999
1.20 Die Another Day (2002) https://trakt.tv/movies/die-another-day-2002
1.21 Casino Royale (2006) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-2006
1.22 Quantum of Solace (2008) https://trakt.tv/movies/quantum-of-solace-2008
1.23 Skyfall (2012) https://trakt.tv/movies/skyfall-2012
1.24 Spectre (2015) https://trakt.tv/movies/spectre-2015
1.25 No Time to Die (2021) https://trakt.tv/movies/no-time-to-die-2021

2 Non-Eon films
2.1 Casino Royale (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-1967
2.2 Never Say Never Again (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/never-say-never-again-1983

"You see, Mr. Bond, like every great artist, I want to create an indisputable masterpiece once in my lifetime; the death of 007".

In my opinion, 'The Man with the Golden Gun' is a solid Bond film with great action and a good theme song. But the biggest thing that held this movie down for me was the main character himself James Bond. At the start of the movie he was such a big jerk, like he tried to break a girl arm to try to get answers out of but she didn't know nothing, but as the film went on he wasn't such a jerk like the beginning of the film. I got to admit, I actually liked Roger Moore as James Bond in this film, as he felt like Bond towards their end of the film. The villain in this movie was so good and so interesting, and Christopher Lee played him so well. The visual effect's in this movie was well done and for a movie that was released in 1974, it had some pretty nice effect's.

Overall rating: A solid Bond flick with a great villain and a good theme song.

A nice return to form for the series, after wading in cheese up to their knees with the preceding Live and Let Die. It won't be giving From Russia With Love or Goldfinger a run for their money, but as the back-to-basics reality check that the series so desperately needed, this is more than acceptable.

Roger Moore confidently plays a tougher, more businesslike Bond this time around, and spends most of the production flexing his detective chops in search of a rival assassin with nothing more to go on than the color of his weapon and a quick, curious nipple count. Stocked with fresh, exotic locales, skimpy beauties dressed for the beach, an adequate number of wacky, themed sidekicks (as in, less than the full dozen of the former picture) and a cool, legitimate master threat, this is pretty much the root formula for a good adventure with 007.

Occasionally it gives in to a passion for pointless boat chases, and a few bad remnants of the era rear their head at inopportune moments (what was with the slide whistle during that massive car jump?) but such silly bits of self-indulgence are a part of the franchise's heritage at this point. Excellent work by Christopher Lee as the quirky titular assassin nudges this into the top half of Bond's catalog.

Not the best Bond and one of those that has ages less good than others. Still, it is a James Bond movie and as such, it is still solid action with, in this case, Roger Moore humour. For fans of the franchise.

I've known the Moore Bonds were on the sillier side from the couple that I've seen, but I had no idea of the barrel of laughs this one would be. _Moonraker_ was a favorite, though it had the typical problem of being overly long. This one doesn't have that problem, despite not having a plot that rivals MR—but I don't think any Bond film will rival the concept of the _Moonraker_ film and its Drax.

Moore profited from following the full on sixties chauvinist, woman-manhandling, supremely cocky SOB of the Connery days, but with a goofier flair, so you still get the culture-shockingly hilariousness of his brazenness with the cavalier absurdity of... well, you'll see.

The opening starts the film off with a deceptively over-serious and lamely pulpy edge, and it's easily the worst Bond theme and opening I've seen, so I wasn't surprised I'd never heard of it amongst all the amazing Bond theme classics. It's so bad I actually skipped to the end of the opening. The visuals aren't even sexy or aesthetically interesting—they're just blurry.

After that it just gets funnier and more ridiculous at a steadily rising clip, and is one of the few old Bond films that has what I'd consider good pacing. Instead of feeling interminably bloated it has a nice, calming '70s pace that I found rather cathartic. I would just about count the "James gets captured after going to the villain's estate, but he isn't killed for ~reasons~" trope as subverted because it just straight up does not take the scenario seriously at all, and is all the better for it.

One of the best with Roger Moore.
Love to see Saruman in his earlier days.