Reporting For Duty
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
In this Discussion
Rewatch: The Man with the Golden Gun
This is mostly free written and jumps around a lot, but I can't really take the time to structure it better.
Last night, I rewatched The Man with the Golden Gun. This was my second viewing after seeing it a few weeks ago. I wanted to see it again because its 11th on my list, and I couldn't quite remember how I felt about it, especially in the context of the other films, most of which I saw after it. I also plan to rewatch Goldfinger and Thunderball for the same reasons. They're 6th and 8th on my list, respectively.
I really enjoyed Golden Gun the second time around, maybe even more than the first. The movie is solid almost all the way through. It loses some momentum when he first visits Bangkok (visiting Hai Fat in his palace and the kung fu school), but otherwise it really keeps up the pace and intrigue throughout. Even the kung fu scene, though, is redeemed by the nieces being badass.
The fight scene in the belly dancer's dressing room is very good. I think close-quarters fight scenes are hard to choreograph and film, and they made top marks on both. It's certainly a stand-out for Moore's films (to my recollection), with good impact and creative fighting from Bond. It's interesting; there aren't many Hollywood movies that have good-old fisticuffs these days. Spectre has a good fight with Bautista on the train, and recent movies like The Raid and John Wick have fighting, but I honestly haven't gotten around to watching them, mostly because I don't like overly violent films. Most modern action movies are superhero films, which sometimes have fantastic action, like Captain American 2 and 3, but other times do not. Watching Bond films makes me miss the old days of fisticuffs. Sony is making an Uncharted movie with a Tom Holland playing a young Drake, and I bet that will have some more Bond-like fight scenes, but it will depend on the choreographer and cinematographer.
This is definitely Moore's darkest version of Bond. I watched it with my parents this time around and felt bad about his first scene with Adams in her hotel. I'm not sure how well that scene would be received if it were filmed today. Moore is uncharacteristically violent towards her, for his version of Bond at least, and the scene is unnerving. Anders is another example of a Bond girl dying because of Bond. Her death is slightly more justified, if you can justify a death, because of her having summoned Bond to save her, but she's another casualty along the way, and you can't help feeling it's Bond's fault. In this movie, I feel the sacrificial Bond girl and the partner Bond Girl are switched. Without knowing the ending, I would have guessed that Goodnight would have been the girl to die. Her role is similar to Fields in Quantum, except Fields is the one who dies. She's also similar to Manuela in Moonraker, though, who just barely escapes the jaws of death.
Now seems like a good time to discuss Midnight. She's the only girl I can think of who comes with an established desire for Bond (except for Moneypenny of course!). I really like that she's open about her desire, and the writing and direction for Bond to be. . . annoyed, was a good decision. Britt Ekland is not only gorgeous as hell, she's a great actress, at least in this role. I love her response at dinner when she says she's "not that type of girl." Only a minute later, though, she admits that her "playing hard-to-get act" did not work out as she had planned. It's adorable. I started writing a more detailed opinion here about misogyny vs feminism in the Bond films, but I need to rewatch the movies and consider the arguments more carefully before stating my opinion.
Which brings us to the boxing match, arguably one of the best scenes in any Bond movie. It's a horrifying scene, first upon realizing that Anders has been killed, and again when Scaramanga says "a challenging shot, but satisfying." Scaramanga is subtly psychotic, which is true for a number of Bond villains -- like Drax, I would argue -- but Christopher Lee is an exceptional actor, and I doubt anyone else could have brought such a light touch to the role. While we're on the subject, Walken's Zorin is opposite; he's blatantly insane and is the best part of A View to a Kill, particularly his murderous rampage in the mine. Back to the boxing scene. Moore, here, has a perfect response to the situation. He is clearly sickened by Anders' murder but able to hold himself together like the professional he is. His jovial facade contrasts well against Scaramanga's coldness, in a way that I think Moore is best suited for. It would be interesting to see how the scene plays with the other Bond actors. Lazenby's Bond, despite being my favorite Bond, lacks the depth or subtlety to lend much tension to the scene. Dalton's Bond doesn't play games; his response would be a cold reflection of Scaramanga's. And, actually, I think the other three Bonds would play similarly. Connery is interesting because his Bond often knows when to be playful and when to be serious, and I don't think he could be playful here.
Golden Gun has two excellent chase scenes. The boat chase offers an efficient window into the cross-section of culture and tourism, but is also exciting. The car chase is very well shot, featuring two gorgeous cars, that shows speed but also deft handling through traffic. A good car chase scene is hard to find, and I think this ranks among the best, alongside the opening of Quantum and The Spy Who Loved Me. Sadly, the chase through Rome in Spectre and across the ice in Die Another Day were missed opportunities. I don't know how you make a chase through Rome boring, but they managed it. And Die Another Day has a couple of dope-as-hell moments with the Vanquish, when it's sliding and spinning across the ice, but that should have been the entire chase. I appreciate what they were attempting with the anti-Bond Q car, but frankly I prefer to see something cool and exciting over humorous, especially given the chance at a truly original chase location.
Other scenes. When Scaramanga assassinates the solex scientist, he is perched behind on the roof of a building with bright sign that reads "the golden cafe", or something similar. It's a clever scouting location and also provides menacing lighting for the hidden gunman.
I love when Bond visits the gunsmith. The scene is so well written. It immediately introduces a clever gun design, which Bond tries on a target. He learns that the gun isn't balanced how he expected, but he's a professional assassin and instantly masters it. When he turns it on the gunsmith, you know that Bond will not miss, except when he intends to. The scene is suspenseful and interesting while also advancing the plot.
The running gag of M's pop-up office in odd places never gets old.
When Bond first arrives on the island, Scaramanga blows off the wine bottle's cork. Then he comes out laughing and says he couldn't resist, followed by laying down the revolver on the serving tray "a harmless toy." It's funny and offers another glimpse into his psychosis. Maybe one of you can help clarify something for me. At the dinner scene, which Nick Nack has so delightfully prepared, Goodnight seems to speak to Bond in innuendo, but I honestly didn't understand what she was implying. The situation seems perfectly apparent to me. Regardless, the scene is suspenseful, as is typical for this movie. If I'm not mistaken, the line about their both being killers is relatively famous. Also, Scaramanga is adorable when he takes a physical note about Bond's wine recommendation.
There's always plenty more to say, but I'll just wrap it up now with a comment about the music. I don't know enough about music to speak intelligently about it, but the score sounded particularly great and accompanied each scene appropriately. I wonder how it compares to the scores of the other movies.
I really like The Man with the Golden Gun. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I could see it jumping way up my list, but I'll first have to reconsider Skyfall, Casino Royale, Thunderball, and Goldfinger. It won't place higher than 7th at best, though.
P.S. Unrelated, but there's a martial arts film called The Man with the Golden Arms that's arguably the best martial arts film ever made. Highly recommended.
Last night, I rewatched The Man with the Golden Gun. This was my second viewing after seeing it a few weeks ago. I wanted to see it again because its 11th on my list, and I couldn't quite remember how I felt about it, especially in the context of the other films, most of which I saw after it. I also plan to rewatch Goldfinger and Thunderball for the same reasons. They're 6th and 8th on my list, respectively.
I really enjoyed Golden Gun the second time around, maybe even more than the first. The movie is solid almost all the way through. It loses some momentum when he first visits Bangkok (visiting Hai Fat in his palace and the kung fu school), but otherwise it really keeps up the pace and intrigue throughout. Even the kung fu scene, though, is redeemed by the nieces being badass.
The fight scene in the belly dancer's dressing room is very good. I think close-quarters fight scenes are hard to choreograph and film, and they made top marks on both. It's certainly a stand-out for Moore's films (to my recollection), with good impact and creative fighting from Bond. It's interesting; there aren't many Hollywood movies that have good-old fisticuffs these days. Spectre has a good fight with Bautista on the train, and recent movies like The Raid and John Wick have fighting, but I honestly haven't gotten around to watching them, mostly because I don't like overly violent films. Most modern action movies are superhero films, which sometimes have fantastic action, like Captain American 2 and 3, but other times do not. Watching Bond films makes me miss the old days of fisticuffs. Sony is making an Uncharted movie with a Tom Holland playing a young Drake, and I bet that will have some more Bond-like fight scenes, but it will depend on the choreographer and cinematographer.
This is definitely Moore's darkest version of Bond. I watched it with my parents this time around and felt bad about his first scene with Adams in her hotel. I'm not sure how well that scene would be received if it were filmed today. Moore is uncharacteristically violent towards her, for his version of Bond at least, and the scene is unnerving. Anders is another example of a Bond girl dying because of Bond. Her death is slightly more justified, if you can justify a death, because of her having summoned Bond to save her, but she's another casualty along the way, and you can't help feeling it's Bond's fault. In this movie, I feel the sacrificial Bond girl and the partner Bond Girl are switched. Without knowing the ending, I would have guessed that Goodnight would have been the girl to die. Her role is similar to Fields in Quantum, except Fields is the one who dies. She's also similar to Manuela in Moonraker, though, who just barely escapes the jaws of death.
Now seems like a good time to discuss Midnight. She's the only girl I can think of who comes with an established desire for Bond (except for Moneypenny of course!). I really like that she's open about her desire, and the writing and direction for Bond to be. . . annoyed, was a good decision. Britt Ekland is not only gorgeous as hell, she's a great actress, at least in this role. I love her response at dinner when she says she's "not that type of girl." Only a minute later, though, she admits that her "playing hard-to-get act" did not work out as she had planned. It's adorable. I started writing a more detailed opinion here about misogyny vs feminism in the Bond films, but I need to rewatch the movies and consider the arguments more carefully before stating my opinion.
Which brings us to the boxing match, arguably one of the best scenes in any Bond movie. It's a horrifying scene, first upon realizing that Anders has been killed, and again when Scaramanga says "a challenging shot, but satisfying." Scaramanga is subtly psychotic, which is true for a number of Bond villains -- like Drax, I would argue -- but Christopher Lee is an exceptional actor, and I doubt anyone else could have brought such a light touch to the role. While we're on the subject, Walken's Zorin is opposite; he's blatantly insane and is the best part of A View to a Kill, particularly his murderous rampage in the mine. Back to the boxing scene. Moore, here, has a perfect response to the situation. He is clearly sickened by Anders' murder but able to hold himself together like the professional he is. His jovial facade contrasts well against Scaramanga's coldness, in a way that I think Moore is best suited for. It would be interesting to see how the scene plays with the other Bond actors. Lazenby's Bond, despite being my favorite Bond, lacks the depth or subtlety to lend much tension to the scene. Dalton's Bond doesn't play games; his response would be a cold reflection of Scaramanga's. And, actually, I think the other three Bonds would play similarly. Connery is interesting because his Bond often knows when to be playful and when to be serious, and I don't think he could be playful here.
Golden Gun has two excellent chase scenes. The boat chase offers an efficient window into the cross-section of culture and tourism, but is also exciting. The car chase is very well shot, featuring two gorgeous cars, that shows speed but also deft handling through traffic. A good car chase scene is hard to find, and I think this ranks among the best, alongside the opening of Quantum and The Spy Who Loved Me. Sadly, the chase through Rome in Spectre and across the ice in Die Another Day were missed opportunities. I don't know how you make a chase through Rome boring, but they managed it. And Die Another Day has a couple of dope-as-hell moments with the Vanquish, when it's sliding and spinning across the ice, but that should have been the entire chase. I appreciate what they were attempting with the anti-Bond Q car, but frankly I prefer to see something cool and exciting over humorous, especially given the chance at a truly original chase location.
Other scenes. When Scaramanga assassinates the solex scientist, he is perched behind on the roof of a building with bright sign that reads "the golden cafe", or something similar. It's a clever scouting location and also provides menacing lighting for the hidden gunman.
I love when Bond visits the gunsmith. The scene is so well written. It immediately introduces a clever gun design, which Bond tries on a target. He learns that the gun isn't balanced how he expected, but he's a professional assassin and instantly masters it. When he turns it on the gunsmith, you know that Bond will not miss, except when he intends to. The scene is suspenseful and interesting while also advancing the plot.
The running gag of M's pop-up office in odd places never gets old.
When Bond first arrives on the island, Scaramanga blows off the wine bottle's cork. Then he comes out laughing and says he couldn't resist, followed by laying down the revolver on the serving tray "a harmless toy." It's funny and offers another glimpse into his psychosis. Maybe one of you can help clarify something for me. At the dinner scene, which Nick Nack has so delightfully prepared, Goodnight seems to speak to Bond in innuendo, but I honestly didn't understand what she was implying. The situation seems perfectly apparent to me. Regardless, the scene is suspenseful, as is typical for this movie. If I'm not mistaken, the line about their both being killers is relatively famous. Also, Scaramanga is adorable when he takes a physical note about Bond's wine recommendation.
There's always plenty more to say, but I'll just wrap it up now with a comment about the music. I don't know enough about music to speak intelligently about it, but the score sounded particularly great and accompanied each scene appropriately. I wonder how it compares to the scores of the other movies.
I really like The Man with the Golden Gun. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I could see it jumping way up my list, but I'll first have to reconsider Skyfall, Casino Royale, Thunderball, and Goldfinger. It won't place higher than 7th at best, though.
P.S. Unrelated, but there's a martial arts film called The Man with the Golden Arms that's arguably the best martial arts film ever made. Highly recommended.
This discussion has been closed.
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
We already have a review thread for TMWTGG...
https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/3471/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974#latest
Feel free to copy and paste your review in the existing thread.