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There's something about that The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)!

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  • ColonelSunColonelSun
    Posts: 1,497
    I really enjoy watching LALD and TMWTGG as a double bill - mirroring how they often played in the cinema re-releases when I was a kid. The two films sit really well together, both have a cool, bizarre quality (slightly surreal, larger than life characters etc.) - and Moore is super-smooth but still has a ruthless edge.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    ColonelSun wrote: »
    I really enjoy watching LALD and TMWTGG as a double bill - mirroring how they often played in the cinema re-releases when I was a kid. The two films sit really well together, both have a cool, bizarre quality (slightly surreal, larger than life characters etc.) - and Moore is super-smooth but still has a ruthless edge.

    Yes I loved the surreal vibe.

    I had never realised before that Scaramanaga is not remotely interested in Bond to start with. It is the Maud Adams character who draws Bond into Scaramanaga's radar.

    The plot is quite contrived in that sense.

    Initially Scaramanga is not bothered about Bond at all, but once he's on the island, suddenly Scaramanga is all excited and looking forward to the match of the century.

    I suppose there are echoes of this in SF as well, with Bond not being of any interest to Silva.

  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    There's certainly something about that dumb trollop of a Bond girl I can't bear ~X(
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    Goodnight? She is fairly bad. Looks nice enough but quite a lame character.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    Fairly bad? She's bloody awful. As I've said on here before Moore didn't even like Britt Eckland.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    She was nice to look at, but that's about it.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Mary Goodnight was a princess.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    Shame we didn't get more Maud Adams. Bit like SF really. Too much Naomi Harris and not enough Severine.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,357
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    Fairly bad? She's bloody awful. As I've said on here before Moore didn't even like Britt Eckland.

    Agreed. Goodnight is like getting a lobotomy while still awake.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,823
    She was comedy relief, gentlemen.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    I know, not funny.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    She certainly gave me some sort of relief. :))
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,357
    chrisisall wrote: »
    She was comedy relief, gentlemen.
    She may have been intended as comedy relief but she's not funny. She comes off as the Stereotypical "Dumb Blond." She's annoying and unbearable. Why Bond went to rescue her is beyond me.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,823
    Every thread come to this level at least a few times a week. :-j
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    DrGorner wrote: »
    She certainly gave me some sort of relief. :))

    Nah, I'd prefer Tiffany Case ;)
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,357
    BAIN123 wrote: »
    DrGorner wrote: »
    She certainly gave me some sort of relief. :))

    Nah, I'd prefer Tiffany Case ;)

    I'll take Stacey Sutton over Either.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited November 2014 Posts: 23,883
    I've always been a big fan of TMWTGG. I think it gets a bad rap on here.

    It was one of the earlier JB movies I saw though, so that may cloud my view. Growing up, Roger Moore was the man for me. Dapper, cool as a cucumber, and of course, he was James Bond. Moore looked his best in my mind in TMWTGG. He hadn't aged too much yet & his hair suited him better than the shorter cut in LALD. Rog was a little more brutal in this installment compared to others (slapping around Anders, treating Goodnight like a piece of trash, cheating at martial arts) and I loved that too.

    Scaramanga was great to me ...... just because he was played by the great Christopher Lee who can do no wrong in my book.

    I actually liked Barry's score. It was very 'in your face' with the main riff.....much more in your face than some of his other scores. Particularly liked the bit during the fight in the belly dancer's change room and the bits in Macau & Hong Kong.

    Without going into too much detail, I also loved this movie because it felt exotic to me. All the Asian stuff in Macau, Hong Kong & on the island etc. was very exotic feeling to me as a kid.

    When I was young, I loved the Bruce Lee ripoff martial arts sequences and the car chase. As I've gotten older, these are the worst parts of the movie to me now. Especially the flying car (why use an AMC for this?.....why not a Ferrari?)

    Nick Nack I could do without but he was different and suitably quirky in the good JB way.

    I'm neither here nor there with the leading ladies. They weren't the series best by any means. I liked Anders. I did not like Goodnight but she was better than Rosiie Carver or Bibbi or Stacy as far as I'm concerned

    Finally, I liked the 'its personal' vibe I got in this movie. It was like a duel between Bond and Scaramanga.....a precursor to some of the stuff we've seen more often in the series lately..

    As I said, underrated, but a little quirky installment in our beloved franchise.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    Nicely put. Gun has gone up in my estimation after my recent viewing.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    This was a review I wrote in 2011 of MWTGG. Overall I wouldn't say much has changed - except I dislike Goodnight even more:
    Just finished re-watching MWTGG for the first time in about in a year and a half (maybe even 2 years). Talking about it the other day on mi6 made me want to go back and take another look at it since it seems to get a fair bit of appreciation around here.

    I always ranked it fairly low in my ratings, and to be honest it still is - though maybe it has moved up a few positions.

    There is a good film in MWTGG. The central concept of Bond facing his evil counterpart is potentially compelling and was seen again 21 years later in GE. The PTS is brilliantly done with Barry's errie score and the creepy, fair-ground like fun house.



    Bond playing detective as he tries to track down the origin of the golden bullet is fine and in fact the first 40 minutes of the film are quite good. Although Moore does seem a little too intense at times, he does carry the story along.

    It's the middle part where the film sags however. The attempt at Kung-Fu sticks out like a sore thumb, Bond gets defended by 2 girls, Lt Hip randomly drives off leaving Bond and the main car chase - featuring the much "loved" Sheriff JW Pepper - never really excites the way it should and actually feels a bit boring.

    Things get better though once Bond arrives on Scaramanga's island (aside from the rather boring main scheme). The face off between Bond and Scaramanga at the dinner table is one of the best scenes in the film - thanks largely to Mr Lee's relaxed, arrogant attitude. Lee also gets some of the best lines in the film ("Mr Hai-Fat has just resigned, I'm the chairman of the board").

    Britt Ekland is one of the more forgettable girls in the series. She seems to jepordise the mission rather than help it along (getting locked in a boot, blowing up the base and - urgh - triggering the solex with her arse). There is little chemistry between her and Moore and she is nothing more than an attractive but pretty one-dimentional sexual conquest. For an MI6 agent she is hopeless - Christmas Jones was never this inept.

    Maud Adams is by far the better of the 2 Bond girls as her character has something resembling an intelligent personality.

    So...ok but not great, probably 18 on my list.

    5/10
  • jobojobo
    Posts: 7,507
    Another thread turned into a Mary Goodnight bashing! You just can't help yourself, can you! And its not like we haven't heard it before!
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,357
    jobo wrote: »
    Another thread turned into a Mary Goodnight bashing! You just can't help yourself, can you! And its not like we haven't heard it before!

    When the movie is actually bad, It's quite reasonable.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    jobo wrote: »
    Another thread turned into a Mary Goodnight bashing! You just can't help yourself, can you! And its not like we haven't heard it before!

    No I suppose I can't help myself.
  • jobojobo
    Posts: 7,507
    Murdock wrote: »
    jobo wrote: »
    Another thread turned into a Mary Goodnight bashing! You just can't help yourself, can you! And its not like we haven't heard it before!

    When the movie is actually bad, It's quite reasonable.

    =))
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,823
    jobo wrote: »
    =))
    Laff it up, fuzzball. Murdock doesn't go around bashing Goodnight endlessly.
    ;)
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,357
    chrisisall wrote: »
    jobo wrote: »
    =))
    Laff it up, fuzzball. Murdock doesn't go around bashing Goodnight endlessly.
    ;)

    Agreed. I've bashed her like three times over the course of two years.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    I think I'm guilty of the Godnight hate I'm afraid
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    I'm so sick and tired of other people banging Goodnight constantly! When is it going to be my turn?!
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    I meant bashing.
  • doubleohdaddoubleohdad
    Posts: 1,146
    LOL
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,823
    Getafix wrote: »
    I meant bashing.
    *Kurgan voice*
    Of course you did....
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