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How would you fix "The Man With Golden Gun" ?
I saw "The Man With Golden Gun" the other day (uncut, commercial free on EPIXHD) and thought that will a few changes it would have been better, maybe one of the best. I don't want to get into a row over Moore-Bond and his place in Bond history, I would like to focus more on the movie.
Issues to consider, but not limited to:
1. Scaramanga's fun house - I would have nixed that. I thought it was too silly. I actually liked the how events unfolded in the novel in the last chapters.
2. Mary Goodnight - I would not have made her a ditsy blond. She was sweet in the novel, I would have made more "normal". I would have kept her in the bikini though.
3. Asia as a location - I am sure they had to come up with something different from the novel since LALD took place in the Caribbean and the original novel took place in Jamaica. I had no problems with an Asian location.
4. The Golden Gun - I had no problem an assemblable, modular 4.2mm weapon. I wonder if the idea of a specialized weapon came about from "The Day of Jackal".
5. Enter the Dragon motif - I wonder if this minor theme came from the Kung Fu movie fad at the beginning of the 70s. I thought the fighting cousins were amusing. I would not expect this in the Bond era post Moore, especially today.
6. Sheriff Pepper - I would have nixed him.
7. Christopher Lee was great as Scaramanga. No complaints.
Issues to consider, but not limited to:
1. Scaramanga's fun house - I would have nixed that. I thought it was too silly. I actually liked the how events unfolded in the novel in the last chapters.
2. Mary Goodnight - I would not have made her a ditsy blond. She was sweet in the novel, I would have made more "normal". I would have kept her in the bikini though.
3. Asia as a location - I am sure they had to come up with something different from the novel since LALD took place in the Caribbean and the original novel took place in Jamaica. I had no problems with an Asian location.
4. The Golden Gun - I had no problem an assemblable, modular 4.2mm weapon. I wonder if the idea of a specialized weapon came about from "The Day of Jackal".
5. Enter the Dragon motif - I wonder if this minor theme came from the Kung Fu movie fad at the beginning of the 70s. I thought the fighting cousins were amusing. I would not expect this in the Bond era post Moore, especially today.
6. Sheriff Pepper - I would have nixed him.
7. Christopher Lee was great as Scaramanga. No complaints.
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Comments
TMWTGG is also one of my least favourite songs in the entire series, so i'd change that aswell, possibly have a more oriental sounding theme song to go with the locations..
I'd have kept Sherriff Pepper for 'Live and Let Die' alone, and not had him in this film..
I would have prefered Maud Adams to have a bigger role..
Did I miss a memo where someone redefined the word amusing as: a travesty, more embarrassing than the double take pigeon, pissing all over Ian Flemings grave?
Furthermore, the film takes two years to get made, not one. People actually pay attention to detail, primarily in the script, before taking a dump on one of Fleming's most underrated novels. When you substitute oak with toilet paper, you know it's time to pause a few years. I know that's not exactly how it happened but at least the break was much needed. The holes in the cheese had become so big even a mouse would get agoraphobia in it. Fortunately I wasn't born yet at the time, for even an avid Bond fan like myself might have seriously doubted that James Bond had any future at all after this film.
That may be one of the very few things I actually like about the film. ;-) You see I have a thing for symmetry. If we end the film on the same beats it started with, I'm intrigued. Can they pull it off? I find that part at least done rather well in TMWTGG. And Barry has a lot of fun introducing slight subtleties to differ between both funhouse sequences.
Did not work for me, felt the revisit to the fun house at the end of the movie lacked imagination. I understand what you mean with regards to symmetry, just felt on this occasion was not done particularly well.
Well, you think Lazenby is great, which I find much more amusing...the pigeon is far less excusable.
I did, watched OP again a few weeks ago, Moore really carries the scene of well. Its quite dramatic from Moore to the point you forget he is dressed as a clown when deactivating the nuclear device. Though also a symmetry in the tone of the scenes with the 00's dressed as clowns. The more intense scenes in that movie were very good i thought, the humour... no comment :-)
I think many people get distracted by Rog in the clown suit but it's actually a really good sequence and the suspense leading up to the defusal of the bomb is terrific. I love how he delivers the line "let me go damnit, there's a bomb in there!"
So are you seriously saying that the kung fu schoolgirls and the double take pigeon are better than Lazenby?
If so you show yourself up as really not knowing anything about James Bond at all.
You may not like Laz but have some respect.
I agree with you. I thought both the duel between Bond and Scaramanga and the PTS were the best parts of the film. In a revisited TMWTGG, that should be kept. And keep Andrea, she is a great tragic Bond girl.
I love pulling your chain, Wiz, are you ever gullible and thin-skinned when it comes to George.
So what if I find those two schoolgirls beating up a school full of boys amusing? Should I not like J.W too? I'd prefer the whole karate thing wasn't there as I've stated, but it is and while campy and cartoonish I've seen far worse in the form of Jaws and MR in general. Sorry that my sense of humor doesn't meet your standards.
I think OP is one of the best Bond movies and the clown/circus theme is rooted in Fleming.
I thought there were similarities between Andrea and Simone Latrelle from Live and Let Die.
Great post. I also think Lee was too old to play Scaramanga. The sad thing is that after 1969 Eon seemed to not care about the source novels beyond superficial locations and names.
I think if OP had jettisoned the silliness and had a more hard edge tone it would have been up there with the best. That was Glenn allover lookin at his movies, he really did do some very good stuff in his movies. There was equally some terrible humour at times, that undermined some really good work. Though its easy to argue that the shift in tone makes the more dramatic scenes work better, though the Tarzen cry and saying sit to a tiger is inexcusable :-)
Since Scaramanga's golden gun only fires one bullet, any shoot-out with 007 wouldn't last very long.
Ah, but he only needs one bullet :)
Yes because one golden shot means another poor victim has come to a glittering end! ;-)
Some of us know these movies all too well, don't we :)
It's not knowing the films too well that embarrasses me, it's knowing all the lyrics to Lulu! ;-)
You have a good point Willy. I know them all by heart too. Does that make us super fans or geeks :))
Also, speed the pace up. The Man With The Golden Gun is a very slow film.