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Comments
Back in those days in America, I remember how long the lines to get gasoline/petrol were and thought it was very timely and logical subject matter. Put it this way. Nothing in the film bothers me more than Goodnight (not Britt in a bikini mind you :).
I'm sort of surprised that Herve Villechaize hasn't come up yet. Other than being difficult to understand, as cartoonish as anything in this movie. After hearing Sir Rog's stories about him though, he rocked :))
I agree with a previous poster, I would ditch the entire plot and make it purely about Scaramanga targeting Bond for assasination, with S having the upper hand as he is able to remain totally anonymous thus crating fear and paranoia in his victims. The sadist in him likes to toy and play mind games with his prey before killing them.
Bond would find a way to turn the tables on him so that hunted becomes hunter. It remains the only Bond film that I wouldn't mind seeing remade as there is huge scope to make a new version so much than it's predecessor.
Come to think of it. Maud might have been Goodnight, the only but then really good Bond girl in the film.
I'd also get rid of the ending scene with Nick Nack.
I understand that it was a bit of a stretch to make a two hour movie about Bond vs. Scaramanga but, as others have pointed out, the Solex sub plot was a poor idea. Surely they could have come up with something better?
Agreed!
Herve Villechaize- "Tonight, Maud, I am going to come into your room, climb under your sheets, and make wild, passionate love to you".
Maud Adams- "Yes. And if I find out you have, I'm going to be very angry".
:))
Maud fitted better the character of Andrea. And I am not even sure Mary Goodnight was miscast, just very badly written. So I would have kept Maud Adams as Andrea Anders, the tragic Bond girl, and Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight, the reward for Bond after his ordeal. Goodnight would be of average intelligence, neither smart nor dumb, maybe a bit of a groupie towards Bond, but not a ditz.
The ending at the Scaramanga fun-house could of been better, as it's a poor climax, after some decent tension and build up. Apart from those (minor) irritations, I see no real reason to change, or make any necessary adjustments
Remove Tom Mankiwitz as writer.
Make it a gritty cat and mouse thriller with Bond going after Scaramanga.
Make Nick Nack menacing.
Remove JW pepper and his wife.
Give Lt. Hip something more to do.
Remove the 3rd nipple. Why? Just Why?
Remove Goodnight altogether or re-write her and recast her with Helen Mirren.
and Done.
Good luck with that one! ;-)
Interesting point there @Samuel001. The whole tagged on plot of the solar energy crisis just happened to be linked to the Scaramanga figure who had apparently threatened Bond with assassination. It's all far too contrived to be believable, but who watches these things with reality in mind, I suppose. I'd wager not very many at all. The same thing happened in DAF with Blofeld just happening to be behind the diamond smuggling operation and the closing down of the pipeline by Wint and Kidd after Bond believes that he had killed Blofeld in the PTS of the film. Perhaps it's just a Tom Mankiewicz/Guy Hamilton kind of thing? Who knows?
It came from the novel.
Coming from the golden pen of Ian Fleming is good enough reason for me!
@Dragonpol I wish we could get a glimpse into Tom Mankiewicz original script. Apparently Guy Hamilton made the plot less serious.
Maybe some day we will - I liked the simplicity of Mankiewicz's reported first draft of TMWTGG. The energy crisis thingy seemed a bit tacked on just for the sake of sought-after relevance of the times.
And maybe a better theme.
Only a complete goof (I wonder how DC is doing these days as he was the last goof I remember liking it) likes the slide whistle. Barry regretted including it until his last day. Nick Nack (the character) wasn't necessary, agreed, just more Hamilton brand silliness to offset a serious script he didn't like to direct, plus Villechaize's accent makes him tough to understand at times.
On that note, Villechaize says a line when Bond and Scaramanga are back to back, ready for their duel, and Bond gives him a little glance. To this day I don't know what the hell he's saying. I guess I should really put the subtitles on but does anybody know what he says here?
Ah poor old Nic Nac, I thought he was a nice twist on the usual henchman.
I don't mind the Villachaize character at all. I thought he did a great job, and added some extra flavor and intrigue to that years release. Whatever has been said on this, the main things to have omitted would include, the scatter-brained Goodnight character, slide-whistle sound effect, throwing wine bottles at the aforementioned Nick Nack (with no drink inside !), the confusing bit where Moore climbs down the structure at the Scaramanga fun house in near darkness, dropping his gun some distance below, only to appear fully dressed a moment later, in wait for Scaramanga, and too much time spent at the sports event where Anders is found shot dead. The karate school sequence needn't have been included, for good measure
TMWTGG holds spot number 5 at my list hounorbly!
Edit: And my top 10 consists only of the more "serious" films in the series.
I'd say DAF is a pretty serious departure, and arguably YOLT as well.
Two tweaks to Golden Gun that I would recommend.
1. Re-write and re-shoot the Rog and Andrea face-slappy scene. Rog couldn't pull such scenes off with any believability.
2. Ditch the whistle effect which does it's best to ruin the AMC Hornet broken-bridge jump scene.
Otherwise I have very much love for this mid-seventies early post-classic-era entry.
The Lulu opening Bassey-wannabee screamer song is one of my favourite Bond songs. Actually my 3rd favourite Bond opener after the two Bassey gems.
Barry's dramatic, exciting and also darkly ominous score to follow, continually re-inforces the films somewhat macabre vibe.
Aside from the series opening salvo of Connery classics, the Guy Hamilton early '70s threepeat is my absolute most enjoyable stretch in the series.
If Sean had stuck around for two more films, this Hamilton/Mankiewicz stint along with Saltzman/Cubby/Adams/Barry/George Martin contributions, would be my favourite Bond 3-film stretch.
As it is, Moore is at his most adequate as Bond in his first two films, I do believe. Yes, I make the same distinction. LALD and TMWTGG were made within a year and a half of each other. Hamilton and maybe Saltzman, but I think mainly Hamilton, kept Rog on a tether and stuck with the "serious" camp/danger vibe which permeates the Connery films. The filmmakers were still very much connected to the '60s tone.
However by the time Spy rolled around two and half years later, the Rog era was ready to blossom in full. He had a new director, a big budget. He was the star, no longer in Sean's shadow. The Rog persona was in full display. And this was also the period of Star Wars and the looming new Superman films, which brought a lighter energy.
I do very much like the OTT Gilbert/Moore/Cubby Bond films, but there was a distinct shift in tone with Spy. Hamilton's films all had an underlying dark tone which complemented the campier more escapists moments, but that Hamilton touch was gone with Spy, replaced by Moore's easier going manner.