007 y el hombre con el revólver de oro

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs n enjoyed it then, specially with the inclusion of Lee as the villain, living extravagant lifestyle on a secluded island. The duel/showdown kinda reminded me of the western films i grew up on. Revisited it recently n found it to be entertaining.

This is the ninth in the Bond series and the second to star Roger Moore as James Bond. This time Bond is temporary relieved of his duties by M due to the threat to Bond's life by an assassin known as Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) but Bond sets out unofficially to locate Scaramanga n on a mission to recover Solex Agitator, a breakthrough technological device crucial to solving the energy crisis with solar power.

This time Bond faces a dangerous assassin, Scaramanga n his all-round personal assistant, butler, housekeeper, chef n trusted henchman known as Nick Nack. Bond also faces several kung fu fighters.

This time Bond gets to cool off with Britt Ekland, a dumb blonde with amazing tight abs n luscious lips n Maud Adams. He also gets to cool off his eyes when he flirts with a completely naked Francoise Therry in a swimming pool n gets to kiss the toned belly of Carmen du Sautoy.

Some info about Scaramanga from the book, he worked as an enforcer for the Spangled Mob, worked as a pitboy at the casino of Tiara Hotel in Las Vegas, while in fact he was executioner of cheats and other transgressors within and outside the gang. In the book he is nicknamed as Pistols n also called Paco. In the book, it is also hinted that Scaramanga is a latent homosexual but in the movie he is shown to have an attractive mistress around.

This is the second film for Roger Moore in the role of "Agent 007" and even though this particular movie isn't the best it happens to be my favorite James Bond movie of them all. Essentially, the world's #1 assassin named "Scaramanga" (Christopher Lee) has sent a golden bullet to James Bond indicating that he is his next target. So rather than waiting around for Scaramanga to choose the time and place James Bond decides to find him first. This leads him to Beirut, Macao, Hong Kong and Bangkok in an attempt to find information that might be helpful in that regard. Now, rather than reveal the rest of the story I will just say that this movie does a good job of combining both action and comedy. As a matter of fact, I think this is probably the most humorous James Bond film ever made as it features nifty one-liners from James Bond along with "Sheriff J. W. Pepper" (Clifton James) and a midget named "Nick Nack" (Herve Villechaize). It also features two quite attractive women in Maud Adams (as Scaramanga's mistress, "Andrea") and Britt Ekland (as "Agent Goodnight"). Again, it might not be the best James Bond movie but I found it to be quite entertaining and recommend it to all fans of the series. Above average.

This is Roger Moore's second time portraying Agent 007, where he meets hit man Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), aka the Man with the Golden Gun. Bond decides to go track down Scaramanga and find a device that can make harnessing the sun's energy possible.

Moore continues to give us his own unique brand portraying James Bond, but staying true to the character with his armor of wits, quick one-liners and cynicism. The action scenes are in abundance, and some exciting car chases, including the one in the streets of Bangkok.

Bond had some unforgettable chemistry with Bond girls Goodnight (Britt Eklund) and Andrea (Maud Adams), a trademark role in his seductive yet charming ways with the Bond Girls. Somehow, the writers saw it was fitting to squeeze in the loud-mouth character Sheriff Pepper (Clifton James), whom I thought was out of place for a spy movie. He was borderline annoying, but other more memorable characters like Hip (Soon-Tek Oh) made up for this flaw. And, to cap it off, there is an exciting cat-and-mouse chase leading to the climax of the film, keeping the audience engaged in this two-hour-plus movie.

Overall, another descent Bond film, which I thought wasn't as good as the Live and Let Die (the first 007 adventure with Moore), but certainly one to enjoy on a Saturday night.

Grade B

The year after Roger Moore first appeared in the role of James Bond in 1973's "Live and Let Die", marking the beginning of his twelve-year stint in the role, he returned for the ninth film in the franchise, and his second of seven. Recently, knowing that this wasn't the most widely praised of all the official Bond films, I watched it with fairly low expectations, but I think my expectations were at least slightly surpassed. Like the first film starring Moore, this one didn't blow me away consistently, but I found a lot of it entertaining, mostly later in the film (if it wasn't for that, I doubt I could rate it any more than a 6/10).

Francisco Scaramanga is a renowned hit-man who uses a golden gun with golden bullets, which is why he is known as "the man with the golden gun"! MI6 receives a golden bullet with "007" on it, which suggests that James Bond is Scaramanga's next target! Because of this threat, M decides to dismiss Bond from his duties until the problem is solved. Nonetheless, Agent 007 sets out in search for Scaramanga, and during his search, he witnesses the assassination of a man who turns out to be a scientist creating a device that can harness the sun's power! Bond must track down this machine, and on his mission, he must go through Andrea Anders (Scaramanga's mistress), and Nick Nack (the hit man's servant), as he is assisted on the mission by Mary Goodnight, a mission which eventually leads to a showdown between the secret agent and his main foe!

Like "Live and Let Die", this one has some tedious moments, unsurprisingly, and for a while, it seemed to me that it was turning out to be slightly inferior to Moore's first Bond film, but like I said, I was more impressed later in the film, with a decent amount of suspense and humour. They brought back Sheriff J.W. Pepper, the stereotypical Southerner introduced in "Live and Let Die", for comic relief in this movie. The character made me laugh in the 1973 Bond film, once again gave me some laughs this time, and as I stated in my comment on the first film featuring him, I don't see why I should feel guilty for finding Sheriff J.W. Pepper amusing if I'm willing to laugh at Canadian stereotypes. One very memorable sequence is where Bond chases after a car with Pepper inside with him, which is both suspenseful AND humorous (humourous thanks to the presence of Pepper). After that, a lot of suspense takes place on the island.

Like "Live and Let Die", this second Bond film starring Roger Moore is rather polarizing with Bond fans, but both films, while not the best, I have found to be reasonably satisfying, and in my opinion, while Moore can't quite match Sean Connery (the first actor to play Ian Fleming's famous character, as I'm sure you know), he was a decent replacement, unlike George Lazenby, who was only in one film in the franchise (1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"), in between Connery's last two (1967's "You Only Live Twice" and 1971's "Diamonds Are Forever"). Christopher Lee is also impressive as the main villain in this particular movie. So, while I wouldn't watch "The Man with the Golden Gun" expecting to be blown away, I would say it's worth watching, though some would obviously disagree.

The killer Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) uses a special golden gun for his assignments and has a rare birthmark on his chest. That's about the only things the movie has in common with the novel which played in the Caribbean region whereas the movie takes us to Thailand where Scaramanga secretly works with solar energy. Casting Herve Villechaize was an attempt to create a sidekick for Scaramanga like Oddjob had been to Goldfinger - a bit too silly in the end. Being a child of its time, "The Man With the Golden Gun" couldn't resist some kung fu - you see better martial arts in Hong Kong productions, though. Somehow parts of the movie seem too artificial, especially the mirror labyrinth where Scaramanga likes to practice the art of killing. But the beautiful islands will stick to your memory, and there is the most fabulous car stunt so far! There's an interesting promo photo for the movie, by the way: Lee and Moore back to back, gun in hand. This is not just a duel, this is also illustrating the idea of Scaramanga being a "dark Bond", his mirror image as a bad guy with the same skills, but different ideology. "We have so much in common, Mr Bond", Scaramanga says. "Ours is the loneliest profession."