007 y el hombre con el revólver de oro

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

Altho there's a lot of hate for this second Moore 007, I never understood it. For a change, most of the witty dialogue works well. I think it's one of Moore's best Bond performances.

So let's break it down: The Good: - Roger Moore is witty and action ready. His fight scene in the belly dancer's room is pretty good. Tough and violent. Don't know about that cigar, but it adds a little extra somethin'.

• Herve Villechieze as Knick Knack. Not threatening, but a fun memorable sidekick with lots of playful malevolence. I love it when he shushes Bond.

• Christopher Lee. Nuff said, tho they didn't build up this character to the level they could have. Where are those deleted scenes between him and Moore (from the trailer and photos)that obviously exist?

• John Barry. Yes, Lulu's song is ridiculous. Still, I love the brassy music and this is one of Barry's most memorable catchy Bond scores. Especially during the karate scenes and the jazzy swing of Scaramenga's fun parlor.

• Kung fu. The Bond films always lucked out when it came to latching onto the culture of the day. 1974 was the height of kung fu exploitation and Bond was there. Still have BLACK BELT magazine featuring this on the cover...

The Bad: - Miss Goodnight. Giving Bond a ditzy helper...well, bad night.

• Lack of compelling plot. The energy cell and Scaramanga are too loosely tied together and the film shouldn't have tried to pull a Blofeld at the end.

• Production design. Ken Adams is sorely missing here. And what's with that ONE GUARD in the massive solar laser set? Missed opportunity there.

The Ugly: - JW Pepper.

• Slide whistle.

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."

The Man with the Golden Gun wasn't a bad movie. I actually thought it was better than Ian Fleming's novel (quite a few of the movies adapted from his books are better than them, in my opinion). I thought it started out pretty well but it did kind of lose steam by the end in my opinion.

I liked Christopher Lee and Maud Adams. Roger Moore's my favorite Bond but I didn't like him here as much as in just about all his other movies. Britt Ekland was okay but not great. And I'm usually easily pleased by most Bond girls (I actually liked Tanya Roberts's character in A View to a Kill).

The climax was pretty disappointing. The fight between Bond and Scaramanga should have gone on longer. The flying car was kind of dumb. And I thought it was kind of pointless to have Sheriff J.W. Pepper in this movie. And I was kind of hoping he'd meet that kid somehow and give him the 20,000 bahts (it is a Roger Moore Bond movie, after all, so it's not like it would have been an unbelievable coincidence).

Overall, it wasn't wonderful but not that bad either.