L'Homme au pistolet d'or

Roger Moore's second outing as Agent 007 puts him against the evil trick shot artist/assassin, Scaramanga (Christopher Lee). Hailed by many Connery fans as the film that marked the downfall of the 007 franchise, 'The Man With The Golden Gun' turns out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the entire series and one of the 'better' Roger Moore films. 'Gun' does take some getting used to, in fact, more times than not, you need to see it a few times to really begin to enjoy the film.

The cast is great, one of the better ones of the entire series. There are two leading ladies in this film, the wonderful Maud Adams, who would later star in Octopussy (1983), and the terrible Britt Ekland who just acts so dumb and hopeless that it almost angers viewers. The villain Scaramanga is top notch as well as his comical, yet silently evil assistant, Nick Nack, played by French painter Herve Villechaize. The plot of the film is very interesting, the locals are exotic (which is always an extremely important part of a bond film), and Roger Moore continues to develop his character from a Connery-clone to putting his own, charming spin on 007.

All-in-all, 'Gun' is another good 007 adventure and is quite possibly the 4th best Roger Moore Bond film. Any fan of the series should give it a second look before they hail it as 'bad'.

This exciting ninth Bond entry gets the greatest villain named Scaramanga , an awesome Christopher Lee , here's his biography : he was born in a circus , his father was ringmaster and mother a English snakes charmer . He was a spectacular trick-shot artist when ten and a local Rio gunman at 15 . The KGB trained him in Europe where he became an overworked and underpaid assassin . He went independent in the late 50s , his current price : one million dollars a hit . No photograph on file and unknown domicile but he does have on distinguishing feature,however : a superfluous papilla and mammary gland,a third nipple . He always uses a golden bullet , hence ¨Man with the golden gun¨ . He sends a golden bullet to MI6 with number on 007 and a note requesting special delivery to Bond , it's initialled with a ¨S¨ and Scaramanga's fingerprints were on it . Scaramanga tries the death of 007 , face to face , a duel between titans : The golden gun against Walther gun . James Bond is assigned to retrieve a piece of equipment named Solex that can be used for a device to create the sun's energy . Bond explains when he kills it's under specific orders of government and those he kills are themselves killers .

Roger Moore is a sympathetic and magnificent Bond , he earns in irony , suavity and smoothness . In an interview Moore tells about the shooting : ¨It looks a paradise on the screen but it was terrible hot,the entire unit had boils because you could never take a shower . It was uncomfortable ,it looks romantic and then they went over Macao . We're shooting all those scenes of gambling and so that's all go over there and we've got tables going over there with the Blackjack and he made quite money at the gambling table during the five months of shooting¨ .

The film contains spectacular fights , the lieutenant Hip's nieces were students of the karate school , the scene was played for laughs , but the women cast were Tae-Kwon-do champions and very accomplished athletes . The struggles were carefully choreographed and performed like a dance routine requiring each participant to hit their mark at the correct time . Film is made by Eon Productions Limited on location in Hong Kong , Macau , Thailand and Pinewood Studios , London , England . The atmosphere is faithful to the actual location but the interiors on a set at Pinewood Studios . The motion picture was well directed by Guy Hamilton .

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.