The Man with the Golden Gun **** (1974, Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams) – Classic Movie Review 1023

Director Guy Hamilton 1974 adventure is the ninth James Bond movie and Roger Moore’s second caper in his series of seven. Christopher Lee is on top form as the Bond villain Scaramanga.

Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz’s screenplay sees 007 setting off to the exotic Far East to kill the world’s number one assassin, the triple-nippled villain Francisco Scaramanga who commands $1million a kill. This third nipple has given Scaramanga a compulsive sexuality and a sense of humour. Q supplies a third nipple as a disguise for Bond (‘quite titillating’).

Despite this weird stuff, the movie itself is cut to its Moore-style Seventies formula. But, still, it’s a great, unchallengeable formula: pretty Bond girls (Britt Ekland as Goodnight, Maud Adams as Andrea), the soppy redneck Southern Sheriff Pepper back from Live and Let Die (Clifton James), a wicked dwarf, er person of restricted growth, Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize), kung fu, action, stunts, gadgets, car chases, M (Bernard Lee), Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell).

Oddly enough, Scaramanga sports his own Golden Gun, which he assembles from a cigarette case, a lighter, a cuff link and a ballpoint pen, hiding the bullet in his belt buckle. A green-with-envy Q retaliates with a rocket launcher disguised in a camera. At the climax, Scaramanga challenges Bond to a sporting duel.

So there it is, a highly efficient globetrotting escapist spy action adventure thriller, with Moore relishing having settled relaxedly into the role, and the colourful locations (Hong Kong, Thailand) a big asset. The disappointingly weak title song (score by John Barry and lyrics by Don Black) is sung by Lulu. The incredibly stylish and iconic title design is again by Maurice Binder.

It is filmed at Pinewood studios and in Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand.

The main cast are Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams, Hervé Villechaize, Clifton James, Marc Lawrence, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Desmond Llewelyn, Richard Loo, Soon-Tek Oh [Soon-Taik Oh] (as Lieutenant Hip), James Cossins, Chan Yiu Lam, Marne Maitland, Carmen Sautoy, Gerald James, Michael Osborne and Michael Fleming.

The Man with the Golden Gun is directed by Guy Hamilton, runs 124 minutes, is an Eon production, released by United Artists, is written by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz, is shot by Ted Moore and Oswald Morris, is produced by Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, is scored by John Barry and is designed by Peter Murton, with special effects by John Stears.

Doctors say a third nipple is not uncommon. Marky Mark (Wahlberg) has one.