Movie Review # 372: 007: The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to this blog, where I review mostly movies, as well as TV shows, plays, or video games on occasion. Today, we continue through the 007 series. This time, we tackle the 1974 James Bond film, which stars Roger Moore, Britt Ekland, Herve Villechaize, Christopher Lee, and a few other people. Presenting 1974’s 007: The Man With The Golden Gun.

Plot: After coming across a golden bullet with Bond’s code of 007, Bond is assigned to track down an assassin by the name of Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), who is believed to have sent the bullet in order to intimidate Bond. Can Bond discover the truth about the bullet, as well as take down Scaramanga, and his sidekick, Nick Nack, if he needs to?

Okay, this may not exactly be one of the best of the Bond series, but it is fairly entertaining, nonetheless. First off, there’s the villain, Scaramanga, and his sidekick, Nick Nack. Well, maybe only one of them is well-developed in the end. The one that really seems to stand out is Nick Nack. Honestly, he seems to act like someone such as maybe Lefou from either Beauty & The Beast film. He may be short, but he is certainly not a villain, or villain sidekick, that you want to mess with. He can also have some really good lines from time to time as well. There’s also the design of some of the vehicles. Now, most of the vehicles move realistically, make no mistake. However, there are some vehicles that can become very creative. I’m not sure if such a vehicle could exist in real life, or not, you got me. However, if those kinds of vehicles could exist in the real world, that would be awesome. There’s also some of the side characters. One unexpected character that people may be more than excited to see is the reappearance of Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James), who was previously in the last film, Live & Let Die. How could you not like his jokes, his laughs, and his overall comedic personality not only in the last 007 film, but also here as well? Also, James Bond seems to up his game by incorporating more charm and personality that Connery, or even Lazenby has when either of those guys were in the role. Okay, am I saying that Moore was, or ever would be Connery, or Lazenby? No! That would be like saying that Will Smith became Robin Williams when playing Genie in last year’s remake of Aladdin. Of course we can agree with those two actors had THEIR OWN interpretation of that particular character. And the same can be said with any of the three actors playing Bond thus far in this franchise. Some of the mystery moments are very good too. When those moments of scare, and fright come up, you can feel the terror when some of the music plays. Additionally, Christopher Lee does a fantastic job of playing Scaramanga. Some of the action is phenomenal too. I’m not sure how the people succeeded in filming those moments without people actually getting hurt in real life. However, it would seem that they were able to get those jobs done in the end. So kudos to the filmmakers.

However, even with all of that said, this may yet be one of the rare to few times, where the 007 franchise seemed to hit a fairly big low. First off, the writers seemed to have scattered, and complicate the story by incorporating one love story with Bond, and Mary Goodnight, as well as this potential one between Bond, and Scaramanga’s mistress, Andrea Anders. I’m not sure if they were going with one that was genuine, and one that was supposed to be fake, or something like that. However, it was weird. Also, WHAT THE HECK WAS WOTJ THE WRITERS WRITING OFF SOLITAIRE, THE LOVE INTEREST FROM THE LAST FILM? Seriously, after all that Bond, and Solitaire has been through in the last film, they should have stayed together at least for a few more films, if not more. I mean, come on. Besides Bond coming close to being committed to the woman from 007: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (which didn’t last, since she got killed off in the end), the writers have seemed to make Bond bounce from relationship to relationship constantly. Why not, for once, just have Bond get married to Solitaire, in the last film, and maybe stay married to her, and maybe, they stay married throughout the franchise, or Solitaire gets killed off two, or even three films later, or something like that? Are we to guesstimate the writers of the 007 films didn’t believe in marriage for the long-term, or something like that? It just can come off as rather annoying, you know? Also, in spite of some of the entertaining moments, the action, and whatever else, the story seems to be overall average, to above average. Picture this! For those of you Disney fans out there, especially those who saw every single Disney animated film from Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs through Frozen 2, you know how somewhere along the way, there was a really good Disney film like 2002’s Treasure Planet, followed by a trio of okay Disney films like 2003’s Brother Bear, or horrible ones like Home On The Range, and 2005’s Chicken Little, followed Disney’s animated films becoming more enjoyable again? Well, it’s almost like a very similar thing happened here as well. We had 1973’s Live & Let Die, followed by a just okay 007 movie like 007: The Man With The Golden Gun. There’s action, and huge explosions, and you name it, but not a whole lot of substance to make this film a great story, let alone, a really good 007 film. Not only that, but Scaramanga, while a decent villain, will most likely go down as being one of the more forgettable villains. Heck, even the villains from Live & Let Die, whole not quite too memorable either, could at least be seen as being a little more memorable, you know? But hey, at least Scaramanga was played by a great actor, like Christopher Lee, who would go on to play villains like Saruman, Count Dooku, and some of those guys years later.

And that’s my review for 007: The Man With The Golden Gun. While it’s not exactly a horrible 007 film, it’s not one that you might find yourself wanting to watch over and over again. With some of the other 007 films that came before this one, at least some of those had a little more substance to keep them standing afloat to one degree, or another, you know? However, this one is engaging enough, but not one where you’d find yourself saying, “Hey, I’d like to rewatch that James Bond film again someday.” I’d say still watch it, if you can see it at a cheap price. Just don’t expect to feel a whole lot of excitement like with the 007 films before it, or maybe even after.

Final Grade: C+