Review of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - The Sophomore Slump
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- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2024
- One of the first Bond films I ever saw, it holds a special place for me. But should nostalgia blind me to some of its lesser qualities, or does it genuinely hold up as one of Roger Moore's finest hours, as well as having some of the best villains in the series?
Next in the series: The Spy Who Loved Me
One of the most underated Roger Moore scene in this movie for me is the one when he's threatening the one who makes the golden bullets, Lazare.
In this scene, Roger manages to be intimatating and yet still funny at the same time and staying believable. Especially by targeting the "groin" area ^^
And the award for "Bawdiest James Bond Theme Song" goes to....
*HE HAS A POWERFUL WEAPON, HE CHARGES A MILLION A SHOT,*
*AN ASSASSIN THAT'S SECOND TO NONE, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUUUUUN~!*
Lulu on her last tour.
This is overall a very well done review of the strengths and weaknesses of "The Man With The Golden Gun"(1974). But the narrator fails to recognize that not only is John Barry's music score from that Bond film only at best "serviceable", but in fairness to Barry, it was blatantly obvious and quite understandable that after creating 3 excellent Bond music scores (i.e., "FRWL"(1963), "Goldfinger"(1964) and "Thunderball"(1965)) and 3 masterpiece Bond film music scores (i.e., "YOLT"(1967), "OHMSS"(1969) and "DAF"(1971), Barry had simply reached the bottom of his creative well as far as Bond music. No music composer no matter how brilliantly talented can turn out excellent music scores every single time, year after year after year! Even Barry's music score for "Moonraker"(1979) although at times very good, is nonetheless overly praised and simply indicative of his running out of fresh ideas for the Bond films. Also, will narrators of videos stop using the grammatically incorrect non-word "anyways"!! The word is "anyway"! There is no letter "s" at the end of that word!
@michaelbarlow6610 Thanks for pointing out the "anyways" problem; I'll try to do better. Also, Barry's score for this is my least favorite of all his 11 Bond scores (see my Soundtracks ranking video), though you'd probably be pissed to see where I put Goldfinger and YOLT.
@stephenjarvis534. My only problem with the music score for "Goldfinger"(1964) is that it is too harsh sounding. "YOLT"(1967) is rightly widely regarded as one of John Barry's 3 masterpiece Bond film music scores!
Roger Moore was the man!
This was I think my first Bond movie I saw at young age in early 80's, maybe not the best Bond movie but the one I love the most. Love the score, settings and locations.
That's an important distinction to make, and I'm glad you can do that. :) My lists are always about favorites, not "bests".
I saw this when I was 16 - and one of my favorites. 😃
Yes, it bogs in the middle, but the last 45 minutes are great.
From the Thai kickboxing forward.
Just spot on perfect review. I couldn't have said it better. I definitely couldn't have presented a review so well or hit every relevant point.
I lived through the energy crisis and I remember the excitement for this movie was ... so much less than "Live and Let Die". The year 1974 was just different. It had a depressing feel without the despair of 1968 or the sense that things might turn around in 1972. Nixon had turned out to be corrupt to a shocking degree. The energy crisis meant people spent hours in lines for fuel in cars that got 8 to 10 miles to the gallon. The Vietnam war was not yet over. The Cold War was still raging. Life wasn't completely crapsacktastic, but it wasn't hopeful. This movie was a predictable mediocrity.
I enjoyed it, but hey, I was not even a teenager and my hormones were probably engaged from the opening credits (which were oddly edited for broadcast television until the 21st century).
I genuinely like this movie, but I can definitely understand a lot of your criticisms. Also, like you, it was my first Moore movie.
One of my guilty pleasure James Bond movie I watch so many times Roger Moore second James Bond movie the man with Golden guns this movie have lot of flaws man it is campy spectacle escapism bond movie adventure greatness of amazing review 😊😊😊😊😊😊🍿🍿🍿 Roger Moore underrated Bond performance Christopher Lee Francisco he is entertaining villains marry goodnight campy fun Maud Adams Andrea sympathetic characters I do like Cheryl JW pepper fun characters the man with Golden guns underrated fun movie i do love Lulu theme song fun song 🤩🤩
By weird complications, this might be my favourite of Moore's films. Maybe it's just the fact Christopher Lee is great, but I end up liking it. Goodnight and Nick Nack are also extremely memorable, and I don't mind Andrea Anders and Lieutenant Hip. I even like the return of Sherrif J.W. Pepper. The score has some highlights, and the eastern setting is quite distinct. Lulu's title song is genuinely underrated, and one I hold up with the likes of Goldfinger and View to a Kill. The plot relies on Bond doing more detective work and hoping that other people will help him achieve his goal, but this results in him being more violent and aggressive than usual. I'm not massive on Moore in the film, and I think his take on the character from TSWLM onwards caterered more to his style.
In my view this is "Diamonds Are Forever" remade - with Moore in the lead role, set in the Far East - if I'm correct, Guy Hamilton (his final movie in the series) admittedly stated that he was "drained" of ideas.
Such a shame as two of his best features - Goldfinger and Live And Let Die - have his name on it, along with Saltzman being in trouble financially, being one of the least successful movies, this reminded Broccoli (the sole producer from 1977 until GoldenEye) that there was no guarantee of success - even when the main character is 007.
Moore even talked of him being an Ambassador for UNICEF and he was less than pleased with throwing a boy - ethnicity: Thai - off a small boat, only the duel between Scaramanga vs 007, when Bond gets told off by "M", few other scenes, besides that, it's average at best.
Loving these video essays. fantastic stuff
Great shoutout for Day of the Jackal (1973) one of my favorite films of any genre and a standout in Zinnerman's great directorial catalog (the remake is trash however). Hard to believe Edward Fox as the Jackal and Michael Lonsdale as Lebel were so good in that movie yet, in my opinion, so bad as M is Never Say Never Again and Drax in Moonraker, respectively.
I will never understand the negative reviews for The Man with the Golden Gun. It's ties with Spy Who Loved Me for my favorite Bond film.
Its my favourite at the moment.
The title song is an absolute banger. Way better than the lasy three we got.
Love these videos. Totally on board with all views but I still love this movie. First saw it when I was 6 I think.
Knick Knack being like Proxy is such a funny comparison.
This was my very first Bond movie. I went to see it in the theatre , by myself, at a ridiculously young age. As such, it will always be a special 007 movie for me.
My favorite movie
Absolutely superb review as usual🙂.. even with all its faults, I still find this to be a very entertaining Bond film, and there's enough decent parts for it not to be a total flop.
So excited to see a new review!
This had potential to be Moore's From Russia With Love similar plot with Bond being stalked by a villain who's just as dangerous and ruthless at killing as Bond but with no morals just a waste of Christopher Lee who's still great with what he's given.
The film should have concentrated on the rivalry between those two. All this stuff about Solar Power was a waste.
@ricardocantoral7672 totally agree
Lee should have been Blofeld. Now that would have been awesome.
This was one of my all time favorite ones.
The destruction of Scarrys lair looks cheap by today's CGI.
This was one of the Bond films I watched more as a child and it is unfortunate that it does not hold-up as well as a film with Christopher Lee as the big bad should.
5:21 I never understood why they went back to a yearly release of Bond movies. I understand in the 60s with budget being lower but by 1967, they already shifted to a 2 year wait period for a new Bond movie release. And considering Live And Let Die was a success in 1973, why rush into something for 1974 just for a release sake?
For me, I enjoy this one fairly well. I don't think it's a top-tier Bond film, but I like it more than about half of Moore's tenure. It's 4/7 for me, behind FYEO, LALD, and TSWLM. I like to see the serious side of Moore, even if it's inconsistent with his other films. The villains are great too, certainly a highlight of the series.
Thanks for the review!
I always thought Scaramanga should make a modern appearance. Like he could be a terrifying secondary villain that is a hitman that dresses like a modern cowboy. Sort of like a James Bond vs Boyd Crowder scenario.
Great review! BUT....... Connery hitting girls in the face is also NOT RIGHT! With Moore it seemed even more disgusting but we should not allow it here, and we should not allow it for the 60s movie! Let me be clear about that! Otherwise, Christopher Lee is a terrific actor and he was the highlight of this movie for sure. Saruman/Dracula/Mummy/Dooku/Scaramanga is just that good
Ok snowflake 😂
7:34 they tried to make Sir Roger more like Sir Sean Connery and in turn ruined all the goodwill Sir Roger had from Live and Let Die.
First time viewer. Excellent synopsis. By the way I think at the start you said ‘Thunderbolt’ instead of ‘Thunderball’ or am I hard of hearing?
Welcome aboard. I said Thunderball, but there are plenty of mistakes that I've made like that in other videos. No joke, I record each section of these videos 3 times, and I still miss things. When I was editing the video, there was one bit where I kept saying "Mary Goodlight," so I quickly had to re-record that.
@16:50, that was a HUGE PLOT HOLE!
That scene has never been explained...it makes no sense whatsoever!
The Man With The Golden Gun 1974 was Slap Stick Comedy
TMWTGG would be clearly Moore's worst Bond film if there wasn't a serious competitor in A View To A Kill. It is a series of set pieces in search of a story, and the story itself is ordinary. (Oh, and it was Hai Fat who set up the island, with Chinese assistance, and Scaramanga was his employee at this point.) Christopher Lee is the standout performer, and none of the others would like to put this movie on the shelf in the Pool Room. Parts of this movie make me cringe, although in 1974 maybe audiences saw things differently? All we can say is that this movie was Pyrrhic - it forced a flush of the Bond production operation and demanded a much stronger effort for the next film, which we know to be one of the best, but more of that later.
I can't wait to see the hate I get for my A View to A Kill review. It's one of my least favorites, but I know there is a vocal group that really love it.
Well I would understand why the spy who loved me saved Roger Moore's tenure.
Because live and let die was unintentionally a racist movie with disturbing images for the audience to sit through and the man with a golden gun was simply a headache.
Despite having a simple plot, this movie tried to add elements from the previous movie without executing it properly, and the comedy was one of them and it simply didn't work here. And second one was chasing the trend.
As the live and let die was chasing the blaxploitation which was booming in 1970s without any knowledge of why it was becoming popular and simply attached, and this made for unconformable viewing. Here we had martial arts as the martial arts movie was getting popular, we got a martial arts that isn't impressive and was just show horned in. (fun fact, one of the hip's nieces nara was played by Yuen qiu, who you would recognise her from the legendary kung fu hustle(2004) movie as the landlady of pigsty alley)
You get a thumbs up, but I have to disagree that Live And Let Die "was unintentionally a racist movie." (And this perspective from a black man who was around 13 years old at the time). Sure. Fleming's novel was adapted to tap into the blaxploitation craze, but this time with a white guy for the win. But I believe the screenwriters were very careful to depict black antagonists as strong, smart, and, for the most part, ahead of the game. Audiences in 1973 were not disturbed by some of the movie's dark moments because overall they were too buzy laughing and applauding a fun James Bond movie for crissakes!
@@tomchris60 yeah but this part of the bond was criticized alot by people. The writers had no clue what blaxpoilation was and how important it was to the community. Well live and let die wasn't a horrible movie but it was the one that was pulling down the franchise until the spy who loved me was released
Live and Let Die did have rather dated stereotypes but it could have been must worse like the book.
the song was permormed by Adrian Mole's Mom in Season 2
Think he was the greatest Bond.
I thought the idea was that Bond replaced his gun with the one held by the waxwork version of him.
Yes, but Scaramanga just left a real gun with the mannequin?
@@stephenjarvis534I think so: I just put it down to lazy script-writing, similar to when Hip drives off and leaves Bond behind so they have an excuse for the boat chase sequence.
@@stephenjarvis534I think so: I just put it down to lazy script-writing, similar to the way that Hip leaves Bond behind so there's an excuse for the boat chase sequence.
@@stephenjarvis534 yes I imagine that all the weapons are live and Scaramanga and NikNak know this and use them to cheat if required
I love this movie. Its fun. Sure its all over the place its full of plot holes but i just dont care.
Christopher Lee was a great presence in the movie but there were times when he looked really dumb. He didn't notice the Solex Agitator at his feet and he seemed to know little about solar power technology. That's a terrible mistake on the part of the writers. A villain should know all about his enterprise. Also, Scaramanga as written isn't that interesting. He is only memorable because Christopher Lee was in the role. As for the rest of the film, it just seems like a random collection of seventies tropes. There isn't really a strong theme. This is s goofy little film worth a rewatch now and then but it's easily the second worst Moore Bond film.
"When is he going to sleep with her?" You just defined a Bond Girl! Other franchises feature women who are "Empowered", or even Superheroes. And that's fine - no issues. But a Bond girl isn't that. You shouldn't mark her down because of it
Maybe I didn't explain myself well enough. My problem isn't that Bond sleeps with her, or that that's a key aspect of the Bond Women; my problem is more that she's a main Bond Woman who seems to be aware that she's the sex object, and virtually contributes nothing else to the plot. If your name is on the poster, I expect you to do something to help move the story forward, beyond being the prize at the end. The only thing she does is lead Bond to Scaramanga's base, which is only because she happens to have a tracker on her and not because she does anything of her own accord to deliberately lead Bond to the hideout.
Plenty of other Bond Women also actively do something to help their films besides being the eye candy. Honey Rider guides Bond on Crab Key, Tiffany Case is part of the smuggling operation, Kara Milovy leads the raid to rescue Bond, Wai Lin disables the stealth boat, etc. Goodnight virtually does little helpful, and her active motivation seems to be sleeping with Bond. That seems rather insulting for a woman who is a fellow field agent of Bond's to be so superficial like that.
Just wanted to make it clear that I'm not dinging her for not being a roaring feminist icon. I just feel like most Bond Women are better than the brainless bimbos people think they are, and it's a shame when Goodnight is one of the few that seems to validate a flawed perception that keeps people away from this series.
@@stephenjarvis534 She's supposed to be the main Bond girl in this film? Really? Because objectively I'd say that both Goodnight and (honestly not Octopussy) were both minor Bond girls. Similar to Aki, or the Mastersons in Goldfinger. Significant impact, but far from pivotal - that's the role they play. And so do the two Bond girls here. Not the only Bond film where there isn't a "main" Bond girl.
Honestly I don't think it's possible to state the characteristics of what makes a "good" Bond girl. Then to judge the rest of them accordingly. It's not just that the franchise has lasted 60 years. But, far more importanly, the Western world's cultural view on women has changed so much during this timeperiod that comparisons become almost ludicrous. To the point that Connery's portrayal of Bond would see him cancelled in seconds.
@xJavelin1 I'm not really sure I understand that viewpoint of not having a main Bond Woman in this film, whereas I could totally see that point with the other examples you offered.
In regards to the second part, you are absolutely correct about perceptions changing and that makes it hard to define such a large group by universal standards, since some of them would not apply to one group or the other. However, when offering a review on something, you are obviously judging it by personal standards (I would never presume to be offering the final authority on the subject). But then, I feel like if I take what I understand of your point to its further conclusion, then there is virtually little about earlier films that I can critique since it holds the protective barrier of "it's of a different era, so you can't judge it by modern standards". Which seems to be a disservice to films as a whole to say they can't hold up over time.
Christopher Lee was wasted in this film.
Lee would have been an amazing bond.