Remembering Roger Moore: THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (United Artists 1974)

I didn’t realize Sir Roger Moore was 89 years old when I first heard he’d passed away on May 23. But as Mick Jagger once sang, time waits for no one, and Moore’s passing is another sad reminder of our own mortality. It seemed like Roger had been around forever though, from his TV stardom as Simon Templar in THE SAINT (1962-69) though his seven appearances as James Bond, Agent 007.

There’s always been a rift  between fans of original film Bond Sean Connery and fans of Moore’s interpretation. The Connery camp maintains Moore’s Bond movies rely too much on comedy, turning the superspy into a parody of himself. Many point to his second, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, as an example, but I disagree. I think the film strikes a good balance between humor and suspense, with Roger on-target as 007, and the great Christopher Lee (who’d guest starred in Moore’s syndicated 1958 TV series IVANHOE) in great form as the cold-blooded master assassin Francisco Scaramanga.

The prologue takes us to Scaramanga’s island hideaway off the coast of (Red) China. A Chicago-style hit man (gangster vet Marc Lawrence  ) is invited to engage in a deadly battle of wits in Scaramanga’s bizarre fun house, won by the international executioner. A wax figure of Bond let us know who his next target is to be. Roll credits, over the (admittedly lame) title tune warbled by pop singer Lulu.

Now the story proper begins. 007 is called into M’s office and shown a golden bullet etched with his number. It can mean only one thing: ex-KGB assassin Francisco Scaramanga, the man with the golden gun who charges a million dollars a hit, has set his sights on James Bond. This sets up the scene for action, as Bond travels to Beirut (giving the film an excuse for sex & violence in a belly dancer’s dressing room), Macau (where he delivers the famous “My name’s Bond… James Bond” line), Hong Kong (introducing us to Britt Eklund as klutzy assistant Mary Goodnight and Maud Adams, later to portray OCTOPUSSY, as Scaramanga’s mistress Andrea Anders), Bangkok (with a nod to the 70’s chop-sockey martial arts craze featuring Soon Taik-Oh and a pair of kung-fu fighting schoolgirls), and finally to Scaramanga’s island lair, where the two “best in the business” have their final showdown, echoing Welles’s LADY FROM SHANGHAI.

All the traditional Bond elements are in place. Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, and Lois Maxwell are back as M, Q, and Miss Moneypenny. There’s exotic locales, sexual innuendoes, hi-tech gadgetry, thrilling stunts, and plenty of action. The late Clifton James (who died April 15th this year) is also back from LIVE AND LET DIE as redneck sheriff J.W. Pepper, on vacation in Bangkok and accidentally caught up in a wild car chase (“Who you after this time, boy? Commies?”). Herve Villechaize is on hand as Scaramanga’s diminutive flunky Nick Nack, and long-time screen villain Richard Loo plays ultra-rich businessman Hai Fat, involved in the theft of the Solex Agitator, a super-powerful solar battery that could solve the world’s energy crisis and serves as the movie’s McGuffin.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is fast and furious fun, and helped bring Christopher Lee out of the sinister shadow of Dracula and into the mainstream. It’s the last of Guy Hamilton’s four Bond films in the director’s chair (GOLDFINGER, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LIVE AND LET DIE); he and Lewis Gilbert are the only two that directed both Connery and Moore in the role. James Bond may have a License to Kill, but he wasn’t meant to be a dour, brooding character on film (I’m talking to you, Daniel Craig!). The Moore/Bond films have a tongue-in-cheek charm to them, and are fondly remembered as much for their humor as for all the kiss-kiss-bang-bang action. Job well done, 007. And rest in peace, Sir Roger Moore.

RIP Roger Moore (1927-2017)