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The British superspy with a license to kill takes on his dark underworld double, a classy assassin who kills with golden bullets at $1 million a hit. Roger Moore, in his second outing as James Bond, meets Christopher Lee's Scaramanga, one of the most magnetic villains in the entire series, in this entertaining but rather wan entry in the 007 sweepstakes. Bond's globetrotting search takes him to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and finally China, where Scaramanga turns his island retreat into a twisted theme park for a deadly game of wits between the gunmen, moderated by Scaramanga's diminutive man Friday Nick Nack (
Fantasy Island's Herv Villechaize). Britt Ekland does her best as the most embarrassingly inept Bond girl in 007 history, a clumsy, dim agent named Mary Goodnight who looks fetching in a bikini, while Maud Adams is Scaramanga's tough but haunted lover and assistant (she returns to the series as the title character in
Octopussy). Clifton James, the redneck sheriff from
Live and Let Die, makes an embarrassing and ill-advised appearance as a racist tourist who briefly teams up with 007 in what is otherwise the film's highlight, a high-energy chase through the crowded streets of Bangkok that climaxes with a breathtaking midair corkscrew jump. Bond and company are let down by a lazy script, but Moore balances the overplayed humor with a steely performance and Lee's charm and enthusiasm makes Scaramanga a cool, deadly, and thoroughly enchanting adversary.
--Sean Axmaker
Additional Features
Die-hard 007 fans should be satisfied with the amount, if not the depth, of the material on the Blu-ray disc for
Man with the Golden Gun. Two audio commentaries lead the supplements; the first is devoted to Sir Roger Moore, who provides a constant flow of amusing if lightweight reminiscences (some of which may be familiar to Bond Blu-ray collectors), while the second is built from interviews with various cast and crew members, including director Guy Hamilton, costars Christopher Lee, Maud Adams, and Britt Ekland, cowriter Tom Mankiewicz, and composer John Barry. The latter is the preferred track for those seeking more production facts, while the former is for casual Bond fans and Moore aficionados.
The rest of the extras are segmented into various and somewhat obtuse sections. Mission Dossier is dominated by the half-hour documentary Inside the Man with the Golden Gun, the latest in the Bond Blu-ray series' impressive production featurettes narrated by Patrick Macnee, which offers interviews with the major cast and crew and a jaw-dropping look at the infamous "Astro Spiral" car stunt sequence. Also included is Double-0 Stuntmen, a clip compilation of the franchise's greatest stunt sequences.
Classified MI6 Vault is a grab-bag of TV and behind-the-scenes excerpts, the most amusing of which is an interview with Moore and Herve Villechaize on The Russell Harty Show from 1974; Moore is charming, while Villechaize announces that his next project is the ill-fated Alejandro Jodorowsky adaptation of Dune (!). Producer Michael G. Wilson narrates two short behind-the-scenes clips, including unused footage from the wince-worthy kung fu battle; more fascinating is The American Thrill Show Stunt Film, a five-minute promo film that examines the conception and execution of the Astro Spiral stunt, with an optional extended interview with stunt coordinator W.J. Milligan. 007 Mission Control is an alternate scene selection menu that arranges chapters in the film by theme ("Women," "Allies," "Villains"), with its chief virtue being a look at the opening titles sans text credits. And Ministry of Propaganda compiles the studio's promotional campaign, including two theatrical trailers (which emphasize Clifton James's unwelcome Sheriff J.W. Pepper, for some reason), as well as radio and TV spots and a gallery of publicity stills and poster art. --Paul Gaita