50 Years On From This Massive James Bond Flop, Is It Still As Bad as They Say? (2024)

The primary reason that the James Bond franchise has remained popular for over six decades is the saga’s ability to reinvent itself. Each actor who took on the role offered a different sensibility, which helped the series itself avoid being derivative of what it had already accomplished. There was a lot of pressure put on Roger Moore when he first inherited the role, as fans hadn’t been too kind to George Lazenby when he took over playing Bond from Sean Connery in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. While Moore brought a new sense of energy to the franchise when he made his debut in Live and Let Die, his second appearance in The Man With The Golden Gun was a complete misfire that became one of the worst Bond films ever made.

‘The Man With the Golden Gun’ Got James Bond Wrong

Live and Let Die had felt like a breath of fresh air for the Bond franchise because it avoided the obsession with SPECTRE, nuclear weapons, and the Cold War that had been so dominant within Connery’s films; instead, the 1973 film drew inspiration from classics of the blaxploitation movement, such as Shaft and Dolemite. Unfortunately, The Man With The Golden Gun was an awkward attempt at cashing in on the “Bruceploitation” craze brought about by the shocking death of martial arts movie star Bruce Lee, and lacked the finely-tuned choreography needed to become a successful homage.

Although the film does include a fairly memorable car chase in which Bond’s vehicle appears to make a complete turn while crossing a bridge, one cool stunt at the very end of the film does not make up for the lazy, uninspired action that preceded it. What’s most upsetting is that Bond appears to be devoid of any intelligence, seemingly stumbling into situations without conducting any proper investigations. Moore is certainly good at showing a more comedic side of the character, but his approach feels out of line with an action film that is trying to take itself a little bit more seriously.

The Man With The Golden Gun fails as an adaptation of Ian Fleming’s novel, which does a great job at examining the psychological obsession that the villain Francisco Scaramanga has with Bond. While Fleming had written the character to be a deeply unstable character with severe mental health issues, Christopher Lee gives a performance so overtly evil that it is almost indistinguishable from his role as Count Dracula in the Hammer horror films. Although Lee certainly has a captivating screen presence, the film makes the mistake of limiting his interactions with Bond until the final act, in which the two characters face off in a gun duel reminiscent of a shootout in a Western film. After watching Scaramanga train meticulously as his opponent prepares to arrive, it makes no sense for Bond to easily take him out after just one battle.

‘The Man With the Golden Gun’ Does Not Hold Up

The Man With The Golden Gun has some unfortunate stereotypes and caricatures that make it difficult to rewatch, as the portrayal of ethnic minorities is often quite offensive. While there were certainly some objectionable moments in the Connery films as well, The Man With The Golden Gun explores Muay Thai boxing in a way that feels very mean-spirited. Additionally, Scaramanga’s henchman Nick Nack (portrayed by the legendary Fantasy Island star Hervé Villechaize) is constantly the subject of ridicule. The film also manages to waste the talents of Maud Adams, whose role as Scaramanga’s mistress is one of the least compelling female characters in any of the Bond films.

The Man With The Golden Gun triggered a change in the Bond franchise, as it was evident that the series had strayed too far from its roots. While it was interesting to see a Bond film that tried to incorporate aspects of other genres, The Man With The Golden Gun cut out a lot of the spycraft that made fans fall in love with the series in the first place. Thankfully, the next film, The Spy Who Loved Me, corrected this issue by telling a more serious story about Bond teaming up with the Soviet Union spy Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach). While The Man With The Golden Gun was a failure, at least it lead directly to one of the best Bond films of all-time.

The Man With The Golden Gun is streaming on Prime Video in the United States.

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The Man with the Golden Gun

PG

Thriller

Action

James Bond is pitted against the world's most expensive assassin, Francisco Scaramanga, who uses a distinctive golden gun. Bond's mission to retrieve a crucial solar energy device leads him to a deadly duel on Scaramanga's private island, where he must outsmart and outshoot the lethal adversary.

Release Date

December 20, 1974

Director

Guy Hamilton

Cast

Roger Moore , Christopher Lee , Britt Ekland

Runtime

125 minutes