The Man with the Golden Gun
Producer: EON
Released: 1975
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Best line:
The End
Worst Line:
Bond (aiming rifle at man's crotch): Speak now or forever hold your piece.
An Order of Broccoli, Hold The Saltzman
The last 007 movie co-produced by Harry Saltzman.
Following many creative differences, he sold his 50% share in the Bond franchise
to United Artists.
The title role was originally offered to Jack Palance, but
was eventually played by Christopher Lee. Lee is author Ian Fleming's cousin (Fleming
originally had him in mind for the villain in Dr. No).
This Roger Moore entry was the lowest grossing film in
the history of the series. Gosh, I wonder why Harry sold out?
Good Cut The duel at the end of the film was heavily edited.
Originally when Bond counts off ten steps and turns to fire, Scaramanga has taken
cover in some nearby rocks. Bond finds cover as well, and the two converse for
a couple of minutes. Finally Bond flings a thermos of petrol in the air over Scaramanga
and exploding it above his head. Scaramanga dodges the shrapnel and retreats into
the fun house. Although parts of this sequence were used in the promotional trailer,
it was deemed too slow and finally edited out, with Scaramanga retreating directly
to the fun house.
Undercover
Bond was originally issued a camera by Q that fired rockets,
emitted stun gas, and could self-destruct by selecting the shutter speed. Embarrassed,
Q admits that the only thing it can't do is take photographs.
Britt Ekland was cast as Mary Goodnight. "I got along
with Roger Moore very well. No doubt as Bond he was girl-bait,
but I did not fancy him."
Broccoli cast Ekland after seeing her voluptuous
body in another film. When he was shocked by her skinny body on the set, she replied
"Didn't you know dear? I was pregnant then."
Maud
Adams played Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's girl, who seduces Bond in order to convince him to kill Scaramanga. "Doing a love scene with Roger Moore became the toughest thing in the world., because that's when he'd choose to make the most jokes. I'd want to crack up and roll around in bed laughing." (Is that a compliment?) Anyway, the two were rumored to be having an affair.
Title Designer Maurice
Binder: "There was a dancer... and she was nude. She had a gun, if you remember.
She was Caroline Cheshire, who has since developed her muscles and become the
Jack LaLanne of England. She was very good and all nude for The Man with the
Golden Gun. I used some rippling water which covered her body, so we got away
with that, but when she danced around sideways, some inappropriate hair stuck
out. She wouldn't shave. I said, 'Caroline, we must do something.' She said, 'Brush
it down! Use Vaseline! Do whatever you want to do, but I'm not shaving.'
So I said, 'Give me that brush, and let's try it.' There I was, brushing away,
when I suddenly felt something behind me... I looked around, and there were Cubby
Broccoli and Roger Moore. Cubby looked down at me, standing before Carolyn with
my brush, and said 'Look, I'm the producer of this picture. Are you sure
we're paying you for this?'"
| Films, main | The Seventies |
Music: "The Man With the Golden Gun"
Music: "The Man With the Golden Gun"