Bond, Marked For Death
Christopher Lee stars as Francisco Scaramanga, an expert assassin who nets a million dollars per contract, but whose whereabouts are unknown to the Intelligence community. A ominous package arrives for Bond at MI:6 at the beginning of the film that leaves little doubt that Scaramanga has been hired to target Bond as his next kill. Scaramanga has an edge over Bond given that no one knows where Scaramanga lives nor what he looks like, except that he has a distinctive physical trait — a third nipple. He also has an unmistakable calling card for his work — golden bullets, shot from a custom made golden pistol.
Bond is asked to take a sabbatical to help protect himself from Scaramanga, but he instead decides to research and hunt Scaramanga himself. Meanwhile, he uncovers a cunning plot involving a secretive device known as the Solex Agitator. The Agitator is a small electronic device that makes solar power incredibly efficient. A wealthy Thai man who Bond discovers has hired Scaramanga for previous jobs is behind the solar power subplot, although the crux of the film is the cat and mouse game between Bond and Scaramanga.
The Man With the Golden Gun includes several typical Bond-film regulars, such as a wealthy, secretive villain with a unique or odd assistant or henchman. In this case, it’s Herve Villechaize’s character, Nick Nack, who is a small person with a nack for outwitting his enemies. Cool tech and girls are included in this film as well, with the highlight being the Solex Agitator and Scaramanga’s golden pistol. Q and M act as book ends to certain ‘chapters’ of the adventure and there is even a significant role for tobacco chewing Louisiana police officer from Live And Let Die.
This particular Bond film is a favorite of mine for a few reasons. I really enjoy the villain in this one, the pacing, the locales — the production really melds very well together and it’s very entertaining. The Man With the Golden Gun might not be one of the first films to come to mind when you think about Bond films, but it’s definitely one you should see if you haven’t before.
Golden On Blu-ray
Fox/MGM have done a hell of a job with the Bond Blu-ray releases thus far. Consistent packaging, menus, presentation quality, and a host of extra features have been the standards so far, and that’s exactly what you can expect from this release. The image quality is excellent, as is the sound. As an extra bonus, Lulu’s The Man With the Golden Gun theme song is one of the better Bond themes out there in my opinion. So as with the other Bond Blu-ray releases, expect a sharp picture, good color contrast, and a high quality audio track.
For extra features, there are quite a few. Let’s take a look:
-Audio Commentary with Sir Roger Moore
-Audio Commentary with Director Guy Hamilton and other cast and crew
-Russel Harty Show – This is a three minute SD feature that includes some vintage footage of Roger Moore being interviewed on the old talk show.
-On Location With The Man With the Golden Gun – A one and half minute SD feature showing production footage during filming in Hong Kong.
-Girls Fighting – The scene where Lieutenant Hip’s nieces fight off a horde of bad guys chasing Bond is shown during production ini this 3.5 minute, SD feature.
-American Thrill Show Stuntman – This is a five minute SD feature that doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the film except for the ramp jump during the car chase sequence.
-Guy Hamilton: A Director Speaks – This runs about six minutes and features various stills and production footage of Guy Hamilton, who provides the voice over. In it he talks about his own life and work as a director.
-007 Mission Control – This feature is broken into Bond, Villains, Girls, and so forth and is basically a way to skip around to different parts of the film showcasing various characters.
-Inside The Man With the Golden Gun – A thirty minute HD feature that includes lots of vintage production footage and the like; it makes for a fine making of feature.
-Double-O Stuntman – Another thirty minute HD production about the stuntmen of the Bond films over the years, very interesting.
-Promotional Material, Stills – A large collection of stills, trailers, and promotional material.
With that, let’s get to the summary…