I dream of an alternate universe where Lazenby signed his 7-picture deal and we got a proper revenge movie in DAF (Peter Hunt directing of course!). I firmly believe he would have grown into a fine actor and the Bond legacy would be shaped a lot different from what actually happened.
Eek, definitely have to agree to disagree there! I think that the way he never grew into a fine actor makes me think it was unlikely he would have done, and I'd much rather had had proper actors in the role as we did. I look at Sean in DAF and Roger in LALD and I can't imagine George being capable of those performances: they are bona fide star leads. To be honest I even look at Peter Hunt's other, rather boring, 70s films and I'm kind of glad he didn't return either, much that I enjoy OHMSS.
Jumping ahead here, but I watched the pre-credits of DAF last night (ITV4 annoyingly is showing the Bonds just out of sync with this weekly Bond session) and it's just bam-bam-bam - fight, information sourced, bikini top off, infiltrate villain's lair, disarm henchmen with nifty gadget, kill the bad guy, superb quip, cat enters, banger of a song. It's all there, no need for a bit of sci-fi or an outrageous expensive stunt. And it has that lightness, the sense of enjoyment. Of course, it would a different movie with Lazenby anyway, but man, I really love DAF - and LALD is a staple of childhood.
That said - a cinema showing of OHMSS and I'm there; DAF I could take or leave on the big screen.
I agree with CHB on this one (but don’t tell him!). There are a few non-perfect moments such as 007 slapping Tracy, but OHMSS is wonderful and my Christmas movie! The plot, the music, the action, the camerawork, Diana Rigg, the locations and so on. There is so much to admire about OHMSS.
George Lazenby foolishly took the advice of his agent and didn’t take the 7-picture deal that was offered. John Gavin (terrible choice) was signed but paid off when Sean Connery was lured back to the role with an unprecedented salary for the time.
Peter Hunt was thus jettisoned and never returned to the franchise which left the heart of the series missing a beat. Guy Hamilton returned to directing duties and his light touch is a jarring change from the serious OHMSS.
The first half of the movie is rather fun. Bond seemingly gets his revenge on Blofeld for Tracy’s death (it’s not actually mentioned), we get an enjoyable Bond/M/Expert scene which explains the plot (very much like Hamilton’s GF), a great fight in an elevator, a tense scene at a funeral parlour, fun at a Vegas casino, infiltration of a research facility, a car chase. All fun and reasonably serious. Many years ago on this site I dubbed the second half of DAF, CarryOnBond, and I haven’t changed my mind. An ineffectual Charles Gray as Blofeld has no menace, the two gay assassins are as frightening as Andy Pandy and Looby Loo, and Bambi and Thumper are also laughably conquered in a swimming pool. The climax on an oil rig is second rate and the special effects are so cheap it’s embarrassing. The film resorts to farce and the era of comedy over thrills had begun.
Sean is charming enough but it’s this performance where you can see his heart is not in it, not YOLT. The editing by veteran Bert Bates is loose and confusing. The casting is a disaster, one mistake after another. The one plus is the wonderful score by John Barry, it’s not as good as OHMSS, YOLT and TB, but it’s top drawer stuff.
It really is a pity that Lazenby didn’t continue and then we would have got a proper revenge movie.
OHMSS - TB - FRWL - GF - YOLT - DN - DAF
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I’d disagree that Sean’s heart isn’t in this, I think he’s fully turned up to work here, unlike in YOLT. It’s just he’s giving a different turn to how he played Bond a decade before- it’s more of a comedy performance, and a very good one.
He was getting the highest salary ever to this point, I’m sure he was looking at giving value for money.
It's great to see Connery give a different, more comedic performance here. DAF is a film that's really grown on me in recent years. Favourite section might be from when Saxby takes off in the van and they follow in the Mustang, through til after the moon buggy chase.
The casino scenes are fascinating, as is the additional penthouse suite level added to the Hilton - one special effect that does work here, and overshadowed by the weak ones.
Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
While it's still my least favorite of the Connery Bond films, last night's viewing may have been the 'best' that it's played for me. Connery casually walking through 90% of the film for a paycheck was surprising endearing this time. The overt silliness also played better this time. My opinion of Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) also went up a few notches. Note: Shane Rimmer's second appearance in a Bond film!!!
Current ranking:
OHMSS
FRWL
DN
YOLT
TB
GF
DAF
Additional thoughts from today:
Connery looks like he's aged 12 years in between YOLT and DAF. It's pretty jarring.
This is the one Connery film where you really need to be 'in the right mood' in order to enjoy it. It has such a completely different feel to it from any of the six films that preceded it. It's flippant and frankly pretty juvenile in spots, and a lot of the plotting requires a ton of 'because movie' hand waving that you just have to roll with. That said, when it works, it really works. The elevator fight where he 'kills James Bond' is one of the best fights of the entire franchise...it's so good that it feels like it belongs in a different film.
I think it's curious how the makers/the director/writers (I'm not sure) seem to have turned up to shoot so much of this with no real idea of what to do with each sequence. The pool fight, the moon buggy, the Mustang chase... they don't really have resolutions or much shape to them; they really wrote that ending to the Bambi & Thumper fight? The moon buggy chase: what actually happens in it...? They just sort of drive around a bit. I guess to be fair the Mustang chase has a bit more of a story to it.
As a film I find it just sort of plods along, especially in its second half- there's no escalation to it. And Guy Hamilton's rather pervy 70s continue, as he puts the female lead in a bikini for the climax for no apparent reason (not for the last time) and seemingly turns off the brains she'd previously shown in the film.
It's fun enough for a Sunday afternoon, and Sean's great in it delivering some cracking lines, but it does feel like the series is going a bit wrong at this point.
But if you were watching this at its release back in the 70s, if you weren't keen on it you rather amazingly only had to wait 18 months and another Bond film would come along!
I was one of those watching it on release back in the 70s. I remember some applause during the gunbarrel when Connery appeared, back where he belonged, and another round when he actually appears on screen saying you-know-what after we've seen Bob Simmons beat a few people up. Not that I for one knew that back then.
John Barry is on good form, not topping OHMSS (how could anyone?) but giving us such earworms as "Q's Trick" and that strange little riff which doesn't have a title of it's own but plays when Wint and Kidd are around. More than this, his title song is one of the best with Shirley Bassey belting out Don Black's clever lyrics.
A poor Blofeld is made up for by the colourful henchmen and women, Shady Tree being my favourite.
Roughly the first half is reasonably close to Fleming, then it veers totally away until the coda at sea. There are some killer lines and some terrible SFX.
I enjoyed it again this time, but it will have to be a while before watching it again.
I have to admit DAF is one of my least favourite Bonds. It's a bit sleazy, like Vegas itself I guess. Blofeld is in drag. The moon buggy "chase" and the car chase where the gimmick seems to incompetent police crashing their cars in great numbers. The locations are exotic, just not in the right way. Having the finale on an oil rig is a great idea, but it's badly executed.
There positives of course. The title song. Wint and Kidd are great henchmen and so is mrs. Whistler. Plenty o'Toole is a fine Bond girl and Tiffany Case starts out as a great one. Sadly it goes downhill from there for her. There are great scenes like Bond in a coffin in the crematorium and Bond stepping onto a lift. It just doesn't ad up to something really good.
A year after DAF's release, there came The James Bond Collection double LP, with selected tracks from the first seven Bond films.
If you stumbled upon this - as I did in the late 1970s in Virgin Records Store in Oxford Street - it was a marked improvement on those other Bond music compilations where they weren't the actual tracks from the films; Geoff Love was perhaps the best of these but while it now has a kitsch charm at the time one felt a bit conned.
The interior blurb gave some useful info about the chronology of the movies in pre-internet days. The odd thing was, I knew the book of FRWL and the music long before I'd seen the movie, which was quite late, I think I was 12 years old because this film very rarely came round on telly.
I've longed for a successor to this LP, following Moore's seven films from Live and Let Die to AVTAK (omitting NSNA perhaps), and released in much the same format. You could also so the same for the Dalton-Brosnan era. Perhaps La La Records could rustle something up?
As for Diamonds are Forever itself, well, it intentionally follows the Goldfinger format, inc having Guy Hamilton direct. As we know, originally it was meant to have Goldfinger's brother as the main villain, also played by Frobe, which sounds awful to me really, a typical hack sequel. Otherwise, the pre-credits is pretty similar; Bond infiltrates an enemy HQ, seduces a scantily clad femme fatale, attends a nightclub or casino-type place, delivers a witty one-liner before a banger of a song sung by Shirley Bassey.
No Oddjob, but Wint and Kidd are there for about the same timespan of the movie, though their stalking and shadowing of Bond more resembles Red Grant. Banter with M over drink details in the presence of a stuffy expert giving his advice. Early scenes in Europe, final long stretch of the movie in the US. Sparky, witty main Bond girl. Superbly witty script.
The budget didn't stretch to a Fort Knox-type showdown but watching on telly, the oil rig climax was memorable and good fun.
Roger Moore debuts as Bond and we get a different style from the Connery/Lazenby clone. This one has no menace, he smokes giant cigars and has a schoolboy sense of humour instead of a sardonic style. He moves uneasily and the fights are unimpressive. Guy Hamilton doesn’t really do action very well, he prefers light comedy to tension. That’s not to say that the bus chase and the boat chase are not entertaining, it’s just that they are not thrilling. Cars, boats and motorcycles fly off into ridiculous directions with no plausible reason, Bert Bates continues his weak editing from DAF.
Where Bond used to lead and other movies followed, its now reversed, and Bond movies would now follow trends (this time it’s blaxploitation). The plot is underwhelming. Clifton James as the buffoonish Sheriff JW Pepper steals the movie. His performance is superb. I know he is very much a Marmite character (and I love Marmite) and as the film is basically a comedy he is perfect. When I saw this in the cinema I remember the audience laughing raucously at his antics and gurning as he plays a human version of Deputy Dawg (only old timers like me will remember the cartoon character).
Roger is great as The Saint and Lord Brett Sinclair for those characters suit his style perfectly, unfortunately he’s no James Bond and although in retrospect I grow fonder of the Moore era, it’s still a pale shadow of the ‘60’s movies albeit it’s an improvement on DAF.
What’s really good - The title song (arguably the best), Yaphet Kotto, Clifton James, Julius W Harris, Geoffrey Holder, crocodile sequence, “same time tomorrow, Mrs Bell?”
What’s really poor - the soundtrack (title aside, large stretches of no music during boat chase which would have elevated it so much), no ‘Q’, the inflatable Mr Big ending, the editing.
The rest is just so very ordinary.
OHMSS - TB - FRWL - GF - YOLT - DN - LALD - DAF
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Lots of firsts to notice: first time Rog is in the gunbarrel. First time John Barry isn’t providing the James Bond Theme for it, and George Martin’s version isn’t bad at all. First time James Bond isn’t in the pre-title sequence. It’s still a good one – the New Orleans funeral and the sacrifice scene are great. This is followed by Paul McCartney’s song, which is still one of the best.
All this before we even really see the (then) new Bond. What we get is a bedroom farce which time has not improved. Things do improve, however, once we reach New York. The scene where Bond is desperately trying to gain control of the car is genuinely exciting. David Hedison is a good Felix.
We only get glimpses of the villains and Solitaire until Bond goes to the Fillet Of Soul and has a nasty turn in a booth (a physically impossible one, but since when has that stopped a Bond film?). Now we get a good look at Tee Hee, Solitaire, and Mr Big. That makeup is fooling nobody.
Things improve again when we reach Jamai … sorry, San Monique which looks in no way like Jamaica at all. Really. More characters – Rosie, Quarrel Jr, Baron Samedi.
The film vaguely follows the novel, with some major changes. For one thing, the novel doesn’t have the chase scenes (airport, boats) and it doesn’t deal with drugs. It does miss some of the better parts from the book, but they turn up in later movies (you know which ones).
Another character joins in during the boat chase- the human cartoon Sheriff Pepper. He’s there to bring some balance to the film. There are a couple of black heroes (Strutter, Quarrel Jr) but no white villains (or almost; one white man can be glimpsed behind Mr Big when he first appears) but at least there’s a white fool.
The ending where Bond saves Solitaire from being sacrificed, kills Baron Samedi (or does he?), then faces off against Dr Kananga builds up nicely then is totally ruined by the ridiculous effect when Kananga blows up. Literally. I had the pleasure to speak with Yaphet Kotto himself a few years ago and he didn’t like this part at all. Bond and Kananga should have simply fought in the water then Bond gets out, leaving Kananga to be eaten by the sharks. Much closer to Fleming, as well.
George Martin’s score doesn’t match John Barry’s best work, but it’s still exciting and haunting where it has to be. I’d like to hear more of it during the boat chase, though.
Having Baron Samedi on the front of the train at the end was a brilliant touch.
Where our viewing of DAF was perhaps our 'best' experience of seeing that film, this viewing of LALD was probably our 'worst'. All of the complaints that were noted above by Napoleon Plural are pretty spot on, but the most egregious issue was with boredom. There's just zero oomph to most of the proceedings, and the elements that do work...like the boat chase...lack some serious snap.
I think that having Lazenby in here would have worked pretty great. A plot like this (being a riff on the 70s Blacksploitation cinema) would have benefitted from having a thug-like Bond going through the plot and generally being the equal of all of the bad guys physically. Instead, you've got Moore playing a fish out of water who comes off as arrogant and completely out of his depth.
That said, there's still plenty to like here. Tee Hee stands out as a great henchman with flair and I wish he'd gotten more screentime. I like Rosie Carver as well...she's a cool concept and the actress makes the character work in a way that's unique to the other Bond gals. Yaphet Kotto is always great, even if his character is completely underwritten. He's just a charisma machine.
Anyways, my rankings:
OHMSS
FRWL
DN
YOLT
TB
GF
DAF
LALD
edted to add: actually the arrogance factor of Moore's Bond in this film is a major turnoff that was quite noticeable this time around. Connery and Lazenby didn't have this in their portrayals whereas Moore's version is definitely arrogant here. I'll need to see if that's present in the following films (it may be in TMWTGG but I don't think it's in the rest).
Due to a glitch in the matrix, ITV4 has caught up with this thread.
Some decades ago, I was doing temporary post-uni work, helping to shut down a Surrey asylum of sorts - I think the Krays were banged up here at one point - to make way for care in the community, so it involved clearing stuff out. It was around Easter, and talk among some older blokes - probably my age now - was on the day's telly they might have missed out on - this being the days before streaming or even DVD. 'Just The Man With The Golden Gun,' said one, and the other snorted.
So obviously on Saturday night I sat down and watched The Man With The Golden Gun from start to finish.
This was a coming-of-age flick for me, because it was the first time I became aware there could be such a thing as a bad Bond film. It lacked the chronological freshness of disillusionment, because I came to see it in around 1980, after I'd seen both The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. So when this film came along, a bit like the 1966 series The Baron in my recent review, it has the feel of an imposter or a poor relation. Other members disagree, but in my upbringing and locale, Bond double bills were never shown at the cinema and it took seven years before a movie would make its way onto our TV screens, all this before video, DVD or the internet to even let you know how many Bond films had been made and in what order.
But the local cub scouts arranged a treat - a showing in a chilly Victorian brick church hall of sorts - of this very Bond film. Now, I identified as a middle-class kid - I went to a school called Lynton which had awards for sports day, houses named Tristram, Bedevere and Lancelot, a school uniform of blue blazers now occasionally seen on Reform UK members. Some of the cub scouts in attendance on this day steepened my sense of effete middle classness so I felt like one of the Crane brothers from the sitcom Frasier.
The film offered ample chance for them to exhibit the catcalling and wolf whistling of the era for Golden Gun really is a crass movie in the way it presents the female form for oafish ogling. I returned home recording my disillusionment to my bemused parents: 'It was all naked women!' I protested, and though at that age I was not immune to female charms, I maintain that they are presented in a depressing way in this film. It's odd - yes, there is naked suggestions in Bond films but the tone somehow remains highbrow, classy, there is something else going on there - in this film it is all single entredres, but this was the era when the Carry Ons got smutty, to compete with the Confessions films.
Golden Gun is wrong in all sorts of ways but it is fun to nitpick. Nick Nack smashing bottles against Bond in the finals scene - but the bottles are all empty! I suppose it would be a very messy affair if they weren't, and hard to maintain continuity too. I guess if it takes me decades to notice this, that's not bad, but when you've finished your bottle of wine an hour before, you're going to notice.
What is the framed picture M keeps on his desk? Wellington? Wouldn't Nelson be more apt for a seafaring man? Even so, would he really have such a photo-style picture on his desk? On the walls, that's another thing. I guess he wouldn't have a family photo on his desk, would he. It just seems a case of, oh, bung this on, it adds a touch of something, like Hunter Davis adding some bric-a-brac to the Sgt Pepper photo shoot.
Now, Scaramanga inherits Hai Fat's gaffe. So he doesn't really know anything about it, just moves in like a cuckoo in the nest after bumping off Hai Fat. I mean, Fat doesn't have many guards with guns around does he. I mean, none that's prepared to do anything. If it's that easy, why didn't Bond bump him off himself, then hand the place over to Great Britain? Just as well none of Fat's guards are trigger happy or else Scaramanga wouldn't be able to do anything about it, he's just disabled his golden gun.
I should immediately say that back in the day, Golden Gun kept a hall of cub scouts very happy - me excluded - with many proclaiming it the best movie they had ever seen, an afternoon leering and letching like oiks over naked female flesh, no parents or teachers in tow. So really it may be a case of allowing the movie to exist in that context - though I'd have been mighty embarrassed to go and see this with Mum, in a way that most Bond films rarely did.
Still, if the island lair is Hai Fat's gaffe, Scarey seems very adept at managing the place, and having to have Bond explain everything to him does denude him of the usual villain's authority, the old line of 'science's never been my strong suite' gets a re-airing here. But my point is, how come Scaramanga has his fun house here? Did an indulgent Hai Fat, just say, hey, yeah this is where I keep my solar base but you just build your fun house assault course here anyway and invite a succession of killers to try their luck here, that's just fine with me.
All along the way, this film doesn't make sense, in ways that don't fully register at the time but nonetheless gnaw away at you.
The opening like much of the film aims to follow the Live and Let Die template - Bond isn't in it for starters, it's all about the villain's set up. But the American 1930s-style gangster, seen before in Diamonds - he's the guy who drawls 'I didn't know there was a pool down there' as Plenty goes out the window - doesn't represent much of a threat, so you don't think, wow, how is our hero going to best the man of the title - it should be pretty easy, and the gangster doesn't exhibit much menace or acting skill. Likewise, a few collapsing stairways notwithstanding, I'd have thought Scaramanga would make an easy target for any assassin in that final showdown.
Then again, it's not really a fair fight given Scaramanga knows the whole set-up, which makes the mistake of hanging on to the Sixties, it all feels like an episode of The Avengers. Why is he doing all this anyway - if he's a crack assassin earning 'a million a shot' then he doesn't need to; any sense or explanation that he is mad doesn't convey, he doesn't come across as loopy. That said, his gym teacher's outfit with plimsolls doesn't make for an authoritative figure exactly.
Golden Gun is a really ugly film. It's not just the crass sexism, or that Bond is being misogynistic in ways that were unacceptable even then - Moore looks uncomfortable in the role and like he hates the character, and you can't blame him, he's being asked to play Flashman a decade before Flashman author George Macdonald Fraser was asked to join the team. No, Golden Gun is ugly because just about every set is a monstrosity - not just the inside of the solar complex which looks like it's been made out of Meccano but every hotel room, every interior, it is a ghastly brown beige hue.
But yeah, this is the last Moore film in which he passes for 'young' - though still too old for his leading ladies who are, I believe, the two surviving members of this film, on account of being so young of course (Chew Me is still around, I imagine). But he doesn't look quite right for all that, sort of a bit young and sweaty, a bit naff - aside from the dual on the island when he gets his jacket off. The preposterous scene where he wakes to find himself in karate gear - who dressed him? - has him looking quite goofy and Moore was upfront to the director about his inability at running 'I look like I've got a broom handle up my backside'; you see that briefly as he makes his escape - incidentally, there is one Beatle-cut villain in a dark attire who looks like he means business but we don't see him again.
Has there been a Bond film with less jeopardy? Possibly From Russia With Love, for long stretches, if you think about it. But Bond thinks he is in danger, in that one. In this well, I have to ask @CoolHandBond if he is sitting down, and not eating anything before we proceed? Finish swallowing my friend, we don't want a choking incident so your 'friend with benefits' arrives at your coastal abode this evening to find you slumped dead, the whiskey in the tumbler but the ice mostly melted, a half-eaten sandwich in your rigor mortis hand, the stylus running on the dead play out groove of a Burt Bacharach LP... are we okay? Well, The Man With The Golden Gun resembles another horror On Her Majesty's Secret Service - no, no, hear me out! In both, Bond has an unnaturally testy relationship with M, he spends much of the first half on his own personal quest, nothing to do with anything much authorised by MI6 or with immediate threat to security, played by a noticeably awkward actor dressed in some tasteless garb, much of it sees him involved in really horrible bedroom antics of the most perfunctory, tasteless nature, and he doesn't face much jeopardy because in both cases the villain doesn't seem even aware of Bond's existence. Latterly, the world threat doesn't allow for much concern - all they have to do is grant Blofeld his request for immunity, he's not even asking for any cash, is he? It would make a difference if Blofeld was up to some other long-term, morally bankrupt scheme involving brainwashing but he isn't, is he. Had they granted his wishes, Tracy would be alive for starters, it's not clear he would have pursued his villainy. Likewise, as has been discussed on the Bond films forum here, it's not really clear that an attempt to solve the energy crisis would be such a bad thing - or is it that we find out it will fall into China's hands?
In any event, Bond and Goodnight succeed in killing the villain and in this case blowing the whole place up - is that a good idea? I don't know.
The way that laser panel extends out of the paper mâché island - I mean it's not really shaped like a mushroom is it, more a chicken drumstick - is pure Clash of the Titans - in fact I think that even gets referenced at some point doesn't it.
The black guy makes lecherous advances to Goodnight to justify her killing him later, so that's alright.
M's lacerating scorn is justified when instead of heading back to HQ, Goodnight - having the solex - starts sniffing around Scaramanga's car and gets kidnapped - shades of Tiffany Case in a similar scene near the end of Diamonds. M does get a larger role in this, and some good lines. Bond's lack of concern over the Maud Adams character death anticipates his quip about a 'bloody good Scotch' in Skyfall.
The whole thing unfolds in a leisurely Bond on his holidays sort of way though you could argue it's none the worse for that if you like that kind of thing. Cheap, cheap, cheap, vulgar, vulgar, vulgar. There are two exotic sets early on - Bond heads to Beirut is it, then India, with a quick flight back to Blighty in between, with that actor who pops up as the irascible authority figure in sitcoms of the day like Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and Some Mothers Do Ave Em. It all adds to the cheap Crown Court vibe of the thing - for there's never any question that our hero hasn't actually gone to these far away places, any more than Rog's Simon Templar actually went to the Cote d'Azur - this is all on the Pinewood set. And couldn't Lazur just run off? He seems to be able to head to the door pretty quick, no need to return with Bond's information.
So for the first half an hour, there isn't really a decent action scene or bit of visuals, again, arguably like On Her Majesty's Secret Service - oh, sorry @CoolHandBond I forgot to give you fair warning there. Aside from the truncated flight to Scaramanga's island - and can't the camera man line up the horizon so it's horizontal ffs - there is little about the film to visually engage or entrance.
Bond's jacket when he touches down on Scaramanga's island is hideous.
The revolving car is a thing of wonder but is over before it's done and contributes to the cheap travelling circus vibe, not just ruined by the slide whistle, it's having that fat knacker guffaw and fall into the back seat. But, I mean, having a vulgar morbidly obsese American the one time is bad enough, but to invite him back a second time oh alright insert your own Donald Trump joke here...
The crassness extends to the final moments - we are invited to think that while Goodnight may regret the idea that Nick Nack has been placed in a holdall and left to drown in the drink - not the only shade of other Britt films like Get Carter and The Wicker Man - it's certainly not enough to put our heroine off the chance of a shag with our man. I mean, we know he hasn't done that, but she doesn't.
Everything about the film aims to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
That's a really fun write-up, I enjoyed reading that! 😁
The film offered ample chance for them to exhibit the catcalling and wolf whistling of the era for Golden Gun really is a crass movie in the way it presents the female form for oafish ogling. I returned home recording my disillusionment to my bemused parents: 'It was all naked women!' I protested, and though at that age I was not immune to female charms, I maintain that they are presented in a depressing way in this film. It's odd - yes, there is naked suggestions in Bond films but the tone somehow remains highbrow, classy, there is something else going on there - in this film it is all single entredres, but this was the era when the Carry Ons got smutty, to compete with the Confessions films.
Yeah, agreed on that. You'd think, sexism-wise, it would have been the films of the 60s which were worst of the offenders in the Bond canon, but it is this one I think. Bond is genuinely horrible to the women in this (even exclaiming "Women!" at one point) but the film is too: Andrea is used and abused, by the villain but also Bond, and ends up dead and tossed aside; the plot is actually propelled by Goodnight being an idiot at several points; and for some reason she ends up in a bikini for the climax. Suspiciously much like Tiffany did in DAF: it all feels a bit low rent and tacky- especially when Bond makes Mary listen to him shagging Andrea when she's in a cupboard; that's just nasty.
It's not the worst film and I do enjoy it when I watch it, but I feel like Bond was running out of steam at this point- if the series had ended here I'm not sure anyone would have been surprised, would they? Everything's got a bit smaller (there's only one guy working in the 'big' base!), a bit nastier and meaner, it feels like it's coming towards the end of road. The next film needed to be something special...
I noticed recently, as well as Bond killing no more than one person in this film (if you don't count the one holding the gun in the gunbarrel sequence 😁), which has got to be a record; at no point is the bebop part of the Bond theme played (the big jazzy bit, as opposed to the riff part played on the guitar). Not once. Is that a record too?
I've never noticed that, emtiem, well spotted. A quick think - def in DN of course, FRWL, GF, TB (sometimes well disguised), YOLT, DAF, LALD. The one that's foxing me is OHMSS- is it in the bit where Bond slides on his front firing a gun? Or does the music cut off before we reach that part?
In OHMSS the film kicks off with the bebop pretty much as he’s driving the car, and in DN, FRWL and YOLT you get the original John Barry recording of the theme pretty much played in its entirety; in LALD the first time we get it is the ‘jukebox’ sequence. You’re right about DAF; it’s not really there, just used as a sort of slow motif rather than a full version when he arrives at the Bambi and Thumper house and the oil rig. TB is a funny one where you don’t really get a full statement of it, but it’s probably used more than the riff: in the Chateau fight, scenes like roasting Count Lippe or ‘another time another place’, the underwater mystery guitar motif is based on it, and then you get a full version from the ‘62 recording when they’re airlifted at the very end (depending on the version you’re watching!).
There’s lots I like in GG but it almost feels more like missed opportunities than full successes. The storyline with Bond being sent the bullet as a threat which turns out to be a cry for help from Andrea, that’s such a good, original way into the plot that I can imagine Fleming doing that, even. It’s like a sexier, more cinematic version of the Tania message in FRWL. And Scaramanga is a superb baddie, but then maddeningly the main plot isn’t about him planning a big assassination, even though his whole USP is that he’s an assassin. It’d be like Drax building all of those space shuttles but the climax to Moonraker being set underwater! 😁
if there was ever a candidate for a Bond film to have a remake I think it’s this one because it has untapped potential.
Re Bond killing only one person in the film, there are other contenders though fair play to Golden Gun that this omission isn't too noticeable because there's a lot going on and a fair bit of death and sort of menace on display - just never directed at Bond himself, which does leave him looking like a bystander in his own film. That said, Golden Gun isn't that sort of film anyway, it's a Saturday morning TV stroll for kids, it's the Double Deckers or the Pink Panther, isn't it.
Of course, the reason Bond kills only one guy is there are really only two villains in the film, Scarey and Nick Nack and they don't oversee a mini-Army of recruits or assassins for Bond to knock off. The movie carries the DAF theme - start small, then unconvincingly dovetail it into some kind of sci-fi or technological main plot, Live And Let Die at least had the courage to more or less stick to its main theme and scale.
Moonraker seems to be a movie where Bond doesn't kill many people but of course he does - the freefall assassin, the Jackal sniper at Drax's chateau, Chang in Venice - but Jaws doesn't seem to kill anyone. Never Say Never Again is another contender - for perhaps the first hour I'm not sure we really see him kill anyone - those in the pre-credits presumably live to be in another training mission - it's rubbish really isn't it - and the unnamed Lippe, well, maybe he's dead, guess he is, it's all a bit make believe. As per Thunderball, he doesn't even kill the main villain.
I don't want anyone infer that I particularly watch Bond movies to enjoy seeing him off the opposition but it does hint that when he doesn't need to do this, the film lacks imminent threat or jeopardy.
I am certain Bond does not kill a single person in AVTAK. He is indirectly responsible for a lot of deaths, but he never delivers a fatal blow or shot to anyone. Curious I never noted the low 'kill count' in TMWTGG.
Good point about AVTAK; I'd not really noticed that, although I'd say he does kill Zorin pretty intentionally and directly. And with the Russian heli pilots at the beginning I'd say he was trying to make them crash, so counts as a kill for me. But yeah, compared to the previous film where he was throwing knives and shooting soldiers in the forehead, it is a bit of a change, it's true. Even in TLD he's actually probably less lethally violent than he was in OP: had there been some sort of reaction to the violence in OP?
Also a good spot about NSNA, I don't really know that one hugely well enough to be sure, but I assume he must machine gun a few baddies at the end? And he blows up Fatima too. Up until then, yeah; I can't think of anyone else meeting their fate at his hands. And yes, I agree Napoleon; I don't need to see Bond killing everyone (indeed, in films like GE his body counts become a little questionable!) but if he doesn't need to at all then it does seem to lower the stakes a bit. All the folks who got hot under the collar about Amazon supposedly erasing guns from Bond should probably check out how he went though these periods of relative pacifism 40/50 years go! 😂
I know this one is generally regarded as being one of the worst entries in the franchise and I understand why people take issue with it. It definitely has some issues with Moore playing it 'Connery style' in many sequences, the slide whistle cramps a great stunt, and J.W. Pepper is not necessary. I get all that. I still really like this one.
Last night's viewing was a blast. While Moore still hasn't found his groove in the role, he's much more assured here and the narrative actually gives him stuff to do instead of just 'wandering around Harlem' like he did in LALD. Christopher Lee is great and plays the role with just the right air of arrogance and professionalism. While the whole Solex plot feels tacked on to give the movie more of a spy edge and is perhaps not needed, it doesn't hinder things too much. My only real complaint with that subplot is that the film needs an additional 10 minutes after Lee's death to resolve it, making it all feel like an extended epilogue.
Whatever. As I said, I've always gone against the consensus on this one and kinda liked it. I still do.
The good news was that we got another Bond movie just one year after the last one (the first since GF/TB and the last time ever). As with LALD the film hooks onto the latest trend, this time Kung Fu, instead of leading the way. We get another PTS where Bond does not appear but we get the see the title character kill an old fashioned American gangster, I’m not sure that’s much of a match for the world’s deadliest assassin (shades of FRWL) but it introduces Christopher Lee to the audience as Scaramanga. A screeching Lulu title song follows and we have the return of John Barry on scoring duties, but he’s having a very bad day in what is easily his weakest Bond effort. Roger Moore continues his smart-aleck persona from LALD and his efforts at playing tough in some scenes are not very well handled. Now, Roger can do tough as per his fine performance in TheWildGeese, so it’s director Guy Hamilton who’s at fault here for not handling the situation correctly. The plot is a bit muddled with the Solex thing and Bond also thinking he’s on Scaramanga’s hit list. There’s some very poor “Saint-like” fights and Bond is even left out of a big fight which is handled by two schoolgirls, which makes a mockery of a so-called dangerous martial arts academy. The ensuing boat chase brings back the sheriff from LALD and he is the best comedy turn in the entire movie which by this time has turned into a farce. A car chase follows with a great stunt that is infamous now for the slide whistle sound effect (John Barry must have really hated this movie). Boredom has set in and by the time the duel happens we are just hoping that the movie ends quickly. The duel is boring because we’ve seen it all before in the PTS. But it’s not all over yet as Beano henchman Nick Nack turns up to disrupt Bond’s end of movie nuptials, cue more of the irritating Moore grunts and groans as we get another comedic fight.
The good - Scaramanga, JW Pepper, the return of Q, the scenery, M’s “tailors/chefs” rant, some half decent model work. Everything else is risible.
Yeah, tend to agree that Guy Hamilton made the worst version of Moore’s Bond; I much prefer him under the next two directors. I do think the Beirut fight is one of Roger’s better ones though. Hamilton deserves lots of praise for Goldfinger, but in the 70s he presided over possibly the weakest run of Bond films and I’m glad he moved on.
In terms of release, the gap between LALD and TMWTGG was pretty much the same as the gap between DAF and LALD had been: around 18 months. It wasn’t the first time since TB.
Comments
I thought Lazenby nailed it, a few duff line readings aside.
I dream of an alternate universe where Lazenby signed his 7-picture deal and we got a proper revenge movie in DAF (Peter Hunt directing of course!). I firmly believe he would have grown into a fine actor and the Bond legacy would be shaped a lot different from what actually happened.
Eek, definitely have to agree to disagree there! I think that the way he never grew into a fine actor makes me think it was unlikely he would have done, and I'd much rather had had proper actors in the role as we did. I look at Sean in DAF and Roger in LALD and I can't imagine George being capable of those performances: they are bona fide star leads. To be honest I even look at Peter Hunt's other, rather boring, 70s films and I'm kind of glad he didn't return either, much that I enjoy OHMSS.
Jumping ahead here, but I watched the pre-credits of DAF last night (ITV4 annoyingly is showing the Bonds just out of sync with this weekly Bond session) and it's just bam-bam-bam - fight, information sourced, bikini top off, infiltrate villain's lair, disarm henchmen with nifty gadget, kill the bad guy, superb quip, cat enters, banger of a song. It's all there, no need for a bit of sci-fi or an outrageous expensive stunt. And it has that lightness, the sense of enjoyment. Of course, it would a different movie with Lazenby anyway, but man, I really love DAF - and LALD is a staple of childhood.
That said - a cinema showing of OHMSS and I'm there; DAF I could take or leave on the big screen.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I agree with CHB on this one (but don’t tell him!). There are a few non-perfect moments such as 007 slapping Tracy, but OHMSS is wonderful and my Christmas movie! The plot, the music, the action, the camerawork, Diana Rigg, the locations and so on. There is so much to admire about OHMSS.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971)
George Lazenby foolishly took the advice of his agent and didn’t take the 7-picture deal that was offered. John Gavin (terrible choice) was signed but paid off when Sean Connery was lured back to the role with an unprecedented salary for the time.
Peter Hunt was thus jettisoned and never returned to the franchise which left the heart of the series missing a beat. Guy Hamilton returned to directing duties and his light touch is a jarring change from the serious OHMSS.
The first half of the movie is rather fun. Bond seemingly gets his revenge on Blofeld for Tracy’s death (it’s not actually mentioned), we get an enjoyable Bond/M/Expert scene which explains the plot (very much like Hamilton’s GF), a great fight in an elevator, a tense scene at a funeral parlour, fun at a Vegas casino, infiltration of a research facility, a car chase. All fun and reasonably serious. Many years ago on this site I dubbed the second half of DAF, Carry On Bond, and I haven’t changed my mind. An ineffectual Charles Gray as Blofeld has no menace, the two gay assassins are as frightening as Andy Pandy and Looby Loo, and Bambi and Thumper are also laughably conquered in a swimming pool. The climax on an oil rig is second rate and the special effects are so cheap it’s embarrassing. The film resorts to farce and the era of comedy over thrills had begun.
Sean is charming enough but it’s this performance where you can see his heart is not in it, not YOLT. The editing by veteran Bert Bates is loose and confusing. The casting is a disaster, one mistake after another. The one plus is the wonderful score by John Barry, it’s not as good as OHMSS, YOLT and TB, but it’s top drawer stuff.
It really is a pity that Lazenby didn’t continue and then we would have got a proper revenge movie.
OHMSS - TB - FRWL - GF - YOLT - DN - DAF
I’d disagree that Sean’s heart isn’t in this, I think he’s fully turned up to work here, unlike in YOLT. It’s just he’s giving a different turn to how he played Bond a decade before- it’s more of a comedy performance, and a very good one.
He was getting the highest salary ever to this point, I’m sure he was looking at giving value for money.
It's great to see Connery give a different, more comedic performance here. DAF is a film that's really grown on me in recent years. Favourite section might be from when Saxby takes off in the van and they follow in the Mustang, through til after the moon buggy chase.
The casino scenes are fascinating, as is the additional penthouse suite level added to the Hilton - one special effect that does work here, and overshadowed by the weak ones.
Copy/Paste from a year ago:
DAF:
While it's still my least favorite of the Connery Bond films, last night's viewing may have been the 'best' that it's played for me. Connery casually walking through 90% of the film for a paycheck was surprising endearing this time. The overt silliness also played better this time. My opinion of Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) also went up a few notches. Note: Shane Rimmer's second appearance in a Bond film!!!
Current ranking:
Additional thoughts from today:
Connery looks like he's aged 12 years in between YOLT and DAF. It's pretty jarring.
This is the one Connery film where you really need to be 'in the right mood' in order to enjoy it. It has such a completely different feel to it from any of the six films that preceded it. It's flippant and frankly pretty juvenile in spots, and a lot of the plotting requires a ton of 'because movie' hand waving that you just have to roll with. That said, when it works, it really works. The elevator fight where he 'kills James Bond' is one of the best fights of the entire franchise...it's so good that it feels like it belongs in a different film.
I think it's curious how the makers/the director/writers (I'm not sure) seem to have turned up to shoot so much of this with no real idea of what to do with each sequence. The pool fight, the moon buggy, the Mustang chase... they don't really have resolutions or much shape to them; they really wrote that ending to the Bambi & Thumper fight? The moon buggy chase: what actually happens in it...? They just sort of drive around a bit. I guess to be fair the Mustang chase has a bit more of a story to it.
As a film I find it just sort of plods along, especially in its second half- there's no escalation to it. And Guy Hamilton's rather pervy 70s continue, as he puts the female lead in a bikini for the climax for no apparent reason (not for the last time) and seemingly turns off the brains she'd previously shown in the film.
It's fun enough for a Sunday afternoon, and Sean's great in it delivering some cracking lines, but it does feel like the series is going a bit wrong at this point.
But if you were watching this at its release back in the 70s, if you weren't keen on it you rather amazingly only had to wait 18 months and another Bond film would come along!
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
I was one of those watching it on release back in the 70s. I remember some applause during the gunbarrel when Connery appeared, back where he belonged, and another round when he actually appears on screen saying you-know-what after we've seen Bob Simmons beat a few people up. Not that I for one knew that back then.
John Barry is on good form, not topping OHMSS (how could anyone?) but giving us such earworms as "Q's Trick" and that strange little riff which doesn't have a title of it's own but plays when Wint and Kidd are around. More than this, his title song is one of the best with Shirley Bassey belting out Don Black's clever lyrics.
A poor Blofeld is made up for by the colourful henchmen and women, Shady Tree being my favourite.
Roughly the first half is reasonably close to Fleming, then it veers totally away until the coda at sea. There are some killer lines and some terrible SFX.
I enjoyed it again this time, but it will have to be a while before watching it again.
Recalling Connery's tenure...
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I have to admit DAF is one of my least favourite Bonds. It's a bit sleazy, like Vegas itself I guess. Blofeld is in drag. The moon buggy "chase" and the car chase where the gimmick seems to incompetent police crashing their cars in great numbers. The locations are exotic, just not in the right way. Having the finale on an oil rig is a great idea, but it's badly executed.
There positives of course. The title song. Wint and Kidd are great henchmen and so is mrs. Whistler. Plenty o'Toole is a fine Bond girl and Tiffany Case starts out as a great one. Sadly it goes downhill from there for her. There are great scenes like Bond in a coffin in the crematorium and Bond stepping onto a lift. It just doesn't ad up to something really good.
A year after DAF's release, there came The James Bond Collection double LP, with selected tracks from the first seven Bond films.
If you stumbled upon this - as I did in the late 1970s in Virgin Records Store in Oxford Street - it was a marked improvement on those other Bond music compilations where they weren't the actual tracks from the films; Geoff Love was perhaps the best of these but while it now has a kitsch charm at the time one felt a bit conned.
The interior blurb gave some useful info about the chronology of the movies in pre-internet days. The odd thing was, I knew the book of FRWL and the music long before I'd seen the movie, which was quite late, I think I was 12 years old because this film very rarely came round on telly.
I've longed for a successor to this LP, following Moore's seven films from Live and Let Die to AVTAK (omitting NSNA perhaps), and released in much the same format. You could also so the same for the Dalton-Brosnan era. Perhaps La La Records could rustle something up?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
As for Diamonds are Forever itself, well, it intentionally follows the Goldfinger format, inc having Guy Hamilton direct. As we know, originally it was meant to have Goldfinger's brother as the main villain, also played by Frobe, which sounds awful to me really, a typical hack sequel. Otherwise, the pre-credits is pretty similar; Bond infiltrates an enemy HQ, seduces a scantily clad femme fatale, attends a nightclub or casino-type place, delivers a witty one-liner before a banger of a song sung by Shirley Bassey.
No Oddjob, but Wint and Kidd are there for about the same timespan of the movie, though their stalking and shadowing of Bond more resembles Red Grant. Banter with M over drink details in the presence of a stuffy expert giving his advice. Early scenes in Europe, final long stretch of the movie in the US. Sparky, witty main Bond girl. Superbly witty script.
The budget didn't stretch to a Fort Knox-type showdown but watching on telly, the oil rig climax was memorable and good fun.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Live and Let Die is on ITV4 tonight, starting 8pm. An episode of The Man from UNCLE precedes it on Talking Pictures TV at 6.55pm.
Golden Gun is on tomorrow, same channel, same time.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
LIVE AND LET DIE (1973)
Roger Moore debuts as Bond and we get a different style from the Connery/Lazenby clone. This one has no menace, he smokes giant cigars and has a schoolboy sense of humour instead of a sardonic style. He moves uneasily and the fights are unimpressive. Guy Hamilton doesn’t really do action very well, he prefers light comedy to tension. That’s not to say that the bus chase and the boat chase are not entertaining, it’s just that they are not thrilling. Cars, boats and motorcycles fly off into ridiculous directions with no plausible reason, Bert Bates continues his weak editing from DAF.
Where Bond used to lead and other movies followed, its now reversed, and Bond movies would now follow trends (this time it’s blaxploitation). The plot is underwhelming. Clifton James as the buffoonish Sheriff JW Pepper steals the movie. His performance is superb. I know he is very much a Marmite character (and I love Marmite) and as the film is basically a comedy he is perfect. When I saw this in the cinema I remember the audience laughing raucously at his antics and gurning as he plays a human version of Deputy Dawg (only old timers like me will remember the cartoon character).
Roger is great as The Saint and Lord Brett Sinclair for those characters suit his style perfectly, unfortunately he’s no James Bond and although in retrospect I grow fonder of the Moore era, it’s still a pale shadow of the ‘60’s movies albeit it’s an improvement on DAF.
What’s really good - The title song (arguably the best), Yaphet Kotto, Clifton James, Julius W Harris, Geoffrey Holder, crocodile sequence, “same time tomorrow, Mrs Bell?”
What’s really poor - the soundtrack (title aside, large stretches of no music during boat chase which would have elevated it so much), no ‘Q’, the inflatable Mr Big ending, the editing.
The rest is just so very ordinary.
OHMSS - TB - FRWL - GF - YOLT - DN - LALD - DAF
LIVE AND LET DIE (1973)
Lots of firsts to notice: first time Rog is in the gunbarrel. First time John Barry isn’t providing the James Bond Theme for it, and George Martin’s version isn’t bad at all. First time James Bond isn’t in the pre-title sequence. It’s still a good one – the New Orleans funeral and the sacrifice scene are great. This is followed by Paul McCartney’s song, which is still one of the best.
All this before we even really see the (then) new Bond. What we get is a bedroom farce which time has not improved. Things do improve, however, once we reach New York. The scene where Bond is desperately trying to gain control of the car is genuinely exciting. David Hedison is a good Felix.
We only get glimpses of the villains and Solitaire until Bond goes to the Fillet Of Soul and has a nasty turn in a booth (a physically impossible one, but since when has that stopped a Bond film?). Now we get a good look at Tee Hee, Solitaire, and Mr Big. That makeup is fooling nobody.
Things improve again when we reach Jamai … sorry, San Monique which looks in no way like Jamaica at all. Really. More characters – Rosie, Quarrel Jr, Baron Samedi.
The film vaguely follows the novel, with some major changes. For one thing, the novel doesn’t have the chase scenes (airport, boats) and it doesn’t deal with drugs. It does miss some of the better parts from the book, but they turn up in later movies (you know which ones).
Another character joins in during the boat chase- the human cartoon Sheriff Pepper. He’s there to bring some balance to the film. There are a couple of black heroes (Strutter, Quarrel Jr) but no white villains (or almost; one white man can be glimpsed behind Mr Big when he first appears) but at least there’s a white fool.
The ending where Bond saves Solitaire from being sacrificed, kills Baron Samedi (or does he?), then faces off against Dr Kananga builds up nicely then is totally ruined by the ridiculous effect when Kananga blows up. Literally. I had the pleasure to speak with Yaphet Kotto himself a few years ago and he didn’t like this part at all. Bond and Kananga should have simply fought in the water then Bond gets out, leaving Kananga to be eaten by the sharks. Much closer to Fleming, as well.
George Martin’s score doesn’t match John Barry’s best work, but it’s still exciting and haunting where it has to be. I’d like to hear more of it during the boat chase, though.
Having Baron Samedi on the front of the train at the end was a brilliant touch.
Copy/Paste from a year ago:
So, we did LALD.
Where our viewing of DAF was perhaps our 'best' experience of seeing that film, this viewing of LALD was probably our 'worst'. All of the complaints that were noted above by Napoleon Plural are pretty spot on, but the most egregious issue was with boredom. There's just zero oomph to most of the proceedings, and the elements that do work...like the boat chase...lack some serious snap.
I think that having Lazenby in here would have worked pretty great. A plot like this (being a riff on the 70s Blacksploitation cinema) would have benefitted from having a thug-like Bond going through the plot and generally being the equal of all of the bad guys physically. Instead, you've got Moore playing a fish out of water who comes off as arrogant and completely out of his depth.
That said, there's still plenty to like here. Tee Hee stands out as a great henchman with flair and I wish he'd gotten more screentime. I like Rosie Carver as well...she's a cool concept and the actress makes the character work in a way that's unique to the other Bond gals. Yaphet Kotto is always great, even if his character is completely underwritten. He's just a charisma machine.
Anyways, my rankings:
edted to add: actually the arrogance factor of Moore's Bond in this film is a major turnoff that was quite noticeable this time around. Connery and Lazenby didn't have this in their portrayals whereas Moore's version is definitely arrogant here. I'll need to see if that's present in the following films (it may be in TMWTGG but I don't think it's in the rest).
Due to a glitch in the matrix, ITV4 has caught up with this thread.
Some decades ago, I was doing temporary post-uni work, helping to shut down a Surrey asylum of sorts - I think the Krays were banged up here at one point - to make way for care in the community, so it involved clearing stuff out. It was around Easter, and talk among some older blokes - probably my age now - was on the day's telly they might have missed out on - this being the days before streaming or even DVD. 'Just The Man With The Golden Gun,' said one, and the other snorted.
So obviously on Saturday night I sat down and watched The Man With The Golden Gun from start to finish.
This was a coming-of-age flick for me, because it was the first time I became aware there could be such a thing as a bad Bond film. It lacked the chronological freshness of disillusionment, because I came to see it in around 1980, after I'd seen both The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. So when this film came along, a bit like the 1966 series The Baron in my recent review, it has the feel of an imposter or a poor relation. Other members disagree, but in my upbringing and locale, Bond double bills were never shown at the cinema and it took seven years before a movie would make its way onto our TV screens, all this before video, DVD or the internet to even let you know how many Bond films had been made and in what order.
But the local cub scouts arranged a treat - a showing in a chilly Victorian brick church hall of sorts - of this very Bond film. Now, I identified as a middle-class kid - I went to a school called Lynton which had awards for sports day, houses named Tristram, Bedevere and Lancelot, a school uniform of blue blazers now occasionally seen on Reform UK members. Some of the cub scouts in attendance on this day steepened my sense of effete middle classness so I felt like one of the Crane brothers from the sitcom Frasier.
The film offered ample chance for them to exhibit the catcalling and wolf whistling of the era for Golden Gun really is a crass movie in the way it presents the female form for oafish ogling. I returned home recording my disillusionment to my bemused parents: 'It was all naked women!' I protested, and though at that age I was not immune to female charms, I maintain that they are presented in a depressing way in this film. It's odd - yes, there is naked suggestions in Bond films but the tone somehow remains highbrow, classy, there is something else going on there - in this film it is all single entredres, but this was the era when the Carry Ons got smutty, to compete with the Confessions films.
Golden Gun is wrong in all sorts of ways but it is fun to nitpick. Nick Nack smashing bottles against Bond in the finals scene - but the bottles are all empty! I suppose it would be a very messy affair if they weren't, and hard to maintain continuity too. I guess if it takes me decades to notice this, that's not bad, but when you've finished your bottle of wine an hour before, you're going to notice.
What is the framed picture M keeps on his desk? Wellington? Wouldn't Nelson be more apt for a seafaring man? Even so, would he really have such a photo-style picture on his desk? On the walls, that's another thing. I guess he wouldn't have a family photo on his desk, would he. It just seems a case of, oh, bung this on, it adds a touch of something, like Hunter Davis adding some bric-a-brac to the Sgt Pepper photo shoot.
Now, Scaramanga inherits Hai Fat's gaffe. So he doesn't really know anything about it, just moves in like a cuckoo in the nest after bumping off Hai Fat. I mean, Fat doesn't have many guards with guns around does he. I mean, none that's prepared to do anything. If it's that easy, why didn't Bond bump him off himself, then hand the place over to Great Britain? Just as well none of Fat's guards are trigger happy or else Scaramanga wouldn't be able to do anything about it, he's just disabled his golden gun.
I should immediately say that back in the day, Golden Gun kept a hall of cub scouts very happy - me excluded - with many proclaiming it the best movie they had ever seen, an afternoon leering and letching like oiks over naked female flesh, no parents or teachers in tow. So really it may be a case of allowing the movie to exist in that context - though I'd have been mighty embarrassed to go and see this with Mum, in a way that most Bond films rarely did.
Still, if the island lair is Hai Fat's gaffe, Scarey seems very adept at managing the place, and having to have Bond explain everything to him does denude him of the usual villain's authority, the old line of 'science's never been my strong suite' gets a re-airing here. But my point is, how come Scaramanga has his fun house here? Did an indulgent Hai Fat, just say, hey, yeah this is where I keep my solar base but you just build your fun house assault course here anyway and invite a succession of killers to try their luck here, that's just fine with me.
All along the way, this film doesn't make sense, in ways that don't fully register at the time but nonetheless gnaw away at you.
The opening like much of the film aims to follow the Live and Let Die template - Bond isn't in it for starters, it's all about the villain's set up. But the American 1930s-style gangster, seen before in Diamonds - he's the guy who drawls 'I didn't know there was a pool down there' as Plenty goes out the window - doesn't represent much of a threat, so you don't think, wow, how is our hero going to best the man of the title - it should be pretty easy, and the gangster doesn't exhibit much menace or acting skill. Likewise, a few collapsing stairways notwithstanding, I'd have thought Scaramanga would make an easy target for any assassin in that final showdown.
Then again, it's not really a fair fight given Scaramanga knows the whole set-up, which makes the mistake of hanging on to the Sixties, it all feels like an episode of The Avengers. Why is he doing all this anyway - if he's a crack assassin earning 'a million a shot' then he doesn't need to; any sense or explanation that he is mad doesn't convey, he doesn't come across as loopy. That said, his gym teacher's outfit with plimsolls doesn't make for an authoritative figure exactly.
Golden Gun is a really ugly film. It's not just the crass sexism, or that Bond is being misogynistic in ways that were unacceptable even then - Moore looks uncomfortable in the role and like he hates the character, and you can't blame him, he's being asked to play Flashman a decade before Flashman author George Macdonald Fraser was asked to join the team. No, Golden Gun is ugly because just about every set is a monstrosity - not just the inside of the solar complex which looks like it's been made out of Meccano but every hotel room, every interior, it is a ghastly brown beige hue.
But yeah, this is the last Moore film in which he passes for 'young' - though still too old for his leading ladies who are, I believe, the two surviving members of this film, on account of being so young of course (Chew Me is still around, I imagine). But he doesn't look quite right for all that, sort of a bit young and sweaty, a bit naff - aside from the dual on the island when he gets his jacket off. The preposterous scene where he wakes to find himself in karate gear - who dressed him? - has him looking quite goofy and Moore was upfront to the director about his inability at running 'I look like I've got a broom handle up my backside'; you see that briefly as he makes his escape - incidentally, there is one Beatle-cut villain in a dark attire who looks like he means business but we don't see him again.
Has there been a Bond film with less jeopardy? Possibly From Russia With Love, for long stretches, if you think about it. But Bond thinks he is in danger, in that one. In this well, I have to ask @CoolHandBond if he is sitting down, and not eating anything before we proceed? Finish swallowing my friend, we don't want a choking incident so your 'friend with benefits' arrives at your coastal abode this evening to find you slumped dead, the whiskey in the tumbler but the ice mostly melted, a half-eaten sandwich in your rigor mortis hand, the stylus running on the dead play out groove of a Burt Bacharach LP... are we okay? Well, The Man With The Golden Gun resembles another horror On Her Majesty's Secret Service - no, no, hear me out! In both, Bond has an unnaturally testy relationship with M, he spends much of the first half on his own personal quest, nothing to do with anything much authorised by MI6 or with immediate threat to security, played by a noticeably awkward actor dressed in some tasteless garb, much of it sees him involved in really horrible bedroom antics of the most perfunctory, tasteless nature, and he doesn't face much jeopardy because in both cases the villain doesn't seem even aware of Bond's existence. Latterly, the world threat doesn't allow for much concern - all they have to do is grant Blofeld his request for immunity, he's not even asking for any cash, is he? It would make a difference if Blofeld was up to some other long-term, morally bankrupt scheme involving brainwashing but he isn't, is he. Had they granted his wishes, Tracy would be alive for starters, it's not clear he would have pursued his villainy. Likewise, as has been discussed on the Bond films forum here, it's not really clear that an attempt to solve the energy crisis would be such a bad thing - or is it that we find out it will fall into China's hands?
In any event, Bond and Goodnight succeed in killing the villain and in this case blowing the whole place up - is that a good idea? I don't know.
The way that laser panel extends out of the paper mâché island - I mean it's not really shaped like a mushroom is it, more a chicken drumstick - is pure Clash of the Titans - in fact I think that even gets referenced at some point doesn't it.
The black guy makes lecherous advances to Goodnight to justify her killing him later, so that's alright.
M's lacerating scorn is justified when instead of heading back to HQ, Goodnight - having the solex - starts sniffing around Scaramanga's car and gets kidnapped - shades of Tiffany Case in a similar scene near the end of Diamonds. M does get a larger role in this, and some good lines. Bond's lack of concern over the Maud Adams character death anticipates his quip about a 'bloody good Scotch' in Skyfall.
The whole thing unfolds in a leisurely Bond on his holidays sort of way though you could argue it's none the worse for that if you like that kind of thing. Cheap, cheap, cheap, vulgar, vulgar, vulgar. There are two exotic sets early on - Bond heads to Beirut is it, then India, with a quick flight back to Blighty in between, with that actor who pops up as the irascible authority figure in sitcoms of the day like Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and Some Mothers Do Ave Em. It all adds to the cheap Crown Court vibe of the thing - for there's never any question that our hero hasn't actually gone to these far away places, any more than Rog's Simon Templar actually went to the Cote d'Azur - this is all on the Pinewood set. And couldn't Lazur just run off? He seems to be able to head to the door pretty quick, no need to return with Bond's information.
So for the first half an hour, there isn't really a decent action scene or bit of visuals, again, arguably like On Her Majesty's Secret Service - oh, sorry @CoolHandBond I forgot to give you fair warning there. Aside from the truncated flight to Scaramanga's island - and can't the camera man line up the horizon so it's horizontal ffs - there is little about the film to visually engage or entrance.
Bond's jacket when he touches down on Scaramanga's island is hideous.
The revolving car is a thing of wonder but is over before it's done and contributes to the cheap travelling circus vibe, not just ruined by the slide whistle, it's having that fat knacker guffaw and fall into the back seat. But, I mean, having a vulgar morbidly obsese American the one time is bad enough, but to invite him back a second time oh alright insert your own Donald Trump joke here...
The crassness extends to the final moments - we are invited to think that while Goodnight may regret the idea that Nick Nack has been placed in a holdall and left to drown in the drink - not the only shade of other Britt films like Get Carter and The Wicker Man - it's certainly not enough to put our heroine off the chance of a shag with our man. I mean, we know he hasn't done that, but she doesn't.
Everything about the film aims to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
That's a really fun write-up, I enjoyed reading that! 😁
The film offered ample chance for them to exhibit the catcalling and wolf whistling of the era for Golden Gun really is a crass movie in the way it presents the female form for oafish ogling. I returned home recording my disillusionment to my bemused parents: 'It was all naked women!' I protested, and though at that age I was not immune to female charms, I maintain that they are presented in a depressing way in this film. It's odd - yes, there is naked suggestions in Bond films but the tone somehow remains highbrow, classy, there is something else going on there - in this film it is all single entredres, but this was the era when the Carry Ons got smutty, to compete with the Confessions films.
Yeah, agreed on that. You'd think, sexism-wise, it would have been the films of the 60s which were worst of the offenders in the Bond canon, but it is this one I think. Bond is genuinely horrible to the women in this (even exclaiming "Women!" at one point) but the film is too: Andrea is used and abused, by the villain but also Bond, and ends up dead and tossed aside; the plot is actually propelled by Goodnight being an idiot at several points; and for some reason she ends up in a bikini for the climax. Suspiciously much like Tiffany did in DAF: it all feels a bit low rent and tacky- especially when Bond makes Mary listen to him shagging Andrea when she's in a cupboard; that's just nasty.
It's not the worst film and I do enjoy it when I watch it, but I feel like Bond was running out of steam at this point- if the series had ended here I'm not sure anyone would have been surprised, would they? Everything's got a bit smaller (there's only one guy working in the 'big' base!), a bit nastier and meaner, it feels like it's coming towards the end of road. The next film needed to be something special...
I noticed recently, as well as Bond killing no more than one person in this film (if you don't count the one holding the gun in the gunbarrel sequence 😁), which has got to be a record; at no point is the bebop part of the Bond theme played (the big jazzy bit, as opposed to the riff part played on the guitar). Not once. Is that a record too?
I've never noticed that, emtiem, well spotted. A quick think - def in DN of course, FRWL, GF, TB (sometimes well disguised), YOLT, DAF, LALD. The one that's foxing me is OHMSS- is it in the bit where Bond slides on his front firing a gun? Or does the music cut off before we reach that part?
In OHMSS the film kicks off with the bebop pretty much as he’s driving the car, and in DN, FRWL and YOLT you get the original John Barry recording of the theme pretty much played in its entirety; in LALD the first time we get it is the ‘jukebox’ sequence. You’re right about DAF; it’s not really there, just used as a sort of slow motif rather than a full version when he arrives at the Bambi and Thumper house and the oil rig. TB is a funny one where you don’t really get a full statement of it, but it’s probably used more than the riff: in the Chateau fight, scenes like roasting Count Lippe or ‘another time another place’, the underwater mystery guitar motif is based on it, and then you get a full version from the ‘62 recording when they’re airlifted at the very end (depending on the version you’re watching!).
Great write up @Napoleon Plural thanks for that. Quite brightened my coffee break.
There’s lots I like in GG but it almost feels more like missed opportunities than full successes. The storyline with Bond being sent the bullet as a threat which turns out to be a cry for help from Andrea, that’s such a good, original way into the plot that I can imagine Fleming doing that, even. It’s like a sexier, more cinematic version of the Tania message in FRWL. And Scaramanga is a superb baddie, but then maddeningly the main plot isn’t about him planning a big assassination, even though his whole USP is that he’s an assassin. It’d be like Drax building all of those space shuttles but the climax to Moonraker being set underwater! 😁
if there was ever a candidate for a Bond film to have a remake I think it’s this one because it has untapped potential.
Cheers @chrisno1 that's what I aim for!
Re Bond killing only one person in the film, there are other contenders though fair play to Golden Gun that this omission isn't too noticeable because there's a lot going on and a fair bit of death and sort of menace on display - just never directed at Bond himself, which does leave him looking like a bystander in his own film. That said, Golden Gun isn't that sort of film anyway, it's a Saturday morning TV stroll for kids, it's the Double Deckers or the Pink Panther, isn't it.
Of course, the reason Bond kills only one guy is there are really only two villains in the film, Scarey and Nick Nack and they don't oversee a mini-Army of recruits or assassins for Bond to knock off. The movie carries the DAF theme - start small, then unconvincingly dovetail it into some kind of sci-fi or technological main plot, Live And Let Die at least had the courage to more or less stick to its main theme and scale.
Moonraker seems to be a movie where Bond doesn't kill many people but of course he does - the freefall assassin, the Jackal sniper at Drax's chateau, Chang in Venice - but Jaws doesn't seem to kill anyone. Never Say Never Again is another contender - for perhaps the first hour I'm not sure we really see him kill anyone - those in the pre-credits presumably live to be in another training mission - it's rubbish really isn't it - and the unnamed Lippe, well, maybe he's dead, guess he is, it's all a bit make believe. As per Thunderball, he doesn't even kill the main villain.
I don't want anyone infer that I particularly watch Bond movies to enjoy seeing him off the opposition but it does hint that when he doesn't need to do this, the film lacks imminent threat or jeopardy.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I am certain Bond does not kill a single person in AVTAK. He is indirectly responsible for a lot of deaths, but he never delivers a fatal blow or shot to anyone. Curious I never noted the low 'kill count' in TMWTGG.
Good point about AVTAK; I'd not really noticed that, although I'd say he does kill Zorin pretty intentionally and directly. And with the Russian heli pilots at the beginning I'd say he was trying to make them crash, so counts as a kill for me. But yeah, compared to the previous film where he was throwing knives and shooting soldiers in the forehead, it is a bit of a change, it's true. Even in TLD he's actually probably less lethally violent than he was in OP: had there been some sort of reaction to the violence in OP?
Also a good spot about NSNA, I don't really know that one hugely well enough to be sure, but I assume he must machine gun a few baddies at the end? And he blows up Fatima too. Up until then, yeah; I can't think of anyone else meeting their fate at his hands. And yes, I agree Napoleon; I don't need to see Bond killing everyone (indeed, in films like GE his body counts become a little questionable!) but if he doesn't need to at all then it does seem to lower the stakes a bit. All the folks who got hot under the collar about Amazon supposedly erasing guns from Bond should probably check out how he went though these periods of relative pacifism 40/50 years go! 😂
Copy/Paste from a year ago:
TMWTGG
I know this one is generally regarded as being one of the worst entries in the franchise and I understand why people take issue with it. It definitely has some issues with Moore playing it 'Connery style' in many sequences, the slide whistle cramps a great stunt, and J.W. Pepper is not necessary. I get all that. I still really like this one.
Last night's viewing was a blast. While Moore still hasn't found his groove in the role, he's much more assured here and the narrative actually gives him stuff to do instead of just 'wandering around Harlem' like he did in LALD. Christopher Lee is great and plays the role with just the right air of arrogance and professionalism. While the whole Solex plot feels tacked on to give the movie more of a spy edge and is perhaps not needed, it doesn't hinder things too much. My only real complaint with that subplot is that the film needs an additional 10 minutes after Lee's death to resolve it, making it all feel like an extended epilogue.
Whatever. As I said, I've always gone against the consensus on this one and kinda liked it. I still do.
Current rankings:
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)
The good news was that we got another Bond movie just one year after the last one (the first since GF/TB and the last time ever). As with LALD the film hooks onto the latest trend, this time Kung Fu, instead of leading the way. We get another PTS where Bond does not appear but we get the see the title character kill an old fashioned American gangster, I’m not sure that’s much of a match for the world’s deadliest assassin (shades of FRWL) but it introduces Christopher Lee to the audience as Scaramanga. A screeching Lulu title song follows and we have the return of John Barry on scoring duties, but he’s having a very bad day in what is easily his weakest Bond effort. Roger Moore continues his smart-aleck persona from LALD and his efforts at playing tough in some scenes are not very well handled. Now, Roger can do tough as per his fine performance in The Wild Geese, so it’s director Guy Hamilton who’s at fault here for not handling the situation correctly. The plot is a bit muddled with the Solex thing and Bond also thinking he’s on Scaramanga’s hit list. There’s some very poor “Saint-like” fights and Bond is even left out of a big fight which is handled by two schoolgirls, which makes a mockery of a so-called dangerous martial arts academy. The ensuing boat chase brings back the sheriff from LALD and he is the best comedy turn in the entire movie which by this time has turned into a farce. A car chase follows with a great stunt that is infamous now for the slide whistle sound effect (John Barry must have really hated this movie). Boredom has set in and by the time the duel happens we are just hoping that the movie ends quickly. The duel is boring because we’ve seen it all before in the PTS. But it’s not all over yet as Beano henchman Nick Nack turns up to disrupt Bond’s end of movie nuptials, cue more of the irritating Moore grunts and groans as we get another comedic fight.
The good - Scaramanga, JW Pepper, the return of Q, the scenery, M’s “tailors/chefs” rant, some half decent model work. Everything else is risible.
OHMSS - TB - FRWL - GF - YOLT - DN - LALD - DAF - TMWTGG
Yeah, tend to agree that Guy Hamilton made the worst version of Moore’s Bond; I much prefer him under the next two directors. I do think the Beirut fight is one of Roger’s better ones though. Hamilton deserves lots of praise for Goldfinger, but in the 70s he presided over possibly the weakest run of Bond films and I’m glad he moved on.
In terms of release, the gap between LALD and TMWTGG was pretty much the same as the gap between DAF and LALD had been: around 18 months. It wasn’t the first time since TB.