The Man with the Golden Gun Details, Meaning The Man with the Golden Gun Article and Explanation Guide

The Man with the Golden Gun Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

The Man with the Golden Gun is a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming. Fleming died before a final draft of the manuscript was completed (it was never a "lost" manuscript as some sources have suggested), and edited by others, reportedly including Kingsley Amis, before publication. It is also the ninth official James Bond movie and the second to star Roger Moore as Commander James Bond, British Secret Service agent 007. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and made by EON Productions. It was released in 1974.

Table of contents

1 Movie plot summary
2 Theme music
3 Vehicles & gadgets
4 Locations
5 Cast & characters
6 Trivia
7 Novel publication order
8 See also
9 External links

Movie plot summary

The title character is Francisco Scaramanga, a high-priced assassin who charges US$1 million per hit. Not surprisingly, he's known for using a golden gun and only needs one golden bullet per hit. Nothing is really known about Scaramanga in the beginning of the film except that he has a third nipple (information which Bond later uses to get in touch with Scaramanga's financer, Hai Fat); no pictures or physical descriptions of him exist.

The movie begins with a golden bullet, with "007" -- Bond's codename -- etched into it's surface, being received by Her Majesty's Secret Service, the Secret Intelligence Service (MI-6). It is believed by Military Intelligence that Scaramanga, a "famous assassin" -- about whom very little is known -- has been hired to assassinate James Bond and has sent the bullet to intimidate his new target.

Bond's mission at this time revolves around the work of a scientist named Gibson, thought to be in possession of information crucial to solving the energy crisis by creating a virtually unlimited amount of energy using a new technique of harnessing the Sun's power. Because of the perceived threat to the agent's life, M (Bond's 'control' officer in MI-6) removes James from his current mission, and forces 007 to go on leave until the matter is resolved.

Though officially "on leave" from his duties, Bond sets out to find Scaramanga before Scaramanga finds him. By retrieving a golden bullet used to assassinate another 'Double-0 agent' sometime previously, Agent 007 is led to the man responsible for supplying Scaramanga with his unusual golden ammunition. This leads Bond to Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's mistress. She confesses that it was she who sent the golden bullet to MI6 -- to lure Bond to kill Scaramanga for her. Anders informs Bond as to where Scaramanga's plans will require him to be.

Unbeknownst to Bond, that location is that of Scaramanga's next 'hit', the target of which is Gibson, the solar energy scientist from Bond's previous mission. The hit takes place in order to steal the "solex agitator" -- a critical component of Gibson's solar energy device. It is now Bond's mission to retrieve the solex agitator and duel it out with Scaramanga before Scaramanga can sell the device to the highest criminal bidder or use it for his own nefarious plans.

Theme music

The theme tune, "The Man With The Golden Gun," was performed by Lulu. The soundtrack was composed by Bond veteran John Barry. At the time, it was Barry's seventh Bond movie.

Vehicles & gadgets

AMC Hornet Sportabout 'hatchback' - Bond steals this car in Hong Kong, unknowing that Sheriff J.W. Pepper is in it, planning to test drive it.
Car Plane - During a car chase, Scaramanga's car disappears in a shed for some time. When it emerges it has wings attached, allowing it to fly away.
The Golden Gun - Scaramanga's weapon of choice, it could fire a 4.2 caliber golden bullet specially made for the gun. The gun also separated into a gold cigarette lighter, a gold cigarette case, a gold cuff link, and a gold pen so as to avoid detection.

Locations

One of the more interesting locations is the use of a sunken cruise liner, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, as a top-secret MI-6 base in Hong Kong harbor.

Cast & characters

James Bond - Roger Moore
M - Bernard Lee
Miss Moneypenny - Lois Maxwell
Q - Desmond Llewelyn
Francisco Scaramanga - Christopher Lee
Mary Goodnight - Britt Ekland
Andrea Anders - Maud Adams
Nick Nack - Hervé Villechaize
Sheriff J.W. Pepper - Clifton James
Hai Fat - Richard Loo
Lieutenant Hip - Soon-Tek Oh

Directed By: Guy Hamilton

Written By: Ian Fleming

Screenplay By: Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz

Produced By: Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman

Composed By: John Barry

This is the first of three movies to either star or have a cameo by Maud Adams. In 1983 she plays a different character, Octopussy, in the film of the same name. She would later have a cameo in the Bond movie A View To A Kill. This is also the second movie with Clifton James playing the role of Sheriff J.W. Pepper. He first appeared in Live and Let Die.

Trivia

Christopher Lee is Ian Fleming's cousin and was Fleming's pick to play the role of Dr. Julius No in the film Dr. No. According to some Bond film historians, Lee was also considered for the role of Bond as well.
In the video game GoldenEye 007 and subsequent James Bond games (including Tomorrow Never Dies, Nightfire, and Everything or Nothing) the Golden Gun would count for an instant kill, which reflected that the villain Scaramanga never missed.
This was the final film produced by the Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman partnership. A financial disappointment, the movie nearly marked the end of the Bond film series as Broccolli and Saltzman broke up and legal wrangling delayed the start of the next Bond film for quite awhile. The three-year interval between this film and The Spy Who Loved Me was the longest to date.
This film was criticised that, in addition to the perceived faults of production, it had the most sexist attitude in the series with James Bond's assistant, Mary Goodnight, being a stereotypical blonde buffoon who was useless to Bond. On the other hand, when Bond was fleeing an enemy dojo chased by martial artists, he offered to protect two girls who were being menaced by them, only to have them demonstrate their superior fighting skills by easily thrashing Bond's pursuers (this scene is also generally criticised, but it is generally seen as being silly, unfunny, and highly unrealistic).
Although her showing in the film is undistinguished, Mary Goodnight was in fact a recurring character in several of Fleming's Bond novels, even appearing in lieu of Miss Moneypenny.