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I've Never Killed a Midget Before-TMWTGG Appreciation Thread

barryt007barryt007
edited March 2011 in Bond Movies Posts: 19,339
This film has always had a special place with me,it was a film i could escape to when i was younger,to the exotic locations and the battle of wills between Scaramanga and Bond.

The fun palace appealed to me,as did the ever sly Nick-Nack and the film has some great one-liners such as :
"This gun is aiming directly at your groin - so speak now or forever hold your piece "

It also was the film that,for me,Sir Roger really played a 'Bond under threat' figure very well,knowing that Scaramanga is after him (or so he thought) but not knowing who he is or where he is going to strike.

Of course special mention should go to the brilliant Christopher Lee as Scaramanga who was faultless in the film and had a real calm,calculated menace about him.

The final exchange between Bond and Scaramanga,with a frightened Goodnight,also is acted very very well,as is the duel between them.

Anyway,as i say i love this film,it's special to me.

Anybody have anything to say about it,good or bad ?

Comments

  • SirCLMDBCRaigSirCLMDBCRaig
    Posts: 205
    Always ready to appreciate this little gem. It's a fun, colorful, exotic and interesting. Scaramanga is one of my favorite villains and Maude makes a good bond girl. I even like Nick Nack, he works well as a servant/right hand man for scaramanga and only becomes silly at the very end. Goodnight is somewhat of a clutz considering shes supposed work for mi6 but there's something about here I've always liked. I also like Moore's more serious portrayal. Add in the great sets, locations and the wonderful climax at the end and you've got a underrated bond entry.

    There are plenty of negatives as well tho. Pepper is completely unnecessary and unfunny, the end with Moore chasing after Nick Nack is just laughably silly, Goodnight IS a bit too much of a dumb blonde and lastly the karate school sequence makes no sense(why of all places bring bond there? Why drive off without him? Why bring your nieces with you to a potentially dangerous location?) and is pointless.

    The pro's still very much outweigh the cons for me...It might even be in my top 10 if all the stupid jokes and stuff I mentioned earlier would have been cut out..a rushed movie I guess.
  • VirageVirage
    Posts: 1,856
    WOW 2 Comments

    Goes to show our appreciation
  • PrinceKamalKhanPrinceKamalKhan Monsoon Palace, Udaipur
    Posts: 3,262
    I'll appreciate it. Probably the definitive mid-range Bond film. It's a bit scaled back with the villain's plot only being to monopolize solar energy as opposed to such schemes as hijacking a NATO nuclear weapon, capturing U.S. and Russian spacecraft to trigger WWIII, poisoning the world's food supply via a virus dispensed by the 12 most beautiful farmer's daughters in the world, etc.. Nonetheless, a fun entry which I recently watched for the 1st time in UE form. Sir Rog gives one of his 2 best Bond performances(the other being MR), Christopher Lee's Scaramanga is one of the best villains in the series, Britt Ekland and Maud Adams both make memorable and gorgeous leading ladies, Herve Villechaize and Clifton James provide hilarious comedic relief, the locations(Macau, Hong Kong and Thailand) are among the most exotic in the series, the funhouse scenes are haunting and John Barry provides yet another excellent score. Good fun and one of the more underrated films in the 007 series.

    "Darling, forget the jewels. Forget the trinkets. Forget the baubles. Cause guess who's coming for Christmas. It's a surprise. It's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN!"-

  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,690
    The best Bond film in the franchise !! Featuring the awesome Roger Moore and J.W. Pepper ! Not forgetting Scaramanga, who is also great ! Amazing score from Barry .(Yes, the slide-whistle is awesome !!), amazing sets, stunts, memorable secondary characters. An all out fantastic outing, flat-out hilarious, very entertaining and fun ! I never get bored of watching TMWTGG !!
  • JBFan626JBFan626
    edited May 2011 Posts: 1,497
    As PKK said, this really is the definitive mid-range Bond. Why it beats out something like say, "License to Kill" are those signature EON finishing touches from the time. As ho-hum as you may find the plot in the second half (yes I'm talking to you Bain! :-) ) or the idiocy of Goodnight, JW Pepper; Golden Gun is truly a period piece--an enjoyable one in all of it's early 1970's grandeur. It just simply has that EON productions Bond feel from the era of 1967-1979: John Barry, Ted Moore with his sepia tone filters, Roger Moore in his prime, campy gadgets like the Golden Gun, campy set-pieces and locations like the funhouse, the Bottoms Up or the dojo, period muscle cars, belly dancers, exotic Southeast Asian locations, Bernard Lee as M, Desmond Llewelyn as Q, Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny, the old office interior, the impossible casting combination of Christopher Lee, Herve Villechaize, mauve colored clothing articles...it's almost like the grown-up version of Willy Wonka--like Vegas is to Disneyland.

    Yes it's true, the story doesn't challenge deep critical thinking per se, and lacks the depth of the earlier Connery films, but the film perfectly captured that era and also the "feel" of the EON films. It's camp and it has the "benign bizarre" as they say, but this film only could have been made during this time, and works incredibly well in this context. Is it as good as FRWL, GF, TB or OHMSS? Not even close. Does it have that EON 007 magic? Absolutely! As a James Bond fan, Golden Gun captures that Bond "experience" just as well as the best of them. So ultimately it's best not to judge this film compared to other Bond favorites, or from a snobbish film critic point of view (leave that to the A.O. Scott's and James Berardinelli's of the world)

    It's the right kind of Bond film for either these two occasions: a).a lazy Sunday afternoon, perhaps it's raining outside and you need to decompress and turn your mind off after a long hectic week and tune out into a bizarro fantasy land of escapist fun or b). if you are under the influence of a mind altering substances--this will be the right kind of stimulus (I'm not condoning or encouraging any said behavior for the record)

    Avoid this film if watching a double feature with some more serious faire like FRWL, TB, OHMSS, or any Bond made from 1981-1995: you will end up hating it.

    Pairs well with: DAF, YOLT, MR, LALD, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Willy Wonka, The Horror Express, Wicker Man, Smokey and the Bandit

    Now grab some popcorn, perhaps a bottle of pop, turn off all those day to day distractions, and enjoy!
  • 001001
    Posts: 1,575
    I think its rogers best film.
    Excellent film with a lot of great scenes.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,690
    I think its rogers best film.
    Excellent film with a lot of great scenes.

    :-bd :-c
  • PrinceKamalKhanPrinceKamalKhan Monsoon Palace, Udaipur
    Posts: 3,262
    Avoid this film if watching a double feature with some more serious faire like FRWL, TB, OHMSS, or any Bond made from 1981-1995: you will end up hating it.
    I don't know if that's necessarily so. I watched both TMWTGG and OHMSS a lot over a year ago and that worked well together for me. They're both in the Saltzman/Broccoli era, both have John Barry music, both feature bigger than usual star name actors for the lead villains, both ooze that late 1960s/early 1970s era style. I can also easily pair TMWTGG with TB(John Barry/Don Black music, villain's kept woman in distress, island), OP(Maud Adams, 2 Swedish leading ladies, Asian locations), or TLD(Whitaker's battle room with lifesize statues and his final confrontation with Bond recall Scaramanga's fun house, scaled back plot dealing with a then-contemporary issue, i.e., the energy crisis in TMWTGG and the Soviet occuptation of Afghanistan).
  • SirCLMDBCRaigSirCLMDBCRaig
    Posts: 205
    This movie is in dire need of some more love so I'll be a dick and resurrect this long lost thread. Even with it's many problems (and there are quite many) I still can't help but love this movie and just have fun every time I see it
  • Baltimore_007Baltimore_007
    Posts: 5,634
    Always a good way to waste a couple of hours

    Lee makes for a good villain, I always enjoy watching the J W Pepper character and his derogatory remarks and buffoon antics

    Always found Britt Ekland a bit dull, she badly misses the charisma and spark of previous and subsequent Bond girls, also found Adams more appealing in the future release of Octopussy too

    Lulu's title song is not too bad admittedly, maybe I should hate it but it's always one I could listen to again, maybe for the worse efforts yet to come

    anyone that can make a lethal weapon out of a cigarette case and a fountain pen deserves attention

    The car jump was done in the first take as I understand and we get to see the full effect in slow motion, but they could of left out the asinine sound effects

    :L
  • 00Beast00Beast
    Posts: 4,762
    The positives of TMWTGG:
    -A darker, harder-edged 007 played by Roger Moore in a fantastic performance
    -A complex, yet simple main villain in Francisco Scaramanga, one who can mirror Bond almost exactly and one who is quite memorable in the whole series
    -A simple plot that leaves no confusion and yet is very compelling as we watch Bond being hunted in the shadows with a crosshair constantly on his head, and a valuable piece of equipment vital to the British being passed around from hand to hand, wondering if Bond will ever acquire it at some point
    -Great locations, and one of the best villain bases next up in the ranks with Crab Key, the Volcano Lair, Piz Gloria, and Atlantis
    -Pretty good music, with the highlight being the music played during the car chase
  • Baltimore_007Baltimore_007
    Posts: 5,634
    one thing I've never understood is when Bond is being taken across Hong Kong harbor by the Police detective/s, he suddenly jumps out and takes refuge on the Queen Elizabeth that had run aground

    Obviously Moore would of been unaware at the time it was being used as a secret M16 base and to him it would simply be an abandoned ship wreck, did he think he could get away or make an escape by jumping on board (with nowhere to go)

    but lo and behold it was where they were going and M16 were present and the day turned out nice again

  • 00Beast00Beast
    Posts: 4,762
    @Baltimore_007: Yeah, this was a little confusing. Just like the thing with the phone on Scaramanga's boat, the directors missed the little things.
  • Baltimore_007Baltimore_007
    Posts: 5,634
    Golden Gun has a lot of head scratching moments, I highlighted before the end bit with Moore on the scaffold as a prime example

    and the m16 phone on Scaramanga's Junk too :O
  • identigraphidentigraph
    Posts: 1,052
    I absolutley love this film, I have never understood the criticism it gets, of course their are a few unneccesary bits which have been well documented, but overall a fantastic Bond film with Roger Moore at his peak and a brilliant villian and henchman.

    Anybody ever notice that Live and Let Die and MWTGG seem to feature the least use of stuntmen out of any of the Bond films?
  • 007manny007manny
    Posts: 100
    its a great bond film one of my faves at number 7 with its harder edge bond he portrays, ala connery. but its got a good fun script with few notables that makes it fun to watch right after live and let die
  • JBFan626JBFan626
    Posts: 1,497
    True, 'Die and 'Gun are companion pieces. Both are rather low-key, early 70's, camp films. Both stray away from the world domination plot towards a focus on a more subdued rogue villain. And of course, both are Guy Hamilton directions with Tom Mankiewicz writing contributions (though Tom left in the middle of writing of 'Gun).

    To me both Die and Gun felt more like what a Bond TV episode would look like rather than a full on film.

    But to the topic, Gun is always a lot of fun for me. Moore is finding his stride, Christopher Lee is perfect as Scaramanga, if a bit subdued himsef, and NicNac is eerily sinister. Britt Eklund is a hottie so I don't have too many problems with her. The locations are nice and exotic. It makes for a good afternoon of escapist fun.
  • 00130013
    Posts: 1,817
    For me it's perhaps the funniest of Bond movies!
  • Baltimore_007Baltimore_007
    Posts: 5,634
    I was just browsing this half way down the listings and now someone replied

    It does have it's fair share of humorous moments I'll give it that, this is in no small part to the re-appearances of Clifton James and his 'little brown pointy heads etc' remarks as he joins Bond in the chase with Scaramanga

    i really would of liked to have seen him again in subsequent releases, it's a shame he was only featured in two, it would of been fun to have seen him in Moonraker

    I like the bit when Lee throws Ekland in the trunk of his car and he pulls a face or a smirk even, little things like that can provide humor to those it suits

    Even the end bit with Nic Nac and Moore on the Junk at the end as the bottles go flying etc, raises a laugh most times, even more so when M calls (M16 Phone on Scaramanga's boat?, again) and it's Goodnight?, Goodnight?

    Moore - Goodnight Sir. (sighs)

    B-)
  • PrinceKamalKhanPrinceKamalKhan Monsoon Palace, Udaipur
    Posts: 3,262
    To me both Die and Gun felt more like what a Bond TV episode would look like rather than a full on film.
    Which would make them like expensive episodes of "The Saint"? That's kind of how I feel about FYEO.
    But to the topic, Gun is always a lot of fun for me. Moore is finding his stride, Christopher Lee is perfect as Scaramanga, if a bit subdued himsef, and NicNac is eerily sinister. Britt Eklund is a hottie so I don't have too many problems with her. The locations are nice and exotic. It makes for a good afternoon of escapist fun.
    Don't forget about the John Barry score, a huge contribution to its watchability IMHO.
    I was just browsing this half way down the listings and now someone replied

    It does have it's fair share of humorous moments I'll give it that, this is in no small part to the re-appearances of Clifton James and his 'little brown pointy heads etc' remarks as he joins Bond in the chase with Scaramanga

    i really would of liked to have seen him again in subsequent releases, it's a shame he was only featured in two, it would of been fun to have seen him in Moonraker
    Now that would've been interesting. J.W. could have been on vacation in Venice and interested in purchasing Bondolas to use in the Louisiana swamps. A Jaws vs. J.W. Pepper fight would've been fun too. Also, J.W. could've been a stowaway on Bond and Holly's shuttle and ended up at the space station!
    Even the end bit with Nic Nac and Moore on the Junk at the end as the bottles go flying etc, raises a laugh most times, even more so when M calls (M16 Phone on Scaramanga's boat?, again) and it's Goodnight?, Goodnight?

    Moore - Goodnight Sir. (sighs)

    B-)
    My favorite ending to any of the Moore 007 films.

  • Whitaker1987Whitaker1987
    Posts: 172
    Its been a lift me up Bond film for me over the years & I've never really disliked any Bond film that I will not watch ever again.

  • nethegaunernethegauner
    Posts: 74
    Well, I do like "The man with the golden gun". Believe it or not: it is one of my favorites.

    Interestingly, I had been disliking it for quite some time. I was thinking, "Gee---it was just an attempt to ride on the 1970s kung-fu train." But over the years, my mind has changed. It has entertaining qualities---and one of the best Bond villains of all time. Lee did great as Scaramanga---and the small guy acting as his aide must be among the top ranks of all the bond villain henchmen we have been presented with.

    Regarding the kung-fu elements of the movie: that's just like "Moonraker" and "Star wars". As a producer or writer, You identify what kind of movies the audience likes at a given point---and then You adapt to it. You could say that back in the 1960s, Bond was setting trends, while during the time of the Moore films, he was just following them. OK. Why not? Every serial has its ups and downs rearding that matter. It is important to stay alive---if You manage to do so, eventually, You will be setting trend again.

    "The man with the golden gun" might not be as good as a movie as "The spy who loved me" was, but still I like it. The mysterious island, the afore mentiond villain+midget couple, the wild car chase, the Bond/Moore humor, a Bond girl that for a while dares to resist him---it is all in there.

    Always a good Blu-ray to watch . . !
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,561
    http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/1566/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974-all-talk-in-here-please#Item_10
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