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Comments
Yeah that's a nice line. I also like that little touch in Golden Gun where he's subtly telling Bond to go and get Scaramanga off the books in a rather gentle friendly way, and as soon as Bond smiles back at him he has to close his defences on him again. Lee at least got those moments of warmth with Bond, where I'm not sure that Brown ever really did. The closest he got was probably in LTK, but they didn't get to share any moment onscreen.
M uses Bond's first name when he sends it to Shrubland too.
Yes, I think what gets a bit lost in CR is that this M is the one who promoted him to 00 in the first place (her trust that got him there prior to breaking into her flat) , so she feels a bit of personal pride.
I think the chat they have on the phone after Vesper has died cements their relationship rather well.
The film was kind of, sort of, building up to the duel. But they chickened out.
I wonder if they didn't want a duel to kill Scaramanga, ultimately, because Moore's Bond would appear cold-blooded, rather than clever?
Something like Scaramanga (dishonorably) starts to turn before the count is over, Bond sees him in the mirror, and then in a split second turns around and shoots him?
Even though it wasn't Moore's forte, he pulls off Bond's lethality very well. He seems like an operative on the hunt as opposed to an international playboy wandering through action sequences like in most of his other films. The death scenes have impact because there is relatively few of them; Bond himself only kills one person in the entire movie, Scaramanga. While there is humor, I don't find it overbearing. If anything it nicely contrasts with the darker aspects of the film.
Overall I've always liked TMWTGG, and I think that it's a unique entry in the series. Usually with the less-popular Bonds like TWINE and QOS, I understand why they're derided, even if I enjoy them personally. But I never understood why TMWTGG gets such a bad rap.
The early Connery Bond movies don't get enough love.
Yes, TMWGG is like an early Bond movie but if you don't really like Dr. No...
NSNA has the same problem. It's a love letter to the first movies but people don't care anymore.
That said, it’s a film where nothing quite works as it should. Yes, the plot is low key and starts with the rather interesting premise of Bond receiving the golden bullet, but the script seems to default to the Solex which is, let’s be honest, inconsequential and dully utilised. Bond indeed comes across as more hardboiled and crueler in this one, but the film takes this to strange extremes that it’s hard to imagine even Connery making this version of the character look good (ie. locking Goodnight in a closet as he makes love to Andrea, pushing a child into the river, and generally having this weirdly irritable/insufferable manner around Goodnight). There’s absurdity and humour within it, but these are taken to bizarre extremes as well - the tongue in cheek innuendos of the earlier films are replaced with an almost sleazy humour, and what should be otherwise tense moments seem to default to comedy (the ‘slide whistle’ moment and the finale with Nick Nack being examples).
It’s a shame because there’s legitimately great stuff in there - the dressing room fight (although the logic for Bond getting into said fight and even going there in the first place is a bit questionable), the dialogue between Scaramanga and Bond at the lunch table. The core ideas are all quite interesting, and I suspect had slightly more time been spent honing the script we’d have gotten something better. Maybe not to the point it would have been as successful as LALD (I think the Bond films were at that creative crossroads where they really needed something like TSWLM) but something that would have at least worked on its own merits. What we get is unfortunately a bit of a mess.
For me - and hindsight surely backs me up - seventies Bond was able to have characters and examine themes in a unique and not likely to be repeated environment. It is this element that invariably has me enjoying the seventies films as a collective more than any other decade in the series.
Christopher Lee is terrific. Part of the seventies dynamic I cited earlier is the off beat and slightly warped relationship between Scaramanga and Nick Nack, something I enjoy with every viewing. Their relationship in addition to the gloriously crazy sets create an air of surreality through this one that no future Bond film is ever likely to remotely approach.
I really enjoy the theme tune itself. As a consequence perhaps the score is brash and in your face but it works and I think is very enjoyable too. I don't believe there was a Bond as well traveled as Sir Roger. One of his underrated points in his portrayal of Bond is his almost effortless ease in the most exotic and unlikely of circumstances. Almost portraying an old fashioned English gentleman abroad at times, but able to take everything in his stride. From a champagne lunch prior to a duel to the death through to survelliance in a Macau casino, Sir Roger is able to smoothly navigate through a fascinating slice of Asia in the seventies here. I can't imagine a Dalton or Craig portraying the same level of easy charm and it makes his portrayal of Bond very easy to like.
The films weaknesses are obvious and numerous. But for my part the Britt Ekland subplot merely adds to the surreal nature of it all rather than detracting from it. That she is also jaw droppingly beautiful certainly helps. The martial arts scenes and almost Roald Dahl like story telling touches - the slide whistle, JB Pepper - are less defensible. They're fairly superficial in nature so either you can overlook them or you can't I guess.
I think it's a wonderfully enjoyable Bond adventure and I have it in my personal top ten. There wasn't a Bond made like this before or since in my view and I think it's worthwhile for its unique charm alone.
"You'll be the death of me yet Nick Nack."