The Man with the Golden Gun (film)

For other uses, see The Man with the Golden Gun.

The Man with the Golden Gun
A man in a dinner jacket holding a pistol is in the centre of the picture. Various scenes and images surround him, including two women in bikinis, a midget with a pistol, a car stunt and explosions. At the bottom right, oversized and pointing towards the man in the dinner jacket, is a golden gun, with a hand holding a bullet, about to load the gun. The top of the picture has the words "ROGER MOORE as JAMES BOND 007". At the bottom are the words "THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN".
Theatrical release poster by Robert McGinnis
Directed byGuy Hamilton
Screenplay byRichard Maibaum
Tom Mankiewicz
Based onThe Man with the Golden Gun
by Ian Fleming
Produced byAlbert R. Broccoli
Harry Saltzman
Starring
CinematographyTed Moore
Oswald Morris
Edited byRaymond Poulton
John Shirley
Music byJohn Barry
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • 19 December 1974 (1974-12-19) (London, premiere)
  • 20 December 1974 (1974-12-20) (United Kingdom and United States)
Running time
125 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom[1]
United States[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million
Box office$97.6 million

The Man with the Golden Gun is a 1974 spy film and the ninth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. A loose adaptation of Ian Fleming's posthumously published 1965 novel of the same name, the film has Bond sent after the Solex Agitator, a breakthrough technological solution to contemporary energy shortages, while in a game of cat and mouse facing the assassin Francisco Scaramanga, the "Man with the Golden Gun". The action culminates in a duel between them that settles the fate of the Solex.

The Man with the Golden Gun was the fourth and final film in the series directed by Guy Hamilton. The script was written by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz. The film was set in the face of the 1973 energy crisis, a dominant theme in the script; Britain had still not yet fully overcome the crisis when the film was released in December 1974. The film also reflects the then-popular martial arts film craze, with several kung fu scenes and a predominantly Asian location, being set and shot in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Macau. Part of the film is also set in Beirut, Lebanon, but it was not shot there.

The film was met with mixed reviews, and some critics described it as the lowest point in the canon up to that time. Christopher Lee's portrayal of Scaramanga as a villain of similar skill and ability to Bond was praised, but reviewers criticised the film as a whole, particularly its comedic approach and the performances of Moore and Britt Ekland. Whilst profitable, the film is the fourth lowest-grossing in the series, and its relatively modest returns by comparison with those of Live and Let Die (1973) reportedly placed the continuation of the franchise in jeopardy.[3] It was the last Bond film to be co-produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, with Saltzman selling his 50% stake in Danjaq, LLC, the parent company of Eon Productions, after the release of the film.

  1. ^ "The Man with the Golden Gun". Lumiere. European Audiovisual Observatory. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  2. ^ "AFI|Catalog".
  3. ^ Aldis, Ben (21 March 2020). "The Man With The Golden Gun Almost Ended James Bond Movies". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.