The James Bond Rewatch: Current Movie - SPECTRE

[Doc755]

The Man with the Golden Gun was one of my favorites as a child, but when I watch it now, it’s hard to keep from being disappointed. Christopher Lee was an excellent choice for a villain and he elevated the film more than it should be. With a better script and possibly a different director, this could have been one of the best of the franchise, but alas it falls short.

The plot is rather thin for a film that’s over two hours. If they had stuck to the story of Bond being targeted by the world’s best assassin instead of mixing in the ripped from the headlines energy crisis subplot, this could have been a taut thriller. Instead the story meanders about as the two stories cross paths in the most contrived manner and we lurch from one set piece to another.

Even the car chase is marred by the unwelcome return of Sheriff J.W. Pepper who just happens to be visiting Thailand at the same time as Bond’s mission takes him there. Now it’s possible to have always hated the character but I thought he did add a nice bit of local flavor to the New Orleans scenes in Live and Let Die while at the same time showing how an outsider would view these espionage escapades. But his presence in this film is so extraneous and his “comical” racism so over the top, that you can’t help but wish for it to be over sooner.

One of the better facets was Maud Adams and it’s easy to see why she was brought back just three films later for the main Bond Girl role. Andrea Anders is beautiful, manipulative and sultry, and a far better match than the almost completely incompetent Mary Goodnight. Britt Ekland is gorgeous but the script treats her character as a joke as Bond treats her horribly and she is still desperate to get him into bed. The treatment of women in Bond films has always been spotty but it’s a complete disaster in the early Moore films.

I wish this was better but sadly it’s a bare bones plot with quite a bit of filler and a waste for the great Christopher Lee. I did like M’s office in the sunken ocean liner, giving the set designer something new to work with and Scaramanga’s funhouse is the perfect mixture of camp and thrills. The title theme is pretty basic but a total ear worm as I found myself singing it for a few days after viewing. I’m going to give this a 5/10. Not the worst Moore film but far from the best. And Jesus, what were they thinking with that slide whistle?

Current Rankings:
1) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
2) From Russia with Love
3) Goldfinger
4) Thunderball
5) Dr. No
6) Live and Let Die
7) You Only Live Twice
8) The Man with the Golden Gun
9) Diamonds are Forever