Deleting these 3 things would make this a solid Bond film - The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) Discussion

[–] skiop 15 years ago

1. The unnecessary kung fu scene where the two young girls take on the entire school.

One of the better scenes of the movie.

2. Sheriff J.W. Pepper

Agreed.

3. That infamous slide whistle sound effect

What's wrong with that?

My list:
1. The two plots should be converged far earlier than they are.
2. The Bond/Scaramanga relationship could use smoothed out. At the beginning, Scaramanga shoots off Bond's fingers. Then later, he's like, "I have nothing against you."
3. Britt Eckland. I'm an American and even I cringe at how bad her British accent is.
4. A car can fly just because it has wings attached?
5. M should really be a lot nicer to Q.
6. After Bond and Goodnight get to the island, it's so boring! Not that this was the epitome of entertainment before that.

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[–] cfamick 15 years ago

Bond films are slaves to current movie going trends, ie, blaxploitation or kung fu films.

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[–] jamieleefan1 15 years ago

Yeah, i guess you're right. There are more than 3 things that need to be deleted. Re: no. 4, the dvd doc claims the flying car was based on a real prototype.

And c'mon, you can't defend that slide whistle.

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[–] ebm83 15 years ago

Bond also seemed unnecessarily mad at Q in the scene where they're analyzing the bullet.

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[–] TheSolarSailor 13 years ago

Bond also seemed unnecessarily mad at Q in the scene where they're analyzing the bullet. >>> Bond was on edge because he thought he had been targeted by the man with the golden gun himself. All of his hopes were on deciphering the bullet, as there was NOTHING else to go on. I guess you'll have to forgive his urgency this time around.

- - - - - - -
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

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[–] matwsussx 15 years ago

1 If Andrea sent Bond the bullet so he would come and help her kill Scaramanga, why is she so desperate to get rid of him in her hotel room when they first meet. Why not just tell him there what shes going to tell him later?

2 If Bond already has the bullet sent to him by Andrea, why does he need to recover the bullet kept by the belly dancer?

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[–] mt_ears_05 15 years ago

1.I agree, that always confused me..

2 The first bullet Andrea sent bond was the one that had 007 carved into it. The one Bond got from the belly dancer was the one 002 was killed with, I always figured it was to prove that Scaramanga killed 002.

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[–] DavidStHubbinsUSA 15 years ago

On the bullets, I thought he needed one actually shot by Scaramanga's gun. The token bullet that was sent with the 007 on it would have been unbalanced and even Bond stated when he saw it that "it obviously wasn't meant to be fired". He needed to get one that was a real murder bullet to find out the caliber and where and by who it was made, thus the time spent in the lab with Q looking at the recovered bullet and the decision on who made it and that hopefully would lead Bond to Scaramanga... JMO

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[–] da3daluz 15 years ago

The 007 bullet is a solid piece of gold, that's why it was never meant to be fired, the writing has nothing to do with it.

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[–] DavidStHubbinsUSA 15 years ago

Weren't all of his "hit" bullets solid gold? Wasn't that his signature or Did I miss something? I know he send just the round and not the shell but I'm confused by that answer.

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[–] loveagoodstory 10 years ago

I thought Bond meant that the deep engraving of 007 on it would prevent it flying in a straight line when fired.

I have no idea if that's ballistically the case but it seemed a reasonable idea to me.

---------------------------------------------------------
Free your mind and the rest will follow

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[–] gunforanarm 12 years ago

Seems like 2 has some pretty good answers - but as for your first question...

My guess would be that Andrea didn't know what Bond looked like - so she didn't realize it was him. We never see her in Scaramanga's "fun house" and it's not hard to imagine that she wouldn't have wanted to go in there.

Even if she had she may not have realized who the statue was a likeness of.

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[–] thelastfaceyouwillsee 15 years ago

I'd definitely delete the Sheriff and the slide-whistle but I like the fighting schoolgirls so they'd stay in. My third deletion would be the 007 'statue' - it's hokey and telegraphs the ending right from the start!

I would have made Scaramanga far more icy and dangerous - he is too charming with Bond and isn't given enough to do. At the very least he should be seen killing someone Bond has become friendly with so that it becomes more personal. As it is we're told that he admires Bond (yet has a dummy of him for target practice) but when they meet at his island he's too genial even when he 'lazers' the seaplane.

I am a huge Chris Lee fan but I do wonder what Jack Palance would have done with this role. In the book it is suggested that Scaramanga is possibly gay and 'interested' in Bond. Palance could have hinted at this with that sweaty, oily nervousness he was so good at.

I don't think there is a bad Bond movie - but there are bad moments in some of them. There are worse offenders than Golden Gun, which merely fails to reach its potential (IMHO).

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[–] DM-DAAN 15 years ago

"I don't think there is a bad Bond movie - but there are bad moments in some of them. There are worse offenders than Golden Gun, which merely fails to reach its potential (IMHO). "

Nicely put. I've just finished rewatching TMWTGG after god knows how long (at least 15 years - maybe even 20) because it was never one of my favorites as a child and later on I grew to find Moore's Bond a bit off-putting. Not that he was bad, he simply wasn't my kind of Bond (early Connery still being my fave). Dalton's, Brosnan's, and even more so Daniel Craig's version were more my thing.

But recently I've been revisiting the Moore movies (started with TSWLM followed by FYEO, which was the only one I hadn't seen as a kid) and I must admit TMWTGGG holds up suprisingly well. I was prepared to be put off by its well known flaws and small scale story but I just really got into the story this time around. Something I probably didn't really do as a kid. Back then I wanted my Bond movies to be filled with ninjas, underground lairs and gadgets and TMWTGG simply doesn't have that.

So, it's far from perfect but it's certainly has got a lot going for it. I really appreciated the held back Moore. I never found Moore believable as a cold hearted killer (he probably didn't himself either) but here I actually found him believable. And it was way less gimmicky than I remembered, despite the couple of corny elements like the whistlesound and the sheriff. No dated gimmickry either. I actually rather liked the flying car as a believable gadget for a man like Scaramanga and Bond's seaplane is simply one of the prettiest little flying machines I've ever seen. :-)

Next stop: Moonraker and Octopussy. Two movies I really enjoyed as a kid so I'm expecting some sweet childhood memories to get shattered. ;-)

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[–] red_phenix 13 years ago

I agree OP, especially with the whistle effect. Absolutely idiotic, and anyone who likes it is either a child or a retard.

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[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Irishdrummer007 13 years ago

I agree. Them 3 things would at least make the movie watchable. The car jump scene wasn,t really a bad scene. Just bad sound effects with the whistle. I am sure Moore could had been better as well. I am not too fond of the story as well. I wished they kept the story line from the Book.

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[–] tonycarr 13 years ago

1. Pepper

2. Mary Goodnight

3. Nick Nack

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[–] ae36 13 years ago

Delete Mary Goodnight?

Brit in that bikini make the whole damn movie-- always a good reason to watch it when it comes on.

AE36

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[–] foxboro27 12 years ago

OP,

Loved the Kung Fu school girl kicking butt scene. Loved JW Pepper. Agree with you on the slide-whistle sound effect ruining the awesome stunt- that sucked.

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