The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

I have always remembered The Man With The Golden Gun as one of the weakest in the series (along with Moonraker), but having revisited it tonight I'm pleased to find that I was mistaken. This Bond is actually very good, almost reminiscent of OHMSS for how good.

There are weaknesses, which I shall get out of the way first. The main one is the unwelcome return of the 'comic' relief character, Sheriff JW Pepper from Live and Let Die. First you think he's got a shoe-horned cameo, and then he done fall in the water (like Bring On The Wall...). But then he like a bad smell he returns as Bond's 'sidekick' in a car chase sequence. He's obnoxious, unfunny and every so slightly racist and appears to think he's in a much broader comedy than Bond can allow. Thankfully we never see him again. Like OHMSS, occasionally the plot takes some concentration, and there's a habit here of having scenes with M where nothing except exposition is thrown at you to digest and remember for later. 

Actually one of the greatest sets in the seris so far occurs during one of these M expositions - MI5 has a secret base in a half-sunken ship in the waters off Thailand! And due to the fact that the ship is half submerged, it is on a tilt, and all of the sets are at an angle, making for some interesting and quirky scenes. M gets some great lines here, and it's good to have Q back since his hiatus in Live and Let Die (Moneypenny only gets a single brief scene though), although there aren't really any gadgets on display here, unless you count a fake nipple...

Christopher Lee is great as Scaramanga, and I especially like how the movie moves to its climactic showdown between him and 007 through the former's vanity. He may be using the solex agitator (or 'MacGuffin') to make himself rich, but his motivation for wanting to fight Bond is more than just greed - his other sin is pride. It's good to see Bond using his espionage skills here too, rather than just gadgets, although EVERYONE seems to have heard of him in this movie! 

I'd forgotten as well how much Maud Adams is in this movie - she goes on to be the female lead in Octopussy - and she's great. Britt Eckland as Mary Goodnight is perhaps a bit underused, and it's nice to see her initially turn down 007, but she does end up becoming a bit of a stereotype ditzy blond with little depth. She's makes for a few good puns though. 

Roger Moore's punning technique is put to excellent use here. For example: 'I am now aiming precisely at your groin. So speak or forever hold your piece.' And I love the nearly-Bond girl named Chew Mee! The humour is set at just the right level without being OTT (except when Sheriff Pepper turns up...). There aren't as many action sequences here and no real memorable set pieces, except the jump with the car turning 360 degrees - this would have been improved without the comedy sound-effect. I did quite like Scaramanga's shooting range, seen in the pre-credits sequence and at the final showdown - there was something very 'Avengers' about it (and in the skewed sunken ship sets come to think of it), even if it did give away how Bond was going to defeat Scaramanga before Lulu began to warble the title song. 

So in summary, a great Bond all round.