70
The Guardian
Live and Let Die borrowed from blaxploitation; The Man with the Golden Gun took a couple of kicks at kung fu, though in a distinctly half-hearted fashion.
The Man with the Golden Gun
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- United Kingdom,
- United States,
- Thailand
- 1974
- · 125m
Director
Guy Hamilton
Cast
Roger Moore,
Christopher Lee,
Britt Ekland,
Maud Adams,
Hervé Villechaize,
Clifton James
Genre
Adventure,
Action,
Thriller
A golden bullet has 007 engraved on it as it smashes into the secret service headquarters. The bullet came from the professional killer Scaramanga who has yet to miss a target and James Bond begins a mission to try and stop him.
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What are critics saying?
63
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Rarely does The Man with the Golden Gun take anything seriously. Mary Goodnight is as clumsy as they come. Pepper and Nick Nack are cartoonish. There are more jokes-per-minute than in any other Bond film. Even John Barry's score is less earnest than usual, and the opening song is ridiculous.
60
Variety by Peter Debruge
Enjoyment requires denying the increasingly problematic truth about Bond: As heroes go, 007 represents a bygone notion of the privileged white man taking what’s his and leaving destruction in his wake.
60
Empire by Ian Freer
Whilst this takes itself a little too lightly it has a lot going for it.
50
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Roger Moore already seems winded in his second outing as Bond. And the film's comedic approach to martial arts justly rankles true 007 afficionados. Compensation comes in the form of Christopher Lee's delicious take on evil as Scaramanga and Herve Villechaize's verve as Nick Nack, Scaramanga's dwarf manservant.
40
TV Guide Magazine
Screenwriters Maibaum and Mankiewicz attempted to downplay the gadgetry this time around, but their attempts at adding more humor hinder plot development. The film's pace lags until the climactic finale.
40
Time Out London
Roger Moore's interpretation of Bond is blandness personified. It is left to Christopher Lee, playing a kind of Westernised, Dracula-esque Fu Manchu, to lend some semblance of style and suavity as Scaramanga, the man with a hideout in Red China and a hankering after the status of gentleman.
40
The New York Times
Mr. Moore functions like a vast garden ornament. Pedantic, sluggish on the uptake, incapable of even swaggering, he's also clumsy at innuendo. If you enjoyed the early Bond films as much as I did, you'd better skip this one.
40
Chicago Reader by Dave Kehr
Roger Moore is a pastry chef's idea of James Bond; but Christopher Lee as the archetype of the evil antagonist makes this 007 outing just about bearable.
30
IGN
Roger Moore's second outing as 007 does not do the subject matter justice. Or the character. Or any paying member of the audience.
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