1974's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN was rushed into production immediately after the success of "Live and Let Die" and finds Roger Moore in a sophomore slump after that big hit. It's got a great villain in Scaramanga, a million dollar a kill hit man, played with style, class and danger by Christopher Lee. It's got a very good Bond girl in Maud Adams as Andrea and its got spectacular locales in Thailand & Hong Kong and a beautiful music score by John Barry. BUT, it also bungles with a goofy second Bond girl in Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight, the most hapless agent ever. Herve Villechaize is just strange and hard to understand as pint size second villain Nick Nack and the script makes its biggest mistake in bringing back Louisiana sheriff JW Pepper (Clifton James) who just happens to be in Thailand on vacation where he runs into OO7. The whole exercise seems a bit forced, the dialogue is silly and the whole early 70's kung fu craze is a very odd fit shoehorned into the plot. The film ALMOST recovers in it's last twenty five minutes from the moment James Bond heads to Scaramanga's island to the conclusion, but a lesser script in the series damn near fells Bond faster than a hit man ever could. Great production design/silly story. The bullets may be golden, but this OO7 entry is bronze at best. We'll give it a C.
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