Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8039 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-17
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Greek, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, English, Danish, Swedish, Hindi
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 119 minutes

DVD Description
James Bond has been marked for death, and he’ll need all his lethal instincts and seductive charm to survive in this action-packed adventure! Roger Moore returns as Agent 007 and faces off in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee). Featuring a wild automobile chase through Bangkok and Bond’s stunning confrontation with an entire martial arts school, The Man With the Golden Gun delivers pull-out-the-stops excitement!

Special Features
THE ULTIMATE EDITION CONTAINS: NEVER BEFORE RELEASED ON DVD:

Newly Recorded Audio Commentary Featuring Sir Roger Moore DECLASSIFIED: MI6 VAULT Roger Moore and Hervé Villechaize - The Russell Harty Show • On Location With The Man With the Golden Gun • Guy Hamilton: The Director Speaks Girls Fighting • American Thrill Show Stunt Film The Road to Bond: Stunt Coordinator W.J. Milligan Jr. 007 MISSION CONTROL Interactive Guide Into the World of The Man With the Golden Gun THE COMPLETE SPECIAL FEATURES LIBRARY: MISSION DOSSIER Audio Commentary Featuring Director Guy Hamilton and Members of the Cast and Crew Inside The Man With the Golden Gun – An Original Documentary Double-O Stuntmen: A Look at the Greatest Stunts and Stunt Performers in the Bond Films MINISTRY OF PROPAGANDA Original Trailers, TV Spots, Photo Gallery & Radio Communications

Synopsis
James Bond is assigned the task of recovering a valuable piece of technical equipment capable of harnessing the sun's energy. Standing in his way are a number of arch-villains. Roger Moore is the ever-debonair 007 in this ninth film in the James Bond series.

Customer Reviews

a far-from vintage outing, and the only modestly-mounted 70s BOND.
late summer, 1973: 'CUBBY' BROCCOLLI dines eloquently in London's WEST END, enjoying an exquisite menu; in his full-dinner jacket tuxedo, he resembles a LATINO, aging BOND. CUBBY is satisfied as he tots up the worldwide box-office reciepts to 'LIVE AND LET DIE'; it has been a deserved hit with global cinema audiences, and 'CUBBERS' [along with 'partner-in-crime' HARRY SALTZMAN] have successfully steered the once-ailing BOND series back to world-beating status, securing further cinematic mayhem in the same profitable mould.......


------it's a total mystery, then, exactly why BROCCERS and SALTZMAN made a concious decision to scale back the epic scope of the previous winner, and to pare back production values in this next, more modestly-mounted entry. Gone are the extended, exhillerating chase sequences of 'LIVE and let DIE', the elaborate setpieces with large casting, and put in place are less-than-impressive adequate scenarios, representing a definate step backwards from the impressive hyperdynamics of MOORE'S debut opener.

MOORES' BOND is, at this early stage, a reserved, restrained cut-out character, given only to outlandish, absurdist quips, perfectly in keeping in what was required from the character in the sour-edged mid-70s, and an improvement on the ridiculous, preening cypher his character was to regress to come the 'gilt-edged' 1980s.

CHRISTOPHER LEE cuts a suitably sinister dash as the ludicrously 3-nippled SCARAMANGA, with LEE breezingly strolling through the modest [by BOND standards] events in the way only he can. The central GUN in question is assembled from various cosmetic elements, and is no more impressive than a routine 'MAN from U.N.C.L.E.'episode from 1968: however, the exotic location scenes on LEE'S private island [as he demonstrates the power of his solar laser-like destruction blaster] are enjoyable in their tropical eloquence.

BRITT EKLAND decorates the later reels in obligatory bikini [perfectly acceptable in 1974] and one 'genuinely' sci-fi element [a flying car] works well in the take-off scenes, but loses credibility in the mismatched process shots featuring BRITT viewing her sky-high status as she views her whereabouts from the car boot.

All in all, there is not nearly enough spectacle or gripping diversion to satisfy the casual cinema-goer, let alone the die-hard BOND fan, who had cheered the dynamic direction the series had aspired to in the previous outing. WHY BROCCOLLI failed to pull out all stops, and deliver a movie that equalled -----or even better, had topped-----the thrilling escapades of 'DIE' is uncharacteristic of his knowing, hard-nosed business acumen, and it is no co-incidence that the next BOND outing would be more carefully, lavishly executed: ------emerging a full 3 YEARS later.



Also contains an interminably appalling cameo appearance from the squealing redneck 'SGT PEPPER', and a less-than-memorable theme tune belted out at high octave from larynx-busting LULU, which is no better or worse than typical contemporary pop fluff that featured in the UK music charts of 1974.

------hopefully, the series would improve, immeasurably: see later, chronological review.

The Man With The Golden Gun - A Review
Good Bond film following in the saim vain of 'Live and Let Die'. Bond is being traked down by $1,000,000 a hit assasin, Fransisco Scaramanga played brilliantly by Christopher Lee. I don't see why so many people don't like this Bond film. Top Marks.

The era of the silly Bonds begins in earnest...
How did a movie with so many great ideas and locations become so tired in execution? This really was a movie where the ingredients seemed perfectly aligned to create a great movie. Genius casting made Ian Fleming's own cousin, Christopher Lee, play the titular nemesis for Bond. Locations included Hong Kong and Phuket - before it was `discovered', possibly one of the most breathtaking locations in the Bond series. The key crew members are back - John Barry doing the score, sets by Peter Lamont, who worked under the great Ken Adams, Guy Hamilton (director of Live and Let Die and Goldfinger) and even Sherrif J W Pepper making a return for comic relief purposes. And then the eye-popping stunt - the car doing the corkscrew in the air over the river... genius.
However, in execution, the whole thing just seems... well, pedestrian, in delivery. John Barry delivers one of his weakest scores, Sheriff JW Pepper raises more groans than laughs when taken out of the context of the bayous in Louisiana, and Britt Ekland is just plain goofy as Mary Goodnight, Bond's assistant. How do the Secret Service ever get anything done in the Moore era when his supposed assistants are so stupid he has his closest brush with death in the movie because Britt Ekland manages to get her behind pushing buttons by accident...? Much more than in Live and Let Die, Moore lets the side down when it comes to the action scenes - he looks great skulking around corners, but when it comes to running or throwing a punch, he just looks too lanky and unwieldy to be a killer... no amount of acting could make it otherwise. Is it really a plus to say that the best thing in the movie is some of the highly original set designs, such as M's mobile office in the lopsided Queen Mary, and Nick-Nack's fun house killing ground?
Christopher Lee as Scaramanga plays the role as if this was a good movie, straight to the hilt, probably relishing the escape from Dracula typecasting, and Maud Adams has the only decent women's role in the movie.. her acting proving so effective they brought her back as the title character in Octopussy years later. Yes, it's the movie that bucks the rule of thumb, that a good Bond villain makes a good Bond movie..
The final act of the movie as Bond penetrates Scaramanga's lair is pretty preposterous, even as Bond movies go ... after a well executed (no pun intended) sequence in which Bond kills his man, the blowing up of the lair is so contrived as to be embarrassing, especially since the whole darn complex only has one henchman to kill... and it's Goodnight who does that, not Bond.
Great baddie then, and great sets and locations.. but weak plot and lacklustre direction, make this bottom of the pile of Moore Bond outings, along with Moonraker. Rather like one of Scaramangas golden bullets, this movie turns out to be dum-dum.
Rather paradoxically, the Ultimate Edition has excelled itself in its presentation of the movie. Immaculate picture brings out the best of the scenery and detail, and the surround sound has been perfectly mixed, with voices and effects well balanced with just enough surround effects in the dts mix to add to the atmosphere without distracting from proceedings.
For extras, as well as everything in the Special Edition being present, there is an abundance of curiosities here - a whole new commentary from Sir Roger Moore, vintage chat show interview with Moore and Villechaize, chats with the director, outtakes from the girls doing their carefully choreographed karate moves and a vintage featurette on the signature car stunt, as well as a few other small items.
It's a ** movie, elevated to *** for Christopher Lee and the Thai scenery. In the extras department, it's 5 * all the way....