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The Man with the Golden Gun [Blu-ray]
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Blu-ray detailsActor: Britt Ekland, Carmen Du Sautoy, Clifton James, James Cossins, Maud Adams Brand: Sony Cinematographer: Ted Moore Cinematographer: Oswald Morris Blu-ray: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Cantonese (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); Mandarin Chinese (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed) Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.85:1 Running Time: 125 minutes Blu-ray Release Date: 2009-05-12 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: MGM (Video & DVD) Product features: - Condition: New
- Format: Blu-ray
- AC-3; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Dubbed; Subtitled; Widescreen
Blu-ray Reviews of The Man with the Golden Gun [Blu-ray]Blu-ray Review: Cult James Bond Film Summary: 5 Stars
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN opens with Maurice Binder's gun barrel trademark, accompanied with the "James Bond Theme" this time played on strings, instead of guitar. That was a real innovation by John Barry, which he continued to use for Roger Moore. It was clearly evident Barry was back.
The first camera shot is of a surrealistically exotic locale on a beach where a beautiful girl towels down a tall ark man emerging from the water. The man is Scaramanga, the Man with the Golden Gun. John Barry's familiar background music accentuates the Epicurean surroundings and the film immediately looks like it has returned to more familiar Bondian territory.
As the film unfolds many of the elements of the original Bond series and missing from LIVE AND LET DIE returned. There also seemed to be a more substantial plot as it initially unfolded. However, there were still undesirable elements that creep into the film as it progresses.
Britt Ekland seemed like she would have been a natural throwback to the sex symbols of the 60s akin to previous Bond Girls such as Ursula Andress, but her vaudevillian interpretation of Mary Goodnight was a fatal flaw. Another flaw was the return of Clifton James as Sheriff J.W. Pepper. Their performances were distractions from the main plot hindering the continuity of the story line.
The film flounders in the middle until it gets back on track when Bond finally travels to Scaramanga's island for a face to face confrontation. The film follows the Bond formula here. The villain gloats as he gives Bond a tour of his lair and technical wizardry he has acquired. They dine over some dialogue on the merits of good vs. evil and in the end come to the final showdown.
I'll admit that I always had a soft spot for this film ever since I first saw it. It returned many familiar elements absent from LIVE AND LET DIE. For instance, we see Bond return to the gambling tables via the Casino de Macao. Many fans greeted the return of these elements in a positive response. Other fans still recognized the questionable elements that were still present in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN and found these deplorable and responded accordingly. To older Bond fans the return of Sheriff J.W. Pepper wasn't exactly a welcome sight.
An often-overlooked asset to this film is Maud Adams' performance as Andrea, Scaramanga's beautiful mistress. She brings genuine compassion to the role as the tormented individual who can not escape her master. Only before each killing does Scaramanga exploit her sexually in ritualistic foreplay to increase his aim on the unfortunate individual he has been contracted for. In one scene Scaramanga cruelly rubs the golden barrel of his pistol against her lips in a symbolically phallic gesture in a moment of triumph after a successful killing. You can see the pain on Andrea's face and you feel empathy for her. Even though she appears here in the prerequisite sacrificial lamb role, she stands out as one of the best Bond girls of the series.
Christopher Lee's performance as the enigmatic Scaramanga was refreshingly energetic. He gave the assassin an amiable quality on the surface hiding a darker side beneath the skin.
Roger Moore's performance was an improvement over his first interpretation of Bond as a foppish and silly dandy. Moore appeared to give Bond a tougher edge in this one even though the script attempted to undo him. Given Roger Moore's previous performance and his meager screen accomplishments as Bond at that point in the series, the "duel between titans" it was not.
Some of the cinematography was very good. Bond's solo flight through the uprooted rock formations near Phuket, Thailand to Scaramanga's island was impressive. In the pre-title sequence there is an excellent camera shot that follows gangster Hood and Nick Nack through an anteroom. As they enter the parlor the camera continues to dolly forward while the lens zooms back giving the viewer an impression of the expanse and opulence of Scaramanga's domicile, a melding of the man-made with nature's volcanic rock.
Production designer Peter Murton's work on this film has always been underrated. Scaramanga's posh living quarters overlooking his grotto rivaled earlier set designs by Ken Adam. Also very impressive were extraordinary miniatures by Derek Meddings.
One bit of innovation combing location filming, miniatures and set design was the use of the half-submerged Queen Elizabeth, its hull at a 30-degree angle, scorched and rusted at rest in Hong Kong harbor. Hidden in the bowels of the sunken ship is the headquarters for the Hong Kong station of the British Secret Service. "It's the only place in Hong Kong where you can't be bugged" says a naval officer to Bond.
John Barry's scoring gave the film his much-needed familiar sound. Even though it was apparently much loftier, it was still very welcome.
If this were to be the last film in the series it would have been a sad final testament. Luckily greater things were yet to come.
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is a bit of a romp gaining cult status in some circles thanks in part to Christopher Lee's performance. One is able to look back and just enjoy it for what it is. I believe it was one final look, though much out of step to the origins of the series before THE SPY WHO LOVED ME took the Bond series in a new direction.
More The Man with the Golden Gun [Blu-ray] reviews: 1 2 3
Description of The Man with the Golden Gun [Blu-ray]Synopsis: Item Type: BLU-RAY DVD Movie Item Rating: PG Street Date: 05/12/09 Wide Screen: yes Director Cut: no Special Edition: yes LanguageENGLISH Foreign Film: no Subtitlesno Dubbed: no Full Frame: no Re-Release: no Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas. The British superspy with a license to kill takes on his dark underworld double, a classy assassin who kills with golden bullets at $1 million a hit. Roger Moore, in his second outing as James Bond, meets Christopher Lee's Scaramanga, one of the most magnetic villains in the entire series, in this entertaining but rather wan entry in the 007 sweepstakes. Bond's globetrotting search takes him to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and finally China, where Scaramanga turns his island retreat into a twisted theme park for a deadly game of wits between the gunmen, moderated by Scaramanga's diminutive man Friday Nick Nack (Fantasy Island's Hervé Villechaize). Britt Ekland does her best as the most embarrassingly inept Bond girl in 007 history, a clumsy, dim agent named Mary Goodnight who looks fetching in a bikini, while Maud Adams is Scaramanga's tough but haunted lover and assistant (she returns to the series as the title character in Octopussy). Clifton James, the redneck sheriff from Live and Let Die, makes an embarrassing and ill-advised appearance as a racist tourist who briefly teams up with 007 in what is otherwise the film's highlight, a high-energy chase through the crowded streets of Bangkok that climaxes with a breathtaking midair corkscrew jump. Bond and company are let down by a lazy script, but Moore balances the overplayed humor with a steely performance and Lee's charm and enthusiasm makes Scaramanga a cool, deadly, and thoroughly enchanting adversary. --Sean Axmaker
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