The Man with the Golden Gun

Roger Moore takes on one of most magnetic villains in the James Bond movies, Christopher Lee's master marksman Scaramanga, in his second outing as Ian Fleming's agent 007. Lee is suave, charming, and very deadly as an assassin who charges $1 million for his services, dispatching his targets with golden bullets. Bond's globetrotting search takes him to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and finally to Scaramanga's island retreat off China, a veritable theme park designed for their inevitable duel. While Scaramanga makes a fine adversary for Bond and Herve Villechaize is a marvelous man Friday as Nick Nack, the rest of the film is let down by lazy scripting and ill-advised humor. Britt Ekland is beautiful but ridiculous as an inept agent who spends much of her screen time in a bikini, and Clifton James, the redneck sheriff from Live and Let Die, makes an embarrassing return appearance as a good old boy tourist in Bangkok. But The Man with the Golden Gun also features one of the series' most impressive action sequences: a high energy car chase through a crowded street, ending in a breathtaking jump with a mid-air corkscrew turn. This sparkling new Blu-ray edition features all of the supplements from the previous DVD special edition, including two separate commentary tracks (the first featuring director Guy Hamilton and members of the cast and crew; the second with Moore reminiscing about the film), a “making-of” featurette and another on stunts upgraded to HD, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and stills galleries. A lesser Bond film, this is recommended for those collecting the series, but optional elsewhere. (S. Axmaker)