20 Things You Didn't Know About The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)
The villain has a powerful weapon, but Roger Moore's second Bond film conceals so much more!
Sir Roger Moore’s second James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) is paradoxically a classic Double-0 Seven feature that alienated audiences upon its release and threatened to bury the franchise. It is still one of the least financially and critically successful Bond films.
Ian Fleming’s 1965 novel is also often regarded as being his weakest, but the filmmakers tried to save the movie by casting the incomparable Sir Christopher Lee as the villain, Francisco Scaramanga, who is a dark reflection of James Bond.
The films boasts plenty of exotic locations and all of the stunts, humour, and beautiful women that are synonymous with the series, but it feels strangely incomplete, having been rushed into production to capitalise on the success of Moore’s debut as Bond in Live And Let Die (1973).
That said, The Man with the Golden Gun is very much a product of its time and has become a cult classic, even though the franchise needed a soft reboot after its release.
Alike many other Bond films, there is plenty hidden beneath the surface in this one...
20. Fake Tan
When people talk about the use of make-up in films, they often think either about female performers or elaborate effects. However, in The Man with the Golden Gun, Christopher Lee’s Francisco Scaramanga required plenty of attention as well.
Fans will remember Scaramanga’s infamous third nipple (which Double-0 Seven cheekily replicates in the film), but that was not the full extent of Lee’s make-up.
In order to highlight the fact that the notorious hitman lives in the tropics, Lee received a full-body make-up treatment - particularly in the sequences in which he appears partially clothed - to simulate the killer’s tan!