12 Things You Learn Rewatching The Man With The Golden Gun

12. Scaramanga Deserved A Much Better Movie

The Man with the Golden Gun's primary antagonist is, of course, Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), a memorable and entertaining villain who was clearly in search of a vastly superior Bond movie to appear in.

Much of the credit goes to the late Lee - who was Ian Fleming's step-cousin and rumoured to be the partial basis for Bond himself - for imbuing a seemingly over-familiar "rich white megalomaniac" baddie with a distinct sense of personality.

What Lee lacks in a particularly imposing stature - though his height gives him a sinister regal quality - he more than compensates for with his quietly intense delivery. Reining in the hammier instincts that define many of Lee's more iconic earlier roles, he memorably conveys both Scaramanga's highfalutin charm and gleeful psychopathy.

It's just a shame the villain's scheme - to hoard solar energy and sell it back to the government - is a real yawner, and he's kept off screen far too much (especially in the movie's first half).