The Single Greatest Thing In Each James Bond Movie

17. The Man With The Golden Gun - Francisco Scaramanga

No Time to Die Daniel Craig
United Artists

The Man with the Golden Gun, with its low stakes, dull story and general lack of memorable moments (aside from, perhaps, the barrel roll jump), is easily the single most mediocre instalment of the series. That being said, it is still fairly watchable, mainly because the villain is so great.

A superbly crafted, ultra-cool and gloriously badass assassin, Francisco Scaramanga is an exceptionally entertaining antagonist who really stands out in what is otherwise such a low-effort of the series. It certainly seems like more effort was put into him than into any other part of the movie.

He was already a very strong villain on paper, but Scaramanga was elevated to an absolute all-timer by one of the most on-point casting choices in Bond history. The great Sir Christopher Lee fit the part like a glove and gave an absolutely formidable performance.

As much as Scaramanga deserved a far better film than the one he got, he's still one of the best Bond villains ever.

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Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.