10 Surprising Reasons Movie Scenes Were Ruined

The Man with the Golden Gun may not be one of the better Bond films, but it does boast an all-timer stunt that remains one of the series' most electrifying.

The scene in question sees 007 (Roger Moore) drive an AMC Hornet over a broken bridge, performing a 360-degree flip in mid-air, and inexplicably landing perfectly on the other side, all while the obnoxious J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) rides shotgun.

Successfully filmed in a single take, it remains a jaw-dropping feat of stunt craftsmanship almost 50 years later, yet is arguably ruined by the presence of an embarrassing and unnecessary sound effect: the damn slide whistle.

Indeed, a slide whistle can be heard as the car performs the flip, in turn distracting the audience from the awe-inspiring nature of the stunt and making it all seem a bit silly.

If you assumed this was simply the doing of director Guy Hamilton, that actually wasn't the case at all.

The culprit was none other than the film's legendary composer John Barry, who suggested the slide whistle's inclusion, and even though producer Albert R. Broccoli felt the sound effect "undercouped the stunt," he agreed to keep it in.

For his part, Barry later expressed regret for suggesting the effect, asserting that it "broke the golden rule" as the stunt was "a truly dangerous moment... true James Bond style."

Thankfully some fans have released their own sans-slide whistle edits of the scene, but in all official versions of the movie the garish, cringe-worthy sound remains.