50th Anniversary of The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) starring Roger Moore

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2024-07-08

The Man with the Golden Gun, 50th Anniversary

This years marks the 50th Anniversary for the film The Man with the Golden Gun (loosely based on Ian Fleming's last 007 novel with the same title) since it premiered at cinemas. The film was first released in the UK and USA on 19th December 1974, and in Sweden on 21st December.

Scaramanga, a KGB-trained freelance hitman who sometimes works for the Red Chinese, steals the Solex Agitator (the solution to the world’s energy shortage) and duels with James Bond for its ultimate possession.

Legendary actor Christopher Lee remembers his work on the film

“Marvellous part, and I had great fun making it.

The interesting thing for me as an actor by this character [Scaramanga] is that he wasn’t just one hundred percent bad. And just went around like some sort of brute, blowing things up and killing people right and left, which is more or less what he is in the book. I thought eerily that Scaramanga is the dark side of Bond. Because everybody has a light side and everybody has a dark side. Scaramanga is not just a very dangerous man, lethal, deadly. He’s also very human, certainly his relations in women. And he has a sense of humour. Very definitely it is a fairly destructive sense of humour in many respects. But he does have a sense of humour. And at times he behaves almost like a schoolboy, which is what the director [Guy Hamilton] wanted. He [Guy] said: ‘You’ve got 007 coming to your island. And you are really genuinely thrilled and pleased. Cause you are going to kill him! Therefore you must play everything from the time that he arrives with great pleasure.’

There is a scene in the film, which many of you will know, where Scaramanga shows Bond into this massive electronic area, all to do with solar energy and so on. And he [Scaramanga] just talks about it as if he didn’t know anything about it at all. Cause I don’t understands these things at all. You [Bond] will understand them much better than I do. Solar energy, so on and so on. Cause he [Bond] understands everything about it because he has a good brain.

So, it was a great part to play, one which I enjoyed very much,. Particularly as it reunited me with Roger Moore, one of my oldest friends, and who still is one of my best friends. So that was great fun.”

For more anecdotes from the filming, check out our interview with Britt Ekland.

Production notes

(Source: MGM / EON Productions)
• 6 Nov 1973: Shooting began
• 2 Jul 1974: Guy Hamilton directed the scene in which Andrea Anders seduces Bond
• 10 Jul 1974: Shooting took place on the Bangkok car chase
• 16 Jul 1974: Guy Hamilton shot Scaramanga revealing his master plan to Bond
• 22 Jul 1974: GH directed the scene in which Bond and Mary Goodnight escape the malfunctioning solar plant
• 2 Aug 1974: Guy Hamilton filmed Bond and Scaramanga stalking each other in the funhouse
• 7 Aug 1974: Guy Hamilton filmed Bond’s visit to gunsmith Lazar
• 20 Aug 1974: Guy Hamilton shot Bond enjoying the charms of belly dancer Saida
• 19 Dec 1974: The film premiered at Odeon Leicester Square, London

A selection of filming locations for The Man with the Golden Gun (Source: On the Tracks of 007)

• BOAT CHASE AND J.W.PEPPER - Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Ratchaburi, Thailand
• BOND ARRIVES IN MACAU - Casino de Macau, or ‘the floating casino’, Macau Harbour, China
• BOND AT KICKBOXING TOURNAMENT - Ratchadamnoen Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand
• BOND AT THE BOTTUMS UP - Bottoms Up Club, (formerly at) 14 Hankow Road, Hong Kong, China
• BOND AT THE KARATE SCHOOL - Muang Boran: The Ancient City Museum, outside Bangkok, Thailand
• BOND IN MISS ANDERS HOTEL ROOM - Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
• BOND ON THE SHIP WRECK / MI6 HQ - (ex) Queen Elizabeth ship, Hong Kong Harbour, China (removed in the late 90’s)
• BOND’S HOTEL IN BANGKOK - Oriental Hotel, 48 Oriental Avenue, Bangkok, Thailand
• CAR-JUMP-STUNT - West of Bangkok, Thailand
• FERRY ARRIVAL - Macau Ferry Pier, Hong Kong, China
• HAI FAT’s ESTATE - Dragon Garden, Castle Peak Road, New Territories, Hong Kong, China
• KLONG BOAT CHASE - Klong Dan, Bangkok, Thailand
• SCARAMANGA’s CAR PLANE ON THE RUNWAY - Bovingdon Airfield, Bovingdon, England
• SCARAMANGA’s ISLAND - Khow-Ping-Kan, in the Phang Gna Bay, Andaman Sea, Thailand

STUDIO USED FOR INTERIORS, CLOSE-UP SHOTS ETC - Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England

Vehicles used during the filming (Source: BMT 216A: The James Bond Vehicle Library)

• AMC Hornet hatchback special coupe
• AMC Matador coupe
• Bangkok Longtail-boat
• Cairo taxi - Fiat 132A 1972
• Chinese junk
• Hong Kong Harbour Patrol boat
• Mercedes-Benz 240D
• MGB
• Republic RC-3 Sea Bee

Over the years, FSWL has been fortunate to meet, and written articles about some of the cast and crew on TMWTGG, below is a list with some of them:

>Britt Ekland
>Carmen du Sautoy
>Christopher Lee
>Clifton James
>Desmond Llewelyn
>Doug Robinson (Stuntman)
>Guy Hamilton (Director)
>Joie Vejjajiva
>Lois Maxwell
>Master Toddy
>Master Woody
>Maud Adams
>Monty Norman (Composer of the James Bond theme)
>Nosher Powell (Stuntman)
>Oswald Morris (Director of Photography)
>Paul Weston (Stuntman)
>Roger Moore
>Sayan Jantanarat
>Sonny Caldinez
>Syd Cain (Supervising Art Director)
>Tom Mankiewicz (Screenwriter)

United Artists - an MGM company Harry Saltzman & Albert R. Broccoli present Roger Moore as James Bond - 007 in Ian Fleming's The Man with the Golden Gun:

Photo above:
The original Swedish film poster for The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) from the FSWL collection.

Read more about the film The Man with the Golden Gun on MGM's official website:

www.mgm.com/#/our-titles/1213/The-Man-with-the-Golden-Gun

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#on_the_tracks_of_007

#roger_moore_james_bond_films

#the_man_with_the_golden_gun