Roger Moore’s second outing as James Bond is not much of an improvement from his first and there are growing pains evident.
The director attempted to make Moore as savage as Connery could be— which matched the books— but as I stated in my review of the last film Moore is too much of a gentleman to pull it off. When he threatens Maude Adams with a broken arm we don’t buy it— we don’t like it either. Bond’s constant distraction with the ladies gets really old for me too.
But there is enough in here to make it an interesting take; Christopher Lee as the title character is great as he was in virtually anything he was in. The little guy from Fantasy Island is the main henchman, and although he offers little in way of an actual threat he’s a character that has some interesting aspects to him. It would have been so great if they’d made him an actual mini version of Oddjob from GOLDFINGER, which was the original intention. Lee’s Scaramanga has an island hideout complete with a live action shooting gallery with some interesting characters as wax figures including Al Capone and James Bond himself— luckily Scaramanga had enough foresight to not order the Sean Connery one from Sharper Image and got one that looked like Moore instead because that’s going to be an important plot element.
Overall, it’s not the best Bond film and it was the biggest bomb at the time, but it’s got some good stuff in it too. Interesting side note, this was by far my Favorite Bond Film when I was a wee lad. This is why we should never let kids vote.
Bond will be back, this time Moore finds his own, in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME.
BONDERISMS
BOND: Moore is better in this one, but he’s still not Connery and they need to stop trying to pretend he is. ****
VILLAIN: Christopher Lee is suitably creepy. *****
THEME SONG: A very 70s soulish number by Shirley Bassey. ***
HENCHMAN: Nick Nack is pretty interesting but ultimately ineffective. ****1/2
OVERALL BOND RATING: ***1/2