The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

James Bond is one of the most enduring characters in cinema and undoubtedly one aspect of the longevity is the producer’s willingness and ability to keep the films relevant to contemporary audiences and tastes. The Man with the Golden Gun is an example of this, reflecting the tastes and attitudes of the target audience and popular culture of the time. Along the way however it needlessly complicates the story, wastes potentially one of the greatest Bond villains of all time, and relies too much on cringe-worthy comedy and weak supporting characters.

The hunter has become the hunted as Bond becomes the target of Scaramanga, a mysterious assassin, who charges one million dollars per job and always uses gold bullets on his targets. Scaramanga is also linked to the death of a scientist working on the "Solex Agitator", a powerful solar cell. How is this linked to the price on Bond's head – and will 007 live long enough find out?

Although the 70s Bond films were still using the original novels as source material, this was increasingly confined to the title, and basic plot, and The Man with the Golden Gun is no exception.  Producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman moved the action from the Jamaican setting of the book to the Far East, which, as Enter the Dragon had been released the previous year, allows the film to incorporate elements from the Kung Fu movies which were all the rage. This was neither the first or last time this sort of cash in would happen as Live and Let Die and Moonraker came out within a short time of Shaft and Star Wars respectively, and incorporated many of the tropes of those films as well as playing to the public hunger for them.  However in The Man with the Golden Gun, rather than incorporated, these elements feel clumsily shoehorned in, leading to scenes that are baffling and insulting to the intelligence (why does Hip, Bond's man in Hong Kong, bring his teenage nieces on a mission? So they can beat up bad guys. Because they're Kung Fu experts).

The race and gender depictions are very much also of the time, with the Asians presented as both mysterious and exotic, or simply there to serve the British.  Women come off just as badly, although this is not unusual for Bond films. They range from the helpless and doomed Andrea (played by Maud Adams), who, in a jarring break from Moore's wisecracking smoothie portrayal, gets several smacks round the face from Bond as he tries to get information from her. At the other end of the spectrum we have helpless and stupid in the form of fellow British agent Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland), a character who might have worked as a comedy relief dizzy blonde, but here is someone so stupid, incompetent and grating, that it actually insults the intelligence of the audience.

The goofy broad humour reaches a low point with the character of Sheriff J.W. Pepper, the two dimensional Southern Sheriff who had previously appeared in Live and Let Die. Bizarrely, and completely improbably (even in the improbable world of James Bond films) he is on holiday in Thailand, sat in a car at a showroom at precisely the moment Bond requisitions a vehicle for a chase. To make us believe that an overtly racist character like Pepper would holiday in Thailand is too much, never mind the idea that he would visit a car dealer at the same time

This leads to the most famous scene in the film, the corkscrew car bridge jump, and spectacular though this is, it, like the Sheriff, the Kung Fighting and the Solex Agitator, it adds nothing to the story telling and could have been left out without compromising the plot, or could have been inserted just as arbitrarily into any other film.

This is the crux of the problem with The Man with the Golden Gun, the simple initial premise of two men hunting each other needlessly complicated by these elements. The best Bond films, such as From Russia with Love take a simple plot with clear goals and make everything that happens, a clear and logical part of that. A duel between Bond and a worthy adversary should have been such a premise, and even if this takes in multiple locations and characters, they can all serve this. Sadly and unforgivably, the filmmakers (given this is a franchise, it is perhaps not always clear how much of the final product is down to producers, writers or directors) waste what could have been one of the greatest and most unique Bond villains of all time.

Christopher Lee rose to fame playing Dracula as a suave, charismatic, but ruthless and overtly sexual predator, qualities he brings to Scaramanga and, arguably, qualities that somewhat define the character of Bond. Certainly he is every bit as suave, charming, dangerous as Bond, almost like a mirror image of him, and while he does have a lair, gadgets and, in Nick Nack, played by Herve Villechaize, a sidekick (the 6ft 5 Lee  and Villechaize make a great odd couple, like Kramer and Mickey Abbott in Seinfeld), his focus on assassination and personal enrichment put him in a different league to Blofeld and SPECTRE.

Never Too Young To Die (1986)

The success of the James Bond franchise has spawned many spoofs and rip-offs over the years, all trying to cash in on the glamour and gadgets. These range from more mainstream films, such as the Matt Helm series, featuring Dean Martin, to more off-the-wall efforts such as For Your Height Only, starring the 2ft 9in tall Filipino actor Weng Weng, and Never Too Young to Die definitely belongs on the latter end of the scale. This is mostly due to an outrageous, unforgettable turn from KISS bass player Gene Simmons as a cross-dressing super villain/nightclub singer. Throw in cameo appearances from both a bona fide James Bond, in the shape of George Lazenby, and Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, as a computer geek, some truly awful 80s music, and plot twists and turns that range all the way from stupid to incomprehensible, and you have a film never fails to entertain
John Stamos (a big TV star in the USA, not so well known in the UK) plays Lance Stargrove, the teenage son of secret agent Drew Stargrove (Lazenby). Stargrove Sr dies while trying to stop evil villain Velvet Von Ragner (Simmons) from poisoning the nation's drinking water. Lance sets out on a vengeance mission, teaming up with his father’s glamorous sidekick Danja Deering, and his college roommate Cliff, who, fortuitously, happens to be a nerdy genius with a stash of deadly gadgets and weapons.
The children-taking-over-from-the-grown-up-spies is a minor sub genre in itself, and the basic premise in this is no less stupid, and requires no more suspension of disbelief than in films like Spy Kids or Teen Agent. In addition, to the writer’s credit, they did go with the classic Hitchcock “MacGuffin”, in this case the hunt for a computer disc that is somehow vital to Ragner and his plans. Despite this, however, the wheels soon come off the film pretty quickly, thanks to – well pretty much everything, from the plot, the endless continuity gaffes, the soundtrack, the wooden acting, the overacting, and Lance Stargrove himself.
Marvel as our hero outwits teenage wrestling bullies, by pointing at one guy's chest, asking "What's that?", and then prodding him in the face when he looks down. Gasp as his roommate shows off his sub-Bond gadgets, while never questioning how dangerous it might be to keep a homemade flamethrower in their dorm, or how stupid an idea it is to put a bugging device in chewing gum. Cringe at the painfully awkward attempts by Danja to seduce the son of her former colleague by constantly hosing herself down while he eats a variety of different fruits. Wince as he attempts to tackle Ragner by biting his nipple. Be warned though - your head may explode when you hear the lyrics to his theme song.  (“…Stargrove, flying like you've never flown, Stargrove, running through a danger zone…”)

 
The real star of the show is, of course, Gene Simmons, channelling Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, completely dispensing with his regular macho rock star persona, wearing less makeup than when he appears with KISS, but still clad in a gold corset, with a feather boa around his neck. 

Like all good villains, Ragner has a secret lair, in this case, a biker bar / nightclub, where he is the main act, and his minions, dressed like extras from Mad Max, can gather together and be addressed as “turd balls” by him. He is also a master of disguise, by which I mean everybody except the people on screen can see that it is actually him underneath a poorly fitting wig and beard, pretending to be one of the good guys. And he dispatches his enemies by stabbing with an exceptionally long fingernail, or “giving them the finger”. While too shrill and hysterical to be genuinely menacing, the performance is always underpinned with a slightly unwholesome air, as if Simmons if not actually acting too hard in order to play a sleazy megalomaniac.
Director Gil Bettman had previously made TV shows such as Knight Rider and The Fall Guy, and the whole thing certainly has a small screen feel to it, with a cheap look and often flat, generic visuals. Thankfully, the goofy script, and mind-blowing villain make for great dumb, delirious fun, and a trash classic.

Le Professionnel (1981)

Although probably best known outside of France for his lead role in Godard's groundbreaking Breathless, Jean Paul Belmondo has had a long career in cinema, largely in more mainstream fare, such as comedies, or action films like Le Professional. Some sloppy scripting, and unremarkable direction stops this from being a classic, but the effortless charisma of the star helps makes for compelling and enjoyable viewing.

Belmondo plays Josselin Beaumont, a French Secret Service Agent, who is sent to a fictional African country in order to kill the ruling dictator, Colonel Njala. However, before he can carry out his mission, Beaumont is betrayed by his government, who decide they would rather have Njala alive, and left to rot in a prison camp. Breaking free, Beaumont returns to Paris in time for a state visit by Njala and vows to complete his mission.

The story is somewhat hokey and relies a little too much on coincidences (not least Beaumont breaking out of prison at the same time as his target is heading to Paris), as well as the repeated incompetence of the Secret Service, such as a surveillance team not recognising the man they are supposed to be watching, but the script moves along at a fast enough pace (after just 15 minutes of screen time, Beaumont is out of Africa, and that is pretty much all of the back story we get) that you do not dwell too much on these. There are a few other elements of the story that remain unexplained, such as how he gets back into France from Africa undetected, but these actually work to enhance the character of Beaumont. By leaving an air of ambiguity around some of his actions, it gives him an aura of mystery, unpredictability and danger, so that you never know what he is going to do next.

Beaumont is no clean cut goody-goody hero, but closer in spirit to the James Bond of the early Sean Connery era, someone for whom getting the job done is the first priority, regardless of the impact on the lives of other people, whether it is his wife, his mistress or his guilt-ridden former boss. In the hands of the wrong actor, this could lead to an audience turning against the lead character, but Belmondo has bags of charm and charisma, and can play him as unflappable and dangerous without ever coming across as smug or psychotic.

Standout amongst the supporting cast is veteran actor Robert Hossein as Inspector Rosen, the policeman locked in a cat-and-mouse game with Beaumont. Cooly sadistic, uninterested in the politics and history of the situation, he will go to any lengths to get his man, and proves to be the only serious threat to Beaumont.

Behind the camera, Georges Lautner does a competent if unremarkable job, with no particularly flashy directorial touches, apart from in one breath-taking scene of a car chase through the streets of Paris. The superb stunt work, combined with tight editing and shots from inside Beaumont's car make for an adrenaline packed experience, as well as leaving no doubt that Belmondo is doing most of his own driving.

Special mention should also go to the score, which largely revolves around an Ennio Morricone composition, "Chi Mai", actually written ten years previously for an obscure Italian film, Maddalena. Restrained and quite haunting, it is up there with the best of Morricone's other work. Brits of a certain age will also instantly recognise it as the theme from the 1981 BBC serial The Life and Times of David Lloyd George, off the back of which it got to number 2 in the UK Singles Chart.

The story revolves around French intervention in Africa. However, in this film, there is no real examination of the history or implications of any of this, and Africa serves merely as the catalyst for the events in the script, albeit a catalyst that would be familiar to the target audience, in the same way that Iraq or Afghanistan might be used nowadays in a British or American film. Le Professional is not a heavy political allegory or a deep demanding character study, but a solid enjoyable thriller, carried largely by the roguish appeal of it's star.