The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

The second film to feature Roger Moore in the James Bond series

Summary

-His latest mission has him investigating and trying to recover stolen solar cell technology while also evading the world's most expensive assassin

Cast

-Roger Moore: James Bond

-Christopher Lee: Scaramanga

-Britt Ekland: Goodnight

-Maud Adams: Andrea Anders

-Clifton James: J.W. Pepper

-Richard Loo: Hai Fat

-Soon-Tek Oh: Hip

-Marc Lawrence: Rodney

-Bernard Lee: M

-Lois Maxwell: Miss Moneypenny

Did You Know?

-While filming in Thailand, Roger Moore couldn't resist pulling a harmless prank on Sir Christopher Lee. He found a cave full of bats and telling him "Master, they are yours to command!" Lee laughed and appreciated the joke

-Prior to filming this movie, Herve Villechaize, who plays Nick Nack, was so poor he was living out of his car in Los Angeles

-Prior to acting, Sir Christopher Lee had a career in the military, specifically British Secret Service. During that time, he studied multiple languages and one of them was Swedish. Off set, he spoke Swedish with Britt Ekland and Maud Adams. His wife at the time was a Danish woman named Gitte Lee

-Despite being enemies in this film, Sir Roger Moore and Sir Christopher Lee are actually good friends, going as far back as the early days of their respective acting careers

-The role that Christopher Lee plays was originally offered to Jack Palance, but instead it went to Lee. Christopher Lee is the cousin of Ian Fleming, the author of the Bond novels. And it's ironic that Fleming is known as the Man with the Golden Pen

-Scenes featuring martial arts were added to the script because, at the time, martial arts were starting to become popular because of films with Bruce Lee and others

-Lois Maxwell, who plays Miss Moneypenny and Roger Moore were former classmates at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

-Herve Villechaize had told Roger Moore that whenever he stayed in a hotel, he required rooms on the first floor. When Moore asked why, Villechaize told him he couldn't reach the buttons in the elevator

-The plane Bond uses to fly to Scaramanga's lair is a Republic RC-3 SeaBee. It was donated by a wealthy American fan of James Bond. The plane could be used on one condition-that the person who donated it could fly it himself. Which the person did, all the way from the US to Thailand

-Between takes, producer Albert Broccoli and Roger Moore would hit the local casinos to play at the roulette tables

-Christopher Lee had served in the British military during WWII. He was an RAF pilot but had to give up flying after an eyesight problem presented itself. He would go into RAF Intelligence, working with SOE (Special Operations Executive), the SAS (Special Air Service) and Long Range Desert Group in North Africa, interrogating members of the Nazi Party in Italy

-When Bond initially meets Goodnight, there is a premise suggesting they know each other. This is one of the only times that Bond has a backstory with any leading woman until Paris Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies

-Roger Moore and Clifton James died within one month of each other in April and May 2017