30 replies to this topic

[Chula]

Every human being on the planet who has seen THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN asks the same question: Why did Hip drive off and leave Bond behind?

Answer: The filmmakers didn't follow the script.

In the original script it is not a big deal. Bond and one of the girls are making their way to the car, but are cut-off by a large group of guys from the karate school. Bond and the girl then head off towards the canals while Hip is shown driving around searching for them.

(And, yes, for the chase in the canals Bond has the girl in the boat with him and the chase is very different. It involves the screws on the engines being used as weapons while the boats fly by each other. Unfortunately, the filmmakers didn't folow the script here, either.)

[Qwerty]

I was never crazy about this bit in The Man with the Golden Gun. I guess one just has to accept that Hip figured Bond had gotten in the car and then sped off.

[00Twelve]

Unfortunate, indeed.

[Blofeld's Cat]

I was never crazy about this bit in The Man with the Golden Gun. I guess one just has to accept that Hip figured Bond had gotten in the car and then sped off.

Well, it seems to me that the two girls in the back seat are telling Hip that Bond has been left behind. So why didn't he then stop? What are the girls rabbiting on about?

[Jim]

I was never crazy about this bit in The Man with the Golden Gun. I guess one just has to accept that Hip figured Bond had gotten in the car and then sped off.

Well, it seems to me that the two girls in the back seat are telling Hip that Bond has been left behind. So why didn't he then stop? What are the girls rabbiting on about?

I always assumed they were encouraging Hip to leave Bond behind. Teenage girls can be so cruel.

[thecasinoroyale]

Yeah that's plagued me, those girls are saying something to Hip, either good or bad....Hip should have stopped for his ally!

Oh well, maybe he wanted the girls out of harms way and leave Bond to fend for himself.


Good topic.

[Colossus]

I always imagined that if the camera didn't cut away from his smiling face while they were yelling at him for Bond, he would have an evil grin with red demon eyes consumed in his dark thoughts. Or maybe he was really stoned.

[thecasinoroyale]

Ha, I can see that! The two sides of Hip, Devil Cop.

If I were Bond, I'd demand an explanation...he doesn't even do that so that seems to be the question that will never have a solid answer.

[Loomis]

I was never crazy about this bit in The Man with the Golden Gun.

I was. And still am.

[plankattack]

Well, it seems to me that the two girls in the back seat are telling Hip that Bond has been left behind. So why didn't he then stop? What are the girls rabbiting on about?

In re-watching TMWTGG it is clear that Hip butcher's the english language, with his schizophrenic staccato-slurring delivery. Rog (who does smile alot) smiles alot at Hip, but it is clear that he just smiling to be polite rather than actually saying "What?" in John Cleese/Basil Fawlty fashion and asking Hip to repeat itself.

One then, can only assume that Hip's linguistic difficulties extend to his own language, so that he himself is unable to understand the girls as they jabber away at high speed. I don't understand what they're saying but it definitely looks incoherent.

At the same time, the silly grin on his face indicates that he is completely overcome with an adrenaline high after the kung fu fisticuffs - the blood pumping through his head drowning out any noise from the outside. In any case, he can't hear or understand, which is pretty much how I feel whenever he delivers his lines at any other point in the movie.

[Qwerty]

I was never crazy about this bit in The Man with the Golden Gun. I guess one just has to accept that Hip figured Bond had gotten in the car and then sped off.

Well, it seems to me that the two girls in the back seat are telling Hip that Bond has been left behind. So why didn't he then stop? What are the girls rabbiting on about?

Yeah...I've figured the same as well.

Guess he just didn't hear them?

[freemo]

He left Bond behind so that there could be a boat chase.

I thought that was obvious.

[crheath]

Every human being on the planet who has seen THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN asks the same question: Why did Hip drive off and leave Bond behind?

Answer: The filmmakers didn't follow the script.

In the original script it is not a big deal. Bond and one of the girls are making their way to the car, but are cut-off by a large group of guys from the karate school. Bond and the girl then head off towards the canals while Hip is shown driving around searching for them.

(And, yes, for the chase in the canals Bond has the girl in the boat with him and the chase is very different. It involves the screws on the engines being used as weapons while the boats fly by each other. Unfortunately, the filmmakers didn't folow the script here, either.)

That's one of the reasons why TMWTGG was one of the lowest grossing Bond films. I really wish Tom Mankiewicz could have had it his way with the more serious approach.

[JimmyBond]

Didnt Mankiewicz just want it to be a duel between Bond and Scaramanga? All that stuff with the Solex was added later by Richard Maibaum.

[plankattack]

He left Bond behind so that there could be a boat chase.

I thought that was obvious.

Nice one Freemo!!!!! (trying to insert applause icon right here)

[crheath]

Didnt Mankiewicz just want it to be a duel between Bond and Scaramanga? All that stuff with the Solex was added later by Richard Maibaum.

I heard he wanted more of a serious mood for the film and he wanted the duel at the end to be like the classic gun battle in "Shane". Guy Hamilton disagreed, wanting a lighter tone. This led to Mankiewicz's departure (he eventually came back though).

[Roebuck]

TMWTGG elephant stampede - part of me feels cheated that an idea that crazy/stupid never made it into the finished film. Maybe we'll see it in Bond 22.

[Scottlee]

It's totally pointless that Hip and the two girls turn up. There are not just one but two complete absurdities...

1. The girls doing all that ridiculous fighting.
2. The girl and Hip driving off, when the whole point of them turning up was to rescue Bond.

They should have just never turned up in the first place. It's awful scripting, light-hearted intent or not. It actually say a lot for just how bad these two plot decisions are when you consider that Pepper's imminent arrival by the side of the canal seems to be escaping without comment in this thread.

[plankattack]

It actually say a lot for just how bad these two plot decisions are when you consider that Pepper's imminent arrival by the side of the canal seems to be escaping without comment in this thread.

I'd completely forgotten that Pepper's ETA (with little elephant, jabbering little boy, and wife in tow) is less than five minutes from the "mexican screw-off"

With that in mind, the question we have to ask ourselves is "Would Pepper have left Bond?" Or better still, what would happen if we put Hip, two rabbiting nieces, Bond, and Nick-Nack all in one car that would, after fleeing the kung fu fight club, attempt a barrel roll across a broken bridge accompanied by 'comedy' sound effects?

Much hilarity ensues.....? Poor old TMWTGG. Just when it looks like it's getting good, it goes south....

Edited by plankattack, 04 May 2007 - 10:04 PM.

[Chula]

Poor old TMWTGG. Just when it looks like it's getting good, it goes south....

But it wasn't meant to be that way!!!!

The script plays better than the finished film. JW Pepper's apearance is him just recognizing Bond in the canals and saying to his wife, "Let's get out of here now."

And Sheriff JW wasn't involved in the car chase at all. It was a PROSPECTIVE BUYER who goes along for the wild ride with Bond and at the end, upon seeing Scaramanga's flying car fly off, the PROSPECTIVE BUYER tells Bond, "I'll take that one."

I love TMWTGG, but I know there are weakneses present. I've read an early draft of the script and it played a bit better. Small differences here and there that I feel worked better.

[Scottlee]

Poor old TMWTGG. Just when it looks like it's getting good, it goes south....

And Sheriff JW wasn't involved in the car chase at all. It was a PROSPECTIVE BUYER who goes along for the wild ride with Bond and at the end, upon seeing Scaramanga's flying car fly off, the PROSPECTIVE BUYER tells Bond, "I'll take that one."

LOL. I think I might have preferred that version. It's believable that Pepper could have spotted Bond at the canal, but not that he later would have bumped into him at the showroom as well.

[Qwerty]

And Sheriff JW wasn't involved in the car chase at all. It was a PROSPECTIVE BUYER who goes along for the wild ride with Bond and at the end, upon seeing Scaramanga's flying car fly off, the PROSPECTIVE BUYER tells Bond, "I'll take that one."

Interesting. I don't think I'd heard of that original plan before.

[Chula]

And Sheriff JW wasn't involved in the car chase at all. It was a PROSPECTIVE BUYER who goes along for the wild ride with Bond

Interesting. I don't think I'd heard of that original plan before.

Yeah, a PROSPECTIVE BUYER actually plays better than Louisiana Sheriff JW Pepper just by chance looking to buy a car while on vacation in Thailand. But the scene as written in the script played too closely to the airplane chase in LIVE AND LET DIE (a silent, stunned passenger to Bond's reckless mayhem), so the change was needed, I suppose.

Besides, the lunacy of JW hanging out of the car window screaming at everybody, and Moore's delivery of the line telling JW "It's headquarters" would be missed had they gone with the PROSPECTIVE BUYER character.

But then again, that final punchline of the BUYER looking at the flying car and saying "I'll take that one" is far better than what was in the film.

[scaramunga]

I'm finally on the forums!
I was really intrigued with this post and have to find out more about the differences between the script and what was filmed! I actually enjoy this movie quite a bit! Even if not a classic 007 film. One of my favorites.

Is there a good place to find the script for this film?

It seems like there was quite a bit of differences between Guy Hamilton and Tom Meinkeweitz!!

Is there other instances of the scripts and filmed version being quite different during the Roger Moore years?

Thanks!

[Bondian]

I've always taken it that the two girls are rather taken with Bond. And Hip's remark "I've heard this all the way" (or whatever) seems to confirm this.

As for why they drive off. Maybe the scene worked better with Bond having to fight his own battles. However. It wasn't very hip of them to leave him alone.

[David_M]

Ha! I love that scenario with the "prospective buyer!" That would have fit perfectly with Roger's style, plus it would've been a neat variation on the "flying lesson" he gave Mrs Bell in the previous film.

Just think of all the neat little bits along the way, where Roger could have told his passenger "see how well it corners" or "you'll notice the shocks are first-class".

One of the things I loved about LALD (and to a lesser extent, the other Rog Bonds) was watching innocent bystanders react to the swath of carnage and destruction Bond leaves behind everywhere he goes. You can go really broad with that kind of humor without making a clown of Bond himself. Well, until you get to the "Bondola" anyway.

[scaramunga]

Thanks for the posts!
Where could I find a copy of The Man With The Golden Gun script? I don't need an authentic one, but would like it to be the same document used and referenced in this email trail. It seems there was quite a bit of changes from script to film especially with Golden Gun, but also with some of the other Moore films?

Thanks!!

[dinovelvet]

Poor old TMWTGG. Just when it looks like it's getting good, it goes south....

But it wasn't meant to be that way!!!!

The script plays better than the finished film. JW Pepper's apearance is him just recognizing Bond in the canals and saying to his wife, "Let's get out of here now."

And Sheriff JW wasn't involved in the car chase at all. It was a PROSPECTIVE BUYER who goes along for the wild ride with Bond and at the end, upon seeing Scaramanga's flying car fly off, the PROSPECTIVE BUYER tells Bond, "I'll take that one."

I love TMWTGG, but I know there are weakneses present. I've read an early draft of the script and it played a bit better. Small differences here and there that I feel worked better.

I think I read the same one, with the beach shootout scene intact. I also distinctly remember Scaramanga being American, he even calls Bond a "limey punk" at one point.

[DaveBond21]

Yes, Scaramanga was a great villain in a poor Bond movie.

[scaramunga]

Dinovelvet - Is there a decent place to get a copy of the script from TMWTGG? I'd really like to read them and see those differences!!!!

thanks!