CBn Forum members review the thirteenth James Bond adventure
Literary 007 Reviewed: Ian Fleming's 'The Man With The Golden Gun
Started by
Qwerty
, May 16 2009 03:20 AM
2 replies to this topic
#1
Qwerty
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Posted 16 May 2009 - 03:20 AM
The Literary 007 Reviewed series continues on the CBn main page...
#2
Keir
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Posted 11 June 2011 - 03:15 PM
SPOILER AHEAD!!!
Just finished the book and I must say the ending was an anti-climax. Scaramanga is a ridiculous villain and the extraneous third nipple and golden gun do little to add to his character. I mean, he has Bond where he wants him, even with a poisoned bullet, gets his shot in, and STILL can't kill him! Some shot. Some villain... The start of the book was quite gripping, but again it leaves questions about how the British Secret Service can simply ignore Bond's attempted murder of M without worrying about a repeat attempt. Bond has his target at any time but insists on putting off his job out of interest and a bizarre sense of nobility. What kind of secret agent passes up the chance to kill a psychotic until fired upon first? Little touches also betray the sense that Fleming was trying to curry favour with the great and good (would Bond really take seriously 'Profiles in Courage'?) and tweaking the protagonist himself to reveal his Scottish background post Connery.
Just finished the book and I must say the ending was an anti-climax. Scaramanga is a ridiculous villain and the extraneous third nipple and golden gun do little to add to his character. I mean, he has Bond where he wants him, even with a poisoned bullet, gets his shot in, and STILL can't kill him! Some shot. Some villain... The start of the book was quite gripping, but again it leaves questions about how the British Secret Service can simply ignore Bond's attempted murder of M without worrying about a repeat attempt. Bond has his target at any time but insists on putting off his job out of interest and a bizarre sense of nobility. What kind of secret agent passes up the chance to kill a psychotic until fired upon first? Little touches also betray the sense that Fleming was trying to curry favour with the great and good (would Bond really take seriously 'Profiles in Courage'?) and tweaking the protagonist himself to reveal his Scottish background post Connery.
Edited by Keir, 11 June 2011 - 03:15 PM.
#3
wattenscheid09
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Posted 29 July 2011 - 09:56 AM
I always thought that GOLDEN GUN was a bit of a unloved stepchild amongst Bond reviewers and I will come out of the closet in saying that I actually like it quite a lot - especially because it comes along without the bells & whistles of a polish. The only thing that always bothers me is when evil characters take in heroes too easily as bodyguards (it also happens in the Neil Gaiman Short Story THE MONARCH OF THE GLEN - but then, there is a plan behind that). But apart from that, uit makes a nice dry companion to the equally dry COLONEL SUN that "followed" it. Just my two cents.