ZERO REELS
Without a doubt, this is the worst Bond picture to date. Puny, cheap, stupid, and unimaginative and a total creative misfire; with it's less than stellar box office performance, Bonds days looked number. What could best be described as "High Noon" on acid, has Bond facing off against super secret assassin, Sacramanga, who is paid one million dollars for every hit. Played by the great Christopher Lee, what should have been the films biggest draw, is wasted on bizarre imagery in a room full of mirrors and the evil Hench-midget, Herve Villechaize, (Fantasy Island) Brit Ekland as Bond's assistant, Mary Goodnight is virtually wasted, providing fodder for Bond's mean-spirited remarks. Maude Adams shows up to bores us to death with her inability to act. The plot has Bond finding and destroying Scaramanga's hideout that contains the components for solar energy and he who controls it will have total solar power control. A relevant theme for the day as the world was being bullied by OPEC and the other oil-rich nations, but it is handled in such a juvenile, flippant way, it makes zero sense. As good as Lee and Moore are in playing off each other, the rest of the movie is a bizarre miscellany of boring spy picture and comedy road trip. Sheriff Pepper (Clifton James) shows up for some reason as he apparently is vacationing in Thailand providing some very funny, very politically incorrect one-liners that do not belong in a Bond movie. Although the two are involved in the film's only worthwhile action, it culminates with an almost clever stunt that is impaired by a ridiculous, cartoony sound effect. Roger Moore’s performance as Bond is his least appealing; a total asshole really, he walks around scowling, sniping and just being a hateful prick as he nearly breaks Maude Adams arm, not because she’s a terrible actress, but to get information out of her and is constantly insulting his assistant, Goodnight. The title tune is croaked by something called Lulu and is garbage by any standard. This is the Bond series at its least and lowest, a complete failure on every level. A lazy Box-office performance for the first time, shed doubt on James Bonds' return, but he would, with a vengeance.