Welcome back to another MEMORABLE MOVIE QUOTES column, where we look at some memorable quotes from some pretty nifty movies.

We return today to the world of James Bond as we look at THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974), the second film in which Roger Moore played secret agent 007.  The other neat thing about this movie, especially for horror fans, is that Christopher Lee played the villain, the man with the golden gun, the million dollar hitman, Scaramanga, who in this film has his sights on James Bond.  Scaramanga is one of Christopher Lee’s better film performances.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN did not perform all that well at the box office upon its initial release in 1974.  Audiences back then were still struggling with the transition to Roger Moore as Bond and were still craving a return by Sean Connery, but the film has aged well, and today it ranks as one of the better Bond movies.  It also has a memorable music score by John Barry.

And like most Bond movies, it’s chock-full of neat quotes.  Let’s have a listen to some of these quotes from THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz.

Christopher Lee gets some of the better lines in the film as the villainous Scaramanga, especially when he spars verbally with James Bond, like in this scene where he suggests to Bond that they engage in a gun duel to the death:

SCARAMANGA: A duel between titans. My golden gun against your Walther PPK. Each of us with a 50-50 chance.

JAMES BOND:  Six bullets to your one?

SCARAMANGA: I only need one.

Scaramanga vs. Bond

And in this scene where he explains to Bond how he first became interested in killing:

SCARAMANGA: When I was a boy I was brought up in a circus. My only real friend was a huge, magnificent African bull elephant. One day, his handler mistreated him and he went berserk. Bleeding, dying, he came and found me, stood on one leg, his best trick, picked me up and put me on his back. The drunken handler came along and emptied his gun into his eye… I emptied my stage pistol into his!

JAMES BOND:  An eye for an eye.

SCARAMANGA: You see, Mr. Bond, I always thought I loved animals. Then I discovered that I enjoyed killing people even more.

Scaramanga is as cool as he is deadly, as in this scene where he calmly kills the powerful Mr. Fat and politely addresses Fat’s subordinates moments later:

SCARAMANGA: Mr. Fat has just resigned. I am the new Chairman of the Board.

Fat always did like that mausoleum. Put him in it.

Christopher Lee takes aim as Scaramanga in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974).

 

Of course, Roger Moore gets plenty of zingers as James Bond.  Let’s listen to a few:

SAIDA:  Ah! I’ve lost my charm!

JAMES BOND: Not from where I’m standing.

 

And:

JAMES BOND:  Did you see who shot him?

SAIDA: No, I was in his arms. My eyes were closed.

JAMES BOND: Well, at least he died happy.

 

And what would a James Bond movie be without the double entendre names?

JAMES BOND (approaches woman in swimming pool):  Good morning. How’s the water?

WOMAN: Why don’t you come in and find out?

JAMES BOND:  Sounds very tempting, Miss…?

WOMAN:  Chew Mee.

 

Even M (Bernard Lee) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn) get in on the act with this lively exchange:

JAMES BOND: And that is really all there is to report, sir.

M:  So if I heard correctly, Scaramanga got away – in a car that sprouted wings!

Q: Oh, that’s perfectly feasible, sir. As a matter of fact, we’re working on one now.

M:  Oh, Q, shut up!

 

 

But my all time favorite line from THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is spoken by Roger Moore, and it’s also one of my favorite lines in the entire series.  As Bond tries to extract information from a gun manufacturer, he points a gun at the man’s groin area, and he says:

LAZAR:  Mr. Bond, bullets do not kill. It is the finger that pulls the trigger.

JAMES BOND: Exactly. I am now aiming precisely at your groin. So speak or forever hold your piece.

 

Gotta love it!

Well, that’s all we have time for today.  I hope you enjoyed this look at quotes from THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN.  Join me again next time when we look at more memorable quotes from other cool movies.

Thanks for reading!

—Michael