The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

Every hero eventually faces an opponent who might just be his equal. Guy Hamilton's "The Man With the Golden Gun" pits Roger Moore's James Bond against Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), a world-famous assassin who charges $1 million a hit and uses a unique golden pistol assembled from a pen, a lighter and other everyday items. When a golden bullet engraved with "007" arrives at British intelligence headquarters, it appears Bond is next on Scaramanga's list, and he's pulled off his current assignment, the hunt for a missing scientist and his revolutionary solar energy device. Bond's pursuit takes him from Beirut to Macau, Hong Kong and Bangkok, where he discovers that the two cases are connected, since Scaramanga has seized the device. Along the way, he's aided, and often hindered, by bumbling fellow agent Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland), and he meets Scaramanga's unhappy mistress (Maud Adams), who harbors a secret of her own. Scaramanga's pint-size henchman, Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize), adds a touch of menace and comedy, and the loud-mouthed Louisiana sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) returns while vacationing in Thailand. Highlights include a stunning corkscrew car jump across a river and a showdown in a funhouse on Scaramanga's private island. Lee, a step-cousin of Bond creator Ian Fleming, makes a suave villain, and Lulu belts out the title song.