A Study of Adaptation - The Man With The Golden Gun

Well, this is the penultimate episode of this study of adaptation. The Man With The Golden Gun is the thirteenth book and final novel in Ian Fleming's series, published posthumously in 1965. It would go on to be the ninth entry in the film series, released in 1974 and starring Ian Fleming's cousin in the eponymous role. It was also the last film in the series to be produced by Harry Saltzmann.

The book takes place a year after the events of You Only Live Twice, so I'll give a quick recap; Bond lost his memory after an injury sustained during his final confrontation with Ernst Stavro Blofeld. While living as a fisherman in Japan (and feared dead by most of the world), he became fixated on references to Vladivostok and set out there to try and restore his memory.

Anyway, the book begins with Bond returning to London. However, it turns out that the KGB had brainwashed him to assassinate M, the head of the Secret Service. The attempt fails and Bond is captured and deprogrammed. To prove his worth, he is sent to the Caribbean to assassinate a KGB hitman responsible for the murders of several British and American agents. The assassin, Francisco Scaramanga, is known as "The Man With The Golden Gun" after his weapon of choice; a gold-plated six-shooter. He meets with his target in the newly-independant Jamaica and accepts a role as a personal assistant, where he learns that Scaramanga is helping to set up operations for American crime syndicates while also planning to carry out sabotage missions on behalf of the KGB.

In the film, Bond is put on a sabbatical after MI6 receives a golden bullet with his codename on it. M suspects that someone has hired Scaramanga to assassinate Bond to prevent him from locating a missing solar expert named Gibson. The famed "Golden Gun" was changed from a six-shooter to a custom-built gun made from a cigarette case, lighter, fountain pen, and cufflink. One which would always be an instant kill in the games.

One of the main reasons for the alternate story was due to the fact that the amnesia plot thread from You Only Live Twice was never used in the adaptation, along with the fact that the films had a loose continuity and didn't follow the same order as the novels. Therefore, it wouldn't make much sense to use the brainwashing element. The solar power plot thread was also added to tie the film to a then-contemporary energy crisis.

Furthermore, the film adaptation changes the setting from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia. This was essentially a cash-in on the recent success of martial arts films in the 1970s. I suppose for a film series as formulaic as James Bond, the filmmakers felt they should put the character in different genres as means to keep up with some zeitgeist. The previous film, Live and Let Die, did something similar with the Blaxpoitation genre. In a subsequent example, Moonraker tried to incorporate more sci-fi elements following the success of Star Wars two years prior.

Well, I'm almost at the end now. Just one more book to compare, which will be a lengthy post due to it being a collection.