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The side effect fromThe Man With The Golden Gun- the ninth film in the long - runningJames Bondseries - came perilously close to finish 007 ’s bowed stringed instrument of adventures . For a long sentence before , Bond was a alien to failure . The oecumenical triumph of 1964’sGoldfingerproved Bond to be a cinematic phenomenon that producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli were keen to continue . The loss of star Sean Connery in 1967 could not dissuade them , but the rough response toGeorge Lazenby ’s debut inOn Her Majesty ’s Secret Service(1969 ) signalled the first inklings of Bond fatigue among audiences .
From then onward , the critical and financial succeeder of the Bond franchise began to fluctuate like never before . Saltzman , Broccoli , and EON Productions were on uncharted undercoat . Connery ’s anticipated return inDiamonds Are Forever(1971 ) proved a successful try at hurt control , but his refusal to continue sent the producers back to the drawing board . Roger Moore , then famous for British showThe Saint , was a welcomed , though predictable , replacement who pay off . hold out and Let Die(1973 ) cured some distaste leave by its precursor and amount a $ 161 million gross - the most successful Bond movie to that point .
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But just as a Modern lucrative era was apparently dawning , The Man with the gold Gun(1974)set everything back . Audiences did n’t turn out like they had before , and the reviews were vituperative . thing were n’t pretty behind the scenes as originative tension start to rise . Producer Broccoli cover this adversity as a wakeup call , and the originative decisions he made in its aftermath took form inThe Spy Who Loved Me(1977 ) - the wildly successful chemical bond film that echoes through the franchise to this day .
The Man With The Golden Gun Was A Disappointment For The Waning Bond Franchise
On theme , The Man with the Golden Gunhad the usual ingredients for winner , as well as some surprisal . EON had again muster in the endowment inbuilt to the serial ’ former hit , let in director Guy Hamilton , screenwriter Richard Maibaum , and composer John Barry , along with co - writer Tom Mankiewicz , who had sour on the preceding two Bond films . Swedish actress Britt Eklandand a nefarious Christopher Lee joined Bond in an Asian adventure that fused car chases and grease-gun fight with good luck - neck soldierlike arts - a clear attack to capitalize on theBruce Lee filmsof the epoch . But obviously , this appealingness was not enough .
release in December 1974,The Man with theGolden Gunfailed to improve on the heights ofLive and Let Die , with a shocking $ 70 million bead at the worldwide box situation . to boot , critics loathedwhat they saw ascampy body fluid , unrealistic scrap scene , a messy tale , an odd tonicity , and a waste of great ideas;Lee ’s enactment of Scaramanga- a dark , mirror trope of Bond - was praise and still grade richly in Bond ’s rascal ' gallery .
Outside of such negatively charged word of oral cavity , The Man with theGolden Gun ’s loser was impute to its stiff competition and lack of marketing . Distributor United Artists had an cocksureness in Bond ’s slug afterLive and rent pass , and any potential thunder forThe Man with theGolden Gunhad been stolen by blockbusters likeThe Towering InfernoandThe Godfather Part II , unloose that same month . WhileThe Man with theGolden Gunwas not disastrous , there was still little reason for a Bond cinema to fall so far so rapidly . The dip was the last husk to Broccoli , who attempt to retool once he ’d get under one’s skin over various hurdles hinder the Bond franchise overall .
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James Bond Rights Issues & The Spy Who Loved Me’s Delays
AfterThe Man with theGolden Gun , creative and legal boundaries reared their head and were certain to put Bond on ice-skating rink . conflict between Saltzman and Broccoli had been brewing as the franchise began to see novel low gear . Pivotally , Saltzman had see a number of personal and financial outcome that took a price on him , and after some debt trouble with Swiss banks , he was eventually forced to sell his ploughshare of the Bond franchise .
The Spy Who Loved Mehad been plan sinceThe Man with theGolden Gun ’s wrap , but was beset with hassle throughout exploitation . First , a declaration clause bar EON from adapting Ian Fleming ’s original novel , necessitating for the very first time an original Bond screenplay . Further , an injunction courtship file away byThunderballproducer Kevin McClory halted an initial back - to - rudiments approach shot forThe Spy Who Loved Me , as it featured SPECTRE andBlofeld ’s return to Bond after six years . Director Guy Hamilton ’s be after recurrence was also stopped , prompted byTheSpy Who bed Me ’s constant script rewrites and his commitment toSuperman(eventually directed by Richard Donner . ) In a deliberate gamble to bolster the series ’ repute , only producer Brocolli reduplicate the budget and was intent to makeTheSpy Who get laid Meon a grandiose scale reminiscent of the Connery films , recruitingYou Only Live Twicedirector Lewis Gilbert and production fashion designer Ken Adam .
Once everything had been batten , Broccoli and EON Productions had the unripe light to begin product . These battles were an rising battle , renderingTheSpy Who Loved Mea long fourth dimension in the making . Three years seems nothing between Bond films in hindsight , but it was an unprecedented absence and suffer the momentum of a series that had stay reliably uniform for 12 eld . A big question at EON was whether or not interest in Bond had been maintained through this long period , and whetherTheSpy Who Loved Me ’s release would spell ultimate doom or a glorious rebound for the serial .
The Spy Who Loved Me Showed What 1970s Bond Movies Could Be
The Spy Who Loved Me ’s card proclaimed it was the biggest Bond movie yet , and that ’s indeed what it became . EON ’s gamble proved fruitful asThe Spy Who have sex MeovertookLive and have Dieto become the series ’ biggest financial smash , demand $ 184 million worldwide . modern-day reviews were very enthusiastic , and its legacy in Bond history is epitomised by the villain Stromberg and his submersed Qaeda , the iconic henchman Jaws , and theaquatic Lotus Esprit .
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While certain plot details were suspiciously standardized toYou Only Live Twice , this did n’t seem to hinder the film ’s critical succeeder or bequest . It ’s become screw for cementing the Moore epoch of Bond , specifically for round off outMoore ’s interpretation of the quality . Rather than imitate Connery ’s bluntness like in the earlier films , theatre director Gilbert helped Moore to play to his strengths , replacing Connery ’s bite with a gentlemanly appealingness , while effortlessly retaining the trademark spit - in - boldness humour .
The follow - upMoonrakertook Bond to new heights in more ways than one , breakingThe Spy Who Loved Me ’s financial record book with $ 210 million . The serial had low-down points in the tenner afterThe mankind with theGolden Gun , but Broccoli ’s successors have ask notes from his motivation and perseverance to turn failure into succeeder . As manifest in the transition fromDie Another DietoCasino Royale , orQuantum of SolacetoSkyfall , Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have successfully demonstrated their key toBond ’s unique length of service : to have humility , get word from mistakes . and to force harder in the face of creative hardship , aim to deliver the best Bond adventure potential .
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