“He has a powerful weapon. He charges a million a shot. An assassin that is second to none,” Lulu’s theme for 1974’s The Man With The Golden Gun — music by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black — provided the perfect introduction to Francisco Scaramanga. Played with elegant menace by Christopher Lee, Scaramanga is a world-class hit man who is defined by his deadly custom-made pistol and his facility as a marksman, which is at least the equal of 007. Here’s the lowdown on one of Bond’s greatest adversaries.
Background: Scaramanga was born into a travelling circus, his Cuban father the ringmaster, his English mother a snake charmer. By the age of 10, the boy was a spectacular trick artist and, as a teenager, became a gunman in the Rio underworld. He was recruited by the KGB and was trained in his deadly trade in Europe. Yet, becoming an “overworked, underpaid” assassin, Scaramanga quit the KGB and became an independent operative in the late ‘50s. As Bond puts it, his current price is “$1 million a hit.”
The High Life: Scaramanga lives the life of a world-class assassin, building an extravagant home on his private island off the coast of southeastern China (part of a deal struck with the Chinese government to carry out assassinations in return). His island includes a solar power plant and a funhouse, which he uses to taunt and tease his various adversaries.
Accomplice: Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) is Scaramanga’s mischievous manservant. Nick Nack has multiple roles in Scaramanga’s employ. He is a butler, chief, assailant, and the arranger of various hitmen to come to Scaramanga’s island and kill him, as a way of keeping his boss sharp. Nick Nack also plays a pivotal role in stealing the Solex Agitator (a device that harnesses the sun’s power), a vital component in Scaramanga’s plot to auction off the world’s first solar energy system. As Bond arrives on Scaramanga’s island for a duel to the death, Nick Nack greets 007 with a bottle of champagne — in a moment of bravura, the assassin shoots off the cork — and then officiates over the deadly game.
Love Interest: Andrea Anders (Maud Adams) is Scaramanga’s mistress, but, in reality, is playing a deceitful double cross, sending Bond the golden bullet engraved with 007 to lure him into coming to kill Scaramanga to free her from a life she loathes — 007 takes the bait. Anders helps Bond, firstly by helping him get close to Scaramanga — directing him to the Bottoms Up club — and then by stealing the Solex Agitator. Scaramanga discovers her deception and kills her for betraying him.
Distinguishing features: A third nipple.
Weapons: Scaramanga’s weapon of choice is a gold-plated pistol that comprises four seemingly innocent objects: a pen, a lighter, a cigarette case and a cufflink. The single-shot firearm uses a custom-made 4.2-millimetre (.165 calibre) 23K golden dum-dum bullet with traces of nickel. Scaramanga has used the gun to kill gangster Rodney (Marc Lawrence), a British scientist Gibson (Gordon Everett), his own employer Hai Fat (Richard Loo) and even Bill Fairbanks, a 00 agent who was fatally wounded by a bullet in the neck.
Scaramanga’s home also plays host to a solar-powered laser cannon that the killer demonstrates to Bond by destroying the plane 007 arrived in.
Vehicles: Scaramanga drives a 1974 AMC Matador X Coupé that comes into its own when intelligence officer Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) is bundled into the boot by Nick Nack and taken hostage. Bond, driving a commandeered AMC Hornet, gives chase through the busy Bangkok traffic. The chase concludes when the Matador pulls into an aircraft hangar and emerges as fit for flying via a wing attachment and jet engine. With an instrument panel replacing the car dashboard, the Matador soars into the skies — Goodnight gets a shock when she opens the boot to discover she is mid-air.
Scaramanga also owns a Junk, the ramshackle exterior masking a high-tech interior. Bond steals it to make his escape as Scaramanga’s island is exploding.
Dress sense: His signature look is a white suit, and he wears a ring with a huge stone on the little fingers of each of his hands. Scaramanga has also been known to wear a black suit, a royal blue tracksuit, and a short-sleeved, light blue shirt, blue flared trousers and white loafers.
Personality: Scaramanga is eccentric, arrogant, ruthless and sadistic. A self-professed gentleman who, like Bond, enjoys the finer things, including his own cordon bleu chef and an expensive wine cellar. He also seems to enjoy oysters served with Guinness and tabasco sauce. The assassin also boasts a sardonic sense of humour, such as following his murder of Hai Fat: “He always did like that mausoleum. Put him in it.”
Killer lines: (On inviting Bond to dinner) “Ours is the loneliest profession, Mr. Bond …So let us spend a few pleasant hours together”. (On killing Andrea Anders) “A mistress cannot serve two masters” (On the profession of murder) “Now, come, come, Mr. Bond. You disappoint me. You get as much fulfilment out of killing as I do, so why don’t you admit it?” (On revealing his lifetime’s ambition) “You see, Mr Bond, like every great artist, I want to create an indisputable masterpiece, once in my lifetime: the death of 007.”
The Final Showdown: Bond takes on Scaramanga on the latter’s private island. It’s a battle between Scaramanga’s Golden Gun and Bond’s Walther PPK, with the former so confident he brags about needing just one bullet compared to Bond’s six. Beginning back-to-back like a classic pistols-at-dawn duel (“it remains the only true test for gentlemen,” says Scaramanga), the two men walk 20 paces, Scaramanga cheating by stealing into the labyrinthine maze of the funhouse. The two men stalk each other until Bond, posing as his own mannequin, kills Scaramanga with a single shot, the famous golden gun dropping from his side.
