- "He has a powerful weapon. He charges a million a shot. An assassin that's second to none. The Man with the Golden Gun."
- ― Scaramanga's description in the film's opening song.
Francisco Scaramanga, also known as The Man with the Golden Gun, was an infamous professional hitman who served as the titular main antagonist in EON Productions' 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. Portrayed by the late British actor Christopher Lee, he was based from the literary character who appeared in Ian Fleming's posthumous 1965 novel. The Bond Villain also appeared in a few video games derived from the franchise, most notably in the 1986 James Bond 007 tabletop role-playing game and in Electronic Arts' 2004 video-game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. Scarmanga is arguably the most dangerous adversary James Bond ever faced in the franchise, as he is notoriously known for carrying a deadly custom-made golden pistol capable of instantly killing targets and has marksmanship skills equal, if not superior to even that of 007 himself (and in the film, he had already murdered another 00 Agent).
Biography[]
Background[]
- "You see Mr. Bond, I always thought I liked animals. Then I discovered that I enjoyed killing people even more."
- ― Scaramanga describing his sadistic pleasure to James Bond.
Francisco Scaramanga was a British national born in a travelling circus. His father, a Cuban expatriate, was the ringmaster, and his British mother was a snake charmer. By the age of 10, he was part of the circus as a trick-shot pistol marksman; a skill which he put to use when he shot and killed an abusive animal trainer after the man killed an elephant that had befriended Scaramanga.
By the age of 15, he had left the circus and was working as a gunman in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was recruited there by the KGB and trained in Eastern Europe where, for many years, he was basically "just another overworked and underpaid assassin" for the KGB. He quit the KGB in the late 1950s, becoming an independent hitman-for-hire charging $1 million a kill. Among his victims is shockingly Bill Fairbanks, an MI6 00 Agent - 002, in 1969. All of Scaramanga's dealings go through his diminutive accomplice Nick Nack, which allows Scaramanga to remain anonymous. No photographs of him exist, but he has unusual anatomy: a third nipple. As in the original novel, it is shown that Scaramanga makes love prior to killing in the belief that it "improves the eye".
During the events of the film, he is at the peak of his professional criminal career. Consequently, Scaramanga is quite rich and lives very well, drawing from the exorbitant sums of money he charges to carry out his assassinations and has built his home on his own private island somewhere off the coast of south-eastern China (apparently part of a deal with the Chinese to carry out assassinations in their name in return). Scaramanga lives alone, accompanied only by Nick Nack, Andrea Anders (his kept woman), and a mechanic named Kra who is in charge of maintenance and security.
Scaramanga also uses some of his wealth to finance research and development of technologies that rival those developed by MI6's Q Branch. Such technologies include his infamous Golden Gun - a custom gold-plated pistol made out of four seemingly innocuous objects (pen, lighter, cigarette case, and a cufflink) with special bullets that are always lethal, a car that transforms into an aircraft and a solar-powered laser cannon. In addition, Scaramanga also has a private junk, which Bond later steals to get off the exploding island after his ultimate defeat.
The Solex Agitator[]
Hiding on a rooftop, Scaramanga prepares to assassinate Gibson with his Golden Gun.
In addition to his career as an assassin, Scaramanga is also a junior partner in Hai Fat Enterprises and personal assassin to the company's owner, multimillionaire industrialist Hai Fat. Prior to the film's events, a British scientist named Gibson was employed by Mr. Fat to develop a solution to the world's ongoing energy crisis. With the help of Mr. Fat's construction company, a highly efficient solar power plant is constructed on Scaramanga's island. However, following its completion, Gibson attempts to return to Britain; bargaining for immunity with a critical component of the powerplant: the Solex Agitator unit.
With Gibson having outlived his usefulness, Francisco is dispatched by Hai Fat to assassinate the scientist and recover the Solex. After meeting with his British contact at a Hong Kong club (the "Bottoms Up" club), Gibson is assassinated and his invention is stolen from the crime scene by Nick Nack. Scaramanga initially returns the device to Mr. Fat, but following James Bond's interference, Mr. Fat rants about Scaramanga's actions and regrets over making him a partner of the business; as a result, Scaramanga instead decides to kill his employer and take the Solex, power plant and company for himself. With Hai Fat's assets in his possession, Scaramanga plans to sell Gibson's solar technology to the highest bidder, which was a huge concern given the recent events of the 1973 oil crisis. Criminality was of no concern to Scaramanga, as anyone who paid up would be the new owner, no matter who they were: a government, a terrorist, an industrialist, or whoever.
Clash of the Titans[]
Bond and Scaramanga meet for the first time.
- "My name is Scaramanga, Francisco Scaramanga. I feel I know you, although I never thought we should ever meet. It's a very great pleasure for me, Mr Bond, thanks to Miss Anders."
- ― Francisco Scaramanga
Scaramanga also desires to test his skills against the famed James Bond, whom he regards as the only man capable of being his equal (despite he is possibly superior even to 007). After taking the Solex from Scaramanga's safe, Anders attempts to deliver it to Bond. However, Scaramanga discovers the theft and quietly shoots her in the chest with one shot by his Golden Gun as she waits for 007 in a kickboxing arena, dying instantly. He then searches her handbag before the spy arrives, but fails to find the device, which has fallen under her seat. Meeting Bond face-to-face for the first time, he relates the story of his upbringing, his fascination with guns and his love of killing. As the pair talk, Bond notices the Solex and manages to slip it to his colleague Hip, presently disguised as a food seller at the fight, who in turn passes it to his fellow agent, Mary Goodnight.
After excusing himself, Scaramanga leaves empty-handed, only to discover Goodnight attempting to place a tracking device on his car. With one fluid movement, he shoves her into the boot and slams the door shut. Despite Bond's best attempts to pursue the villain (with questionable help from J.W. Pepper), he and Nick Nack manage to evade pursuit and capture by taking to the skies with an aircraft attachment on the roof of the car, taking Goodnight and the Solex with them.
- "We have so much in common and so much to discuss. We will never have this chance again. Ours is the loneliest profession, so let us spend a few pleasant hours together."
- ― Francisco Scaramanga
Picking up Goodnight's homing beacon, Bond flies a seaplane into Red Chinese waters, under the Chinese radar, and lands at Scaramanga's island. On arriving, Bond is welcomed by Scaramanga, who shows him the high-tech solar power plant he has built. Whilst demonstrating the equipment, Scaramanga uses a powerful solar beam to destroy Bond's plane. Following the tour, Bond dines with Goodnight and Scaramanga. As they eat, the assassin states that despite his 'working for peanuts', Bond and he are very much alike. Bond angrily disagrees with this comparison, stating that he only kills on the orders of his government and those he himself kills are killers themselves just like Scaramanga. The two have a tense but classy standoff, which results in Bond admitting to Scaramanga that killing him would be "a pleasure" and the professional hitman threatening the 00 Agent with his Golden Gun (even beating him at drawing speed before 007 could with his Walther PPK) .
Death[]
Scaramanga fatally shot by Bond to his heart.
- "I could have shot you down when you landed, but that would have been ridiculously easy. You see Mr. Bond, like every great artist, I want to create an indisputable masterpiece once in my lifetime. The death of 007, mano a mano, face to face, will be mine."
- ― Francisco Scaramanga
At gunpoint, Scaramanga challenges Bond to one final, decisive duel - his Golden Gun versus 007's Walther PPK, dismissing Bond's superior number of bullets irrelevant due to his superior knowledge of the local environment, saying "I only need one", and both have a 50-50 chance. Reluctantly, Bond agrees, and the pair assemble on the beach after lunch, with Nick Nack supervising.
After the traditional twenty paces, Bond turns and fires, only to find that the professional hitman has cheated the duel and fled into the funhouse - a labyrinthine styled maze, where Scaramanga and his previous lesser opponents (all hired by Nick Nack) regularly duel to the death. Bond spots Nick Nack and suspects him of helping Scaramanga, but Nick Nack rectifies that if Bond kills the expert assassin, all his assets will be his, so he has no intention to help Scaramanga. Consequently, Nick Nack guides the 00 Agent to the funhouse to finish the duel. The two deadly men stalk each other around the maze, culminating in 007 taking the place of a mannequin replica of himself. Fooled by Bond's ploy, with a single shot, Scaramanga is hit directly through the heart when Bond takes him completely by surprise. He ultimately falls to the ground, dead, with his Golden Gun dropping beside him.
Physical Appearance[]
Francisco Scaramanga can be described as "tall, dark, and handsome", alluding to his short black hair with a widow's peak, his dark brown eyes, and ruggedly masculine, handsome face, along with his tanned skin. He stands at an imposing 6'5", his body trim and slightly muscular. His most unusual feature is an extra nipple.
He is often seen in a white suit, and wears a ring with a huge stone on the little fingers of each of his hands, Anders noting he always wears gold jewelry. When swimming, he wears dark blue swimming trunks, and during his gun fight with Rodney, the assassin summoned by Nick Nack in the opening scene, he wore a royal blue track suit. In some scenes he also wore a black suit with a black knit tie and his usual golden watch.
Upon welcoming James Bond to his island home, Scaramanga dressed in a short sleeved, high collared, light blue bush-shirt paired with ice-blue flared-leg trousers and white loafers.
Personality[]
Scaramanga was an eccentric, arrogant, ruthless, ambitious and sadistic assassin; he was uniquely different from many other Bond Villains in the sense that he was not a terrorist intent on world domination, but simply a highly skilled hitman who didn't feel any fear when having to test his skills against those sent to try and kill him, thus the trailer description of "The Most Dangerous Man Alive". He had immense self-confidence in his skills as a marksman and was almost dismissive that only James Bond was his singular equal. For this reason, many fans consider Scaramanga an "Anti-Bond" character, similar to Alec Trevelyan (006) in GoldenEye.
The professional assassin showed paranoia when surrounded by characters such as Hai Fat and Andrea Anders; he did not tolerate Hai Fat talking down to him, or his mistress's betrayal, resulting in him killing them both.
Scaramanga also has a sardonic, sarcastic, and somewhat childish sense of humor, joking before killing Hai Fat "What do they teach in that school? Ballet dancing?", referring to the martial arts school owned by his employer, much to the man's annoyance; after killing Hai Fat for talking down to him, he remarked "He always did like that mausoleum. Put him in it." Another instance where his sense of humor is displayed is when he finds Mary Goodnight placing a tracking device in the trunk of his car; instead of confronting her outright, or even killing her on the spot, he startles her by grabbing her from behind and shoving her into the boot in one fluid movement before slamming the lid down with a smug, self-satisfied smirk. Upon entering the dining room of his home following James Bond's arrival, and seeing his somewhat flabbergasted expression when he saw Mary Goodnight's attire, an amused Scaramanga dryly commented that he likes a girl in a bikini since she can't hide carry any hidden weapons on her.
Scaramanga is also shown to be somewhat calm and relaxed, never getting flustered even in hair raising situations; he was even gentlemanly in demeanor and speech, but once crossed, he reveals his cold, ruthless side without blinking; when his dark side emerges, his normally calm brown eyes take on a cold, intense look that would scare even the most seasoned killers, at some points even seeming to put Bond on edge. He only shows real anger when Bond questions his qualifications as a 'gentleman'.
Despite being somewhat coldblooded, it is quite interesting to note that upon narrating his backstory to Bond, Scaramanga looked somewhat grim, even pained when he mentioned the elephant that he had befriended as a young boy, and its tragic death at the hands of its abusive handler, showing that he had truly cared for the animal; he only smiled when revealing how he avenged his only friend, by shooting and killing the trainer in question.
Scaramanga is a master marksman with his Golden Gun and an adept at deep cover. Although his island was equipped with various advanced technology, such as a laser cannon and an advanced independent power supply, he claims not to be well-versed in science personally, simply relying on others, such as Kra, to do the actual work. He is also a proficient pilot and aviator, judging by the plane he takes to escape Bond. Judging by the fitness equipment on the island, he is in peak physical condition.
Bond observes that Scaramanga lives extremely well with his own cordon bleu chef and an expensive wine cellar. He also seems to enjoy oysters served with Guinness and tabasco sauce and has an extensive collection of handguns including a Colt Python .357 Magnum, Colt 38 Detective Special, Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum, and Colt Single Action Army in .45 Colt (which is ironically what his Golden Gun was in the original 1965 novel).
Henchmen & Associates[]
Weapons & Vehicles[]
Behind the scenes[]
Ian Fleming named Francisco Scaramanga after a fellow student at Eton named George Scaramanga, with whom he shared a lasting rivalry. Following several schoolground spats Fleming decided to use the animosity he felt towards George Scaramanga for the influence behind one of his most famous villains. Fleming and Scaramanga were at Eton in the 1930s until the Bond author was expelled.
The role was offered to Jack Palance, but he turned it down.
Video game appearances[]
Scaramanga as he appears in the 2010 GoldenEye 007 remake.
Scaramanga has been featured as a villain in various James Bond video games starting with the 1986 title James Bond 007. He first appeared as an unlockable playable character in the Nintendo 64 release of The World is Not Enough in 2000, although his was previously mentioned in the 1997 GoldenEye 007 game, where his Golden Gun debuted as a playable weapon.
Francisco Scaramanga returned for the 2004 game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent once again voiced by Christopher Lee.[1] In the game, he is an ally of Auric Goldfinger, the main antagonist of Goldfinger.[1] He is the manufacturer of the synthetic eye given to the player (GoldenEye) and makes a virus used against Goldfinger's OMEN device.[2] The game also features a multiplayer "Funhouse" level, including the traps that caused Bond to lose most of his bullets such as Al Capone and Cowboy mannequins and an image of Scaramanga himself.[3] In addition, the level includes a Bond mannequin, whose gun the player can take and use.[4]
Scaramanga as he appears in GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.
Francisco Scaramanga is a playable character in the multiplayer portions of the 2002 game Nightfire and the 2010 remake of GoldenEye 007. In the original GoldenEye game, it is said in the briefing for the bonus "Egyptian" mission that his Golden Gun was stolen from Scaramanga by another villain, Baron Samedi, where James Bond is required to obtain his weapon inside an Egyptan temple filled with traps in order to defeat Samedi. Although Scaramanga himself didn't appear in the N64 game, he was also fittingly called "the deadliest assassin of all time".
Reception[]
Francisco Scaramanga was listed at number five in UGO's list of the Top 11 Classy Assassins.[5] Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly argues that Scaramanga is the best villain of the Roger Moore James Bond films.[6] Esquire Magazine Scaramanga #2 in the list of James Bond Villains, saying, "Lee carries a lifetime of experience into this part and you can detect new sides of Scaramanga in every glance, every smirk. The soldier, the lover, the monster, the theatrical showman, the egotistical professional who has made a career out of death."[7]
Trivia[]
- Christopher Lee, the late actor of Francisco Scaramanga, is actually Ian Fleming's step cousin, and was originally supposed to have the role of Dr. Julius No, the main antagonist of the very first Bond film in 1962, Dr. No, before Joseph Wiseman ultimately was chosen. He was also planned to be James Bond himself at one point, as the spy was partially inspired by his life. Ironically, Lee himself successfully served in the Royal Air Force in World War II before his professional acting career.
- Although Scaramanga wears a white tuxedo in contrast to James Bond's common black suit, there are a few instances where the villain does wear one.
- In Ian Fleming's posthumous novel, Scaramanga was originally portrayed as rich but very arrogant, as he is actually a mid-level thug with enough dangerous skill to put himself under 007's radar. Christopher Lee's version of the villain would make him much more classy and similar to Bond himself, intended as a dark equal.
- As Scarmanga charges a hefty one million dollars for each of his assassinations in the 1974 film (which is equivalent to over $6.3 million as of 2024), he kills only four victims during the events of the movie. However, in the original 1965 novel, the masterfully skilled assassin has taken out as many as 50 people, including six SIS secret agents, as he claimed to Bond in the climax.
- Scaramanga and Bond's respective late actors, Christopher Lee and Roger Moore, although their characters are fierce rivals, were actually close friends in the real-world.
- Alongside Alec Trevelyan in the 1995 film GoldenEye, Francisco Scaramanga is one of the very few Bond Villains actually capable of outright defeating James Bond in combat from raw skills alone, but ultimately made a mistake that would leave 007 victorious against him (in this case, he failed to shoot Bond at the dinner with Mary Goodnight when he had the opportunity before the MI6 spy shot him while posing as his own replica mannequin during the climax).
- As Christopher Lee stands at 6'5", he is actually two inches taller than the original Scaramanga character in Ian Fleming's novel, who stands at 6'3". His incarnation is also considerably older, as he was 52 by the film's release in 1974 (though his character is 45 in the movie), while in the novel, the main antagonist is only 35.
Gallery[]
Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee)/Gallery
See Also[]
- Francisco Scaramanga
- Francisco Scaramanga (Literary)
- Francisco Scaramanga (Guillermo Diaz)
- Golden Gun
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Goldeneye Rogue Agent. Electronic Arts Inc. Retrieved on 15 August 2011.
- ↑ (January 2005) "GOLDENEYE: ROGUE AGENT". Electronic Gaming Monthly (187): 130–131. Retrieved on 15 August 2011.
- ↑ Speer, Justin (Holiday 2004). "GOLDENEYE: ROGUE AGENT - Killin' Like a Villain". Electronic Gaming Monthly (186). Retrieved on 15 August 2011.
- ↑ EA Los Angeles. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. Electronic Arts. Level/area: Funhouse.
- ↑ UGO's Guide to Assassins. UGO.com (2007-08-21).
- ↑ Template:Cite magazine
- ↑ Jacob Hall. "All 104 James Bond Villains, Ranked", 14 May 2017. Retrieved on 2018-07-18.