- "I may be small, but I never forget!"
- ― Nick Nack after being caught by James Bond
Nick Nack is a fictional manservant and Francisco Scaramanga's diminutive assistant. The character first appeared as the secondary antagonist in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, portrayed by the late French actor Hervé Villechaize. In the early 1990s, a similar character appeared in the animated spin-off, James Bond Jr. as a member of the SCUM organisation.
Biography[]
Nick Nack was an all-round personal assistant to Francisco Scaramanga, acting as butler, housekeeper, and chef (trained at Le Cordon Bleu), as well as a henchman to Scaramanga's criminal activities. A distinctive feature of Nick Nack is his height, standing only 1.18 metres (3'11") tall. Although Nick Nack was loyal to Scaramanga, at times he would hire other assassins to kill him. Scaramanga tolerated it as a means to practice his skills as well as keeping himself from getting rusty, but Nick Nack was also the sole heir to Scaramanga's estate; if the assassin had succeeded, then Nick Nack would have inherited everything. It is possible that Scaramanga had made the condition in his will that Nick Nack can only inherit Scaramanga's fortune if he was killed by an assassin in a duel, which explains why Nick Nack never tries to kill Scaramanga personally and has to resort to hiring outside assassins.
The film begins with Nick Nack trying to have a gangster named Rodney kill Scaramanga. The two antagonists are locked in an oversized shooting range in Scaramanga's island by Nick Nack, who taunts Scaramanga, as well as tells him that he locked the cabinet containing his guns, meaning he has to search for his legendary golden gun, which Nick Nack has placed at the centre of the maze (why he didn't simply lock Scaramanga in with no means to defend himself is unknown). However, Scaramanga eventually manages to reach his gun and shoots Rodney dead.
Nick Nack later passes James Bond as he's watching the Bottoms Up Club, an erotic club where Scaramanga has an appointment, but he dismisses him as just a vertically challenged passer-by. However, the "appointment" is really a hit ordered by Scaramanga's employer Hai Fat on British scientist Gibson in order to steal his Solex Agitator. Scaramanga assassinates Gibson as he leaves the club, and Nick Nack steals the agitator as Bond is seemingly arrested. Soon after, Scaramanga and Nick Nack ship out to the estate with the Agitator.
The next night, Bond enters Hai Fat's estate to find the Agitator, unaware that Scaramanga still has it. He is attacked by two sumo wrestlers and manages to fight them off, but is hit over the head and knocked out by Nick Nack, who was disguised as a miniature statue. Nick Nack and the sumos prepare to kill him, but Hai Fat intervenes and has Bond taken to a karate school to be killed instead.
Nick Nack later briefly appears spying on Bond's hotel with binoculars, and presumably discovers that Scaramanga's mistress Andrea Anders has defected (this is never shown, but is implied by Scaramanga's discovery of her betrayal). When Miss Anders is going to meet with Bond to give him the Solex, he discovers her dead at the stadium they were going to meet in, with Scaramanga seated next to her and Nick Nack hiding behind his seat with a gun in a bag of peanuts, which Bond continually mocks him for throughout the rest of the film. Scaramanga and Nick Nack depart after Scaramanga warns Bond he'll kill him if he continues meddling. However, Bond's love interest Goodnight tails Nick Nack and attempts to place a homing device on his car, but is found and kidnapped by Scaramanga. Bond uses the homing device, which Goodnight still has, to follow the car, but when he corners them in an airplane shed, Nick Nack remotely seals it and the car converts into a plane, which flies away with Scaramanga, Nick Nack and Goodnight still inside.
After Bond tracks Goodnight to the island, Nick Nack greets him and offers him a bottle of Dom Perigone, which he accepts. However, Scaramanga shoots the cork off, splashing and embarrassing Nick Nack. After a while of monologing from Scaramanga, Nick Nack has them both start their showdown like the one at the beginning of the film like a duel. After Scaramanga enters the range, Nick Nack tells Bond that he'll inherit the island if Bond kills Scaramanga, and has Bond enter the range, although not before Bond threatens him with a gun.
After Bond kills Scaramanga and Goodnight inadvertently destroys the estate through her killing of Kra, Bond and Goodnight escape in Scaramanga's junk. However, Nick Nack has followed them aboard, wanting to kill Bond for destroying the estate. Nick Nack hides above the bed, watching as Bond and Goodnight have sex and preparing to throw a knife into Bond, when Goodnight spots him and screams. Bond jumps out of the way just in time, and engages in a whimsical fight with Nick Nack, eventually managing to trap him in a suitcase, which he takes up on deck. When he returns, he implies to Goodnight that he threw Nick Nack overboard and drowned him before they resume having sex. However, it's revealed that he was lying as the last shot is of Nick Nack shut in a lobster pot suspended from the mast as the junk sails into the sunset. What happened to Nick Nack after this final humiliation is unknown, but it's likely he was arrested and imprisoned for his crimes.
Other appearances[]
Nick Nack also appears as an unlockable character in the 2002 video-game 007: Nightfire in multiplayer mode.
Nick Nack makes a brief appearance in a 2015 Heineken TV spot to promote the release of the James Bond film, Spectre.
Personality[]
Nick Nack is a naturally helpful, loyal character (despite his multiple assassination attempts on Scaramanga's person) who stands out first of all by his almost permanent joviality, his charisma and his sense of humour. He is indeed a character of comic relief who likes to make fun of perilous situations that do not concern him, like the duels in Scaramanga's lair. As a servant, he is refined and almost always wears elegant and distinguished costumes and has a polished vocabulary. On the other hand, he can be just as dangerous, ruthless and deadly despite his small size, which he can use to his advantage when confronted with normal-sized enemies, especially when blending in and sneaking into places where he would be elusive, such as under sofas. He is also unpredictable and able to play off his various enemies against each other.
Trivia[]
- Nick Nack was likely the inspiration for Villechaize's later character, Tattoo, on the television show Fantasy Island (who was also played by Villechaize), as well as an inspiration for Doctor Evil's Mini-Me in the Austin Powers films, which parodied the James Bond series.
- Another parallel can be seen with No. 2's butler in The Prisoner a few years earlier.
Gallery[]
Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize)/Gallery
See also[]
References[]