Why is this rated PG if it has a hitman, mistresses, and Bond slapping a woman?

In 1974, the PG-13 rating didn't exist yet—Steven Spielberg didn't invent it until a decade later with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Nearly every early Bond movie got slapped with a PG, which meant anything short of hard R-rated nudity and gore was fair game.

Is this a good first James Bond movie for a kid?

Not at all. Between the sluggish pacing, a bizarre plot detour involving a solar-energy crisis, and Bond behaving like a jerk, it's a rough entry point. Start with GoldenEye (1995) for modern pacing, Goldfinger (1964) for the iconic blueprint, or The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) if you want Roger Moore at his best.

What's the most awkward scene to watch with a preteen?

A toss-up between Bond twisting Andrea Anders's arm and slapping her in a hotel room until she talks, or the final bedroom scene where Bond pushes Scaramanga's sidekick into a suitcase while hooking up with Mary Goodnight.

Is the famous corkscrew car jump CGI or real?

100% real. A stuntman drove an AMC Hornet off a banked ramp at 40 mph and rotated 360 degrees in mid-air across a canal on the very first take. It's a genuine marvel of physics, though the director notoriously ruined the tension by adding a goofy slide-whistle sound effect.

The Man with the Golden Gun – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

The Man with the Golden Gun

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

movie1974

48%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Christopher Lee makes a killer villain, but even his golden gun can't save one of the slowest, crankiest, and most dated Roger Moore Bond movies.

6.7/10

40%

55%

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The Man with the Golden Gun

movie

PG, 1974

48%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Christopher Lee makes a killer villain, but even his golden gun can't save one of the slowest, crankiest, and most dated Roger Moore Bond movies.

6.7

40%

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6.7/10

40%

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Screenwise Verdict

Unless your family is committed to watching every single James Bond movie in order, skip this one. The Man with the Golden Gun sits near the bottom of the 25-film canon for good reason—it's a tonal mess that can't decide if it wants to be a gritty thriller or a broad slapstick comedy, and it fails at both.

The lone bright spot is Christopher Lee as Francisco Scaramanga, a hitman who charges a million dollars a shot and lives on a private island powered by stolen solar tech. Whenever Lee is on screen, the movie wakes up. The rest of the runtime is bogged down by bizarre detours, casual cruelty toward women, and 1970s pacing that feels glacial to anyone raised on modern action movies. If you want peak Roger Moore camp for a family movie night, put on The Spy Who Loved Me instead.

Age Fit

Fine around 11 or 12 for kids doing a full 007 marathon, though the PG rating reflects 1974 standards. Most modern kids will be far more bothered by the sluggish pacing than the bloodless gunfights.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

This is one of the meanest Roger Moore Bond films, featuring Bond slapping and twisting the arm of a mistress, treating his assistant like a clueless prop, and enduring obnoxious comic relief from a racist sheriff character.

Imaginative

Scaramanga's funhouse island maze, the assemble-on-the-fly golden gun, and a legendary practical corkscrew car stunt show flashes of classic spy creativity, even if the broader plot drags.

Safe

Standard 1970s PG spy fare: bloodless gunfights, martial arts brawls, women in bikinis, and dated sexual innuendo, though the casual domestic violence from the hero catches modern viewers off guard.

Enriching

Aside from Christopher Lee's magnetic screen presence and a neat practical car jump, it offers very little substance and is widely considered a low point for the 007 franchise.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Christopher Lee is magnetic. Playing the million-dollar assassin Francisco Scaramanga, Lee brings genuine menace and gentlemanly charisma that outclasses everything else in the movie.
The Golden Gun gadgetry. Kids who love spy gear will get a kick out of how Scaramanga's weapon assembles out of a fountain pen, a cigarette lighter, a cufflink, and a cigarette case.
A legendary practical car stunt. The movie features a real stuntman launching an AMC Hornet off a twisted ramp into a full 360-degree mid-air corkscrew over a canal—until the filmmakers ruin the moment by playing a cartoon slide-whistle sound effect over it.

⚠

What to Watch For

Bond hits a woman. Trying to make Roger Moore act tough like Sean Connery, the script has Bond slap Scaramanga's mistress Andrea Anders and twist her arm until she gives up information. It plays terribly.
Mary Goodnight is written as a punchline. Bond's fellow MI6 agent spends half the movie in a bikini and accidentally locks herself in a car trunk and a closet while bumping into a laser beam switch with her backside.
Sheriff J.W. Pepper returns. The loud, bigoted Louisiana sheriff from Live and Let Die inexplicably shows up on vacation in Thailand to yell at locals and riding shotgun during the big car chase.

Conversation Starters

"Why do you think the movie put a goofy slide-whistle sound over one of the coolest real-life car stunts ever filmed?"
"Scaramanga says he and Bond are basically in the same line of work—do you think the movie actually makes a good case that Bond is any different?"
"If you were introducing someone to classic spy movies, what stuff from 1974 feels fun and retro, and what stuff just feels gross now?"

Deep Dive

The Roger Moore identity crisis

In 1974, the Bond producers were still figuring out how to write for Roger Moore. Instead of leaning into the charming, raised-eyebrow lightness that eventually defined his run, The Man with the Golden Gun tries to force him into Sean Connery's hard-boiled shoes. It doesn't fit.

Watching Moore threaten to break a woman's arm or shove a kid off his boat in Bangkok feels jarring, especially when the very next scene features a martial arts school brawl played for slapstick laughs or a return appearance by Clifton James as the shouting, redneck Sheriff J.W. Pepper.

What still works (and how to watch it)

If you have a kid going through a spy phase or discovering the Bond catalog through video games like GoldenEye, there are three specific sequences worth fast-forwarding to:

The opening funhouse duel: Scaramanga's private training maze—complete with mannequins, mirrors, and his sidekick Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) pulling the levers—sets up a great cat-and-mouse premise.
The Astro-Spiral car jump: Performed in a single take by stunt driver Loren "Bumps" Willert and modeled using early Cornell University computer simulations, it remains one of the greatest practical stunts in cinema history. Just warn your kid about the slide whistle.
The dinner table debate: Bond and Scaramanga sitting down for lunch before their final duel is classic spy theater, carried entirely by Christopher Lee (who was actual step-cousins with Bond creator Ian Fleming and had real WWII special forces experience).

For a classic 007 night that actually holds a modern kid's attention without the nasty gender politics, jump ahead three years to The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) or jump forward to Pierce Brosnan's GoldenEye (1995).