The Man With the Golden Gun

It's not an insult to call this middling James Bond outing one of the tamest movies in the Hervé Villechaize filmography—even if it got the 3'11" actor his gig on Fantasy Island. His resume included indescribable whatsits such as Oliver Stone's horror debut Seizure, the (literally) underground musical Forbidden Zone and the religious allegory Greaser's Palace directed by Robert Downey (a prince). Here he's basically playing Mini-Me to Christopher Lee's Dr. Evil, an assassin who means to put a gleaming slug in 007 (Roger Moore). Along with the leering title (keep your hands to yourself, Goldfinger!), you get Bond girls Britt Ekland and Maud Adams and the inexplicable return of Live and Let Die's redneck shurf J.W. Pepper (Clifton James). Next week: one of the best films in the entire series: 1977';s The Spy Who Loved Me.
Sat., Aug. 23; Sun., Aug. 24; Mon., Aug. 25, 2008