Trivia
(The Man With The Golden Gun)

Scaramanga's distinctive island hideaway was shot on the island of Khow-Ping-Khan, one of a cluster of islands near Phuket off the Malay peninsula. It would be used again in Tomorrow Never Dies [1997], by which time locals had taken to referring to it as James Bond Island.

That jaw dropping spiral roll - technically known as a Javelin Jump - was inspired by a similar stunt being performed by the American Motors stunt team at the time the film was being prepared. The stunt had originally been devised and refined by a group of university students using computers to plot the speed and angle of take off. The car, a 1974 Hornet X, had to be specially modified, equipped with a lightweight six cylinder engine, a centered steering wheel and a custom built fuel injection system to prevent the engine cutting out when the car was upside down. Though American Motors experienced a few difficulties during their tour, the Bond stunt was done in one take.

During June 1974, while on location in Thailand, Roger Moore found a cave full of bats. He couldn't resist seeking out Christopher Lee, telling him what he had found and joking "Master, they are yours to command!"

The Golden Gun wielded by Scaramanga was made up from a Waterman fountain pen, a Colibri cigarette lighter, a cigarette case and a cufflink. In 1997, Eon allowed the prop to be used in an exhibition and had it insured for £6,500.

Speaking to Robert Osborne of The Hollywood Reporter [12 April 1982], Broccoli noted that "I can't say there is a single [Bond film] I'd like to completely redo if I had the chance, although there are parts of The Man With the Golden Gun I'd change."

Two scenes written by Richard Maibaum were either eliminated or shortened before filming began:

• The first had Q at Hong Kong airport trying to persuade Bond to use a gadget-laden camera on his trip to Thailand and being forced to admit that the one thing it couldn't do was take photographs.
  
  
• The second set of changes were made to the climactic battle between Bond and Scaramanga which was originally planned to be much longer.

According the CD liner notes for Alice Cooper's Muscle of Love album, his track Man With the Golden Gun was set to be the theme song before the producers lost their bottle and got Lulu to do it instead.

The Man With the Golden Gun was the first of the Bond films to be shown at the Kremlin.