05 Francisco Scaramanga
On the page: The Man with the Golden Gun (1965).
Scaramanga’s file describes a man of about thirty-five, 6 ft 3 in tall and slim, with reddish crew-cut hair, light-brown eyes, long sideburns and a thin pencil moustache. The third nipple is literary, not a novelty invented for Christopher Lee. So is the golden weapon, although Fleming specifies a gold-plated Colt .45 single-action revolver rather than the film’s assembled pistol. [12, 13]
On screen: Christopher Lee in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). [14]
Lee’s height and composure preserve something essential about the threat, but his dark-haired elegance gives it a different finish. His Scaramanga looks like a man who might discuss murder over a particularly civilised lunch. The book’s criminal milieu is rougher and more commercially grubby.
The setting is decisive. The novel’s Jamaican hotel venture belongs to a world of gangsters, speculative development and violence. The film supplies an island retreat, a theatrical shooting arena and an energy-related scheme. [12, 14] Giving the literary portrait the film’s scenery would change its meaning even if the face and revolver were correct.
Fleming also gives Scaramanga a circus past. As a teenage trick shot, he kills a policeman after the death of a beloved performing elephant. [13] It is a peculiar origin for a professional assassin, connecting showmanship and lethal precision. In an effective portrait, the weapon should seem familiar in his hand rather than displayed as an expensive souvenir.
