The man with the golden gun (novel)

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The man with the golden gun
Original title The Man with the Golden Gun
German title 007 James Bond and the Man with the Golden Gun
author Ian Fleming
Previous novel You only Live Twice

The Man with the Golden Gun is the twelfth and final novel in the James Bond series written by Ian Fleming . It was published in 1965, a year after Fleming's death, and filmed in 1974 with Roger Moore in the role of 007 .

action

A year after James Bond was missing during an assignment in Japan (see You Only Live Twice ) and was pronounced dead, he reappears with the secret service in London. His identity is in doubt, but careful verification confirms it. Because of some strange behavior on the part of Bond, M is advised not to see him, but he still does. James Bond claims to have been convinced of the opposing cause and tries to kill M with a cyanide pistol. M was prepared, however, so that a bulletproof glass pane that was let down at lightning speed prevented the assassination attempt and Bond could be overwhelmed.

It turns out that after losing his memory through the word Vladivostok , Bond remembered the Soviet Union, then traveled there and was immediately arrested and identified. In Leningrad, he was brainwashed into willingness to kill M. Neurologist Sir James Molony reverses the brainwashing with electric shocks, and James Bond is back in action. In order to be fully rehabilitated, he is supposed to kill Francisco "Pistol" Scaramanga. This is responsible for the death of several agents.

In Central America, Bond searches for Scaramanga. He briefly misses him a few times, but on his way to Havana during a stopover in Kingston he accidentally discovers a message for Scaramanga. From this and an advertisement in the newspaper, Bond can combine that Scaramanga will arrive in Kingston the next day. He went to the camouflaged office of the British secret service and met his former secretary Mary Goodnight. She was transferred there after Bond disappeared and has been missing her boss, Commander Ross, who was also looking for Scaramanga, for a few days.

The next day, Bond goes to the meeting point, which turns out to be a brothel, where Scaramanga is a customer. The two meet, and through Bond's self-confident demeanor, he learns that Scaramanga wants to meet up with business friends and still needs a bodyguard. He hires Bond. He has the opportunity to shoot Scaramanga, but his scruples prevent him from doing so.

The meeting takes place in a hotel that belongs to the business partners and is still under construction. The partners are senior mafia members and Mr. Hendriks, a senior KGB officer. He is Scaramanga's closest confidante. The hotel rooms are all bugged, but to Bond's surprise Felix Leiter is disguised as the hotel's accountant, which means he can tap into all the lines. Bond also overhears the conference, and so he learns that Ross was murdered by Scaramanga ten days ago and Hendriks knows about Bond's assignment. However, he has not yet recognized Bond. One of the gangsters, Ruby, wants to quit the conference because of financial difficulties and is shot in cold blood by Scaramanga.

At the evening party, Bond boasts of his shooting skills and shoots a pineapple off a dancer's head with Scaramanga's Colt. During the night, Mary Goodnight secretly enters Bond's room, but is caught by Scaramanga. You can talk your way out of it, but these two mistakes make Scaramanga suspicious.

The next day, Hendriks received a description from Bond over the phone, which revealed his cover. The gangsters continue to play the game, but Bond was able to overhear a conversation between Hendriks and Scaramanga, in which, among many other crimes, the liquidation of Bonds is discussed on the same day. This should happen during an excursion with the narrow-gauge railway. Mary Goodnight is suddenly tied up on the tracks, so that Bond has to reveal his true identity in the rescue attempt. There is a shootout in which Felix Leiter comes to his aid, who was hiding in the train. He had been hired by Scaramanga, who did not know Leiter's identity, to mine the nearest bridge and put Goodnight on the tracks. But Leiter only put one doll down. Bond, Leiter and Scaramanga can jump off the train in time for the explosion. All three are shot. It comes to a duel between Bond and Scaramanga, in which Bond again gets scruples. When he is shot by the apparently disarmed Scaramanga, Bond is able to shoot him thanks to his reflexes.

Bond lies unconscious in the hospital for a week, then the incident is cleared up at a meeting with the police director. The agents are awarded the police medal. Bond later receives an encrypted telegram from M proposing him for the title of Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George . Bond refuses. He justifies this to Mary Goodnight by saying that he does not want to be called Sir James Bond.

References to other James Bond novels

  • The events take place a year after You Only Live Twice , at the end of which James Bond loses his memory.
  • It is mentioned that Bond and Leiter last met three or four years ago.
  • In Jamaica, Bond gets the car from Strangways, with whom he worked in Live and Let Die and the one in Dr. No is killed.

Others

  • When Ian Fleming wrote this novel, the first film adaptations with the character of Q were already being made . The novel mentions that Mary Goodnight's evening gown was designed as a uniform with hidden death pills by the Q Department.
  • M's full name is mentioned: Admiral Sir Miles Messervy.
  • Bond reads the book Civil Courage by John F. Kennedy , who was murdered a year before Fleming's death. Since Kennedy described himself as a great lover of the Bond novels, the popularity of the novels rose sharply.
  • Fleming has Mary Goodnight say that Fidel Castro will probably not last much longer. Fleming felt that Castro should be got rid of as soon as possible.

literature

  • Ian Fleming: The Man with the Golden Gun . Cross Cult / Amigo Grafik, Ludwigsburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86425-094-1 .