The James Bond Bedside Companion (47 page)

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is an Ian Fleming masterpiece. It's also an incredibly appropriate final work with its exploration of attitudes toward death and rebirth—Bond comes to terms with death and begins a personal voyage of rediscovery and re-evaluation which should lead to a new James Bond, able to reaffirm the value of life.

T
he last James Bond novel by Ian Fleming is a major disappointment and is the weakest book in the series. It is not the author's fault. He died before he could revise, polish, and add the rich detail he always incorporated after he had completed the first draft. Glidrose Productions finished the book for him, and released it posthumously in 1965. Likewise, Glidrose cannot be blamed for the weak book; they were obligated to publish the book because Fleming's fans were entitled to learn what happens to their hero, since YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE ends with a cliffhanger. The series simply couldn't end with James Bond waltzing off to Russia with no idea who he was! But sadly, the novel is extremely sketchy; it lacks detail, suspense, an adequate villain, an adequate girl, and an adequate plot. Only a couple of passages capture the excitement and thrills one expects from the series.

The story opens with James Bond arriving in London after being found in Vladivostock. Bond was brainwashed there, and is now requesting permission to see M. Once alone in the familiar office, 007 attempts to assassinate his chief, but the ever-ready M presses a button on his chair and a bullet-proof glass sheet falls in front of the desk from a slit in the ceiling. After six months of "de-brainwashing," Bond is himself again and ready to tackle his latest assignment. A certain "Pistols" Scaramanga, a freelance assassin under KGB control in Cuba, the Caribbean, and Central America, has been responsible for the deaths of many Secret Service men. Scaramanga is known as The Man With the Golden Gun because he uses a gold-plated Colt .45. Bond is sent to Jamaica to find him and terminate his activities. Through a lead found at the airport, Bond locates Scaramanga at a house of prostitution. There, Bond introduces himself as Mark Hazard, and strikes up a conversation with the killer. Scaramanga is impressed with Hazard, and offers him a job for the weekend as bodyguard at a conference at his hotel. The conference is a hoods' convention. As time goes by, Bond learns that Scaramanga's group is responsible for the recent sugarcane fires which will benefit Castro's regime; that the KGB is involved with the Group; that the Group is planning extensive drug smuggling into America; that they plan to sabotage Jamaica's bauxite industry; and that Bond's identity has been discovered. Later, a gun battle erupts on a train ride after Scaramanga fools Bond into believing that heroine Mary Goodnight is tied to the railroad tracks ahead. But Felix Leiter, who has been hiding on the train, wounds Scaramanga. Bond, Leiter, and Scaramanga jump from the train before it is derailed by an explosion prepared earlier by Leiter. Bond locates Scaramanga lying in a swamp, where they have a final duel.

STYLE AND THEMES

T
HE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is a short novel (only sixteen chapters), but each chapter is fairly dense with
material. The story begins with a bang: James Bond has been brainwashed by the KGB and sent to assassinate M. After this terrific and unusual opening, the novel reverts to a familiar formula: a dossier on the villain (Scaramanga) is presented; Bond is sent after the adversary; a flashback explains the events which lead Bond to the villain; and Bond finally establishes contact with Scaramanga.

The Fleming Sweep, thankfully, is intact. This is one stylistic element that was inherent in Fleming's first drafts. The novel is never boring; it moves just as quickly as the others. But sometimes it moves too quickly. The opening two chapters, which deal with the assassination attempt on M, are over far too soon. It's almost as if this sequence were tacked on after the main story had been written. The explanation in Chapter 4 that reveals how Bond recovered from his ordeal with psychiatrists and the de-brainwashing procedure is not satisfactory. It might have been far more interesting had the author illustrated the procedure in one or two additional chapters. To say, "after six months Bond was cured," excludes the reader from an important part of the story.

But, the opening assassination attempt does begin the novel explosively; in fact, the book never quite regains this energy level. It is certainly an offbeat opening, and had Fleming been able to flesh it out fully, it might have been one of the best novels of the series.

Several key elements are missing from THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN—not only the rich detail and descriptions that were always worked into the second draft, but also that distinctive inner voice of the author which permeates the other novels. For once, it doesn't seem as if one is experiencing Fleming's world through Bond, as is usually the case. This time, the narrative voice speaks more often in the third person. Gone is the identification with the character which succeeded in giving Bond the well-rounded traits that had become so familiar. The novel is simply too stiff; it comes off as what it is—a first draft.

Another curious aspect of the novel is its use of cruder language and more violent deaths. Vulgarities are used for the first time in a Fleming novel (e.g., "screwing"), and the descriptions of the shootout on the train are overly gory. One wonders if this is Fleming's writing or Glidrose Productions' embellishments.

Many critics complained that the story contained several reworkings of old devices. For example, The Group (the shareholders) having a weekend conference is a
direct steal from the hoods' congress
in GOLDFINGER. The train sequence, although much more exciting here, is a reworking of the railroad scene in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. The plot is too thin: Bond poses as Mark Hazard, who is inspecting the sugar cane fires. Scaramanga is impressed with Hazard's bravado and offers him a job as his bodyguard for the conference. This is unbelievable, considering Scaramanga is the highest paid assassin in the Western Hemisphere—why should he even
need
a bodyguard? And how did he happen to be stupid enough to hire Felix Leiter and Nick Nicholson as hotel managers? There are a few moments in the novel that promise to lead to something original but never pan out For example, it is revealed that Scaramanga has a third nipple as a distinguishing mark. Nothing is ever made of this. We are also told that Scaramanga is sexually impotent, which is one reason why he releases his frustrations by murdering people. Again, nothing is ever made of this. And finally, the moment in which Bond removes a bullet from Scaramanga's gun promises a tense scene to come, presumably involving a showdown between Bond and Scaramanga. But it never occurs. Scaramanga carelessly fires the empty chamber into the air at the train station. The only result is Bond's amusement at Scaramanga's confusion. This device could have been used more deftly in the actual final showdown between Bond and the villain.

The gambling theme is present again. Bond constantly takes chances throughout the story. He pretends he is someone he's not and risks being discovered several times. Even when Bond learns that Hendriks and Scaramanga know his true identity, Bond keeps up the gamble and decides to wait and see what happens. He even overhears their plot to kill him on the train ride. But Bond, almost enthusiastically, tags along to discover how they plan to murder him.

Bond was told to get in the back of the car. They set off. Once again that offered neck! Crazy not to take him now! But it was open country with no cover and there were five guns riding behind. The odds simply weren't good enough. What was the plan for his removal? During the "hunting" presumably. James Bond smiled grimly to himself. He was feeling happy. He wouldn't have been able to explain the emotion. It was a feeling of being keyed up, wound taut. It was the moment, after twenty passes, when you got a hand you could bet on—not necessarily win, but bet on. He had been after this man for over six weeks. Today, this morning perhaps, was to come the payoff he had been ordered to bring about It was win or lose. The odds? Foreknowledge was playing for him.

(THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, Chapter 13)

Other gambles include Bond removing the bullet from Scaramanga's gun; his allowing Mary Goodnight to enter his hotel room despite the danger of being discovered; and the blowing of his cover when the train is about to run over the mannequin tied to the railroad tracks (whom he believes to be Mary).

CHARACTERS

J
ames Bond is robotlike in this novel. He's simply not the same man as in the previous books. Is this because Fleming was unable to finish the novel, or was it the author's intention to make Bond a "new man" since his ordeal with amnesia and brainwashing? If the latter is the case, the experiment does not work. Bond, in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, has lost the sense of humor he gained in the preceding books; he is colder, more emotionless than he has been of late (it's almost as if he's been thrown back to the Bond of CASINO ROYALE); and he is, in general, simply carrying out the action of the plot with no feelings one way or the other toward his mission. He does, however, have a moment of doubt when he is face to face with Scaramanga at the novel's end. Scaramanga is lying wounded in the swamp, supposedly helpless, as Bond prepares to execute him in cold blood. But Bond has trouble carrying out his assignment. Bond has always had trouble killing in cold blood, and in this instance, the prospect of doing so impedes his reflexes and better judgment. This hesitation proves to be near fatal for Bond.

Another interesting revelation about Bond's character, which hasn't been discussed before, is his feeling toward his Scottish heritage. When the prime minister offers to grant Bond a knighthood, Bond refuses on the grounds that he "is a Scottish peasant, and will always be a Scottish peasant." The image of being Sir James Bond is not attractive to the agent at all. Fleming seems to be going to great pains to emphasize that Bond is only a civil servant doing his duty, and that the glory and glamor of the job is a secondary benefit (or nuisance).

"Pistols" Scaramanga is hardly adequate for a Bond villain. He's a second-rate, small-time crook who happens to have gotten lucky with his shooting. After making a reputation for himself in the Caribbean as a crack-shot assassin, Scaramanga has become a cocky, egotistical hood
who thinks
he's better than he really is. Scaramanga, in fact, is very low in intelligence. All the other Bond villains are extremely intelligent, if somewhat mad, individuals. A Bond villain with no brains is no villain at all; hence, Scaramanga is more a henchman, comparable to Oddjob or Wint or Kidd, than an interesting adversary.

A major fault in the novel is that Scaramanga's prowess with a gun is never demonstrated. We are told that Scaramanga is a deadly shot. But the only instances in which he uses the gun are to shoot two birds, a defenseless hood during a meeting, and a few animals. From Scaramanga's dossier, one comes to expect some kind of classic gunfight between Bond and the villain, but it never happens. The duel in the swamp is flawed because Scaramanga is lying on his back, wounded. His hidden derringer ploy is too predictable to satisfy the promises the novel makes early on.

Felix Leiter seems to be the same old amiable character. Although there is no traditional drinking scene between Bond and Felix (a disappointing first), the sequences in which the Texan appears are good. As usual, Leiter pops up in the nick of time at the novel's end, clearing the way for Bond to clean up the business at hand. And again, as usual, Leiter is hurt and can't participate in the final battle. Leiter escapes this adventure by breaking his one good leg, and reveals somewhat mixed feelings as he leaves the hospital on crutches. He tells Mary Goodnight:

"Okay, Miss Goodnight. Tell matron to take him off the danger list. And tell him to keep away from me for a week or two. Every time I see him a piece of me gets broken off. I don't fancy myself as The Vanishing Man." Again he raised his only hand in Bond's direction and limped out.

(THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, Chapter 15)

But generally, Leiter's appearances provide the usual breath of fresh air.

Mary Goodnight hardly qualifies as a Bond heroine since her appearances in the story are so brief and inconsequential. She has nothing to do with the plot, and seems to have been included as an afterthought. It is nice to know that she still exists, after the building up of her character in the previous two novels. (It's a little odd that she began her role in the series with dark hair and ends it with blonde.) But her eagerness to help and her bubbly manner (her only defined characteristics) do add a little brightness to an otherwise stale story.

Some new information about M is revealed in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. It is learned that M is Sir Miles Messervy, for one thing. One curious aspect is the compassion M shows Bond after the foiled assassination attempt. This seems entirely out of character for M and is almost unbelievable. It is more likely that if an agent had just attempted to murder him, the old chief would immediately terminate the agent's employment, as well as press charges. After all, M was ready to fire Bond at the beginning of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE because the agent had adopted a few bad habits since the death of Tracy. Now, with Bond an ever greater security risk, M is content with de-brainwashing Bond with the help of Sir James Molony, and immediately placing the agent back into the system with a tough assignment. M's reacceptance of Bond is sudden, and like the rest of the assassination sequence, too hurried.