FUN HOUSE

Contributed by: The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

Training ground for Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) in The Man with the Golden Gun. This atmospheric location, built inside his fabulous island home, comes complete with false doorways and exits, a mirror maze to confuse his opponents, and a shooting gallery in which wooden dummies fire back with live ammunition. To help keep his eyesight and reflexes at their sharpest levels, Scaramanga invites the world’s top guns to this maze, where they are at a distinct disadvantage. While Scaramanga stalks his targets, his associate Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize) controls the audio and visual elements of the fun house, which serve to further startle all visitors. Scaramanga’s challenge: to reach his own golden gun before exposing himself to his opponent’s firepower.

Rodney (Marc Lawrence), a slick syndicate hit man, is Scaramanga’s first victim, and Bond (Roger Moore) is nearly his second. A sign of Scaramanga’s respect for 007 is a wooden figure of 007 that stands in the midst of the maze. In the final shoot-out, Bond impersonates that figure and wins a gun duel with his ultimate nemesis.

The fun house set was designed by Peter Murton and built at Pinewood Studios. Setting the moody stage for these indoor gun duels is John Barry’s score—a definite plus in the film.

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