The Man With The Golden Gun, Roger Moore's second outing as James Bond, is no one's favorite film in the Bond movie series. It's tonal whiplash and less than pleasant portrayal of the famous spy turned many fans off, with the film's low box office nearly killing the film series.
Ian Fleming's novel is a similar, if wildly more grounded experience. With that being said, there is a massive, sad difference between the two. While the film's creative issues were probably due to it being rushed, the novel has a more drastic, fairly understandable reason for being a bit hazy.
Ian Fleming's Death
Ian Fleming was not a healthy man when he wrote The Man With The Golden Gun, with the novel being his final novel. According to reports, he turned in his first draft, which he apparently was less than happy with. Not long afterward, Fleming sadly passed away.
The movie was rushed to capture the dwindling martial arts fad, similarly to how Live And Let Die, Moore's first Bond movie, was created to capitalize on the blaxploitation craze. So the movie's shortcomings come from its rushed nature as opposed to the unavoidable occurrence that led to the book's flaws.
Bond Tries To Murder M
The previous novel, You Only Live Twice, ended with a presumed dead Bond going over to Russia to investigate a crisis, which ended that novel on a cliffhanger. The novel opens with Bond, having been brainwashed by those dastardly Russians, being sent to MI6 to kill M. Alas, Mr. Fleming wasn't a very progressive individual...nor was he overly subtle.
Bond does come close, but ends up being incapacitated and sent on a mission by M to snap him out of his funk. While Bond may want to kill the far more harsh M that features in the movie, he never actually attempts the deed.
Nick Nack Is Absent
Hervé Villechaize's Nick Nack, main villain Francisco Scaramanga's heavy in the movie, is somewhat part of the main problem with The Man With The Golden Gun. Though the character could be seen as a poster child for the tonal issues with the film, Villechaize's talents and big personality have earned the character a special place in the hearts of 007 fans.
Nick Nack was an inclusion of the screenwriters as the character makes no appearance in the novel. In the novel, Scaramanga surrounds himself with quite a few nefarious people, but none of them are really his main henchman.
Other Added Characters
Along with Nick Nack, characters like Hip, Colthorpe, and Sheriff J.W. Pepper were added to the film. However, the biggest addition is Scaramanga's doomed girlfriend Andrea Anders, who is another example of The Man With The Golden Gun's tonal whiplash.
While the book features none of these characters, Felix Leiter makes an appearance towards the end. It remains unknown as to why Leiter didn't appear in the movie itself, with it being a weird little change that stands out to anyone who reads the book after watching the movie.
Francisco Scaramanga Is Rather Different
Francisco Scaramanga, played by Christopher Lee, is the best thing about the movie. Serving as a dark reflection of James Bond, Lee's performance as Scaramanga earned the character a place in many lists of best James Bond villains. That said, the novel showcases a very different version of the character.
The novel portrays Scaramanga as more of a hired gun, with a bit less of the menace that Lee delivered in spades. While his backstory is more or less the same, Scaramanga is of Spanish ancestry and is also implied to be homosexual.
Goodnight Had Appeared Prior
Britt Ekland's Mary Goodnight is seen by many as the single worst Bond Girl. Her bumbling nature and lack of agency has rubbed many fans the wrong way, with the character's writing further emphasizing that the Bond producers were simply going for sex appeal.
While Goodnight is a similar character in the book, what's interesting is that she had appeared in some of the preceding books. Fleming featured the character as 007's personal secretary in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice. The character would also appear in the later Jeffery Deaver novel Carte Blanche.
Scaramanga's Plan Is Less Outlandish
In the film, Scaramanga and Nick Nack get their hands on a Solex agitator, which he intends to sell to the highest bidder. While the use of the agitator is ridiculous, Scaramanga's desire for profit is somewhat similar to what happens in the novel.
The novel sees Bond sent to kill Scaramanga for the murder of several MI6 operatives. It is later revealed that Scaramanga is planning a small criminal empire, by jacking up The Caribbean's sugar prices, along with some other nefarious deeds such as drug smuggling and prostitution.
Bond Becomes Scaramanga's Personal Assistant
In a rather bizarre move, once Bond tracks down Francisco Scaramanga, the hitman takes a liking to 007 and hires him as his temporary assistant. As utterly banana bread as that sounds, this wasn't the first time Fleming had Bond pose as a paperwork filer.
In Goldfinger, Bond manages to get out of the infamous torture scene by offering to work as Auric Goldfinger's secretary, which also works. This does not happen in the movie, as Scaramanga is at Bond's throat throughout the film's runtime, and vice versa.
The Final Showdown
In both novel and film, Bond's final confrontation with Scaramanga is quite abrupt and flaccid, though the novel does it a little better. In the movie, Scaramanga challenges Bond to a duel and after a chase through Scaramanga's funhouse, Bond shoots Scaramanga, putting him down pretty swiftly.
The novel actually sees Bond shoot Scaramanga, only for Scaramanga to run into a swamp in Jamaica. Bond follows him into the bog, with the two sharing a brief moment of understanding before shooting each other, with Scaramanga's wound proving far more fatal.
Bond Is Nearly Knighted
In the novel's climax, 007 is recovering in a nearby hospital with Goodnight by his side, when news comes down that plans have been put in place to honor him with a knighthood. Bond turns this honor down, which is in character for the page version of Bond, and trades such a big life change for fleeting sex with Goodnight.
The film ends more traditionally. Scaramanga is killed, the evil lair is blown up, Nick Nack is incapacitated, and Bond ignores a phone call from M in favor of a lovemaking session with Goodnight. A less intriguing, more traditional finale for the Bond films, but both end in a similar fashion.