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(James Bond 007) - Golden Gun
The Golden Gun is a fictional handgun that first appeared as the signature weapon of the infamous assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) in the film The Man with the Golden Gun as a replacement for his weapon of choice in the novel, which was a gold-plated Colt Single Action Army. Though it would be mechanically possible to fabricate a single shot weapon that looked identical to the version shown in the movie, the actual Golden Gun was a prop.
Three props were created by special effects expert John Stears: the first, referred to by the crew as the "gimmick gun," was used mainly in scenes where Scaramanga is assembling the weapon. Most other scenes of the gun being handled used a "stunt gun" which could not come apart, to avoid any potential damage to the more delicate and expensive version, while a third version was built for firing scenes which could fire percussion caps. The props were fabricated by John Stears from parts manufactured by Colibri Lighters of London, England - a company famous for its high-end cigarette lighters - and Waterman pens of Paris.
In the movie, the components of the weapon are carried by Scaramanga at all times save when he is partaking in a duel with another professional killer, disguised as a series of apparently innocuous items. The "gimmick gun" is made from four major components, largest of which is a cigarette case which forms the grip and trigger group and opens to reveal a locking mechanism. The cigarette lighter features a slide-out section in its base, while the lid is used as the loading port and (in fiction) to cock the hammer. A pen with a removable end cap covering a threaded base screws into the lighter to form the barrel. Finally, a cufflink screws into the underside of the trigger group to form the trigger itself. The bullets are stored in Scaramanga's belt buckle.
The seperate parts of the gun are not sections of the prop weapon in scenes where Scaramanga uses them normally; the cigarette case and lighter are replaced with their commercially available equivalents (both prop parts being modified from existing Colibri products), as the cigarette case top is blanked off by the locking mechanism and the lighter is gutted of all internal parts to make room for the sliding section. The prop's trigger does not function as a cufflink, and Christopher Lee wore a set of real cufflinks as part of his costume which were made to resemble the prop gun's trigger. The hollow prop barrel was rather obviously useless for writing, and was as above replaced with a real Waterman fountain pen.
The assembled gun is a single-shot, breech-loading pistol; Scaramanga would typically only use a single bullet for each hit, as he was famous for always hitting his mark. In the film it is said to fire made-to-order 4.2mm rounds with 20 gram (~308 grain) gold-nickel bullets. While this may seem unreasonably heavy, gold is almost twice as dense as lead, and 20 grams equates to just over one cubic centimetre of gold. The bullets actually shown in the movie are .25 ACP or .32 ACP cases fitted with pointed rifle bullets.
The Colibri Lighters Golden Gun has appeared in the following:
Films
- The Man with the Golden Gun - Used by Christopher Lee
Video Games
- GoldenEye 64 - Available in multiplayer, one single-player mission, and can be earned or unlocked for all single-player missions.
- GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
- The World Is Not Enough
- Agent Under Fire - Appears as a golden Desert Eagle, but still only holds one shot. Multiplayer only.
- NightFire - Multiplayer only
- Everything or Nothing - Must be earned for single player. Unlike most other appearances, it takes more than one shot to kill an enemy (excluding headshots).
- From Russia with Love - Appears as a golden version of the double-action Magnum revolver. Possibly a nod to the novel. Multiplayer only.
- GoldenEye 2010