Francisco Scaramanga

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The Man with the Golden Gun
created by author Ian Fleming (1965)
film (1974)

In the film, Francisco is a top-paid assassin, one of the best in the world, charging one million dollars per kill, and known as "The man with the golden gun", after his weapon of choice. All of his dealings go through his henchman Nick Nack, allowing Scaramanga to remain anonymous.

Scaramanga was born a British national in a traveling circus. His father a ringmaster, a former Cuban national and his mother was the snake charmer. By the age of 10, he was trick-shot pistol marksman for the circus. At age 15, he became an international assassin-for-hire. He was recruited by the KGB in Brazil and trained in Eastern Europe where for many years he was basically just another overworked and underpaid assassin. He quit the KGB in the late 1950s, becoming an independent hitman-for hire. No photographs of him exist, but he has unusual anatomy: a third nipple.

Scaramanga lives very well, drawing from the exorbitant sums of money he charges to carry out his assassinations, and has built his home on his own personal island off the coast of south-eastern China. The island utilizes many aspects of modern technology, including its own self-sufficient solar power plant. In addition to the power plant, Scaramanga's home includes a sort of a funhouse, where Scaramanga and his foes duel to the death. Nick Nack has a habit of hiring these other assassins to kill Scaramanga as a sort of challenge, or perhaps to just keep him on his toes. In addition, Scaramanga also has a private junk.

Scaramanga also uses some of his wealth to finance research and development technologies including a car that transforms into an aircraft and a solar-powered laser cannon.

Scaramanga was hired by Hai-Fat to assassinate a British scientist named Gibson, thought to be in possession of solar energy information and technology crucial to solving the energy crisis. Gibson is assassinated and his invention, the solex agitator, is stolen from the crime scene by Nick Nack.

Scaramanga kills Hai-Fat and keeps the device for himself. With it in his possession, it allows for him to sell the device to the highest criminal bidder or use it to power his personal solar energy cannon.

Bond and Scaramanga encounter a final duel to test his skills against the famed James Bond, whom he regards as the only man capable of being his equal. Besides the profit and/or power the solex agitator can give him, Scaramanga's scheme in acquiring the device is also intended to lure Bond to his private island.

After taking Bond's assistant, Goodnight hostage, Scaramanga lures Bond to his island. Scaramanga gives him a tour a tour of the island and at lunch with Goodnight and Scaramanga, Bond presses his luck which provokes him and Scaramanga into the duel. Once in the funhouse, Bond takes the place of a dummy "James Bond" and tricks Scaramanga. Before he could react, Scaramanga is shot in the heart and killed.

In the novel, Francisco Scaramanga's early life is similar accept he is of Spanish Catalan origin. When a circus elephant he cared for went on a rampage, Scaramanga witnessed a policeman kill him, the enraged boy retaliated and killed the police officer. He then made his way to the United States, where he found employment as an enforcer for the Spangled Mob.

Eventually Bond catches up with Scaramanga in Jamaica, where Bond pretends to be a freelance security officer, and Scaramanga hires him to guard an upcoming meeting of gangsters. During the meeting, a KGB officer blows Bond's cover, subsequently pitting Scaramanga and Bond in a shootout. Bond wounds Scaramanga, but before he can finish the gunman off, Scaramanga shoots Bond with a poisoned bullet from his backup weapon, a golden Derringer. Bond returns fire, killing Scaramanga instantly; soon thereafter, a policeman finds the nearly dead Bond in time to save him.

Scaramanga is also described as a latent homosexual.

SUMMARY

ARCH RIVAL :	James Bond.
STRENGTHS :	Scaramanga demonstrates his skill as a marksman to Bond by using a revolver to shoot the cork off a bottle of champagne from long range. He is one of the best assassins in the world.
WEAKNESSES :	Can be recognized by his third nipple.
WEAPONS :	His weapon in the novel is a gold-plated .45-calibre revolver. However, in the film, it was a single-shot weapon that fires a custom-made 4.2-millimeter golden dum-dum bullet. The movie gun could be disassembled and its components disguised as a fountain pen (the barrel), a cigarette lighter (the trigger mechanism), and a cigarette case (the grip and breech mechanism), all gold-plated.
QUOTE :	"The Secret is success, Mister Bond!"