I don't understand why so many think Lee is a good villain.

A lot of people say that, that that Scaramanga is one of the best villains in the series, but I don't understand why. Lee is not a a bad actor, or gives a bad performance at all, but I feel the script, didn't really give him a lot of good material to work with, aside from a couple of scenes with Maud Adams, where he is diabolical, but that's about it really. So I don't see why he is considered to be one of the best villains like many say, unless I am missing something?

He had 3 nipples, that beats out any of Craig's villains.

Lee was a great actor. Anyone else and Scaramanga would look like a Carry On character. As it is, he does his best with the script, with the tools available and pushes it up. Thus he's a good villain. Dare suggest like McDiarmid in Star Wars Episode III. You end up enjoying his turn in the film despite the crud surrounding him.

It's his charm mixed with the menace for me. Not much of an answer I know but...because it's Christopher Lee.

Hilly wrote:

Lee was a great actor. Anyone else and Scaramanga would look like a Carry On character. As it is, he does his best with the script, with the tools available and pushes it up. Thus he's a good villain. Dare suggest like McDiarmid in Star Wars Episode III. You end up enjoying his turn in the film despite the crud surrounding him.

Lee has a commanding presence. The fact one is willing to like a hitman speaks volumes of the actor's charisma and his work in creating a human out of the antagonist.

Charm and menace. He was good at mixing those -

You can see him having the time of his life because he isn't having to do the Dracula thing. TMWTGG and Private Life of Sherlock Holmes are the peak of his onscreen appearances because of this.

Scaramanga in the film has such a charm, sophistication and zest for life that you can't help but like the fellow and it's a shame that he has to be killed in the end. None of this is in the novel except in flashes of his more human side beneath the gangster. Lee really nails down this innate soul of the character so that in spite of not being in the film much or having much to do-every last moment counts. In ways this is similar to Yaphet Kotto's sheer force of presence in his scenes as Kananga.

Every dialogue scene with Lee and Roger is stupendous and they are able to show off the Bond v his dark reflection notion extraordinarily well. Lee also gives the speech with the Fleming character backstory of the circus elephant astonishingly well.


But best of all for me is this combined with the humility and humor he gives Scaramanga's outward demeanor whilst underneath the man is far more animalistic and driven by impulses and the civility is merely a mask. Perhaps the best scene in the entire film is the moment when Scaramanga comes back into the junk's bedroom and silently interrogates Andrea with the point of his golden gun-combined with Barry's music cue the scene builds to the final reaction closeup of Scaramanga whose face is a multilayered tapestry of conflict, searching and lust.

Sarai wrote:

It's his charm mixed with the menace for me. Not much of an answer I know but...because it's Christopher Lee.

Wot I was going to say.

it's the little moments too like when Scaramanga shoots the champagne bottle and his reaction afterwards  ..it's almost cute, little boy like and as if he is excited the cool kid showed up to his party it really makes you forget just how deadly he is and whether that's just part of his personality or meant to disarm intentionally is difficult to tell.. just a great performance