Maud Adams vs Olivia Hussey

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974); Romeo and Juliet (1968).

It’s been decided to kick on with another contest, rather than have the break for the launch preparations that I was talking about. The main Battle Royale can wait a little longer, in what will be an 18-month odyssey anyhow. Only 4 of these 64 characters will have a chance of getting all the way there, and they are all very keen to see who the next first round survivor will be. Well, it will be one of these two, for the right to fight Joan Collins in round two. It’s an intriguing one; mature sophistication versus teenage cockiness and impetuosity, but both of them extremely beautiful no doubt about that.

Bloody hell! Hussey has decided to compete naked! On she struts, at 15 years old having a lithe yet strikingly ‘complete’ body. Her Anglo-Argentinian extraction gives her a mesmerizing tanned sexiness, and it’s obvious that the audience of fellow actresses are giving a special applause for it; they know what this type of natural talent is, but also they’re appreciating her audacity whilst also giving off a smattering of quasi-parental foreboding for her. You see, this is her celebrated incarnation as Juliet, which caused such a stir in 1969, being aged 15 at the time of filming and actually looking the authentic part for that young lover like few others ever do in Shakespeare productions.

What a very different background Maud Adams brings, and gets a fair applause. Born in 1945, she was the brunette woman in The Man with the Golden Gun, who suffers her fate at the hands of the ‘gentleman psychopath’ Scaramanga. That stayed with me for years! Jeezus, he just shoots her through the heart, for the hell of it really – “a difficult shot, but very gratifying” – in a cold-blooded snipe. You just can’t do that to such a consummate, classy and good-natured woman, yet he did! Hats off to Christopher Lee, of course, for such a memorable – perhaps the best – portrayal of a Bond villain.

Andrea Anders (Maud) just wanted out, away from his evil clutches, a frightened and vulnerable beauty, but wound up assassinated for her ‘betrayal’, having not known what hit her. She did not deserve that. Perhaps she’ll fare better here; I certainly want to give her this chance. Or did she deserve it? It seems a common theme in life as well as fiction that beautiful women choose to be the lover of powerful, dark and dangerous men, for whatever reason. I do see an analogy, and identify somewhat with Scaramanga in this, although I sincerely hope I would never be as ruthless as he.

She’s exactly the type of woman I’d want in my orbit as King, breezing around in her dressing gown (or less). I’d want loyalty, I’d expect loyalty, but also I’d genuinely love her. The way he treated her can hardly be called love; I do not believe he knew the real meaning of the word. Remember the scene where he torments her with the pistol at her mouth? Maybe I read too deeply into these things, but I bet it symbolized something else he did with her on a routine basis. She was to return to the Bond franchise in Octopussy, a queenly 38 and still great, but she’s in her prime at 29 here.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if Ms Anders alias Maud Adams made it all the way, and she could get to explore life as a concubine where she is never badly treated or murdered? Certainly she’s taking this very seriously, walking on in a functional black Lycra outfit, perhaps looking a little intimidated at the sight of her bluff nubile opponent, or it could be a bit of regret about having to kill her. It won’t be so easy, though. Hussey is at least her equal in this, on account of her youth and precocity, putting most actresses the world over in the shade for natural talent, if ultimately not the versatility of her career.

Another reason she goes slightly down in my estimation (rated ‘2’) is because, as an old lady, she decided to attempt to sue (and failed) for the nude scenes in Romeo and Juliet. This was even though she’d spent her life saying it had never bothered her and that she felt perfectly professional about it at the time. I do not like that. It’s obvious to me she just wanted to get a pay day for her grandchildren. I think the audience is divided over her: some of those women would have sex with her quite frankly (I have my ideas who, take a look at the draw and guess), whereas others agreeing with her lawsuit would mother her, and some of the others a combination of both.

She’s pictured in her 20s below, just to avoid any more lawsuits.

Obviously, they were both brought here just before they died in their respective movies (one shot, the other suicide), so here goes...

The start is cautious, both of them taking up classic fencing stances and seeming to put fear to one side, just focusing on technique and eyeing every twitch the other makes. This is quite a surprise coming from young Olivia, whom we all felt might let emotion rule and just ‘go for it’. She even appears to psyche Maud into making the first move proper, which is a lunge for the teenager’s chest, but it is deflected efficiently. There’s a stylish clash of blades several times after this, which culminates in Olivia getting through the 29-year-old’s guard basically due to faster reflexes. It would have been a heart kill, but as it is it counts for set one: 6 games to 4. The youngster smiles, looking very eager and confident now, but Maud must have enough experience to know this is far from over.