| Goldfinger (1964) | |
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Rating: 7.7/10 (201,904 votes) Director: Guy Hamilton Writer: Richard Maibaum, Paul Dehn, Ian Fleming Stars: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman Runtime: 110 min Rated: PG Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller Released: 09 Jan 1965 |
| Plot: While investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve. | |
The pre-credit sequence to this third outing introduces us to another Bond-ism that has been emulated in many other films, and other media (including video games via the Metal Gear series). Bond, on a mission, wearing a wet-suit, completes his task of planting the bomb, swims away, and emerges, removing the wet-suit to reveal a perfectly tailored white tuxedo. Mingling with a party in progress, he has smartly given himself an alibi as the bomb detonates. A marvellous scene that rest high amongst the most iconic moments in Bond history. In fact, throughout the rest of Goldfinger we will encounter many more iconic moments, and this is perhaps why this film is the most beloved of the franchise to many. From the gold painted woman, to the first use of an Aston Martin (DB5), to that laser scene with the beloved phrase, “No Mr Bond, I expect you to die!” the whole film is packed with fan pleasing moments.
Connery, by this third film, is perfectly comfortable in the role, and the balance of sly wit to serious story is just right. The plot line is well considered, with Auric Goldfinger being one of the most iconic of villains, and a well-reasoned one at that. His plan for world-domination revolves purely around his love of gold, and he cleverly decides to irradiate the US reserve in order to cripple the economy, and ensure his personal stock of gold is worth much more, and also will allow the Chinese to benefit from the fall of the western economy. Naturally, as Bond works to discover the plan and stop it he encounters the usual array of henchmen, girls, and deadly death traps.
“What’s so special about them?”
“I’ve got a hole on one!”
In each case here we have perfectly iconic selections. The henchman is Oddjob, a Korean bodyguard with a razor ended bowler hat. The Bond girl is Honour Blackman’s Pussy Galore, whose reasons for working with Goldfinger are well reasoned. Then we have that death-trap, the laser beam working slowly towards Bond, a cunning play on the ages old buzz saw peril device which adds some high-tech gadgetry into the story. Speaking of which, gadgets are becoming more frequent by this point in the series, with the Aston Martin’s DB5 possessing an array of them for offence and defence purposes. Yet the balance is right, with the gadgets never overshadowing the characters at all.
This is the one Bond film that I have regularly re-watched through the years, and it is possibly the most perfect example of the series at its best. Thoroughly engaging, entertaining, and thrilling, if you only ever watch one Bond film, this should be the one.
