Goldfinger (1964) United Artists/Action-Adventure RT: 110 minutes No MPAA Rating (mild language, violence, sexual innuendo) Director: Guy Hamilton Screenplay: Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn Music: John Barry Cinematography: Ted Moore Release date: September 18, 1964 (UK)/December 22, 1964 (US) Cast: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Frobe, Shirley Eaton, Tania Mallet, Harold Sakata, Bernard Lee, Martin Benson, Cec Linder, Austin Willis, Lois Maxwell, Bill Nagy, Desmond Llewelyn. Opening Song: “Goldfinger” by Shirley Bassey Box Office: $51M (US)
Rating: ****
Now the series has hit its stride! Goldfinger is the first James Bond movie I’d call awesome. The money men at United Artists upped the ante by another $1M when they gave the green light for producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli to proceed with the third Bond movie. They originally wanted to do On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but there wasn’t enough prep time to meet the September 1964 release date so they went with Goldfinger instead. How fortuitous for all involved. It turned out to be the first Bond film to achieve blockbuster status (in 1964 $$$).
After taking down a Latin American drug lord in the pre-credits sequence, Bond (Connery) is taking a much-needed vacation in Miami Beach when he’s contacted by M, through CIA friend Felix Leiter (Linder, Lolita), with a new assignment. He’s to observe and report on Auric Goldfinger (Frobe, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), a multimillionaire obsessed with gold. The suave spy recruits Goldfinger’s lovely female assistant Jill (Eaton, Ten Little Indians) to aide him in this endeavor. He ends up getting her killed. After a night of you-know-what, he finds her dead in his bed, covered head to toe with gold paint.
M (Lee), not happy about what went down in Miami, orders Bond to investigate Goldfinger, a suspected gold smuggler. He wants to know how he does it. Bond finds that out and a lot more. It turns out the rich guy has something big planned, something he calls “Operation Grand Slam”. It involves breaking into Fort Knox, the most secure gold bullion storage facility in the country. What Goldfinger has in mind is far more sinister than a simple robbery.
Goldfinger is one of the most memorable villains in the Bond canon and for good reasons. One, he’s a classic spy movie villain with his nefarious scheme to corner the world gold market. Two, he’s a cold-blooded killer as proven by how he deals with a disloyal employee. Three, he’s freaking Goldfinger! Get a load of the dialogue exchange while he has Bond strapped to a table about to be killed by a laser.
Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?”
Goldfinger: “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”
It’s still one of the greatest dialogue exchanges in film history.
Now we can’t talk about Goldfinger without talking about his manservant and main henchman Oddjob (Sakata, Mako: The Jaws of Death). He’s a walking lethal weapon, that indestructible behemoth of a man. His preferred tool of the trade is a steel-rimmed bowler hat that he throws at his targets. YES! This is classic Bond stuff!
He’s not the only memorable character in Goldfinger. Let’s not forget about Pussy Galore (Blackman, Jason and the Argonauts), the leader of an all-female squadron of pilots working for Goldfinger. She’s integral to his evil plan. Her loyalty to the cause, of course, will be tested by Bond and his charming ways with women.
Have you noticed something different about Goldfinger? This time, SPECTRE isn’t involved. I guess even criminal organizations and the masterminds running them need a break. With or without them, Bond is up to his neck in trouble as he gets into one deadly situation after another. At one point, he has only seconds to disarm the explosive device he’s been handcuffed to. I know, it’s a total cliché, but it still works sometimes.
Now let’s get to one of the biggest firsts in the series. Goldfinger is the one where Q (Llewelyn) presents Bond with his trademark, tricked out ride, an Aston-Martin equipped with all sorts of neat features like machine guns, tire slashers, revolving license plates, smoke/oil slick delivery systems and an ejector passenger seat. Where can I get one of those?
Connery keeps getting better and better in the main role. Blackman is one of the best Bond girl and it’s not just the name Pussy Galore although it admittedly helps a little. Frobe is awesome as Goldfinger, the quintessential Bond villain. Sakata, a former wrestler, does a lot in a role without a single word of dialogue.
Goldfinger is so action-packed, the 110 minutes just fly by. It’s quite possibly one of the most perfect spy movies ever made. The plot is silly, but is it really any sillier than the other Bond movies? I would say not. It’s just a fun, exciting action movie that you can actually watch with your kids if they express an interest in seeing a “real action movie”. It’s just great!
