The James Bond Film Festival. Part 3: Goldfinger

Cafe Society
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Continuing from The James Bond Film Festival. Part 1: Dr. No and The James Bond Film Festival Part 2: From Russian with Love, welcome to Part 3: Goldfinger.

Goldfinger is many people’s favourite Bond film. Dr. No was a great low-budget film. From Russia with Love was a larger adventure with lots of intrigue. Goldfinger was the best so far.

Most people want to rob banks. Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) wants to contaminate the gold reserve at Fort Knox with a dirty nuclear weapon, thus increasing the value of his own gold supply tenfold. Bond must stop him!

“Gadgets” begin to show up in this, the third, film. Perhaps the most famous is Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 with its bulletproof glass, retractable bullet shield, ejection seat, and so on. Also making an appearance is a miniaturized tracking device that can be attached to a car, and an even smaller one that can be concealed on a person. I found these gadgets to be believable enough, with the exception of Goldfinger’s super-powerful laser.

The plot is not too farfetched. I wonder about the expense of stamping 18 karat gold sheet metal for Goldfinger’s car vs. the return he expects to make, but I like the idea of contaminating the gold supply instead of stealing it. Bond’s car is impressive, but it’s not impervious. Cecil covers the issues about killing someone by painting them gold, but as far as anyone knew at the time (40 years ago) it was plausible. Dispersal of toxic gas from a fairly high altitude is not efficient and would not cause the incapacitation depicted in the movie, but even today people believe it’s possible.

Women on the opposition’s team are expected to be able to resist the charms of Agent 007, but did you ever wonder why Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) was so hostile? In the book Pussy and her all-female Flying Circus are a gang of tough criminal lesbians. I guess the viewing public were not deemed ready for alternate lifestyles on the big screen.

Odd Job (Harold Sakata) makes a great henchman. He’s one of my favourites. And of course, Austin Powers gave him a nod with Dr. Evil’s henchman Random Task.

On a personal note, I’m a fan of watches. Honor Blackman wears a Rolex GMT Master. My own watch is a GMT Master II, currently with the Jubilee bracelet on it; so that’s kinda neat for me. Bond wears his trusty Rolex Submariner which he [shows to good effect](http://members.optushome.com.au/heliosz/jamesbond.html#James Bond) in the pre-title sequence. (One of my Subs is a 1961, so it has the crown protection ears which Bond’s doesn’t; but it is on the NATO strap like Bond wears.) And on a further personal note, I love it when general aviation aircraft play prominent roles in films. I prefer Cessnas to Pipers, but it’s still good to see light planes in a movie.

Another thing I liked about this film was that Bond showed some panic. He was really grasping, when he was tied down to the table and with a laser inching its way between his legs. Perhaps the best line of the film was delivered by Fröbe when Bond asks if he expects him to talk. “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!” Brilliant line, that!

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May I post from memory?

Goldfinger was the film that got everybody’s attention and made the biggest splash at the boxoffice so far.

James Bondmania now became big business.

In an effort to cash in on what might be a passing fad the studio re-released the two earlier Bond films as a double feature billed as “James Bond Is Back/To Back.”

This also bought time while the studio rushed into production.

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Ah, but don’t forget that everyone was faking it. :slight_smile:

They hinted at her lesbianism with two quotes. One was when Pussy said “You can turn off the charm. I’m immune.” And another was when Felix asked Bond how he got Pussy to change the canisters: “I must have appealed to her Maternal instincts.”

This is without question my favorite Bond flick. The golf scene alone is fan-effing-tastic. “You play a Slazenger 1, don’t you? This is a Slazenger 7. Here’s my Pin Four Hearts…you must have played the wrong ball somewhere on the last fairway…we are playing standard rules of golf, so I’m afraid you lose the hole and the match.” (Notice the “stone” statue’s arm wiggle after the head gets cut off by Oddjob’s hat).

Aside from Bond’s panic, as you mention, I also like how the gadgety car didn’t save him from that mirror. Another favorite line “As you said - he had a pressing engagement.” (Notice in that compacting scene how there’s clearly no engine in the car being crushed).

And of course the absurdity of the whole future of the gold standard in the US depending on whether or not Bond can nail Pussy Galore. :slight_smile:

One line I wish I never heard - Bond disparages the Beatles when talking about drinking Dom Perignon unchilled.

The DVD could be better, but it has some great old wrestling videos of Harold Sakata.

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Undoubtedly, “Goldfinger” is my favorite James Bond film.

From what I’ve read, the gold in Fort Knox is kept in floor level vaults with solid doors. However, wouldn’t that make for a boring movie scene? Damned right !! I’m glad they made Fort Knox the way you’d think it would be - gold bars piled up high “protected” by a few “prison type” bars. And what a great backdrop that was for the fight to the death scene between Bond and Oddjob.

Great movie all around (good villains, gadgets, plot, etc).

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I seem to recall that Russ Meyer absolutely hated the film, especially the interaction between Bond and Pussy Galore, and it was a big inspiration for him in making Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.

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I’m also part of the crowd that considers Goldfinger to be the best overall picture in the series. It really fired on all cylinders, from Bond peeling off a wet suit to reveal a tux underneath, to the “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die” exchange (best piece of dialogue in a movie. Ever.), to the larger-than-life characters. The budgets have gotten bigger since, but never have they approached the excellence of this movie.

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Just to play devil’s advocate, what if we consider this movie to be the beginning of the end for the Bond Franchise? The end of serious, gritty, believable plots, human-sized villians, and scenarios that one could reasonably believe to be possible? A doom that wouldn’t be repealed until Timothy Dalton did his damdest in “Licence to Kill” and “The Living Daylights”?

Nah, I didn’t think so…Timmy

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Don’t get me wrong I love Goldfinger, but it might have the most sexist line Bond has ever said.

At the beginning of the movie when Felix meets Bond poolside. He introduces Felix to Dink.

“Say hello Dink”
“Say Goodbye Dink”

Bond then slaps her ass and says “Man talk”.

Not only does he say that, they added the sound effect of a slap.

“Man talk” Whap!

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[quote[Bond peeling off a wet suit to reveal a tux underneath.[/quote]

But the duck was a bit much.

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Gollld-finger!
Possibly the most memorable first line from a Bricusse-Newley song. (Well, either that or “Oompa-loompa-doopity-doo.”)

I don’t know, I always found the line about dry Dom Perignion being like listening to the Beatles without earmuffs to be funny. It reflects the belief of the time. At least Bond and the Beatles (or one of them) were able to make amends by Live and Let Die.

I believe at one time this film was banned in Israel because of a law that there cannot be movies starring ex-Nazis run in that country. Gert Fröbe explained that he was a member of the Nazi Party, but later quit.

Even the producers don’t have the greatest of ideas at first. (Even though you all probably have seen the movie, I’m putting this in a spoiler box since it involves something at the end of the film.)

Originally, the Clock of Doom stopped at 003, which explains Bond’s “three more ticks” line. During the premiere, someone told either Saltzman or Broccoli that it should have stopped at 007. In the second week of release, it did.

Bondmania had begun at the time of Goldfinger. Some have stated the before-credits scene in the film features everything that makes a Bond movie a Bond movie, including sexy women, exotic locations, gadgets, fights, and killer puns (“Shocking…positively shocking.”).

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The Oscar nomination for best sound was well-deserved. Goldfinger sounds just as good as it looks. I learned just recently that Gert Frobe had been dubbed by another actor, but after seeing it several times over the years, I had never suspected a thing. John Barry’s score should have won something–it’s one of his best.
Goldfinger was the acme of the Bond series. Practically everything they did thereafter was just variations on material from the first three movies.
It also proved that the Bond formula was director-proof. Terence Young, despite deserving a lot of the credit for the success of the first two films, was not irreplacable, since it was the producers who had the real creative control. Guy Hamilton (like Lewis Gilbert and John Glen) directed both one of the best and some of the worst films in the series (IMHO).

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The only thing I can add which hasn’t already been said is:
I had the ‘action model’ of the Aston Martin - I think my mom got it for me in the very early 70s (which probably means she saw it on super clearence at Korvettes or Woolworths or something, gathering dust for 6 years or so). Body was thin metal, with remaining parts plastic/or metal and rubber[!] tires (I think) - pretty big about 30cm (1 ft?) long (I didn’t measure it).
It had the bullet proof shield in the ‘boot’ (thin black painted sheet metal), the ejector seat (A big spring, which ejected I think a small, half-body minature), the tire cutting hub caps, and changable license plates (by pushing down on the antennae).
It may have had front firing machine guns (clear plastic tubes with sparks and noise generator, I think), but since batteries were in short supply in my home, it didn’t really get to run much…

OK, the IMDB points out a plot device where Goldfinger was incorrect and the much maligned View to a Kill was more likely - Auric invites the criminal heads to describe his plan, complete with detailed model of the Fort Knox compound (which apparently is hollow, so that James can look out the model’s windows). Since Auric plans to kill the underworld heads anyway, why bother with such an eleborate model?

  • in View to a Kill, when (what’s the villans name - ah, just say Christopher Walken) has a similar meeting of his backers in the blimp, the model of Silicon Valley makes a bit more sense (since he doesn’t plan to kill them all, just the ones that want out).
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Max Zorin.

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I never thought of it that way, but I don’t think I agree either. It depends what you mean by “believable plots” and “human-sized villains.” Is Dr. No any more or less megalomaniac than Goldfinger? What about Blofeld’s role in FRWL*? I’d instead argue that the franchise was never intended to have “believable plots,” even from the beginning, only our expectations have changed.

About what SirRay said, when was it established that Goldfinger intended to kill the gangsters or the troops. IIRC, he only says that the nerve gas incapacitates for 24-hours, nothing about killing anyone. I mean, other than explaining the plot to the audience, why bother with the gathering of hoods at all?

My favorite “sexist” moments: When the female pilots get out of the planes and “show off.” Yay for 60s-era pointy boobs!
Also, Bond wrestling with Pussy Galore in the hay and then forcing himself on her. It’s borderline rape, in my opinion.

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Does anyone have a cite other than the IMDb that confirms Gret Frobe’s voice was dubbed? I always thought that IMDb entry was dubious, especially since that same trivia page says every Bond girl’s voice other than Moneypenny was dubbed in almost ALL of them the same uncredited actress, which I also always seriously doubted. I do always trust the IMDb, but that claim seemed erroneous to me.

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They mention it on the DVD.

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In this rare case, I thought the movie was actually an improvement over the book, where the actual (though ridiculously implausible) plan was to steal the gold. The A-Bomb was to be used just to blast the vault open.

Actually, in the book, Pussy’s gang was called “The Cement Mixers” and the incapacitating poison was to be released by other agents into Fort Knox’s water supply. In the book’s plan, Goldfinger would show up claiming to be the head of a team of emergency health-care workers responding to the crisis, and the women were to play nurses.

In addition, the end of the book implies the Pussy didn’t really enjoy playing for the home team, but had been driven to it by a molesting uncle.

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Ah, yes. It’s been a long time since I’ve read it.

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SirRay, who says he made the model just to show the underworld bosses? Maybe he used the model for all his planning sessions, and so it was convenient for that use.

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Obscure fact: Harold Sakata won a silver medal in weightlifting in the Olympics. Same total as the winner, but he weighed more.

From Russia With Love is number one, but Goldfinger is number two in my affections. Made before they started sneering at the premises of the movie.

Regards,
Shodan