Goldfinger (1964) Director: Guy Hamilton
“Do you expect me to talk?”
“No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.”
★★★★☆
The iconic third James Bond film, Goldfinger, is based on Ian Fleming’s seventh novel of the same. This was the first of four Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton (the remaining three were released in the ’70s), and Hamilton’s touch offers notable tonal shift from the earlier Terence Young films. Generally speaking, Guy Hamilton’s Bond films are lighter and more comedic, whereas Terence Young Bond films are darker and more weighty. The original plan in 1964 was to film Thunderball as the third Bond film, however the novel’s legal rights were mired in litigation so Eon moved forward with Goldfinger instead.
Following the third and final Bob Simmons gun barrel sequence, we are given an amusing cinematic prelude in Goldfinger which is not featured in the novel. James Bond quietly swims up to a dock with an amusing seagull gag before he strip off his wetsuit to reveal a white tuxedo underneath (for Goldfinger, a balding Sean Connery began wearing a hair piece). Bond dramatically destroys a secret laboratory producing drugs somewhere in South America, and narrowly escapes a separate attack in his room with a double-crossing lover (Bond spots the assailant from behind by seeing a reflection in the eyeball of the woman he is kissing). Bond is then flown to Miami to keep an eye on a noted criminal, a heavy-set blonde man named, Auric Goldfinger (played by Gert Fröbe, a German actor who apparently spoke almost no English at this time and so he was dubbed over in the film). Bond spots him playing cards beside a hotel pool and then breaks into Goldfinger’s hotel room where he meets Jill Masterson (played by Shirley Eaton), Goldfinger’s companion who is covertly providing information into Goldfinger’s earpiece so he can cheat in a card game below (note that Masterson was spelled “Masterton” in the novel), however Bond interrupts, and Goldfinger loses his game. Bond and Jill then return to his room. Later, Bond is attacked in his room –we learn the assailant is Goldfinger’s henchman, a Korean with a lethal bowler hat named Oddjob (played by Harold Sakata, an Olympic weightlifter from Hawaii who won the silver medal). Bond awakens to find that Jill has been killed –her corpse has been covered in gold in one of the most iconic scenes of all-time (certain questions linger: why did she die of the fabled “skin suffocation?” And why is there no gold anywhere else on the bed?)
After reconnecting with London, Bond arranges to meet with Goldfinger socially at a country club. Bond then beats Goldfinger at a game of golf (by evading Goldfinger’s attempts at cheating by cleverly switching their golf balls). In the novel, the golf game is quite a bit more extensive. Later, in Switzerland Bond tries to uncover Goldfinger’s plans when he comes upon Tilly, the sister of the late Jill, who is trying to avenge her sister’s death. However, after a high-speed car chase Tilly is killed by Oddjob’s bowler hat (in the book, she is killed at the end of the novel). Bond is then captured in a famous scene and strapped to a table where a laser slowly approaches his body to cut him in half (in the novel, Bond is strapped to a table but instead of a laser, Goldfinger uses a spinning saw). In order to escape, Bond convinces Goldfinger that MI6 is aware of his “Operation Grand Slam” which leads Goldfinger to decide to keep Bond alive for the time being. Instead of killing him, Goldfinger knocks out Bond with a tranquilizer and they fly on Goldfinger’s private jet to Kentucky (flown by Goldfinger’s pilot, “Pussy Galore” –named after Ian Fleming’s pet octopus and played by Honor Blackman). At the equestrian compound in Louisville, Kentucky, Bond is imprisoned, but soon he escapes to learn of Goldfinger’s diabolical plan to use toxic gas and infiltrate Fort Knox and rather than steal the huge supply of gold, he plans to set off a radiation bomb that will render the gold impossible to touch for 58 years due to radiation poisoning. This will greatly increase the value of Goldfinger’s gold and his investments in China, while causing havoc in the West (in the book, Golfinger is merely conducting an elaborate heist). As the plan unfolds, Pussy Galore’s contingent of female pilots fly over Fort Knox spraying poison gas to kill all the soldiers, however unbeknownst to anyone, Pussy Galore has switched the gas canisters such that all the soldiers are merely put to sleep. Bond is led in handcuffs and sent to a chamber beneath Fort Knox to die with the bomb. However, he escapes and persuades Pussy Galore to alert the Americans of the attack, and at the last moment, Bond gets away and he kills Oddjob by electrocuting him beneath Fort Knox (Harold Sakata was actually injured during this shot –he burned his hand waiting for the director to yell “cut”). Bond prevents the bomb from detonating with help that arrives –seven seconds are left on the bomb’s timer (i.e. “007 seconds”). At the end, Bond is flown to Washington DC to meet with the US President. However, the plane is hijacked by Goldfinger, and a struggle ensues until Bond shoots out one of the windows and Goldfinger is sucked out to his death (in the book, Oddjob dies getting sucked out the plane window, and Bond chokes Goldfinger to death). Bond and Pussy Galore cannot regain full control of the plane so they parachute out, and the film ends with Bond and Galore trapped under their parachute, soon to be rescued but only after they make love.
Unfortunately Fleming passed away in 1964 so he never saw the spectacular rise in popularity of the Bond saga. While not a truly great film per se, Goldfinger is the standard-bearer for a James Bond film. Many of the images in the film are unmistakably iconic –Oddjob’s flying bowler hat, a gold painted Bond nude woman, Bond’s classic Aston Martin, Goldfinger’s Rolls-Royce, the table laser sequence, Bond diffusing a bomb with mere seconds left. However, some of the content in Goldfinger is surprisingly dated and challenging for modern viewers, such as a shocking scene wherein Bond essentially forces himself upon Pussy Galore (this troubling scene alone prevents me from holding the film in much higher regard), and Beatles fans will be disappointed to learn that Bond cannot stand their music, but nevertheless Goldfinger is an unmissable Bond film. For me, Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” serves as the de facto gold standard (pun intended) for Bond theme songs.
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Book Review: Goldfinger (1959) by Ian Fleming
- James Bond actor: Sean Connery
- Director: Guy Hamilton
- Producers: Harry Saltzman and Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli
- Screenplay: Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn, adapted from Ian Fleming’s novel
- Cinematography: Ted Moore
- Editor: Peter Hunt
- Gun Barrel Sequence: completed by stunt-man Bob Simmons (the same spherical clip was used in Dr. No and From Russia with Love, as well)
- Villain(s): Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe); and Oddjob (Harold Sakata)
- Bond Girl(s): Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman); Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton); and Dink (Margaret Nolan)
- MI6: M (Bernard Lee), Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), and Q (Desmond Llewelyn)
- Bond Gadgets: Seagull headgear; grapple gun; Aston Martin DB5 (its debut in a Bond film); homing devices
- Allies: Felix Leiter (Cec Linder)
- Score: John Barry
- Theme Song: Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger”
- Locales: Central America, Florida and Kentucky (USA), England, and Switzerland