Great Movies Revisited - James Bond #3: Goldfinger (1964)

Now you’re talking. With Goldfinger we finally hit my favourite Connery Bond film – this movie is a lifelong favourite of mine so let’s get stuck in!

When Goldfinger hit the silver screen in 1964 it guaranteed the longevity of the Bond franchise and the success of the two earlier films bled through into the execution of what a serious number of fans regard as the best ever Bond film.

First thing I noticed when I rewatched this recently was how plush it looks on the screen, even after all these years. The 1964 setting brings a style to the picture that shows like Mad Men want to reproduce, but Goldfinger is the real thing, not nostalgia.

 

 

The setpieces are excellent too – the woman sprayed in gold (above), the chase between the Aston and the Mustang in the Swiss mountains’ Furka Pass and who could forget the laser-beam scene: “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die!” In fact the film has many memorable lines including some great puns, innuendo and one liners – “positively shocking” and “I can’t - something big’s come up,” etc. which are so important to the series. The final act’s assault on Fort Knox is also some fantastic cinema.

The fight action is also good. Somehow fight scenes are more realistic when they just film the actors (or stuntmen) going for it mano a mano – the arrival of the super fast-cuts in movies like Jason Bourne are effective but somehow not real. Not surprising when you realise that people just can’t move that fast.

It’s a testament to the brilliant work of the set designers that much of these Bond films is shot in Pinewood, because the viewer would never really know it and is instead transported all over the world. Still an impressive feature of the Bond films today, back in 1964 before the era of cheap flights and the internet, these films gave people a fantasy-tour of exotic locales they would never normally see. This is especially true during the establishing shots where we see Miami but also later Fort Knox.

The simplicity of the plot (a gold-smuggling tale), the fantastic performances and two of the most memorable Bond villains – Auric Goldfinger and his loyal henchman Oddjob – all mesh together to make this an almost flawless thriller of pure escapism. Throw in a bowler hat with a hidden chakram in the rim that when thrown like a frisbee decapitates its victims and John Barry’s outstanding score and you have a solid-gold winner. Watch it right now and tell me if I’m wrong!

My rating: 9/10

 

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