Goldfinger

'''This page is dedicated to Sean Connery, who died on October 31st, 2020. May he rest in peace.'''

***Goldfinger*** is a 1964 spy film and the third instalment in the *James Bond* series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming.

## Synopsis

James Bond investigates a gold-smuggling ring run by gold magnate Auric Goldfinger. As he delves deeper into his activities, he uncovers a sinister plot to contaminate Fort Knox's gold reserves.

## Why It Rocks

1. Great acting, especially Gert Fröbe, who does a great job at getting across that Goldfinger is a complete and utter psychopath under his polite demeanor.
2. **Deconstruction**: The film takes its time to deconstruct the plot of the original book by pointing out a massive plot hole in Goldfinger's plan, which would be impossible to accomplish in real-life. The movie has Bond explain that it would take a bare minimum of 12 days to move all the gold out of Fort Knox, with Goldfinger only having two hours before law enforcement would be on top of him. However, Goldfinger reveals that his real plan is to set off a dirty bomb and irradiate the gold, rendering it unusable and increasing the value of his own stocks.
	* The film even deconstructs the Roaring Rampage of Revenge trope through Tilly Masterson's story. After she discovers that her sister, Jill, has been killed by Goldfinger, she rushes off to Switzerland with a sniper rifle in hand in an attempt to assassinate Goldfinger. You'd assume that she'd prove to be a perfect ally for Bond, but since she's an untrained civilian, her attempts at killing Goldfinger fail. All she accomplishes is nearly accidentally killing Bond, compromising his position twice and eventually getting herself killed by Oddjob.
3. It introduces the Aston Martin DB5, which would go on to become the most famous Bond car, as well as one of the most famous cars in cinema history.
4. Superb set design. Goldfinger's rotating room is really impressive and the Fort Knox set is stunningly realistic.
5. Great quotes, such as:
	* *"You expect me to talk?"* *"No, Mr. Bond! **I expect you to die!**"*
	* *"I never joke about my work, 007!"*
	* *"Who mentioned anything about **removing** it?"*
	* *"Where's your butler friend?"* *"He blew a fuse."*
6. The film has some of the most iconic villains in the Bond series.
	* Auric Goldfinger is a great villain who has a perfect blend of cruelty, charm and brilliance, proving to be one of the most cunning villains Bond has faced.
	* Oddjob. Despite not saying a word for most of the film, he proves to be a pretty intimidating villain due to his sheer strength and the way he carries himself.
	* Pussy Galore just might be the most famous Bond Girl of all-time, as well as being one of the first no-nonsense Femme Fatales in the franchise who's redeemed by Bond.
7. Great theme song by Dame Shirley Bassey that's considered to be the definitive Bond theme song.
8. Great cinematography by Ted Moore.
9. The film has some of the most iconic scenes in the franchise, so much that they've been parodied to death.
	* Bond removing his diving suit to reveal an immaculate white dinner jacket, complete with carnation.
	* Bond discovering Jill Masterson's gold-painted corpse.
	* Goldfinger nearly cutting Bond in half from the groin up with a laser.
10. Awesome pacing.

## Bad Qualities

1. This one film introduced so many tropes to the Bond films that are now the norm that younger viewers will probably have a harder time appreciating the film.
2. **Missed Opportunity**: Tilly Masterson is seeking revenge against Goldfinger for murdering her sister, so you might think she and Bond might team up to take him down. Nope, she's killed by Oddjob shortly after Bond meets her and the whole vengeance thread is dropped as quickly as it's brought up. Although, as mentioned in WIR #2.1, the reason why this didn't happen makes a lot of sense.

## Reception

*Goldfinger* received critical acclaim. The film has a **99%** "fresh" rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of 8.6/10 based on 69 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "*Goldfinger* is where James Bond as we know him comes into focus – it features one of 007's most famous lines ('A martini. Shaken, not stirred') and a wide range of gadgets that would become the series' trademark". *Goldfinger* is the highest-rated Bond film on the site.

Derek Prouse of *The Sunday Times* said that *Goldfinger* was *"superbly engineered. It is fast, it is most entertainingly preposterous and it is exciting"*.

The reviewer from *The Times* said *"All the devices are infinitely sophisticated, and so is the film: the tradition of self-mockery continues, though at times it over-reaches itself"*, also saying that *"It is the mixture as before, only more so: it is superb hokum"*. Connery's acting efforts were overlooked by this reviewer, who did say *"There is some excellent bit-part playing by Mr. Bernard Lee and Mr. Harold Sakata. Mr. Gert Fröbe is astonishingly well-cast in the difficult part of Goldfinger"*. Donald Zec, writing for the *Daily Mirror*, said that *"Ken Adam's set designs are brilliant; the direction of Guy Hamilton tautly exciting; Connery is better than ever, and the titles superimposed on the gleaming body of the girl in gold are inspired"*.

Penelope Gilliatt, writing for *The Observer*, said that the film had *"a spoofing callousness"* and that it was *"absurd, funny and vile"*.

*The Guardian* said that *Goldfinger* was *"two hours of unmissable fantasy"*, also saying that the film was *"the most exciting, the most extravagant of the Bond films: garbage from the gods"*, adding that Connery was *"better than ever as Bond"*.

Alan Dent, writing for *The Illustrated London News*, thought *Goldfinger* was *"even tenser, louder, wittier, more ingenious and more impossible than From Russia with Love... a brilliant farrago"*, adding that Connery *"is ineffable"*.

Philip Oakes of *The Sunday Telegraph* said that the film was *"dazzling in its technical ingenuity"*, while *Time* said that *"this picture is a thriller exuberantly travestied"*. Bosley Crowther, writing for *The New York Times* was less enthusiastic about the film, saying that it was *"tediously apparent"* that Bond was becoming increasingly reliant on gadgets with less emphasis on *"the lush temptations of voluptuous females"*, although he did admit that *"Connery plays the hero with an insultingly cool, commanding air"*. He saved his praises for other actors in the film, saying that *"Gert Fröbe is aptly fat and feral as the villainous financier, and Honor Blackman is forbiddingly frigid and flashy as the latter's aeronautical accomplice"*.

In *Guide for the Film Fanatic*, Danny Peary wrote that *Goldfinger* is *"the best of the James Bond films starring Sean Connery... There's lots of humor, gimmicks, excitement, an amusing yet tense golf contest between Bond and Goldfinger, thrilling fights to the death between Bond and Oddjob and Bond and Goldfinger, and a fascinating central crime... Most enjoyable, but too bad Eaton's part isn't longer and that Fröbe's Goldfinger, a heavy but nimble intellectual in the Sydney Greenstreet tradition, never appeared in another Bond film"*.

Roger Ebert of the *Chicago Sun Times* declared this to be his favorite Bond film and later added it to his "Great Movies" list.

### Box Office

*Goldfinger*'s $3 million budget was recouped in two weeks, and it broke box office records in multiple countries around the world. The *Guinness Book of World Records* went on to list *Goldfinger* as the fastest-grossing film of all-time. Demand for the film was so high that the DeMille cinema in New York City had to stay open twenty-four hours a day. The film closed its original box office run with $23 million in the United States and $46 million worldwide. After reissues, the first being a double feature with *Dr. No* in 1966, *Goldfinger* grossed a total of $51,081,062 in the United States and $73,800,000 elsewhere, for a total worldwide gross of $124,900,000.

The film distributor Park Circus re-released *Goldfinger* in the UK on 27 July 2007 at 150 multiplex cinemas, on digital prints. The re-release put the film twelfth at the weekly box office. *Goldfinger* would again receive a re-release in November 2020 in the wake of Sean Connery's death.

### Awards and nominations

At the 1965 Academy Awards, Norman Wanstall won the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing, making *Goldfinger* the first Bond film to receive an Academy Award. John Barry was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score for a Motion Picture, and Ken Adam was nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for Best British Art Direction (Colour), where he also won the award for Best British Art Direction (Black and White) for *Dr. Strangelove*. The American Film Institute has honoured the film four times: ranking it No. 90 for best movie quote ("A martini. Shaken, not stirred"), No. 53 for best song ("Goldfinger"), No. 49 for best villain (Auric Goldfinger), and No. 71 for most thrilling film. In 2006, *Entertainment Weekly* and IGN both named *Goldfinger* as the best Bond film, while MSN named it as the second best, behind its predecessor. IGN and *EW* also named Pussy Galore as the second-best Bond girl. In 2008, *Total Film* named *Goldfinger* as the best film in the series. *The Times* placed Goldfinger and Oddjob second and third on their list of the best Bond villains in 2008. They also named the Aston Martin DB5 as the best car in the films.

## Videos

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## External links

* Template:IMDb
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