Oddjob (Harold Sakata)

## Oddjob

**Oddjob** is a henchman to the villain Auric Goldfinger and the secondary antagonist in the James Bond film Goldfinger. He was played by the Japanese American actor Harold Sakata.

The character of Oddjob, from his unusual appearance, manners, strength and method of killing, forms the archetype for many henchmen of the Bond film series, including Tee-Hee, Jaws, Gobinda, Stamper, Zao and Mr. Hinx.

## Film biography

Oddjob acts as Goldfinger's personal chauffeur, bodyguard, henchman and golf caddy in the film. Oddjob is the one who paints Jill Masterson completely in gold at Bond's hotel room in Miami at the beginning of the film. He is extremely strong and durable, demonstrating his strength in a number of scenes, including one where he crushes a golf ball with one hand; later he is struck with a gold brick in the chest, scarcely flinching. He is expert at unarmed combat, but also uses a silenced M1911A1 pistol on a mobster called Mr. Solo. He wears what appears to be a bowler lined with a metal razor disk in the rim, using it as a lethal flying disc of sorts (this is a bowler hat in the novel, and as such, would have had a round top). Physically, Oddjob is practically invincible to Bond's hand-to-hand combat tactics, even when Bond uses a wooden object as a club.

The only time Oddjob shows anything resembling fear or wariness in the film is when Bond attempts to use his own hat against him. Bond misses him with the throw, causing his hat to get stuck between the metal bars in the Fort Knox vault. Oddjob is then outmaneuvered when, as he reaches to retrieve his hat, Bond uses a severed live electrical cable to electrify the bars, causing an electric current to electrocute Oddjob to death.

## Video games

Testament to the character's popularity, Oddjob has frequently made appearances in James Bond video games as an adversary or a playable multiplayer character. In James Bond: The Duel for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive, Oddjob (or rather, a clone of Oddjob) makes an appearance as a boss character in the villain's volcanic base (Stage 4). As with the film character, he uses his hat as a weapon.

In the Game Boy game James Bond 007, Oddjob appears multiple times as a henchman for the game's main villain, General Golgov. The first time is when Bond encounters Oddjob at his hotel room in Maccarech. The two fight, and Bond is defeated and left stranded in a desert. Later on, Bond trails Oddjob to Tibet, only to be captured. Bond escapes confinement and obtains a shield to protect him from Oddjob's hats, which he uses to deflect back at him. Notably, in this game Oddjob actually speaks.

In GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, Oddjob is a henchman of Goldfinger, and initially a companion of the game's protagonist GoldenEye. He is killed after he betrays and attacks GoldenEye. In the insuing battle he is thrown over a rail into a pit inside the Hoover Dam.

Oddjob has also appeared in a number of games as a playable multiplayer character (in the likeness of Harold Sakata). He was notable in GoldenEye (Nintendo N64) for being the shortest playable character (and thus hardest to hit) and became one of the more popular selections by players. This led to the classic "No Oddjob" rule, where the phrase must be spoken before Oddjob is chosen as a character. In the game 007: Nightfire, he can use his hat as a unique throwing weapon that returns after 30 seconds. Oddjob is also a playable multiplayer character in GoldenEye 007, the 2010 remake of 1995's GoldenEye for the Nintendo N64. In the game, he possess 2 hats in place of grenades. Once the hats are thrown Oddjob cannot retrieve them, but if they strike an enemy they are an instant kill.

His latest appearence is in the game is 007 Legends, when James gets a flashback. He appears by throwing his hat at him where he has to escape by jumping on a display plane. After that, he is seen strangling a friend and after that he has to duel him.

## Inspired characters

* In the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Oddjob is parodied by a character called Random Task, who throws his shoe as a weapon.
* Another parody is in the game Fur Fighters, where a hat-throwing bear called Oddfelt appears in the last level.
* Leonardo Leonardo's publicist Plug is a parody of Oddjob in Clerks: The Animated Series.
* Oddjob's trademark hat-throwing technique can also be seen in Toy Story 2, in which Mr.Potato-Head throws his own bowler hat to prevent two doors from closing.
* In the Mortal Kombat video game series, a recurring character named Kung Lao has a similar blade-rimmed hat that can be thrown at opponents.
* In the video game Alone in the Dark 2, an undead pirate nicknamed Black Hat has a blade-rimmed hat that he can throw at the protagonist Edward Carnby.
* Spider-Man has fought in a one-page Hostess advertisement a supervillain called "Demolition Derby" who throws his derby hat that bounces and cuts Spider-Man's webbing [1].
* Daredevil once fought a supervillain called Torpedo, who threw a cutting hat just like Oddjob. Daredevil remarked that he didn't expect Torpedo to pull an "oddjob" on him.
* Also in one episode of the Warner Bros. cartoon show Duck Dodgers, Daffy Duck throws a hat to save himself during a mission and later says that he had learned it from someone called "Odd Ball", in which they cut to a scene where Oddjob angrily says "Odd Ball?!!" something that may prove that who Daffy meant is not a parody but the same Oddjob as in the movie/novel.
* Oddduck - a "F.O.W.L" (Darkwing Duck) henchman parody of Oddjob.
* In the show Count Duckula, the villain called The Egg has a manservant called Oddbeak, who is a parrot made to resemble Oddjob, complete with bowler and suit.
* In the Stormbreaker film, the guard in Sayle Tower throws his hat away as he prepares to kill Alex. He also shares a resemblance with Oddjob.
* In The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "On Her Majesty's Sewer Service", a parody of the James Bond series, the character Mouser gains an appearance similar to Oddjob, even throwing his bowler derby hat as a weapon in one scene; instead of cutting people though, the bowler derby was shown to simply bludgeon them.
* The arcade video game Sly Spy, itself a homage to the James Bond mythos, features a bowler-throwing character as a boss in one of the levels.