Goldfinger

Goldfinger (1964)

Runtime: 110 minutes

Directed by: Guy Hamilton

Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Frobe, Honor Blackman, Harold Sakata

From: Eon/United Artists

Yep, here’s the most famous Bond of them all, and one that many say is the best of them all too. It has iconic moments and scenes, from the title song by Shirley Bassey to Oddjob (Sakata) and his special hat, to the fancy Aston Martin DB5 given to Bond by Q, which is now up for sale to the public. If only I had a few extra million pounds of disposable change... speaking of Bond cars, here is a nice list of all of them, courtesy of good old Wikipedia.

After an opening in Mexico that most people probably don’t remember too well compared to the rest of the film-hey, at least it shows some cool spy action and also shows people the danger of electricity around bathtubs-the plot starts and we see that the antagonist is Auric Goldfinger, a rather unsubtle name (I know, I know, there’s also a woman with the rather preposterous name of Pussy Galore, played by Blackman) to show what he’s obsessed with as a wealthy man. Bond first encounters him in Miami Beach and then later at a golf course that Auric happens to own in England. That’s when things heat up. Bond has to figure out how Goldfinger is transporting gold internationally. That leads him to Switzerland where his car comes to use, and then the final half or so of the movie is in Kentucky, near Fort Knox, where Auric has an insidious plan with those evil Communist Chinese. All of those settings actually appear in the movie, although it was much more brief than it was portrayed in the movie; a lot of scenes were filmed in England but set in those other locations.

I’ll say that this is the second-best of the Connery Bond films; that’s in no way a slight. You have so many memorable moments, fun action, and an ending which-while goofy-is memorable also. I can’t really think of anything else to say about the movie, as it still holds up today-despite some things that may be seen as “slow-paced” or hokey today-and if you must see one movie in the franchise, it should be this one.

By the way, today is the official anniversary of The Goonies, as it came out 25 years ago today. I feel that needs to be mentioned.

Anyhow, I'll be back a week from tonight with at least one new review. Until then...