Review 94: Goldfinger

Goldfinger is the quintessiential Bond film, a high octane cocktail of action, plenty of gadgets, beautiful locations and cinematography and one of the series most iconic villains.

 
Based on the seventh Bond novel Goldfinger by Ian Fleming; James Bond (Sean Connery) is back and his next mission takes him to Fort Knox, where Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) and his henchman are planning to inradiate the gold in Fort Knox thereby increasing the value of his own gold . To save the world once again, Bond, armed with his specially equipped Aston Martin (its accessory package includes built-in machine guns, a smoke screen and an ejector seat), will need to become friends with Goldfinger, dodge killer hats and avoid Goldfinger's personal pilot, the sexy Pussy Galore. She might not have feelings for Bond, but will 007 help her change her mind?

The plot is a work of share genius, soldifying many of the staples that would emcompass what we would call "The Bond Formula" such as the extended pre-title sequence, the gadgets, the girls,

its got so many themes that are just as intriguing as the villains plot like the seduction and the power of gold, greed and how it can become a weapon that can destroy people who go to far in their quest for it. 

 
Director Guy Hamilton direction bringing a tounge-and-cheek, high thrills style, striking a good balance of action and humor to create

The cinematography is brilliant, the score by John Barry is magnificent, the production design is breathtaking, sets like the Fort Knox vault and Goldfinger's rumpus room

The sound effects are exquisite, the costumes are  the action scenes are brutal and well choreographed, the stunt work is incredible, the effects are staggering, the girls are all hot, there are some brilliant one-liners, there are some great iconic images in this films; the title song Shirley Bassey, and we get the famous Aston Martin DB5 that features some many outrageous weapons including, machines guns, smoke screen, oil slick, revolving licence plates, tire slashers and last of all-but not least, the ejector seat.

The acting is brilliant, Sean Connery delivers another great performance as James Bond/007, portraying the M.I.6 superspy with swagger, confidence, charisma and charm.

 

Honor Blackman as his leading lady Pussy Galore is the best Bond girl,

 

Gert Frobe (voiced dubed by Michael Collins) makes for the one of the Bond series best villains playing Auric Goldfinger. He has fairly modest goals; He's not interested in world domination, he only wants to increase the value of his gold. The rivalry he has with Bond also helps to cement his  in the series. Throughout the film, they are portrayed as dueling enemies; like gentlemen at a members club.

 

Harold Sakata as Goldfinger's henchman Oddjob is a brilliant henchman and one of the best henchmen in the series (he kills peopel using the sharp brim of his bowler hat)

 

Shirley Eaton & Tania Mallet also appear in smaller but no less significant roles playing Jill Masterson and her revenge driven sister Tilly, who in a noticable change has a smaller role in the film compared to her novel counterpart

 

Cec Linder is great as Felix Leiter

Goldfinger has the Golden Touch, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic