Goldfinger

Goldfinger
Goldfinger has quite the reputation.  If Dr. No introduced the icon, and From Russia With Love showed what the character could really do, then Goldfinger is when lightning struck and the Bond formula was solidified.  Goldfinger is considered the quintessential Bond film.

It is hard to argue with that assessment.  If the previous films introduced pieces of the Bond formula, they all truly come together perfectly in this third film of the franchise.  It is in Goldfinger that the villains go over-the-top, and where we are introduced to the truly outlandish gadgets from Q Branch (the briefcase in From Russia With Love is too realistic!  It doesn't count.).  It is also Goldfinger where Bond's pun-ful sense of humor goes from an occasional aside to self-aware silliness ("Shocking," he says, after electrocuting an assassin to death).  And Goldfinger is when we have the sequence that perfectly incapsulates the Bond character.  In the opening scene, Bond dressed in an all black wetsuit swims into a harbor to complete a mission.  Once finished, he unzips the wetsuit to reveal a perfectly tailored tuxedo on underneath.  He proceeds to go into a bar to drink and ogle belly dancers.  If that sequence of events doesn't describe Bond in a nutshell, I don't know else could!

This time Bond is on the trail of Auric Goldfinger, an incredibly rich gold smuggler who plans to contaminate the U.S. gold supply in Fort Knox in order to increase the value of his own holdings.  The plot doesn't sound like much, especially compared to the world endangering plots of the other Connery films, but Goldfinger is a lot of fun.  In fact, that is probably Goldfinger's greatest strength - fun.  The previous films are much more serious, and it is Goldfinger where the franchise fully embraces its silliness.  A car with an ejector seat?  A villainous henchman with a steel-rimmed hat that he basically uses as a deadly frisbee to kill his victims?  Come on, that's silly stuff.  But wow, it is entertaining!  And unlike later films, the absurd elements are perfectly balanced with the serious secret agent adventure.  Goldfinger is the film future Bond directors should watch to see how to interweave what should have been two competing tones.  Even the character of Bond seems to be in on the joke now.  Connery plays the character like someone who works as a suave super spy as a lark. Quite simply, he loves his work.  This is a key character trait that you don't quite get in the earlier movies.  Goldfinger also has a lot of my favorite moments of the franchise.  His Aston Martin is easily my favorite Bond car.  The aforementioned henchman, Oddjob, is a personal favorite of mine, and I love the final fight between him and Bond.  Even the gray three-piece suit Connery wears is my favorite Bond suit.  Simply put, Goldfinger really is the quintessential Bond film. It is the pinnacle which every film that followed judged itself by.

So why isn't it my favorite Bond film?  It used to be my favorite when I was younger, but it has slid down a little bit in the rankings.  Just because the film best represents the Bond formula doesn't make it the best film.  There are things that have really begun to grate over the years.  BIG SPOILERS AHEAD.  Why does Goldfinger proceed to tell the American gangsters his master plan as if he wants to recruit them, only to kill them all?  Huh?  I used to laugh that off.  Maybe now I am just old and cynical, but this bothers me now.  How did the entire army division guarding Fort Knox, as well as the thousands and thousands of people who live in the area effectively coordinate to simultaneously fall down and play "dead" in order to trick Auric Goldfinger during the movie's climax?  This really doesn't make a lot of sense.  The way Bond is first captured is ridiculous, and is a completely uncool way to destroy of such a great car.  And the way Bond convinces Pussy Galore to turn on Goldfinger is just uncomfortable and a bit rapey to me.

This may sound like nitpicks, but the more you watch the film, the more these things will bother you. They certainly bother me, and they knock the film down enough points to keep it from being number 1 on my list.  But in the end, it doesn't change the fact that Goldfinger really a great film.  The direction from Guy Hamilton, filling in for Terence Young, is terrific.  Connery is at his best.  Gert Frobe is a great over-the-top villain, and Harold Sakata is brilliant as his henchman Oddjob.  So far as Bond Girls go, I thought Honor Blackman was solid as Pussy Galore.  She is one of the better actresses of the Connery era, though I feel they could have done much more with the character.  The title song and the score are both superb, with the former staking a valid claim as the best Bond song ever (for me, it is a tie between this and "Live and Let Die").  All in all, it's a great movie and possibly the single most important, defining film of the franchise.    

RANKINGS:

As I mentioned, a couple of years ago, Goldfinger was firmly in the #1 spot.  But those nitpicks knock it back.  And I have grown very fond of the steely professionalism that is on display in From Russia With Love.

1. From Russia With Love
2. Goldfinger
3. Dr. No

BEST LINE:
You have to go with the classic on this one.  Other than "Bond, James Bond," this exchange has to be the most iconic of the entire franchise.

Bond: Do you expect me to talk?

Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond.  I expect you to die. 

MVP:
Now this is really difficult.  I almost want to say John Barry, the Oscar-winning composer who wrote the fantastic title song and composed one of his most memorable scores.  But I think I am going to have to fall back to Connery, who delivers his most assured performance as Bond in this film.  He was terrific before, but the line between actor and character vanish in this film.  It's such a charismatic performance that you simply can't look away.  Connery gets my MVP.

TRIVIA: 
When Shirley Bassey recorded the theme song, she sang as she watched the opening credits of the film, to make sure her vocals were matching the images.  When she hit her final high note, the credits...kept going...and going...and going, and Bassey was forced to hold that high note.  She made it to the end, but almost passed out in the process!