Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. Sometimes life interferes a bit. But now I’m full speed ahead once again.

As usual, yes, there are spoilers in here. Watch out.

(For those of you just joining us, click here for more information on just what a Russtrospective is.)

53 days until SPECTRE. Here we go.

Goldfinger, the third Eon Bond film, was released in 1964. Though it was the third film in the so far successful franchise, Goldfinger was the first Bond film to really be considered a blockbuster, and in doing so cemented what would basically be the format for many Bond films to come. But we’ll get to all that. First…

The Story:

In Goldfinger, British secret agent James Bond, played for the third time in a row by Sean Connery, is tasked with investigating international businessman Auric Goldfinger, played by German actor Gert Fröbe (whose voice was later redubbed due to his limited english skills. My pattern senses are tingling). Bond is told by his superior, M, that Goldfinger is suspected of smuggling gold (oh gee. you don’t say.) all over the world, the only problem is they aren’t sure how.

During his investigation, Bond discover’s Goldfinger’s “Operation Grand Slam,” a plan to break into the gold reserve at Fort Knox and irradiate the gold supply. This would render the US gold useless, and increase the worth of Goldfinger’s own collection. Bond is captured and meets this film’s Bond Girl (technically the film’s third, but I’ll get to that down below), and Goldfinger’s personal assistant: Pussy Galore (And I thought “Honey Ryder” was subtle. Jesus. It’s…just too easy. I’m better than that right? Yeah. I’m better than that), played by Honor Blackman (A woman of interesting names it would seem).

Despite his capture, Bond is able to foil Goldfinger’s plot by convincing Pussy (No. Stop it.) to alert the CIA to the plan. The CIA get the jump on Goldfinger, who still manages to escape leaving Bond locked in the vault, cuffed to a small atomic device. Bond frees himself and deals with Goldfinger’s henchman Oddjob (because SOMEONE doesn’t play by the GODDAMN RULES), and disable the device with help from the CIA.

The next day, Goldfinger hijacks a private plane, piloted by Pussy (No.) taking Bond to be thanked by the President (because he couldn’t just leave well enough alone). They fight briefly, and Goldfinger’s pistol accidentally fires and shoots a hole in a window. The resulting decompression then pulls Goldfinger out of the window in the coolest villain death yet. Bond gets Pussy (Hrng…), and parachutes to safety. Then Bond gets pussy (I’m not better than that, I’m sorry). Because they bang. Under the parachute. ROLL CREDITS.

Let’s Make a Movie! Trés!

For their third Bond film, Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli wanted to choose the novel Thunderball, but due to legal difficulties (we’ll get to that next time), they decided to pick the seventh Bond novel, Goldfinger. Thanks to the success of the previous two films, United Artists provided them with a budget of $3 million (close to $23 million today), as much as the Dr. No and From Russia With Love budgets combined.

When it came to the actual production of the film, the most notable happening was the replacement of previous Bond director Terence Young with Guy Hamilton. When a pay dispute couldn’t be solved between Young and Eon Productions, Young went on to direct another film, and Eon turned to Hamilton, who had previously been considered as director for Dr. No.

Richard Maibaum returned once again as the writer of the film, with later rewrites by Paul Dehn, as well as some suggestions from Wolf Mankowitz (remember him?). This film’s script was so well-received that it would become a blueprint of sorts for many future Bond films. It’s also worth noting that this was the last film that original Bond author Ian Fleming would get to witness being made. He passed away in August 1964, shortly before the release of the film.

From this point on, production of the film went rather smoothly, especially when compared with the eventful From Russia With Love. So, let’s move on to why we’re really here.

My Reaction:

Like Athena from the head of Zeus, James Bond emerges from Goldfinger fully-formed and fully-armed. This version of Bond is the Bond I had come to expect, and it was really a treat to finally see him in action. Though I was initially also a little conflicted. I had grown to enjoy the straight-forward spy-ness of Bond so far, and I was worried that finally introducing the fancy gadgets would detract from that part of his character. Luckily this wasn’t the case, as the gadgets were used more as accessories to Bond’s already established skills instead of a crutch.

Along with the gadgets, Goldfinger introduced a lot of the aspects I was waiting to see. The scenery-chewing, somewhat campy villain; Bond on the laser table; “Do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”; “Shaken not stirred.”; the tuxedo under the wetsuit; and even Oddjob in all his cheap-ass glory. There’s just something about seeing notable moments like these that I enjoy, which makes me wonder if I didn’t know about them beforehand what my reaction would be. I’ll come back to this in a bit.

I have to give it up once again for the continuity in the series so far. Bernard Lee once again plays M, and has probably the most development his character has seen yet. This film shows M pulling strings and meeting with important people in order to get the information needed. You really get the idea that he’s the head of a huge intelligence organization and not just Bond’s boss. Lois Maxwell also returns as Moneypenny, whose character more or less remains the same nosy, flirty, but capable secretary. It’s not exactly an improvement, but it wasn’t a regression either, so I’ll take it.

The organization of MI6 itself also gets some fleshing out this time. The first mention of other 00-agents is made early in the film when M mentions that 008 would replace Bond should he fall in the line of duty. We are also properly introduced to Q Branch, the department responsible for creating all of Bond’s gadgets, as well as the head of Q Branch, appropriately named “Q,” and played by Desmond Llewelyn . Though the character did appear in the previous films, this is the first time he is credited as “Q” and gets any sort of significant screentime.

I also liked seeing Felix Leiter make his return, though played by Cec Linder this time after negotiations with Jack Lord to reprise the role fell through. He also had a much more involved role; delivering Bond’s initial orders to investigate Goldfinger (where Bond makes a passing reference to their time in Jamaica), and being the one that Pussy (I’m done with the joke now, dammit) corresponds with to help foil “Operation Grand Slam,” as well as leading the charge at Fort Knox during the climax of the film. Hopefully he comes back again soon. I like Bond having international agent best friends.

Speaking of Pussy (goddammit), she’s probably my favorite Bond Girl yet, and not just because of the name. She’s capable, smart, strong, and previously established before meeting Bond. Hell, if it wasn’t for Pussy (…), Goldfinger would’ve gotten away with his plan. Though the way Bond convinces her to help was a little…gross. And creepy. Regardless, she’s easily better than From Russia’s Tatiana, and only marginally above Honey Ryder. I just thought Pussy had more initial depth (GODDAMMIT) as a character.

Similar to Honey, we also don’t meet Pussy until almost an hour into the film (Jesus, these names). But Pussy is also the third “Bond Girl” in the film. First we meet Jill Masterson, who Bond meets and turns from Goldfinger in the beginning of the movie. She then meets an untimely end by means of skin…suffocation, from being covered in gold paint (in one of the franchise’s most iconic shots). Then we meet Jill’s sister, Tilly, shortly after, hellbent on getting revenge for her sister. She also meets an untimely end thanks to a hat to the neck from Oddjob (ODDJOB! *shakes fist*). I still maintain that Pussy is the definitive Bond Girl of this installment though, since I found her the most interesting.

One of the main goals director Guy Hamilton had film was to make Bond feel less superhuman by making the villain actually powerful and capable, and he pulled it off spectacularly. Goldfinger is not only a capable villain, he actually seems like a match for Bond. Just like last time, Bond has to pull out all the stops (and even flubs up a few times) in order to successfully stop Goldfinger, and even when he does it’s at almost the last possible second. This dynamic makes the film far more interesting, as you feel it’s actually a fair fight between the two and you’re waiting to see just who will make the next move. This, again, highlights Bond’s humanity and keeps his character from getting boring.

Now, back to that not knowing things before I saw them thing I mentioned earlier. This is going to sound blasphemous, but, I didn’t really like the Bond/Oddjob fight at the end. After watching I found out that it’s usually held as one of the best in the series, but I found it slow, clumsy, and honestly not all that interesting. I know they had a limit to what they were capable of back then, but man…they could’ve at least done a little more with it right? At least Oddjob went out in a cool way, accompanied by a typical Bond one-liner. “He blew a fuse.”

But, all-in-all, I did really enjoy the movie. It got a little slow in parts, but like In Russia, it typically didn’t take long to ramp back up again.

The End…of this review at least:

In case you couldn’t tell by my calling it the “first Bond blockbuster,” Goldfinger was a runaway success, both critically and commercially. It was so in demand upon release it kept some theaters open for 24 hours! It even broke a world record for being the fastest grossing film at the time, and was the first Bond film to earn an Academy Award (for Best Sound Effects Editing) . Goldfinger really set a bar in what Bond films could achieve. Now I go to see how the next one stacks up.

20 left. I think I can?

Russtrospectives will return with: Thunderball!