Goldfinger (1964)

*** ½ out of ****

I know lots of film lovers for whom Sean Connery is the only James Bond. Personally I liked all of them, with Roger Moore being my least favorite. The current Bond (Daniel Craig) is certainly making the most compelling films out of the group, but Connery remains my favorite 007. And “Goldfinger” is easily the best of the Bond films he was in.

“Goldfinger” featured a bit of a shift in the movie version of Bond from a straight secret agent to the cartoon character that he would become throughout the 1970s and parts of the 80s. The intrigue and tension of the first two films was in part replaced by gadgets, gizmos and cars with ejector seats. In this film however, the intrigue remained as well as giving us two of Bond's greatest villains, Auric Goldfinger and his fireplug of a henchman, Odd Job.

Auric Goldfinger is obsessed with gold and has a deep seated need to acquire as much of it as possible through any means necessary. He and Bond start off playing a bit of a cat and mouse game that culminates in a pretty engrossing golf match with the stakes a large gold brick. Eventually Goldfinger turns out to be much more clever than Bond gives him credit for, and Bond is captured and cut off from his allies. He finds that Goldfinger intends to rob Fort Knox by spraying the entire area with fatal nerve gas before sending in his team. Bond, with no help from MI6 or the CIA, is left to stop the plot single-handedly.

“Goldfinger” has some of Bond's most memorable scenes. The gold painted naked lady in Bond's bed, the “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” laser scene and the hand-to-hand battle with Odd Job at Fort Knox. It also has one of the most famed Bond girl characters, Pussy Galore (later paid tribute to in “Austin Powers” by the character Alotta Fagina). Overall much of the film sounds like a comedy when described, but it is so well written, with Sean Connery so perfect in the role, that it plays as a classic piece of cinema.

Heck, I even love Shirley Bassey's themesong.....

“Goldfinger” is the apex of the James Bond films. Before he became the mugging, cliche-ridden gigolo that would emerge over the next ten films, this Bond movie is the one that caught the character at exactly the right time. The writers found that perfect mix between absurdity and fantasy, and were able to come up with realistic dialogue for the unrealistic situations. Daniel Craig's Bond is certainly more of an action hero, and more of the character that Ian Fleming originally wrote about. But as a film hero, Connery's Bond in “Goldfinger” is as good as it gets.

Absolutely not to be missed.