James Bond: Goldfinger

Last film before Ian Fleming dies, and first one where characters discuss a plot hole in the source material. First appearance of the Aston Martin, and with it the first appearance of Q's lab and the "Sir Not Appearing (Elsewhere) In This Film" throwaway gadgets. First time Desmond Llewellyn is credited as "Q," and first time a song is sung over the opening titles. First time the opening titles have anything to do with the plot (and only time clips from the film are shown during said titles - but see also OHMSS). First time the pre-credits teaser has nothing to do with the main plot of the film (although it's worth mentioning that it does show Bond electrocuting a mook...) First time Felix Leiter gets re-cast (either because Jack Lord wanted too much money or because the producers decided to keep re-casting the role to prevent Leiter from becoming as popular as Bond, depending on who you ask). First film to use the "James Bond will return in..." formula in the end credits. First Bond film directed by Guy Hamilton, the guy who also gave us Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, and The Man With the Golden Gun. Speaking of, first appearance of a golden gun. Last time Connery's Bond is forced to outwit someone who's physically his equal, and first appearance of a hulking, mute henchman. Only time, not counting For Your Eyes Only, (where blowing up the Lotus was a statement of intent,) where a gadget from a previous film (the attache case from From Russia With Love) is explicitly written out before Bond can use it again. Only pre-Roger Moore Bond film where SPECTRE isn't even mentioned. First time Production Designer Ken Adam gets to go truly nuts (yes, yes, everyone loves the Fort Knox set, but I for one want Goldfinger's rec room). Last time until Licence to Kill where Bond tries psychological manipulation (throughout the film on Sanchez there, but here it's just one scene involving one cell guard). Second and last appearance of Nadja Rejin (she played Kerim Bey's mistress in the previous film, and is the dancer in the pre-title sequence here - and thus becomes the first actress to play two different characters in two different Bond films. See also Martin Beswick and Maude Adams). After the somewhat silly "Honey Ryder" in Dr. No, here we have the first truly ridiculous female character name in the form of Pussy Galore. First time a Bond Girl is shown to have living relatives (although not for long). Last time until Octopussy that the main Bond Girl doesn't show up in the film's first half (no, You Only Live Twice doesn't count.  I'll explain later). First time a member of the Avengers cast shows up in a Bond film, so perhaps it's fitting that it's also the first time a female character is shown to have any sort of physical prowess (I mean outside the bedroom, perv), although Cathy Gale is of course no match for James Bond. On the minus side, it's the first time Connery's Bond does something that looks an awful lot like rape. And, oh yes, first time a Bond Girl dies.

Only time James Bond insults the Beatles. Hey, guess who did the title track for the first film made after Connery left for good? (And the head of the Bank of England in this film is also in A Hard Day's Night.)

It's actually really jarring coming to this film after watching From Russia With Love. This one's got more in common with Dr. No in every way except quality. It's much more an adventure film than a Cold War spy flick, with captures and escapes and a megalomaniac villain. Bond spends about half the film as Goldfinger's captive. There's an entire subplot about his failed attempt to get a message out to Felix Leiter, a sure sign that, despite the other comic-book trappings and Guy Hamilton's name on the "Director" credit, we're not quite yet into the era of Boring Invincible Comic-Book Superagent 007 yet.

For those of you who don't know the plot... Bond catches Goldfinger cheating at cards and forces him to lose. Goldfinger responds by killing Bond's new bedmate Jill Masterson and/by painting her gold. Next, Bond catches Goldfinger cheating at golf, and forces him to lose again; Goldfinger responds by having Oddjob decapitate a statue. Then Bond tracks Goldfinger to Switzerland, where he runs into Jill's sister Tilly. Oddjob kills her and Bond gets strapped to a table with a giant laser aimed to bisect him, crotch-first. Bond bluffs his way into staying alive and gets taken to Kentucky by way of Baltimore (I think I'm going to use this as a response the next time a Brit complains about some Yank getting British geography horribly wrong), where he learns the details of Goldfinger's plan to rob irradiate Fort Knox. It involves a gas attack by Pussy Galore's Flying Circus. Bond manages to... well, let's politely call it "seduce" Goldfinger's pilot, Ms. Galore, who switches the gas and informs the authorities. Afterwards, Goldfinger ambushes Bond on a private jet, but he ends up getting sucked out a window after depressurizing the cabin.

It's interesting that Goldfinger, unlike Red Grant in the previous film, has a very good reason for keeping Bond alive, up to a point: so long as he can convince the authorities that Bond has everything under control, they won't send another agent after him. That seems like a glaring oversight at MI6, but I digress. In fact, Goldfinger is probably the most crazy-prepared Bond villain ever. Witness how he wears a US Army uniform under his overcoat during the raid on Fort Knox, just in case anything goes wrong (although why the soldiers don't realize that they shouldn't be taking orders from a man with a suspicious German accent...).  And even if Goldfinger had done the pragmatic thing and killed Bond during or immediately after the gas attack, by that point Ms. Galore had already foiled his plans. (And Bond doesn't even get to defuse the bomb! Note that all he gets to do during the Fort Knox sequence is get his ass handed to him by Oddjob.)

This is the first high point of the series. It also sets the formula that all but two films between now and Dalton will do their best to follow. (Those films are On Her Majesty's Secret Service and For Your Eyes Only.) And with one exception, no film that tries to ape Goldfinger's formula (or, nowadays, "The James Bond Formula") has exceeded it. Oh well.

I'll end this review with a bit of trivia, and since everyone knows the bit about "Pussy Galore" and the producers taking the censor out to dinner, here is, as the guys behind another Flying Circus would say, something completely different: Gert Frobe (Goldfinger) was a former Nazi Party member who used his credentials to help Jews escape the Holocaust. And then they cast him as a German-accented character who uses poison gas. Oops.

All 23 Bond films are graded on a scale with C being average. Goldfinger gets an A.