Goldfinger

Today is the anniversary of the release of Goldfinger. It was the third of James Bond series, but set the template for almost every Bond film to follow. It is the favorite of many fans, including me.

I've seen it several times, but I still enjoyed it watching it last night. I think one of the reasons I like it is, though the plot is as preposterous as any other Bond film, it remains in the realm of the possible. Auric Goldfinger is a nefarious criminal, but he's not one of these guys who is threatening to blow up the world and has a lair underneath a volcano. He simply wants to corner the gold market, a kind of pedestrian ambition. In fact, he thinks by radiating the U.S. gold reserve at Fort Knox that it will increase his worth by only ten percent.

And though there will be a big shootout at the end (which Bond is not involved in--he's handcuffed to an atomic bomb) the battles between he and Goldfinger are more cerebral. First, Bond exposes him as a cheat at gin rummy, and later bests him on the golf course. Those ideas would today be crumpled up into a ball at the treatment phase.

Goldfinger was the first Bond film to use Q division (it's so fun to see the exasperation of Desmond Llewellyn), and the pre-credit intro that has only tangential connection to the rest of the film. It wasn't the first to have a theme song with a lyric, but this particular song, by John Barry, with lyric by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, has become indelibly linked to the series.

But most of all, this film has probably got more moments that have lasted the test of time. Consider when Bond strips off his frog suit only to reveal he's wearing a white dinner jacket (miraculously without wrinkles), or the Aston-Martin's panoply of weapons (the ejector-seat being the most memorable). Who can forget Shirley Eaton being murdered by "epidermal asphyxiation," i.e., completely covered with gold paint (how this was done without getting any paint on the bed or floor is a testament to the assassin's skill).

There are some great supporting characters, foremost the assassin himself, Oddjob (Harold Sakata). There are many wonderful second-banana villains in Bond films, including the recently deceased Richard Kiel as Jaws, but to me Oddjob, with his razor-edged bowler and stoic expression tops them all. As for Bond girls, I don't think Honor Blackman is the sexiest ever (she was the oldest, at 39, and while extremely beautiful I didn't buy the chemistry between her and Sean Connery) but she had the best name: Pussy Galore. And come on, Pussy Galore's Flying Circus? A team of acrobatic fliers, all beautiful blondes? That's so over the top it's funny.

Some of the dialogue is priceless, too. We get some bad jokes, like Bond saying "Shocking" after electrocuting a bad guy. But I love when Bond, strapped to table with a laser beam slowly making its way to his privates, asks Goldfinger, "Do you expect me to talk?" and Goldfinger replies, laughing, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"

To me Connery is by far the best Bond. The character is best when rooted in the era when the books were written, when a man wore a homburg and there was still chauvinism in the air. We have to realize that by seducing Eaton, Bond caused her death, and essentially we are asked to believe that his incredible sex appeal got Pussy Galore to betray Goldfinger. Connery understood this, and was believable as both a tough guy and a man who knew his brandy.

Goldfinger was a smash hit (the theater it played at in New York had to run it 24 hours a day) and firmly established the character for five decades to come, for good or for ill. While the series has had its ups and down since then, I don't think it has surpassed this level, and doubt it ever will.