Goldfinger Review Revisited "Ejector seat? You're joking!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, figured it was time for another post on here and this one is yet another revistation of sorts and will be of the one of the great James Bond classics, Goldfinger. So, it will be the usual expansion stuff of the previous review, also given it is the film's 60th anniversary, its as good a time as any to revisit it. 

So, let's take another look at this classic Bond flick from the 60's once again.

The usual warning is of course coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!! 

STORY 

So, the story begins with Bond (Sean Connery) sent on a mission to destroy a drug laboratory in Latin America (followed by the credits).  After this Bond goes to Miami where he receives instructions from his superior, M (Bernard Lee) via CIA agent Felix Leiter (Cec Linder) to observe a bullion dealer named Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) who happens to be staying at the same hotel as Bond.  Bond then spies on Goldfinger as he spots him cheating during a card game and he locates Goldfinger's employee, Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) who observes the card game from a telescope and via a microphone tells Goldfinger the hand of his opponent.  Bond however foils Goldfinger's game and tells him off for cheating and switches off the mic and proceeds to seduce Jill, however after they sleep together, Bond is knocked out by Goldinger's Korean manservant, Oddjob (Harold Sakata) who then kills Jill by spraying her body with gold paint, thereby suffocating her.

Bond then returns to London where he meets with M who tells him he is to determine how Oddjob smuggles the gold internationally.  Bond then meets Goldfinger for a game of golf where they play a high stakes game, which Bond wins by switching Goldfinger's golf ball during the game.  Bond later follows Goldfinger into Switzerland and stops off at a point where Goldfinger buys some fruit but a gunshot is fired from above at Bond by a girl, Tilly (Tania Mallett).  Bond follows her and disables her car with a special gadget that blows out her wheels and he later drops her off.  Bond later at night infiltrates Goldfinger's plant and discovers that he smuggles the gold by melting it down and having it structured into the bodywork of his car.  

Bond soon finds Tilly again who turns out to be the sister of Jill and she is out for revenge for Goldfinger having her sister killed, however Tilly is soon killed by Oddjob with his bowler hat and Bond is captured.  Bond later comes to, to find himself strapped onto a table and Goldfinger has a laser beam aimed at the table and activates it as it starts cutting its way slowly up the table towards Bond's privates.  As Goldfinger is ready to having Bond killed, Bond reveals that he knows something of Goldfinger's operation "Operation grand slam" as he overheard him say it earlier in the film, which causes Goldfinger to spare Bond's life and instead Bond is taken onboard Goldfinger's private jet piloted by Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman).

Bond is then taken to Goldfinger's stud farm situated near Fort Knox where he is placed in a cell.  Goldfinger in the meantime meets with some American mafia associates and he tells them of his operation to enter Fort Knox where he intends to use nerve gas to disable the army personnel surrounding it.  Bond then manages to escape his cell after luring in and knocking out one of the guards and he spies on the meeting only to be spotted by Pussy (does that sound right?!).  However after the meeting Goldfinger has the Mafia associates all killed using a lethal nerve gas.  

After the meeting Bond talks with Goldfinger who tells him that he intends to detonate a bomb within Fort Knox that would render the gold within it useless so he can increase the value of his own gold.  Bond later walks with Pussy and the two of them having a playful play in the....erm hay where Bond seduces her (albeit forcefully!).  Bond is then soon taken to Fort Knox along with Goldfinger after Pussy and her team of female pilots spread gas over the area knocking out the army soldiers and the CIA.  And from here Bond must find a way to stop Goldfinger from his nefarious plan.....

THOUGHTS AND SOME BACKGROUND NOTES

Goldfinger is often regarded as one of the very best Bond films and it has to be said its easy to see why as to this day its still a highly entertaining and at times thrilling movie which features so many memorable moments not to mention memorable characters and action set pieces.  The film was also quite racy for its time in terms of its double entendres and introducing such an outrageously perversley named character as Pussy Galore, which for its time surprisingly there was little controversy over it even though at one point the producers considered renaming her "Kitty Galore".  

The film was also well noted for its scenes at Fort Knox during the film's climax where Bond is trapped inside Fort Knox and handcuffed to the bomb that is set to go off as for the filming of these scenes, the film crew were not allowed to actually film inside Fort Knox itself.  So as a result of this the film's designer, Ken Adam, imagined and designed a set for Fort Knox as they thought it might appear and later on Adam himself received a letter from the management at Fort Knox complimenting him on the set design itself.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES 

As for the performances well they are pretty good here.

Starting off with Sean Connery who is great once again in his role as Bond and he plays part with a sly charm and strong sense of self assuredness.  

Connery naturally has some great scenes in the film such as his opening scene in Latin America where he fights off a henchman come to kill him and he throws the henchman into the bath and then flings a fan at him, electrocuting the man and afterward Bond says "Shocking!  Positively shocking!" before leaving.

Then we have the scene is when Bond after sleeping with Jill goes to get some wine from the fridge of her hotel room and he tells Jill "My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!" just before being knocked out by Oddjob. 

Then there is the scene where Bond meets with Q and he shows him his new Aston Martin and highlights some of the gadgets in it including the ejector seat and as Q tells him about it the button that activates. So, Q says to Bond "Whatever you do don't touch that button?" and Bond asks "Why not?" and Q tells him "Because it will remove this section off the roof and with it, it will eject the seat" and Bond says incredulously "Ejector seat?!  You're joking!" and Q says "I never joke about my work, 007!".  

Another good scene is when Bond plays golf with Goldfinger (Connery himself later took up the game after the film) and as Goldfinger loses his ball on the fairway, Oddjob drops another one discreetly.  And Bond's caddy says "If that's his original ball I'm Arnold Palmer" and Bond says "It isn't" and the caddy says "How do you know that?" and Bond says "I'm standing on it!" and he lifts his shoe to reveal the ball.  

And of course there is the classic scene when Bond is captured and tied to the table with the laser beam being fired and edging closer to his private parts!  And in the scene Bond tries to persuade Goldfinger to switch it off by saying "You're forgetting one thing, if I fail to report back, 008 replaces me!" which falls on deaf ears to Goldfinger who says "I trust he will be more successful".  And Bond continues to try and stop Goldfinger from killing him by saying "Well he knows what I know" and Goldfinger says "You know nothing, Mr Bond" and Bond nervously says "Operation grand slam for instance".  And Goldfinger takes a moment and considers the implications of Bond knowing this and says "Two words you may have overheard, which cannot have the slightest significance to you or anyone in your organization" and Bond anxiously says "Are you willing to take that chance?" which leads to Goldfinger finally switching off the laser.  

Another interesting but controversial scene is when Bond plays with Pussy Galore in the haybarn and as she is about to leave he grabs her and says "What would it take for you to see things my way?" and Pussy defiantly says "Alot more than you've got!" and they proceed to playfully throw each other in the hay.  And Bond finally seduces her by saying "Let's both play!" and Pussy finally gives into his forceful advances.  

Then lastly there is the scene near the end when the CIA rush in and switch off Goldfinger's bomb and Felix asks Bond how did he get Pussy to change her mind about switching the gas canisters to knock out the army soldiers rather than kill them, and Bond says "Well I guess I must have appealed to her maternal instincts!".

Next is Gert Frobe who is great as the ruthless Auric Goldfinger and he delivers one of the series most memorably villainous performances. It is worth noting however that Frobe's actual voice was not used during the film as it was dubbed by the British actor, Michael Collins but Frobe's real voice can be heard in the scene where Bond is directly underneath the room where Goldfinger briefs some gangster associates over his plan to rob Fort Knox. 

Frobe also has some great scenes such as the scene where Goldfinger first meets with Bond for a game of golf and after he loses he warns Bond not to cross him again and points to Oddjob's hat, who takes it off and throws it and cuts the head off one of the statues on the grounds of the club. So, Bond says to him "But what would the club secretary have to say" and Goldfinger says "Oh nothing, Mr Bond.  I own the club!".  

Then there is the classic scene where Goldfinger has captured Bond and places him on the table with an industrial laser aimed right at the table it starts to cut through it.  And Bond says to Goldfinger "You expect me to talk?" and Goldfinger turns and says to him "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die!".  And in the same scene Bond says to Goldfinger "You're forgetting one thing!  If I fail to report back, 008 replaces me!" and Goldfinger smugly says "I trust he will be more successful!". So, as Bond tells him about overhearing the words "operation grand slam" and Bond says "You will take that chance?" that he doesn't really know anything. So, Goldfinger relents and turns the laser and says to Bond "You're right, your more important to me alive".  

Then there is the scene where Goldfinger tells the American mafia associates his plan to infiltrate Fort Knox and later he leads out one of the associates, Mr Solo who decides to renege on Goldfinger's plan and he is driven away by Oddjob and later killed and crushed inside the car down at a junkyard.  And in the scene Goldfinger says to Bond "You will need to excuse, Mr Solo, he has a pressing engagement!" only later to see the car come back in a neatly squashed square and he says to Bond "Forgive me, Mr. Bond, but, uh... I must arrange to separate my gold from the late Mr. Solo!".

And last of all there is the last scene where Goldfinger smuggles himself onboard a private jet for Bond going to the Whitehouse and Goldfinger wearing a high ranking army uniform says to him "You have interferred in my plans for the last time, Mr Bond!". So, Bond asks "Where is Pussy?" and Goldfinger says "I will deal with her later but right now she's up at the controls" and Bond struggles with him and fires off Goldfinger's gun shooting out one of the windows, which causes the plane to lose cabin pressure and Goldfinger is then sucked out of a plane window!

Then there is Honour Blackman who is very good in her amusingly named role of Pussy Galore, Goldfinger's personal pilot who later switches allegiances to help Bond and has a good chemistry onscreen also with Connery.  

Blackman also has some good moments in the film too such as her first scene where Bond wakes up to see Pussy and she says to him "My name is Pussy Galore".  And in the same scene she takes out her gun and rubs it closely on his cheek saying "You like close shaves don't you?". Bond then tries to use his charm on her and she says "You can turn off the charm, I'm immune" which has suggested as the book states that she is a lesbian but of course Bond sees to that later!  

And as Bond teases her about being Goldfinger's personal pilot he says to her "Oh, just how personal is that?" which pisses her off and she snaps back "I'm a damn good pilot!  Period!".  And then there is the scene where Oddjob opens the door of a car for Bond and Pussy to get in and Bond says to her "You know he kills little girls like you" and Pussy retorts "Little boys too!".  

Then there is the scene where Bond and Pussy play in the hay and he grabs her and eventually seduces her. So, in the scene as they walk together, Bond says to her "Oh, trying a different tactic" and as they go into barn, Bond tries to persuade her to see that Goldfinger is crazy "He's quite mad, you know" but she doesn't listen. So, Bond then grabs her as she tries to leave and he says "What would it take for you to see things my way?" and Pussy says "Alot more than you've got!" and Bond asks "How do you know?" and Pussy says "I don't want to know!". So, they playfully toss each other about in the hay and Bond finally says "Right, let's both play" and he forces himself on her and she gives in for a passionate embrace. 

Harold Sakata even though he never has any lines of dialogue also makes a memorable appearance in his role as the Korean mute henchman, Oddjob who does Goldfinger's evil bidding.

Sakata also has his moments in the film such as the scene where Oddjob first throws his bowler hat at a statue, decapitating it and later in the scene Bond throws him Goldfinger's golf ball saying "I believe this is yours" and Oddjob catches and crushes it with his fist, smiling.  Then of course there is the climactic fight scene between Oddjob and Bond which is one of the best fight scenes in the series and ends up with Bond frying Oddjob by electrocuting him.

And last few cast members I will mention include Desmond Lewellyn who is great again as Q and his only scene is a highlight in itself where he tells Bond about the different gadgets of his Aston Martin. 

So, in the scene Q points out a red button on the gearstick of the car "Now this one I'm particularly keen about. You see the gear lever here? Now, if you take the top off, you will find a little red button. Whatever you do, don't touch it!" and Bond asks "Why not?" and Q tells him "Because you'll release this section of the roof, and engage and then fire the passenger ejector seat. Whish!".  And Bond says "Ejector seat?!  You're joking!" and Q seriously says "I never joke about my work, 007!".

Then there is Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson and she is quite good as Goldfinger's employee but after she sleeps with Bond, she is famously bumped off by being covered in gold paint, suffocating her skin.  

So, I will mention the scene where Jill lies down looking through a telescope, spying on Goldfinger's card game to help him cheat via a hidden microphone. 

So, in the scene, Bond turns up in the room and she turns around and asks "Who are you?" and Bond says that classic line "Bond, James Bond". So, Bond asks her "Tell me, what's your name?" and Jill says "Jill Masterson" and Bond asks "Tell me, Jill, why does he do it?" and Jill says "He likes to win" and Bond asks "Does he pay you to do it?" and Jill says "He pays me" and Bond asks "Is that all he pays your for?" and Jill says "And being seen with him" and Bond enquires "Just seen?" and Jill says "JUST seen" and Bond smiles and says "I'm so glad". Bond then turns off Goldfinger's connection and taps the mic loudly and says to him "Now, you better losing, Goldfinger. Nod if you understand?" and Goldfinger, frustrated nods, which allows his opponent to win and Goldfinger breaks his pencil in disgust. So, Bond says on the mic "Over and out" and he turns it off and turns to Jill who says to him "I think I like you, Mr Bond" Bond then says "What are we going to do about it?" and "I'll tell after dinner" and Jill asks "Where?" and Bond says "Oh, I know the best place in town!" and they kiss. 

Bernard Lee also makes a brief appearance again in his role as Bond's superior M and he is solid as ever in the part but given little to do though. 

So, I will mention the scene where M meets with Bond not long after Jill's death and Bond explains to M "She died of skin suffocation. Its alright if you leave a small bare patch of the skin at the spine to breathe" and M says "Someone obviously didn't" and Bond says "I know who". M then warns Bond "This isn't a personal vendetta, 007. Its an assignment like any other. And if you can't treat it as such, coldly and objectively, then 008 can replace you". M then continues to chastise Bond "You were supposed to observe Mr Goldfinger, not steal his girlfriend. Its only by the good grace of God and your friend Letier, that you are not in the hands of the Miami beach police!". Bond then says "I am aware of my shortcomings, sir. I will continue to approach this assignment in the spirit you suggest, if I KNEW what it was about". M then asks "What do you know about Gold? Not painted bullion." and Bond says "I know it when I see it" so M tells him "Meet tonight at seven. Black tie".  

Tania Mallet is also pretty good in her role as Tilly, the sister of Jilly, who is out for revenge after Goldfinger has her killed and Bond tries to help her. 

So, I will mention just one of her scenes, as she only has a couple really and its the one where Bond finds her in the dark as she tries to find a way to kill Goldfinger. Bond, who is trying to infiltrate Goldfinger's base finds Tilly and he says surprised "What the hell are you doing here?" and Tilly angrily says "Let me go, I want to kill him!" and Tilly says "Goldfinger, he killed my sister". Bond the asks "Why were you shooting at me?" and Tilly says "I wasnt, I was shooting at Goldfinger!" and Bond says "Well, you're a lousy shot!".

And last of all we have Cec Linder who does very well in his role as Felix Leiter and I would have to say he ranks as one of the better Leiter's in the series.  And Linder has some good lines in the film as well such as in the scene near the end where Leiter leads Bond toward a private jet that will take him to meet the president at the Whitehouse and Leiter says to Bond "I told the stewardess liquor for three" and Bond asks "Who are the other two" and Leiter says "Oh there are no other two!".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

Now getting on the director, Guy Hamilton who has done an excellent job in his debut Bond film (with Terence Young having directed the first two) and he confidently handles the film's action scenes and he never let's the film's pace lag at any time and he has almost succeeded in creating the perfect Bond film here alone.  Hamilton would then go on to become a directorial stalwart of the series as he would direct several more films in the series including Diamonds are Forever and Live and Let Die.

As for the film's music it features a great score by John Barry which is also very memorable and it features some great tracks and notably one of the pieces of music was even sampled by the band Sneaker Pimps taken from the scene where Bond finds Jill's body covered in gold paint.  Then of course there is the film's very memorable Bond title theme as sung by Shirley Bassey which easily goes down as one of the series best and most recognisible Bond themes.

FLAWS

As for Goldfinger's flaws.... yeah OK its not quite perfect and to start it has to be said it has some silly moments in the film such as the scene at the start where Bond infiltrates the drug lab and he climbs the wall by shooting the grappel gun, but we clearly see the rope shoot up long after its being fired!  So it makes for one of the film's more clumsy technical moments.  And in the next scene we have Bond set his plastic explosives around neatly placed barrels of nitro explosives and it makes you wonder just why the hell would they even be placed there in the first place???!  Certainly the drug dealers and drug lords associated with the lab will not assume that this could be at any stage problematic!

Then there is the scene where Bond derails Tilly's car off the road by using retracting blades that come from his tires and cuts right her wheels and into the bodywork of the car itself.  Now the fact that Tilly survived the crash herself is in itself a miracle but not only that she never really suspects that it was Bond the did the damage himself!  But clearly Bond was the only one that was right next her on the road so she must have figured it had to be him!  And to top that off its also a bit of a cliche that Tilly is as Bond puts it "a lousy shot" when he fails in her attempt to kill Goldfinger on the hilly roads in Switzerland.  Not only that the gunshot doesn't even get any sort of reaction at all out of Goldfinger himself and only just a smile from Oddjob!  These guys really aren't concerned much by this are they????!!

Another thing that springs to mind is in the scene when Goldfinger has all the American mafia associates killed after his meeting with them.  Now he has just killed, what I presume to be several high ranking Mafia associates and with them dead, questions will surely be asked and no doubt eventually the Mafia would suss things out and send someone to kill Goldfinger himself!  But of course because of the convenience of the film we never really get to that and instead we just carry on with the rest of the plot and well...Goldfinger will meet his end soon enough.

Then there is of course the famous or infamous scene where Bond seduces Pussy Galore, which even has some romantic music in the background by John Barry. However, this scene looking at it today, seems to be far from romantic as Bond really does force himself on Pussy, giving her no choice but to accept his aggressive advances, which is almost tantamount to sexual assault. In fact the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) said recently if the film was ever to be re-released again it would be certified as 12 instead of a PG, for this scene alone. So, in retrospect this scene definitely is quite uncomfortable to watch. 

Another silly moment comes in the Fort Knox sequence where Pussy and her pilots fly over Fort Knox and spray the nerve gas knocking out the army and CIA immediately, which seems a bit daft at just how quickly it affects them!  Now I don't really know if the affect of such a nerve gas would be as instantaneous but far as I'm concerned its one of the scenes that stands out as being really comical and stupid the way we see the actors instantly collapse, although its later claimed they were faking it???  Hmmm.  Well if that was the case surely this would have roused the suspicion of Goldfinger as he must know of the effects the gas will have on the soldiers and whether it would be instant or not.  

Then we have the scene of course where after Bond has dealt with Oddjob he tries to find a way to switch off the bomb, which is counting down pretty fast, so fast in fact there is no way it wouldn't count down to zero BEFORE Felix and the other CIA agents could race down the stairs!  So that whole scene in itself is crap and one of the agents neatly knows just where the off switch is also and it stops at 007!  Nice touch but then if there was an off switch its funny how Bond didn't try and think of looking for that himself rather than piss out about with trying to pull out the wires!  Ah well common sense eh?   

And last of all there is the scene where Bond offs Goldfinger by shooting one of the windows of the private jet during their struggle causing Goldfinger to be sucked out of the plane window and for the plane to suffer cabin depressurisation.  But in reality there is no way this would happen not to mention that if anyone were to be sucked out surely it would be Bond and not Goldfinger given how heavy he is by comparison! ;-)

Anyway that's it for my looking at the flaws.

SUM UP

So summing up I think Goldfinger remains one of the strongest Bond films in the franchise and after 60 years its still as entertaining as it was on its release.  The film is easily one of the most memorable as well and it has so many memorable moments, characters and lines that's what makes it one of the best and for that alone its a film that warrants repeated viewing. 

So, I will rate Goldfinger:

9.5 out of 10

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post.

Till then its bye for now!