THRILL SCALE 1-10
7.5
HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?
Yes, but only once and it's been a while
BEST SEQUENCE
The assault on Fort Knox
BEST LINE
Bond (strapped to a table, an industrial-strength laser inching towards his genitals): "Do you expect me to talk?"
Goldfinger: "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE
99%
ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS
"Goldfinger is where James Bond as we know him comes into focus - it features one of 007's most famous lines ("A martini. Shaken, not stirred.") and a wide range of gadgets that would become the series' trademark."
IMDB SYNOPSIS
"While investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve."
THOUGHTS
- There have been 27 movies made about James Bond. Seven actors have played him, in seven different decades. While it was only the third film in the series, Goldfinger is seen by many to be the quintessential Bond movie (and similarly, Sean Connery is seen by many to be the quintessential Bond actor). I checked out a few lists ranking the Bond series, and Goldfinger was always near the top, and usually #1. It has the highest percentage on Rotten Tomatoes of any Bond film. I saw it once, I think in high school. I didn't remember a whole lot about it, but I did remember having a good time watching it
- But good God, I forgot how utterly, entirely ridiculous the whole thing is
- It's certainly a romp. The action is solid, the villains are menacing in a charismatic way, and Connery is cheer-worthy (as long as you can get past the casual misogyny - some moments really didn't age well)
- But man, be prepared to groan a few times. And honestly, I see this as a feature, not a bug. It's the style of these movies. You can't have James Bond kill someone without lightening the mood with a terrible, borderline non-sequitur pun. For example, bad guy gets electrocuted; when asked what happened to him, Bond says, "He blew a fuse." Or, a different bad guy gets electrocuted. Purely for his own amusement, Bond says, "Shocking. Positively shocking." As they say, one good electrocution joke deserves another
- The post-death quip was one of many Bond-isms parodied in Austin Powers. And, while I have no statistics to back this up, I think there's a fair chance that there are more people at this point who have seen the Austin Powers movies than have seen Goldfinger. The funny thing about parodying Bond, however, is that some of the gags that appear in Austin Powers are barely more ridiculous than what they're directly imitating. Cases in point: the character Alotta Fagina? Based on Pussy Galore from this movie. The character Random Task, who is lethal when throwing a shoe? Based on Oddjob, who is lethal when throwing a metal-rimmed bowler hat. All of these things are absolutely asinine! There's no upper ground between the parody and that which is being parodied!
- Goldfinger is a great villain, and I like that he's introduced cheating at cards. It's a clever way of establishing his character, to show that this immensely wealthy man just likes to win and he doesn't care how he does it. Similarly, while it's not the most action-packed stretch of the movie, there's something that I find really entertaining about the golf game between Bond and Goldfinger
- While the movie ended up being quite a lot sillier than I remembered, there's still so much that works here. The theme song is a banger, the gadgets are nifty, the action set pieces and fights are fun, and you've got all the iconic lines ("A martini. Shaken, not stirred"). Speaking of which, I mixed myself a martini to watch this movie, and I plan on doing it for the other Bond films coming up, too. And boy, that is a stiff drink! But James Bond wouldn't have it any other way
Up next: Given my age (I was born in '86), it might be surprising that I haven't seen Pierce Brosnan's first go as Bond, which came out in '95. But as positively shocking as it is, it's true. I certainly played the video game a lot, but up next will be my first time watching GoldenEye
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