Yoda_007

As the third 007 film, I believe that Goldfinger is w/out a doubt the best Bond film ever. The villains are credible (Goldfinger, Oddjob), and the girls are alluring (Ms. Galore, Jill & Tilly Masterson, Dink), and the plot is easy to follow. I would be very interested to find out your thoughts on Goldfinger or what 007 is your favorite!

Polynikes

Yoda_007:

As the third 007 film, I believe that Goldfinger is w/out a doubt the best Bond film ever. The villains are credible (Goldfinger, Oddjob), and the girls are alluring (Ms. Galore, Jill & Tilly Masterson, Dink), and the plot is easy to follow. I would be very interested to find out your thoughts on Goldfinger or what 007 is your favorite!

Goldfinger was probably the best of Connery's Bond outings. Personally, I found the US locations less than glamorous - there's always something of a global discovery tour when watching a Bond movie and Kentucky just doesn't cut it - though the Alps look gorgeous. I had the same problem with Diamonds Are Forever. Too humdrum.

I'd agree that the most menacing scene in any Bond movie is the one with Bond about to be cut in two by a laser.

"...no Mr Bond, I expect you to die!"

The movie actually improves on the book in that Goldfinger tries not to steal Ft Knox's gold (not technically feasible) but to make it radio active. (a friend once told me there's no gold isotope so making it radio active isn't feasible either).

Personally I though the The Spy Who Loved Me was the best action/sex/tourism movie.

It had the best car too & Jaws would trash Oddjob.

Yoda_007

How true, how true. Of course, Jaws expounded on the Oddjob persona. If you'll recall, 007 & Oddjob have a very long "duel" in Ft. Knox in which 007 seems to be getting nowhere fast. wink However, while Jaws may be on par w/ Oddjob, Goldfinger is definitely a better villain that Stromberg. Destruction of Ft. Knox is more realistic than theft of nuclear subs.
The girls, well, I think that Anya is better than Ms. G, but Galore is more the conventional Bond girl (blond, dimwitted, etc.)
You present a good case for TSWLM.

Polynikes

Yoda_007:

How true, how true. Of course, Jaws expounded on the Oddjob persona. If you'll recall, 007 & Oddjob have a very long "duel" in Ft. Knox in which 007 seems to be getting nowhere fast.

Yes getting beat up by meaner villians is a draw-back of the job but a clever ruse always seems to present itself for Bond to take advantage of.
Remember the scissors in Live & Let Die to cut the cables on Tee Hee's mechanical arm or the tear gas in the brief case in from Russia With Love?

However, while Jaws may be on par w/ Oddjob, Goldfinger is definitely a better villain that Stromberg. Destruction of Ft. Knox is more realistic than theft of nuclear subs.

If you think about it, The Spy Who Loved Me (the absolute worst book BTW) is basically a remake of You Only Live Twice - with the villian stealing nuclear subs to precipitate WWIII rather than space rockets.

The girls, well, I think that Anya is better than Ms. G, but Galore is more the conventional Bond girl (blond, dimwitted, etc.)

Anya is sexy but not the sexiest girl in the movie....that would be Naomi (played by the jaw-droppingly Caroline Munro - tragically underused by the British cinema).
Pop quiz: How many women has Bond killed in the movies? Naomi was one.

My second favourite Bond has to be From Russia With Love - I wish the producers had kept their nerve and had the Russians as the bad guys instead of SPECTRE.

In all the other movies, Bond infiltrates the enemies nest - FRWL is a chase movie. It could've been a little more exiting perhaps and the speed boat chase at the end was something of a damp squib but it does have the most believable bad guy in Red Grant played by Robert Shaw and a sexy girl fight.

My wish is for Brosnan to be fired as Bond and for the producers to stop having Bond save the world. The days of the super-spy are over in today's shades of grey world. I'd like to see the original Casino Royal remade as a 50's cold war period piece with the explicit sex and torture of the book.

Bond shouldn't be Indiana Jones, he should be more Dirty Harry and the violence should be more Reservoir Dogs than Jackie Chan.

The lowest low Bond ever reached was when the bad guys were duffed up by the two school-girls in The Man With The Golden Gun.

Just a few personal thoughts....

[ 22. April 2003, 07:09: Message edited by: Polynikes ]

DB7

Must-have movies: Goldfinger.

The classics that every film-lover will want to own. This week, Mark Monahan reviews Goldfinger (1964

Taste in Bond movies is a largely generational thing. Today's youngsters would, I suspect, take one of Pierce Brosnan's (dire) outings to their desert island, whereas, like many children of the 1970s, I'd be ecstatic with any of Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me or Moonraker (all starring the mighty Moore). In the cold light of day, however, it's hard to deny that the 1960s Connery films were the most Bondish of all, and that among them the most potent cocktail has always been Goldfinger.

It fell to Briton Guy Hamilton – formerly assistant director on The Fallen Idol, The Third Man and The African Queen - to make the third Bond adaptation. Armed with his considerable experience, a then monstrous $3.5 million budget and Edinburgh's most famous ex-milkman (in his panther-like prime), he delivered the film that saw the true birth of the screen 007.

It still has the best of everything: villain (Auric Goldfinger, fleshed out by German Gert Fröbe but dubbed throughout by actor Michael Collins), henchman (the Korean Oddjob, played by 20-stone Hawaiian-born wrestler Harold Sakata), name (Pussy Galore, aka the splendid Honor Blackman), set (Ken Adams's Fort Knox, in producer Cubby Broccoli's words a "cathedral of gold"), gadget (Bond's DB5) and plot.

Goldfinger also set the standard for the pre-credits "teaser", reinventing it as a mini-movie. All life is here: a small plastic duck, a big plastic explosion, Bond's wetsuit/white-tie combo, and a blistering fight that concludes with the quintessential throwaway line: "Shocking – positively shocking."

Bond develops a taste for electrocution – it's also his means of dispatching Oddjob, in the even tenser encounter towards the end. Indeed, watch the film now and it's these smaller set-pieces (the fights, the golf, the gilded Shirley Eaton) that stand out and make Goldfinger the most enduring of guilty pleasures.

Marky B

Hi,everybody,
When anyone asks me what is my favourite Bond film,the answer is an immediate "Goldfinger". However,From Russia With Love is second only by a neck. The plot was plausible,the script was witty (especially with Pedro Armendariz),Daniella Bianchi is one of the most under rated Bond girls in terms of looks,and the song is my favourite as Matt Monro is one of my favourite singers and I have met him.
My favourite Bond? My answer is Sean Connery,but he was the original and he set the yardstick forthe rest. However,don't forget Roger Moore was on the short list but was committed to making the Saint On Her Majesty's Secret Service was a good film,but George Lazenby did not fit. Now then,if Big Tam had not agreed to do Diamonds Are Forever,the job of 007 would have been given to Adam West,yes Adam West,Batman to hoot.
Roger Moore brought a lot of humour to the series and although I have not met him,I think he is one of the most modest of actors,whilst not pretending to be Olivier,is definately of the most entertaining.
Timothy Dalton brought a lot of the hardness back
and whilst I enjoyed his films (particularly Licensed to Kill),he could not deliver the quips a la Moore. As someone once observed,the others were not stage actors and they knew it;Dalton was stage actor and he knew it.
Pierce Brosnan has the gathered the harshness of Connery and Dalton,and the humour of Moore. His films had to reinvent the Bond franchise for it to survive after License to Kill had disappointing till receipts. Out went the male M,and in comes Dame Judi Dench bringing a fresh approach to the role,but I just wished they kept Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny. Samantha Bond does nothing for me.
Who is next:words are that Clive Owen could be the heir apparent (I'll go along with that),or another Australian Hugh Jackman (he can't be worse than Lazenby). It has been suggested Colin Salmon,M's Chief of Staff,could take over,making him the first black Bond.
Anyway,whatever,it won't be me.
The name's B,Marky B
Ta Ta

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

Peter in Canada

I cannot imagine too many topics concerning British cinema that are capable of generating more feedback than "What is your favourite Bond film" ?

While I have certainly enjoyed the movies with Messrs. Moore, Dalton ( very under-rated ) and Brosnan, for people of my generation, Sean Connery will always be the definitive 007. Therefore, my vote goes to "From Russia With Love" ( FRWL ). I give it an edge over the more universally-acclaimed "Goldfinger" because it has a gritty realism that was to disappear in later films. FRWL also crackles from beginning to end--the first half of "Goldfinger" is terrific, but Pussy Galore's "Flying School" was the first hint that these films could become silly if the script writers and producers weren't careful.

FRWL has truly memorable villains in Lotte Lenya and Robert Shaw--the fight between Connery and Shaw on the train is unforgettable. Daniela Bianchi has a nice mixture of class and vulnerability. Ultimately, though, we have Connery at the peak of his powers--charming, witty and dangerous--before he became visibly jaded with the role.

Again, FRWL is a straight thriller, before Bondian gadgets, outlandish stunts and cartoon villains took over( one exception--Robert Davi's "Sanchez" in "Licence To Kill"--nothing "cartoonish" about this guy ! ).

I look forward to other comments.

Cheers.

mike

Goldfinger is my favourite, the song everything about it.
(Alan Partridge acted out a bond film in his last series, see it.)

Diamonds.... is another fav of mine although it gets slated. All the Sean Connery 007's I saw at the cinema and the cinema really is the only place to appreciate them fully. I would have seen Goldfinger about 1971 ish at a single screen cinema, a few weeks after a film hits the big screen now that's it, you aren't going to see it big, shame.

deckard

Yep! I have to go with the crowd and say "Goldfinger" is my favourite Bond film.As for different generations prefering different Bonds,well you would think so eh?,but I have two sons aged 25 and 16 and although they like the techy special effects of the latest Bonds,they both agree that the best Bond was Connery,go figure!

"and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock"

webmaster

Goldfinger
Peter Bradshaw
Friday July 27, 2007
The Guardian

"You ekshpect me to talk?" - "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to DIE!" Then why doesn't Goldfinger just shoot 007, an army of pedants have asked, instead of setting up this elaborate laser-beam creeping up to Sean Connery's penis? Perhaps he's just a procrastinator like the rest of us. Here is a revival of what could be the best Connery Bond, from 1964, facing up to sinister bullion-dealer Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) with his plan to detonate a nuclear bomb inside Fort Knox. It has Shirley Bassey's operatic theme, the Aston Martin and Shirley Eaton, killed with that magnificently macabre gold paint.

It also has, I fear, the most sexist scene in cinema history. "Man talk," says Bond to his masseuse as Felix Leiter arrives for a conference, dismissing her with a smack to the bottom. (My theory is that a feminist art director made Connery wear that bizarre poolside terry-towelling hot-pants suit in revenge.) Sir Sean was the screen Bond who tried most to replicate the worldly connoisseurship of Fleming's original; he embarrasses M with a superior knowledge of brandy, and as for drinking improperly refrigerated Dom Pérignon: "That's like listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!" Earmuffs? Well, 007, you grumpy old square: in those days, action movies were addressed to an older generation. And Connery's Bond was the last action hero to wear a three-piece suit.

christoph404

your being ironic and jokey obviously!! Adam West was never a serious contender for Bond, Broccoli wanted then TV star Burt Reynolds but eventually tested and signed American actor John Gavin to play the part. Connery was persuaded to step back into the role at the eleventh hour, John Gavin was paid in full as per his contract for a film he never appeared in. Check out "James Bond the Legacy" by John Cork and Bruce Scivally.

bertie

Well all very interesting but I have always thought that the best Bond film is
From Russia with Love. From what I remember of the book (read 40 years ago + at School) the plot was good and the film more or less stuck by it.

Mind you Casino Royale is pretty good too!