A Review of “Goldfinger”

December 31, 2006 @ 7:00 am by Pressed

Bond: Sean Connery
Produced by: Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman
Directed by: Guy Hamilton
Date Released: UK - September 17, 1964; US - December 22, 1964
Budget: $3 Million

This is the third movie in the 007 series and is said to be one of the best. Goldfinger is the movie that brought James Bond into blockbuster status.

Plot: Goldfinger (the bad guy) plans to destroy Americas gold supply by blowing up Fort Knox. He can destroy gold and then melt it out of the scraps using his lazer in order to re-use it. This film features the normal Bond themes: exotic locations, high tech gadgets, beautiful girls, mega villans, and some humor to go along with the action.

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is the car chase scene with the Aston Martin DB-5. This car has rotating liscense plates, a smoke screen, ejector seat, oil slick, bullet proof shield, machine guns, and the wheel scythe that comes out to pop the tires of cars next to it. While it may not seem like much to our effects ladened society, in 1964 these were top notch effects. The Aston Martin DB-5 was one of the most desire cars in the 60’s, made extremely popular by the film.

The Bond series and many of the movies are based off the origional novels written by Ian Fleming. He had a way with words, especially the names he gave to the women that show up in his stories. In fact I feel dirty even thinking about the name of the girl in Goldfinger. It’s a horrible name, and yet not the first or the last of the dirty little names Fleming came up with for the girls in his stories.

Review: This is the first 007 movie that I’ve watched starring a Bond other than Pierce Brosnan and the newest one that is in theaters. While I didn’t know what to expect, I ended up really enjoying this movie. It is an excellent movie for its time period. To me the gadgets seem simple and unimpressive, but in 1964 they were state of the art effects. Sean Connery is the original Bond. The Bond that I’ve come to enjoy in these later years was most enjoyable even 40 years ago. The character is just as exciting, even though the technology has changed.

Rating: A

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