81 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

From CBn's main page...

CBn Reviews Goldfinger
Forum members review the third James Bond film

[trumanlodge89]

i was once again honored and surprised to be among those chosen for the feature. thanks guys!!

[K1Bond007]

Nice job fellas.

Honored to have my little review featured in the article.

[Qwerty]

Keep the reviews coming everyone, and I'll hopefully get them in the articles.

[Qwerty]

[Moderator's Note: Poll added to this thread.]

[Carver]

10 out of 10. Although The Living Daylights is my favourite Bond film, Goldfinger is still a perfect film. Oustanding.

[Mr. Blofeld]

You know his name, you know his obsession; now...


DISCUSS!!!

[Qwerty]

[Moderator's Note: Topics merged]

[tambourineman]

It always almost gets me lynched whenever I say it in Bond communities, but I find GF highly overrated. I think its a great film, but it just barely squeezes into my top 10 Bond movies list.

Connery gives what is possibly his best performance as 007, but outside that the movie is imo very average. Well, ok theres also the Astin Martin...

The locations are amongst the most dull of any Bond movie (kentucky, texas, florida.. wow.), and interesting locations are something thats always very important to me in a Bond movie. I think only AVTAK beats GF in the most boring locations stakes.

The movie was also too campy for my liking (a villain who kills people by throwing his hat at them... Austin Powers was right to take the piss with that one).

Also Bond is incompentent throughout, he just makes mistakes left right and center, and in the end Goldfingers plan really self-destructs on its own, the only part Bond really played was seducing Pussy Galore (not one of my favorite Bond girls) and turning her.

Dont want to sound too negative, GF is a great film! I just dont get why the movie could be so accepted as the best Bond movie in any way. I have watched this film so many times hoping I'll have some kind of a "Ah, now I get it!", moment, but no, everytime I watch it I feel the same way. A good Bond movie that isnt too special and not as good as the two before or after it.

Edited by tambourineman, 01 December 2007 - 05:09 AM.

[manfromjapan]

GOLDFINGER (Guy Hamilton, 1964)
After GOLDFINGER, the Bond films would get just a little too ridiculous and undisciplined. Less realistic and more fantastical and humourous than it's two predecessors, this is one of the most entertaining of the series. Most of the iconic imagery surrounding the series stems from this film, and the plot, girls (Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton), villains (Gert Frobe, Harold Sakata's Oddjob), music (one of John Barry's best, Shirley Bassey sings the legendary theme) are all top-notch. And of course, Connery is excellent, somehow even cooler and charismatic than ever before.

[Scottlee]

A solid 9 from me. Not the best Bond film but right up there in the Top Six.

[Vauxhall]

I voted 8. When I first watched GOLDFINGER, I never really understood why it came out top of every Bond movie poll at the time, but I've come to appreciate that it certainly is one of the most solid movies, including some classic scenes.

[Lazlow]

Well, I think it is one of the most overrated Bond-movie. I think it is becouse it was the first over-the-top Bond-movie. Well, for me, it is among the worst. I gave it three, becouse of the following things, which make it better from the ones I dislike the most:

-It has a great music. Barry's music is the best thing in this film.(The same applies to OHMSS)

-The pretitle scene. One of the best in the whole series. Better than the whole movie.

-While I don't like Goldfinger and Oddjob too much, at least they are played by good actors, and they don't make things worse. I think that they keep the whole movie together, so it won't fall apart completly.

-Connery appears in this movie. At least that is something, although he is quite boring.

-Guy Hamilton made better Bond-movies later, so I can forgive him for this movie.

What can I say about the rest? With a better direction, the movie could be better. The story is not bad, but the director makes a bad movie out of it. But at the end, the whole thing is boring and I don't really care about Bond's fate. So, I usually watch Casino Royale '67 instead of this, bacouse that is far better than Goldfinger.

[Mr. Blofeld]

I usually watch Casino Royale '67 instead of this, bacouse that is far better than Goldfinger.

You are one sad, strange little man.

[Lazlow]

I usually watch Casino Royale '67 instead of this, bacouse that is far better than Goldfinger.

You are one sad, strange little man.

Oh, really? What is my punishment for being the only fan of Casino Royale '67? I still don't like Goldfinger.

Edited by Lazlow, 12 January 2008 - 11:07 AM.

[Mr. Somerset]

A ten all the way.

[RazorBlade]

Once again there was another thread where I took aim at GF. No, my friends, it isn't a very good movie. I didn't favor the script. I'm not much on the director either. I agree it's the 1st of way too many over the top bond movies. The template. And for that reason alone, (note: here RB displays incredible restraint) GF isn't at the top of my list.

[LadySylvia]

What can I say about the rest? With a better direction, the movie could be better. The story is not bad, but the director makes a bad movie out of it.

I don't know. For me, the problem with GOLDFINGER was the script. It seemed to have plotholes that hardly made any sense to me.

[BoogieBond]

Gave it 8
Great film and the one that established the Bond formula. Misses out on a 9 just because of Bonds reliance on gadgets and hardware, and also because Bond is captured and out of the picture for a percentage of the film. All the other elements are in place and come together to produce a classic.

[john.steed]

A 10- My favorite Bond film all the way.

Why?
The Best Bond- Sean Connery
The Best Villian- Goldfinger
The Best Henchman- Oddjob
The Best Gadget- The Aston-Martin

[Aris007]

9/10
It was my fav until I saw OHMSS. Still one of the classics in cinema's history. Materpiece!

[Major Tallon]

I saw this movie on its original release, and people today can't imagine the buzz that attended scene after scene. People couldn't stop talking about it:

The seagull diving hood
Jill Masterson's bikini and the shared pajamas
The golden girl
Oddjob and his hat
The Aston Martin (especially the ejector seat)
The laser table
Pussy Galore
Crushing a real Lincoln Contiental
"Ohmigosh, it's really Fort Knox!"
The fight on the floor of the gold depository, with its electric finale
"007 seconds" (and the huge collective outpouring of breath that went with it)!
Goldfinger being sucked from the plane

Was the pace too slow, the script too boring, the hero too passive? If so, I can assure you that tens of millions of thrilled moviegoers failed to notice. Was it all too over the top? Well, of course, but the basic narrative thread (including the Korean henchman with the hat) was Fleming's, and this was the rare film that actually improved on the novel. Felix apart, the principal cast was perfection.

Some author or other once told us that "All that glisters is not gold." Well, Goldfinger comes close.

10/10

[DaveBond21]

I saw this movie on its original release, and people today can't imagine the buzz that attended scene after scene. People couldn't stop talking about it:

The seagull diving hood
Jill Masterson's bikini and the shared pajamas
The golden girl
Oddjob and his hat
The Aston Martin (especially the ejector seat)
The laser table
Pussy Galore
Crushing a real Lincoln Contiental
"Ohmigosh, it's really Fort Knox!"
The fight on the floor of the gold depository, with its electric finale
"007 seconds" (and the huge collective outpouring of breath that went with it)!
Goldfinger being sucked from the plane

Was the pace too slow, the script too boring, the hero too passive? If so, I can assure you that tens of millions of thrilled moviegoers failed to notice. Was it all too over the top? Well, of course, but the basic narrative thread (including the Korean henchman with the hat) was Fleming's, and this was the rare film that actually improved on the novel. Felix apart, the principal cast was perfection.

Some author or other once told us that "All that glisters is not gold." Well, Goldfinger comes close.

10/10

Great review, and especially good to hear from someone who saw it back in '64.

These are the things I love about Goldfinger:-

The first hour (in particular).

Love the PTS - from diving, to setting up the explosives, to the calm reaction to the explosion, the girl, and fight..."Shocking"

The titles - nicely done and of course, classic song.

Jill Masterson painted gold

I love the briefing with M over dinner.

The Switzerland scenes are amazing - and I especially love the shot from Tilly's point of view of Goldfinger & Oddjob and further up Bond - great shot, and beautifully photographed.

Great car chase and the ejector seat, and also the infamous laser scene.


It does go downhill a bit once we're in Kentucky but I always enjoy the fight with Oddjob and finally Goldfinger being sucked out of the plane, all good stuff!

I give it 8/10.

[Fiona Volpe lover]

Very overrated in my view. Yes, it's still a good movie, and it certainly has terrific ingredients- i.e. the Aston Martin, Oddjob,
the "do you want me to die " scene, the gold painted girl, etc- that remain iconic. But it has so many flaws in my opinion-
Bond is incompatent and spends most of the second half locked up

A really unmenacing main villain

Not much actual tension

Not really much action [pre-title, cat chase, Fort Knox, plane]

The Bond-Pussy Galore seduction/rape scene-horrid!

A nerve gas which takes a few seconds to work on the gangsters then knocks out loads of soldiers instantly [yes, I know Pussy switched the gas but you're not supposed to know it's different yet!]

Quite a few ropey performances [Tania Mallett, anyone?]


There are times I think even DN is a better film, at least Bond looks through he's been through alot by the end of it! Most of the time mature consideration does place it above DN and definately NSNA, but not any of Connery's others!

[Major Tallon]

But it has so many flaws in my opinion-
Bond is incompatent and spends most of the second half locked up

I've been reading this criticism a lot in recent months, and I confess that I don't understand it. Bond gets captured a lot, both in the books and the films. That he does is a testament to the formidable nature of his opponents. The opponents all have a flaw, however, and Bond's challenge is to find it and use it against them. In Goldfinger, Bond, captive or not, was the only person in a position to betray the villain's plan. And he brought it off! Incompetent? Not in my book.

You must also, I hope, realize that they were making a movie of a book by Ian Fleming. In the book, Bond was captured in Chapter Fourteen, and he remained a captive until the assault on Fort Knox in Chapter Twenty-One. There was, in other words, a large chunk of the book in which Bond was held a prisoner in Goldfinger's clutches. If anything, Bond was less incompetent in the film than in the book, where Oddjob was able to sneak up on Bond while he was reacting to Tilly Masterton's plot by closing his eyes and "fighting with a wave of mental nausea." At least Bond in the film was in the Aston Martin, fighting off a fleet of pursuing Mercedes.

Furthermore, it's not like nothing was happening in the film while Bond was a prisoner. He had the scene with the laser table, met Pussy Galore, escaped from his cell, overheard the plot to rob Fort Knox, smuggled out a warning in Mr. Solo's pocket, had a great confrontation over mint juleps with a meglomaniacal villain, seduced Pussy Galore, and battled Oddjob inside the gold vault. Remember -- without Bond, the plot succeeded.

Not bad for a captive, methinks.

[ChrissBond007]

9/10

Such a great Bond adventure, but not as great as From Russia with Love. Simply Connery's best perfomance in the role, the best Bond girl: Jill Masterson, great villian, great henchmen, good music and some memorable scenes, like the golden girl, the laser table etc. For today, the action scenes aren't that great anymore, but whatever this will be always remember as a great classic, not overrated at all.

This one is definitely in my top 5 and my second favourite Connery-Bondmovie.

[chris-o]

It's THE Bond movie for me! I can watch it twice a day and it wouldn't be boring.
The story is fantastic. The actors are perfect. Connery's Bond is awesome. The gadgets are great but the DB5 is best gadget of the movie. The music is so fantastic it fits perfect to all the different scenes.

9/10

Edited by chris-o, 07 September 2008 - 03:45 PM.

[DamnCoffee]

Watched this one today, brilliant film. Connery is great as is his Co-Stars! My third favorite Connery film, just behind From Russia With Love and Thunderball.

9/10

[Shot Your Bolt]

Goldfinger is pretty awesome and my fave Connery pic(with Dr. No behind it), but I do hate how passive the film makes Bond. For the longest time, I didn't feel like he actually did anything until he got to raping Pussy Galore(because lets call it what it is, that was sexual assuslt).

Edited by Shot Your Bolt, 08 September 2008 - 04:50 PM.

[Mister E]

I didn't feel like he actually did anything until he got to raping Pussy Galore(because lets call it what it is, that was sexual assuslt).

Well Pussy gave in willingly and it wasn't a violent scene, rape isn't the right word.