Jump to content


This is a read only archive of the old forums
The new CBn forums are located at https://quarterdeck.commanderbond.net/

 
Photo

revisiting Goldfinger


10 replies to this topic

#1 quantumofsolace

quantumofsolace

    Lt. Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPip
  • 1563 posts

Posted 23 February 2015 - 08:24 PM

http://www.denofgeek...ting-goldfinger



#2 SecretAgentFan

SecretAgentFan

    Commander

  • Commanding Officers
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 9055 posts
  • Location:Germany

Posted 27 April 2015 - 10:52 AM

GOLDFINGER (re-watch)

 

Probably one of my most watched Bonds - and I still love it after all these years.  Fast paced and highly entertaining, Connery is spot-on perfect, and with Frobe (his reaction shots are a marvel) having one of the best villains to play, this is really a cat-and-mouse-game for these two which keeps it compelling from beginning to end.  Having Bond in captivity for the second half of the film does not make it less excitiing for me.  It´s actually the opposite, making the villain more dangerous and therefore forcing Bond to improvise again and again.

 

Yep, I love this film.



#3 Major Tallon

Major Tallon

    Lt. Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPip
  • 2107 posts
  • Location:Mid-USA

Posted 27 April 2015 - 03:03 PM

It was my first Bond film, more than fifty years ago, and one of the few that I'd seen before I read the book.  It has a wonderful ensemble cast, still, in my view, the best in the series, even if the characters aren't exactly like their literary prototypes.  Frobe delivers a wonderful performance, more than holding his own in the midst of the mayhem, and for me remains the most memorable Bond villain of all.  Sakata truly is Oddjob, and Honor Blackman and the gorgeous Shirley Eaton are similarly excellent. 

 

A great, great film.



#4 DaveBond21

DaveBond21

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 18026 posts
  • Location:Sydney, Australia (but from the UK)

Posted 28 April 2015 - 04:51 AM

Yes I re-watched it recently too, and really enjoyed it - more than I had for years.



#5 han4bond

han4bond

    Midshipman

  • Crew
  • 21 posts
  • Location:Fullerton, CA

Posted 28 April 2015 - 05:33 AM

I guess I'll be the first detractor.  While I enjoy a lot of things about this movie, I think it's significantly weighed down by a sense of silliness and some odd ways to spend screen time (exactly why did we watch Oddjob drive the car all the way to the dump and then watch every moment of the crusher's operation?) that were much more balanced in the films immediately prior and subsequent.  With apologies to SecretAgentFan, I do find it dull that Bond spends so much time just watching the plot happen.  Finally, while all of these movies are a product of their time, the sexism on display in this film seems to me much more pronounced than other 60s Bonds.

 

To maintain a sense of perspective, I should note that I recognize the significance of this film in Bond history and thus its effect on action movies in general.  It does move at a clip and features some excellent set pieces, including that wonderful car chase, that still look great today.  Goldfinger is an excellent villain, delighting in his own evil and cartoonish idiosyncrasies.  These elements influenced similar films for decades, but not all of them for the better, including Bond films to follow.

 

I should acknowledge that I generally dislike Guy Hamilton's lighter, goofier approach as compared to the edgier style of Terrence Young or even the outlandishness of Lewis Gilbert's take.  I also tend to watch the earlier movies in sequence, and Goldfinger suffers from being flanked by, in my opinion, better films.



#6 Major Tallon

Major Tallon

    Lt. Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPip
  • 2107 posts
  • Location:Mid-USA

Posted 28 April 2015 - 11:53 AM

There are, to be sure, some lighter moments in "Goldfinger," but I hardly think it's a silly or goofy film.  The seagull headgear and red carnation in the PTS, plus the Q scene, qualify, though the former consume only a few seconds of screen time and the latter was nowhere near as silly the Q scenes were to be in subsequent movies.  The very notion of assaulting Fort Knox is obviously over the top, and the film is larger than life in that sense, but that's a major part of what makes this film so cinematic.

 

We watch the Lincoln Continental being crushed because of the scene's shock value.  That statement may seem implausible today, but when the film was made, this was a beautiful, very expensive car most people could only aspire to own.  While this scene was being shot, some of the workers at the scrapyard became upset seeing it happen.  My father refused to believe that they'd used an actual car, insisting that this had been filmed only in miniature.  Today, we think we're just seeing a car crushed; big deal.  At the time, audiences were seeing a dream crushed, and it was a big deal. 

 

I'm always a bit perplexed when people describe "Goldfinger" as boring.  The story unfolds as it should, and I certainly wouldn't want some unnecessary action scene shoehorned in for no apparent purpose other than to give the characters something to do.  Tens of millions of people flocked to it, and it was, quite literally, a film that was being discussed everywhere.  It's impact was (bad pun alert) electrifying, and that didn't happen because people found it a snoozer.

 

I wouldn't change a moment of it.



#7 tdalton

tdalton

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 11680 posts

Posted 28 April 2015 - 01:42 PM

Just because the story unfolds as it should doesn't make it an exciting story to watch.  Having Bond in captivity for large stretches of the film, and on a ranch in Kentucky no less, doesn't make for an exciting film.

 

Sadly, after a cool opening and then some great scenes with Shirley Eaton, the film never really regains that and is just dull up until the assault on Fort Knox.  



#8 SecretAgentFan

SecretAgentFan

    Commander

  • Commanding Officers
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 9055 posts
  • Location:Germany

Posted 28 April 2015 - 04:06 PM

You really do not like Bond´s and Tilly´s night time exploration of the estate in Austria?  Tilly´s death?  Bond´s attempt to escape?  The laser beam scene?  Bond trying to outsmart Pussy, the Korean guard etc.?



#9 tdalton

tdalton

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 11680 posts

Posted 28 April 2015 - 04:36 PM

Not really.  Bond working with Tilly was probably the highlight of the film after the film leaves Miami, but there's very little about the rest of the film that does much for me.



#10 DaveBond21

DaveBond21

    Commander

  • Veterans
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 18026 posts
  • Location:Sydney, Australia (but from the UK)

Posted 06 May 2015 - 02:29 AM

The film has come in for some criticism recently, mainly because it is rated so highly by some, and I was one of those who felt it was slightly over-rated, and I also criticised the way that Bond seemed to not do much in this adventure.

 

However I saw it in a different light when I saw it again a few weeks back. It really is a great movie and Bond is of course essential to the plot in stopping Goldfinger's plan to set off a nuclear device on Fort Knox. This time around I enjoyed the entire movie, as in the past, I felt it lost its way once 007 meets Pussy Galore on the plane. I can see why it was so popular at the time - it must have looked fantastic on the big screen 50 years ago.

 

It also set up the testy relationship between Bond and Q and brought us our first really larger than life villain plus a henchman with something unique about him. On that note, I feel that the casting of Dave Bautista as Hinx in SPECTRE, was done with the idea that Oddjob could be emulated. I do believe Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig think that Goldfinger is the benchmark for 007 and would be unaware of any criticism of the movie, especially on this website!

 

All in all, I find it an excellent entry and the first 3 Bonds are hard to beat across the board.



#11 0072

0072

    Cadet

  • Crew
  • 14 posts

Posted 08 May 2015 - 08:49 AM

I love this film.  Sure we wince at the "Man talk" scene (we all did at my house) and the blue terry cloth but the rest zips along, as bullshit as it is, at a great pace and entertains, putting bums on seats, as it was designed to do.

 

And, honestly, I missed the Beatles comment the first three or four times I watched it.

 

Nothing majorly wrong with and it defines yer actual Bond film like none other (and I'm a FRWL/OHMSS fan).  I never tire of this one.