We peak early in the JB franchise, today with
GOLDFINGER, which finds Bond in a race against time and a battle of wits with Auric Goldfinger, a gold magnate determined to poison the US Gold Supply in Fort Knox in order to increase the worth of his own gold holdings (goldings?)
While I'm taking each Bond film as it comes with very little preconception, I can't resist glancing at the Rotten Tomatoes score for each one. There's a good reason Goldfinger is the top entry in the franchise at a well-deserved 99%.
The Bond series was never considered a trilogy, these are all just ongoing installments, but the first three films are really impressive on how they both improve on each other and establish formulaic elements of the nascent franchise - while at the same time retaining a real unique nature and spirit. Dr. No is a mystery. From Russia with Love is a cat and mouse game with Bond on the run from the SPECTRE assassin. The first inkling that Goldfinger will be different is when we see the titular villain's face a mere ten minutes in (and this is after a terrific cold open completely unrelated to the story which features spycraft, explosions, sexual tension, a fight scene, and some witty Bond-isms all within a cool five minutes). But from the get go with Goldfinger both we and James know who he will be up against, and the rest of the movie is an ongoing battle of wits between the agent and the criminal. This is a great dynamic and makes the movie feel fresh and new even while hitting many of the now-expected beats from a Bond (or any spy) movie.
Some Observations
- Shirley Bassey's classic rendering of the theme song is perfection. My brother had a soundtrack of a bunch of Bond themes growing up so I'm arguably more familiar with them than anything else about the movies. That big brassy opening and Bassey's big brassy voice set the perfect tone for this film about brass, err, gold. Interesting - opening theme written by Newley and Bricusse (music-makers of the musicals Dr. Doolitte, Scrooge, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). This led me to learn that the composer of the From Russia With Love theme song was the writer of the musical Oliver. I see an early trend of musical-writers being good Bond theme writers.
- There's never a dull moment in this movie. The pacing is wonderful. I don't know if it's the directing, the editing, better writing and effects, or what, but there's never a dull scene. Somehow even the early golf match between Bond and Goldfinger is riveting.
- I don't know what that blue garment is that Bond is wearing in the early pool scene, but I kind of want to get one.
- There's a reason that Odd-Job is one of the most famous henchmen in the rogue's gallery. A shame he only gets to communicate in a few grunts and shouts, but you can't deny the Goldfinger/Odd-Job duo is fantastic because of the brains-and-brawn complementary nature, both of which Bond must deal with single-handedly.
- This is the first movie in which we get Bond's Aston Martin with machine guns, smoke screens, bullet shields, and ejector seat. It's delightful that we get to see early on Q presenting Bond with his gadgets for the film, it's like Chekhov shining a spotlight on the gun and saying hey hey get ready these are all going to be used and it will be awesome.
- BOND-BONK update - my take is that Bond goes to the mat 3 times with 2 different girls in this one, bringing his total to 10 with 8.
After another real fall-off-the-cliff denouement (seriously, the final action starts with just over three minutes left of runtime and lasts about 90 seconds before the final credits roll), we finish out this installment and prepare ourselves for a whole bunch of movies that will never be as good as this one.
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