Not so obvious if one doesn't happen to share that opinion. I love FRWL, but I think GF is a better overall Bond film. To me it has more entertainment value and contains some of the so-called "set pieces" (dementedly eccentric villain, imposing henchman, clever gadgets, low-key, but witty one-liners, etc.) that have contributed so much to the lasting impact and endurance of the film series.
Hello Chrisisall, long time no chat. Great comments so far. I will say Goldfinger, like a horse race, it beats From Russia...narrowly by a neck or a head length.
From Russia: a very low key but interesting, intricate plot that isn't the big destroy the world angle at all, but to destroy the British Secret Service's reputation and image by killing Bond, Tanya the Russian babe-innocent lure, use of the mysterious spy code machine, and making it all look like an espionage and sex scandal gone deadly. 007 theft of the Lector device is exciting and ultimately a big misdirection since Bond was object of the conspiracy and the machine/girl just the bait to pull him in. And it's a tense one on one battle with Red Grant at the end, one of the best hand to hand fight sequences in cinema IMHO.
The sets/locations are great, the girl is hot looking, Klebb is scary, Kronsteen a cold mind wizard, Blofeld and SPECTRE, the mysterious emerging players. The chess theme and overall analogy to chess is fantastic. Bond faces great danger personally but the stakes are smaller than.....
Goldfinger: the 1st Bond to think really big across the board start to finish. The themes are huge, Ft. Knox robbery, world economic chaos, Goldfinger wanting to push crime to the top of human achievement, what a big, big landscape to work on.
Prototype set when Bond meets and re-encounters the arguably best 007 villain of all time--the stakes are raised at each meeting, and a pattern of cat and mouse, competing with the villain, trying to psych him out, escaping his clutches, only to take him on again is established for all time. Cards, golf, factory infiltration-car chase-near death by laser, Goldfinger "hosting/imprisoning" Bond, the final Ft. Knox battle, deaths of 2 Bond girls in cold bizarre grisly fashion added to the menace.
The villain's plans are revealed well into the film, and it's a real mind bender that grabs you immediately--robbing Ft. Knox, huh, wtf, how, can't be done--the gangsters' reax before Goldfinger gasses them!!! Goldfinger was no murky in the shadows SPECTRE wanting to trap Bond in a secret web--he knew what he wanted, talked big and bold, was audacious and well prepped for the task, almost pulled it off. His small army invading Ft. Knox after nerve gas bombing had to be one of the great cinema robbery attempts of its era.
And yes, the hit tune, immortal Shirley Bassey added the prototype of the fantastic film tune that would lead off the picture and the set a pattern for the ones that followed. A great top 40 hit on the radio all the time just pulled audiences in even further.
I too agree that the race is close. But From Russia With Love, I believe is the best one ever made. I guess the main reason I like it more than others is that Bond is so personally challenged. Red Grant is the physical and mental equal to Bond and Bond doesn't even know whats even happening, what the real scheme is until the end. He doesn't even know SPECTRE's involved. He's dangling for Tatiana already. Bond is getting embarrassed and made out to be a bloody fool. He's so helpless in the train car. There's seemingly no way out. He's has to go through the grittiest fight he's ever had to before just to survive.
And it's all hidden away in the scope of the world, with little impact on the human race compared to future schemes. But that's what makes it so profound in my eyes. Bond's reputation in the press and the secret services of the world, if he dies at Spectre's hands, will be that he was a foolish secret agent who fell in love with a Soviet girl and got played by a criminal organization that is a force to be reckoned with. It's unique in that aspect, and one of the separating factors in my eyes.
So difficult to choose between what I reckon are the best 2 Bond films, and the 2 that will surely never be bettered. I'd say it's a tie between these two. It really depends on my mood. FRWL is sheer class, more of a grounded espionage thriller and the one Bond film that is closer in spirit to the Fleming novels. B-) Goldfinger is the ultimate Bond spectacle, and the most fun I have watching a Bond film, so I'll go with Goldfinger. B-) B-) Rich.
From Russia With Love
(+) Subtle & restrained spy thriller in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock; Russia is a far cry from the more outlandish entries like Moonraker and Die Another Day.
(+) Russia showcases Sean Connery and Terence Young at their absolute best.
(-) Still a very preliminary Bond. Unlike Goldfinger, Russia doesn't represent the franchise at the height of Bondmania.
(-) Ending is overlong and slightly derivative (North by Northwest, anyone?).
Goldfinger
(+) Invented many of the tropes & mythology that is part-and-parcel with the cinematic Bond.
(+) Goldfinger is the very best James Bond entry from director Guy Hamilton.
(-) Hamilton is arguably a mediocre filmmaker, and Goldfinger exemplifies some of his "trademarks" that would go on to sully his later Bond entries (pacing issues, American spoofing, etc).
(-) Infamous "barn scene" between Bond and Pussy Galore makes for very uncomfortable viewing...
As far as I'm concerned, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger are on-par & both deserve to be recognized as the very best Bond movies of the Sean Connery era. Personally, although I consider Russia to be the "better" movie of the two, I never tire of Goldfinger, which has made a bigger impact on the Bond franchise as a whole. I also find Goldfinger to be the more thoroughly entertaining of the two. As a purveyor of the cinematic Bond through and through, Goldfinger would get my vote.
"The secret agent. The man who was only a silhouette..." -- Ian Fleming, Moonraker
1) The Spy Who Loved Me 2) On Her Majesty's Secret Service 3) GoldenEye 4) Casino Royale 5) Goldfinger
I enjoy Goldfinger and have watched it nearly a hundred times in the past forty years but it strikes a false tone -- as if Guy Hamilton doesn't believe in the story he's telling -- and it's so tedious, especially when the location shifts to Kentucky. The final assault on Fort Knox is too over the top. The production is too big. I wish it had scaled down.
My favorite bit of business is the pre-title sequence. It's absolutely perfect. As if Hamilton were emulating Terence Young's more stylized, edgier approach. I wanted the entire film to look like and feel like that pre-title sequence. I wish Terence Young had directed Goldfinger the way he directed From Russia With Love.
The first two films are the purest and most fully realized Bond. Dr. No is vastly under-rated. The fact that it was underfunded actually helps the film stay focused on character interaction, plot and visual style. Dramatically it's a multi-layered film. The way Connery circles a room like a predator, his distrust of Prof. Dent and Miss Taro, his contempt for Dr. No, the way he sniffs the air expressing Bond's instincts -- he should have been nominated for an Academy Award and a Bafta, and he should have won.
The top 7 Bond films: 1) Dr No. 2) From Russia With Love. 3) Thunderball. 4) On Her Majesty's Secret Service. 5) For Your Eyes Only. 6) The Living Daylights. 7) Licence to Kill.
I enjoy Goldfinger and have watched it nearly a hundred times in the past forty years but it strikes a false tone -- as if Guy Hamilton doesn't believe in the story he's telling -- and it's so tedious, especially when the location shifts to Kentucky. The final assault on Fort Knox is too over the top. The production is too big. I wish it had scaled down.
My favorite bit of business is the pre-title sequence. It's absolutely perfect. As if Hamilton were emulating Terence Young's more stylized, edgier approach. I wanted the entire film to look like and feel like that pre-title sequence. I wish Terence Young had directed Goldfinger the way he directed From Russia With Love.
The first two films are the purest and most fully realized Bond. Dr. No is vastly under-rated. The fact that it was underfunded actually helps the film stay focused on character interaction, plot and visual style. Dramatically it's a multi-layered film. The way Connery circles a room like a predator, his distrust of Prof. Dent and Miss Taro, his contempt for Dr. No, the way he sniffs the air expressing Bond's instincts -- he should have been nominated for an Academy Award and a Bafta, and he should have won.
I haven't quite seen Dr. No described that way before, especially with respect to Connery's performance, but I tend to agree with you here. -{
I enjoy Goldfinger and have watched it nearly a hundred times in the past forty years but it strikes a false tone -- as if Guy Hamilton doesn't believe in the story he's telling -- and it's so tedious, especially when the location shifts to Kentucky. The final assault on Fort Knox is too over the top. The production is too big. I wish it had scaled down.
My favorite bit of business is the pre-title sequence. It's absolutely perfect. As if Hamilton were emulating Terence Young's more stylized, edgier approach. I wanted the entire film to look like and feel like that pre-title sequence. I wish Terence Young had directed Goldfinger the way he directed From Russia With Love.
The first two films are the purest and most fully realized Bond. Dr. No is vastly under-rated. The fact that it was underfunded actually helps the film stay focused on character interaction, plot and visual style. Dramatically it's a multi-layered film. The way Connery circles a room like a predator, his distrust of Prof. Dent and Miss Taro, his contempt for Dr. No, the way he sniffs the air expressing Bond's instincts -- he should have been nominated for an Academy Award and a Bafta, and he should have won.
I tend to agree with you on most of what you said. Dr. No is probably my 2-3 favorite Bond because of Connery's performance.
When British film was celebrated on the BBC earlier this year along with ‘The Third Man’ and ‘Black Narcissus’ – ‘From Russia with Love’ was shown at primetime almost in an arthouse slot on BBC2
Goldfinger is still heads and tails above action movies of the fenre
1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
Better movie is From Russia with Love. That's the one people point to as serious and all that. Better Bond movie or movie to have fun is Goldfinger. But it's difficult to choose the best for me. I like both of them. No clue which I've seen more.
Bond films fall IMO in two categories: spy thrillers (more serious, FYEO LTK TLD and the like) and the spy-hero fantasy films (villain-blows-up-the-world-from-lair type). FRWL is the dad of the former within the franchise, GF is the dad of the latter. Both are different, both are great.
FRWL was a great movie within an already existing genre. GF invented a new genre.
Comments
a day off, now and then !
Not so obvious if one doesn't happen to share that opinion. I love FRWL, but I think GF is a better overall Bond film. To me it has more entertainment value and contains some of the so-called "set pieces" (dementedly eccentric villain, imposing henchman, clever gadgets, low-key, but witty one-liners, etc.) that have contributed so much to the lasting impact and endurance of the film series.
And I will agree.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
From Russia: a very low key but interesting, intricate plot that isn't the big destroy the world angle at all, but to destroy the British Secret Service's reputation and image by killing Bond, Tanya the Russian babe-innocent lure, use of the mysterious spy code machine, and making it all look like an espionage and sex scandal gone deadly. 007 theft of the Lector device is exciting and ultimately a big misdirection since Bond was object of the conspiracy and the machine/girl just the bait to pull him in. And it's a tense one on one battle with Red Grant at the end, one of the best hand to hand fight sequences in cinema IMHO.
The sets/locations are great, the girl is hot looking, Klebb is scary, Kronsteen a cold mind wizard, Blofeld and SPECTRE, the mysterious emerging players. The chess theme and overall analogy to chess is fantastic. Bond faces great danger personally but the stakes are smaller than.....
Goldfinger: the 1st Bond to think really big across the board start to finish. The themes are huge, Ft. Knox robbery, world economic chaos, Goldfinger wanting to push crime to the top of human achievement, what a big, big landscape to work on.
Prototype set when Bond meets and re-encounters the arguably best 007 villain of all time--the stakes are raised at each meeting, and a pattern of cat and mouse, competing with the villain, trying to psych him out, escaping his clutches, only to take him on again is established for all time. Cards, golf, factory infiltration-car chase-near death by laser, Goldfinger "hosting/imprisoning" Bond, the final Ft. Knox battle, deaths of 2 Bond girls in cold bizarre grisly fashion added to the menace.
The villain's plans are revealed well into the film, and it's a real mind bender that grabs you immediately--robbing Ft. Knox, huh, wtf, how, can't be done--the gangsters' reax before Goldfinger gasses them!!! Goldfinger was no murky in the shadows SPECTRE wanting to trap Bond in a secret web--he knew what he wanted, talked big and bold, was audacious and well prepped for the task, almost pulled it off. His small army invading Ft. Knox after nerve gas bombing had to be one of the great cinema robbery attempts of its era.
And yes, the hit tune, immortal Shirley Bassey added the prototype of the fantastic film tune that would lead off the picture and the set a pattern for the ones that followed. A great top 40 hit on the radio all the time just pulled audiences in even further.
So I will say Goldfinger wins a very close race.
Felix the Leiter Cat, thanks.regards.
And it's all hidden away in the scope of the world, with little impact on the human race compared to future schemes. But that's what makes it so profound in my eyes. Bond's reputation in the press and the secret services of the world, if he dies at Spectre's hands, will be that he was a foolish secret agent who fell in love with a Soviet girl and got played by a criminal organization that is a force to be reckoned with. It's unique in that aspect, and one of the separating factors in my eyes.
(+) Subtle & restrained spy thriller in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock; Russia is a far cry from the more outlandish entries like Moonraker and Die Another Day.
(+) Russia showcases Sean Connery and Terence Young at their absolute best.
(-) Still a very preliminary Bond. Unlike Goldfinger, Russia doesn't represent the franchise at the height of Bondmania.
(-) Ending is overlong and slightly derivative (North by Northwest, anyone?).
Goldfinger
(+) Invented many of the tropes & mythology that is part-and-parcel with the cinematic Bond.
(+) Goldfinger is the very best James Bond entry from director Guy Hamilton.
(-) Hamilton is arguably a mediocre filmmaker, and Goldfinger exemplifies some of his "trademarks" that would go on to sully his later Bond entries (pacing issues, American spoofing, etc).
(-) Infamous "barn scene" between Bond and Pussy Galore makes for very uncomfortable viewing...
As far as I'm concerned, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger are on-par & both deserve to be recognized as the very best Bond movies of the Sean Connery era. Personally, although I consider Russia to be the "better" movie of the two, I never tire of Goldfinger, which has made a bigger impact on the Bond franchise as a whole. I also find Goldfinger to be the more thoroughly entertaining of the two. As a purveyor of the cinematic Bond through and through, Goldfinger would get my vote.
1) The Spy Who Loved Me 2) On Her Majesty's Secret Service 3) GoldenEye 4) Casino Royale 5) Goldfinger
My favorite bit of business is the pre-title sequence. It's absolutely perfect. As if Hamilton were emulating Terence Young's more stylized, edgier approach. I wanted the entire film to look like and feel like that pre-title sequence. I wish Terence Young had directed Goldfinger the way he directed From Russia With Love.
The first two films are the purest and most fully realized Bond. Dr. No is vastly under-rated. The fact that it was underfunded actually helps the film stay focused on character interaction, plot and visual style. Dramatically it's a multi-layered film. The way Connery circles a room like a predator, his distrust of Prof. Dent and Miss Taro, his contempt for Dr. No, the way he sniffs the air expressing Bond's instincts -- he should have been nominated for an Academy Award and a Bafta, and he should have won.
I haven't quite seen Dr. No described that way before, especially with respect to Connery's performance, but I tend to agree with you here. -{
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
I tend to agree with you on most of what you said. Dr. No is probably my 2-3 favorite Bond because of Connery's performance.
When British film was celebrated on the BBC earlier this year along with ‘The Third Man’ and ‘Black Narcissus’ – ‘From Russia with Love’ was shown at primetime almost in an arthouse slot on BBC2
Goldfinger is still heads and tails above action movies of the fenre
Many members here, have also expressed the opinion that
Connery was closer to Fleming's Bond in Dr No & FRWL. -{
FRWL was a great movie within an already existing genre. GF invented a new genre.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Exactly!
1) The Spy Who Loved Me 2) On Her Majesty's Secret Service 3) GoldenEye 4) Casino Royale 5) Goldfinger
Great observation {[] GF started a whole new Genre
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
That is all.
Oh, and whilst I prefer Dr. No and FRWL, Goldfinger is easier to settle into.
Lazenby movies genre