I think it's there for US, the audience, not everyone has read the book and it helps to set up in the mind.
What this gas will do to the thousands of men, women and children living near by. ?
Blaming it on the US? Bond films never give the Americans a break!
PROS
- first proper precredits sequence, and its an expanded version of the book's Chapter 1: "Reflections in a Double Bourbon"
(I only recently figured that out)
- the dancing girl (Nadja Regin) and Dink (Margaret Nolan), both of whom deserve mention in this other thread. They both also appeared in episodes of Danger Man, where they got more to do.
Note, when Bond phones Felix to tell him the girl is dead, meaning Jill, Felix assumes he's gone off with Dink!
- Barry's score really shwangs!
- the big swaggery brass sound invokes the glamour of early60s RatPack America more than any of the actual locations, and then the brass fanfare dissolves into sweeping romantic strings giving the film the air of escapist fantasy. Like a Disney film for grown-ups who drink martinis and pick up dames.
- the way the Bond theme is weaved into the title song between notes, and elements of the title song are weaved into the main score all through the film in many different contexts, resolving into a variety of moods.
- Bassey's phrasing, particularly on the syllable "Gowld" ... her voice is imitating a muted trumpet imitating a human voice, thus adding to the brassiness of the song.
- the transition from "simply shocking" into the two notes that open the title tune. This transition from pre-credits to credits is one of the most important elements of the movies and always gives me thrill when done right
- the Golden Girl image made for the central element in a slick marketing campaign, in the main credits, in the posters, the soundtrack lp, the PAN paperback tie-in edition ... I wonder if there were Golden Girl lunchboxes?
- even though its Shirley Eaton who gets painted gold in the film, the voluptuous Margaret Nolan was a better choice to model the look for the three minutes worth of main titles. Very three dimensional, with lots of interesting shadows and highlights!
- Bond has dinner with M and insults his choice of wine. We still haven't got a proper Blades adaptation to film, but they did give us this.
First expert adviser to deliver boring exposition too, and of course Bond interrupts with wisecracks.
- first proper Q scene. There are several iconic lines just in this one scene.
- first proper actress as a Bond girl. No need to dub Honour Blackman's dialog.
and, by giving up her role in the Avengers, Blackman created a job opening for Diana Rigg, who would in turn become the second proper actress to play a lead Bond girl
- paymasters lurking in the background ... its not SPECTRE, but we have to guess who it could be. Presumably Red China, but if Klebb defected from SMERSH to join SPECTRE and create greater conflict in the world, then maybe the mysterious Chinese paymasters are not what they seem either?
- Goldfinger enjoys the warmest wittiest rapport with Bond I think of all the Bondvillains. Much of the iconic dialog in this film is the two characters chatting quite nicely, neither ever losing his cool.
-the whole film is filled with highly quotable dialog, as well as the Q scene and the Goldfinger scenes, all the scenes with Pussy. The quotability is one reason this film is so highly regarded.
- despite the fact Bond himself does very little in the second half, the film continues to be amusing stylish and fascinating. Contrast with the next film, where there is a lot of plot in the second half yet it drags.
- some major Ken Adam setpieces, including Goldfinger's billiard room, and Fort Knox. That Fort Knox interior is huge!
- and that billiard room is one of the elements that made me a Bondfan in the first place.
- film fades directly from Bond seducing Pussy to the shot of planes "gassing" Fort Knox. It's not til the end of the Fort Knox sequence that Felix tells us what happened between these two scenes, and its just a hint. I like that it's left up to our imagination to fill in that gap, yet there is direct cause and effect and precisely because of that clinch in the barn, Bond has once again saved the world!
CONS
- it's starting to get silly.
- poor scenery for a Bond film, aside from a quick drive in the Alps. PostWar American sprawl is not up to James Bond's usual standards. (this is the kind of landscape I watch Bondfilms to escape from!!) We even see Felix walking out of a Kentucky Fried Chicken!!
- what is Jill's motivation for betraying Goldfinger? seems willfully selfdestructive
- Tilly Masterton's part has been so reduced as to be pointless, aside from racing the Aston through the switchbacks.
We could at least have watched her interact with Pussy for a few scenes, to show the audience why Pussy is so immune to Bond's charm? I would like to see Bond's face as he watches the two of them get suspiciously friendly. Itd make him way madder than whatever the villain is up to.
- who is the "opposite number" who also possesses a License to Kill? that line is like a remnant from an earlier script that didnt get erased.
- why does Goldfinger kill the hoods after revealing his evil plan? that was a very expensive looking presentation, completely wasted on an audience doomed to die immediately. And why bother seperating out Solo to kill him seperately? I think he actually outlives the other hoods by ten minutes because he chose to walk out on the deal, and Goldfinger goes to additional expense to kill him too, and risks that he might escape.
We often discuss all the small fixes that were made to Fleming's plot to make a better film, but this makes no sense.
Similarly, by encouraging Pussy to flirt with Bond for the benefit of the CIA watchers, Goldfinger in that one move sets up his own downfall.
- one more, not mine but an interesting point from James Chapman's License to Thrill: A Cultural History of James Bond.
Chapman points out the Golden Girl is a necrophiliac fantasy (pgs 102-103).
There's a lot of objectification of women in these films, but this instance is an all-time extreme and disturbingly literal objectification. An insight certainly worthy of further discussion!
____________________________________________________________________
EDIT: discussion of the main titles in general in another thread made me think more about the importance of this film's main titles in particular, and thus also Barry's music.
Watching Thunderball made me appreciate how the stylish pacing of this film more than compensates for its relative lack of action.
Is that Honey Ryder's dubbed voice, the hotel lady in FRWL turning up again to dub the girl in the PTS.
Voice artist Nikki van der Zyl was all over various Bond women in the early films (in GF, notably dubbing Shirley Eaton) and as such she became very much part of the films' distinctive soundscape.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Upon rewatch it greatly held up for me. One can pick it apart if one is so inclined, but I just love this film, 10/10.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Comments
Blaming it on the US? Bond films never give the Americans a break!
- first proper precredits sequence, and its an expanded version of the book's Chapter 1: "Reflections in a Double Bourbon"
(I only recently figured that out)
- the dancing girl (Nadja Regin) and Dink (Margaret Nolan), both of whom deserve mention in this other thread. They both also appeared in episodes of Danger Man, where they got more to do.
Note, when Bond phones Felix to tell him the girl is dead, meaning Jill, Felix assumes he's gone off with Dink!
- Barry's score really shwangs!
- the big swaggery brass sound invokes the glamour of early60s RatPack America more than any of the actual locations, and then the brass fanfare dissolves into sweeping romantic strings giving the film the air of escapist fantasy. Like a Disney film for grown-ups who drink martinis and pick up dames.
- the way the Bond theme is weaved into the title song between notes, and elements of the title song are weaved into the main score all through the film in many different contexts, resolving into a variety of moods.
- Bassey's phrasing, particularly on the syllable "Gowld" ... her voice is imitating a muted trumpet imitating a human voice, thus adding to the brassiness of the song.
- the transition from "simply shocking" into the two notes that open the title tune. This transition from pre-credits to credits is one of the most important elements of the movies and always gives me thrill when done right
- the Golden Girl image made for the central element in a slick marketing campaign, in the main credits, in the posters, the soundtrack lp, the PAN paperback tie-in edition ... I wonder if there were Golden Girl lunchboxes?
- even though its Shirley Eaton who gets painted gold in the film, the voluptuous Margaret Nolan was a better choice to model the look for the three minutes worth of main titles. Very three dimensional, with lots of interesting shadows and highlights!
- Bond has dinner with M and insults his choice of wine. We still haven't got a proper Blades adaptation to film, but they did give us this.
First expert adviser to deliver boring exposition too, and of course Bond interrupts with wisecracks.
- first proper Q scene. There are several iconic lines just in this one scene.
- first proper actress as a Bond girl. No need to dub Honour Blackman's dialog.
and, by giving up her role in the Avengers, Blackman created a job opening for Diana Rigg, who would in turn become the second proper actress to play a lead Bond girl
- paymasters lurking in the background ... its not SPECTRE, but we have to guess who it could be. Presumably Red China, but if Klebb defected from SMERSH to join SPECTRE and create greater conflict in the world, then maybe the mysterious Chinese paymasters are not what they seem either?
- Goldfinger enjoys the warmest wittiest rapport with Bond I think of all the Bondvillains. Much of the iconic dialog in this film is the two characters chatting quite nicely, neither ever losing his cool.
-the whole film is filled with highly quotable dialog, as well as the Q scene and the Goldfinger scenes, all the scenes with Pussy. The quotability is one reason this film is so highly regarded.
- despite the fact Bond himself does very little in the second half, the film continues to be amusing stylish and fascinating. Contrast with the next film, where there is a lot of plot in the second half yet it drags.
- some major Ken Adam setpieces, including Goldfinger's billiard room, and Fort Knox. That Fort Knox interior is huge!
- and that billiard room is one of the elements that made me a Bondfan in the first place.
- film fades directly from Bond seducing Pussy to the shot of planes "gassing" Fort Knox. It's not til the end of the Fort Knox sequence that Felix tells us what happened between these two scenes, and its just a hint. I like that it's left up to our imagination to fill in that gap, yet there is direct cause and effect and precisely because of that clinch in the barn, Bond has once again saved the world!
CONS
- it's starting to get silly.
- poor scenery for a Bond film, aside from a quick drive in the Alps. PostWar American sprawl is not up to James Bond's usual standards. (this is the kind of landscape I watch Bondfilms to escape from!!) We even see Felix walking out of a Kentucky Fried Chicken!!
- what is Jill's motivation for betraying Goldfinger? seems willfully selfdestructive
- Tilly Masterton's part has been so reduced as to be pointless, aside from racing the Aston through the switchbacks.
We could at least have watched her interact with Pussy for a few scenes, to show the audience why Pussy is so immune to Bond's charm? I would like to see Bond's face as he watches the two of them get suspiciously friendly. Itd make him way madder than whatever the villain is up to.
- who is the "opposite number" who also possesses a License to Kill? that line is like a remnant from an earlier script that didnt get erased.
- why does Goldfinger kill the hoods after revealing his evil plan? that was a very expensive looking presentation, completely wasted on an audience doomed to die immediately. And why bother seperating out Solo to kill him seperately? I think he actually outlives the other hoods by ten minutes because he chose to walk out on the deal, and Goldfinger goes to additional expense to kill him too, and risks that he might escape.
We often discuss all the small fixes that were made to Fleming's plot to make a better film, but this makes no sense.
Similarly, by encouraging Pussy to flirt with Bond for the benefit of the CIA watchers, Goldfinger in that one move sets up his own downfall.
- one more, not mine but an interesting point from James Chapman's License to Thrill: A Cultural History of James Bond.
Chapman points out the Golden Girl is a necrophiliac fantasy (pgs 102-103).
There's a lot of objectification of women in these films, but this instance is an all-time extreme and disturbingly literal objectification. An insight certainly worthy of further discussion!
____________________________________________________________________
EDIT: discussion of the main titles in general in another thread made me think more about the importance of this film's main titles in particular, and thus also Barry's music.
Watching Thunderball made me appreciate how the stylish pacing of this film more than compensates for its relative lack of action.
Mr Ling.
Voice artist Nikki van der Zyl was all over various Bond women in the early films (in GF, notably dubbing Shirley Eaton) and as such she became very much part of the films' distinctive soundscape.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later