The brilliance of Goldfinger...Explain please?

ElvedettoElvedetto Coev'n, NetherlandsPosts: 5MI6 Agent
Afternoon everyone! I joined this forum to get in touch with fellow Bond fans, but also to ask a simple question:

Goldfinger is mostly in everyones personal top 3. Can anyone explain this? I get it is the first time the DB5 appears and all, but i think the storyline is just so weak... Maybe its just me :)) Hope some fans can inspire me to like this movie!
*If* you play the odds...

-For Your Eyes Only-
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Comments

  • ChriscoopChriscoop Belize Posts: 10,449MI6 Agent
    For me it has many iconic elements and some great dialogue, the score is fantastic and it set a tone that later bond films would follow. The film borrows from the book, but isn't a faithful production, I find the book has regular lulls and I'm not as invested in its story once bond becomes goldfingers aide.
    But just think, the Miami scenes, Oddjob, pussygalore, the db5 scenes, bond and Oddjob's showdown.... Iconic bond moments set to an incredible score -{

    BTW goldfinger is not one of my most loved or watched, and personally I can't rank the films..... I love them all.
    It was either that.....or the priesthood
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,699MI6 Agent
    I think it's because Goldfinger was the first time they found the Bond formula. Many (most?) Bond movies have followed the same formula since, some better and others not. Goldfinger was perhaps when Bondmania struck and James Bond became a phenomena and not just a series of spy flicks.
  • ChriscoopChriscoop Belize Posts: 10,449MI6 Agent
    ^ that too :)
    It was either that.....or the priesthood
  • heartbroken_mr_draxheartbroken_mr_drax New Zealand Posts: 2,073MI6 Agent
    I am part of the group that doesn't rate the film that highly. I agree it's a classic and it is brilliant - I've just tired of watching it (again and again, a typical Bond fan problem!) mostly because the production style, Bond not doing anything and the boredom setting-in after arriving in Kentucky. I also don't like little things like the overuse of sets and green screens when not needed (Miami hotel for example).
    1. TWINE 2. FYEO 3. MR 4. TLD 5. TSWLM 6. OHMSS 7. DN 8. OP 9. AVTAK 10. TMWTGG 11. QoS 12. GE 13. CR 14. TB 15. FRWL 16. TND 17. LTK 18. GF 19. SF 20. LaLD 21. YOLT 22. NTTD 23. DAD 24. DAF. 25. SP

    "Better make that two."
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,699MI6 Agent
    I think objectively speaking (if that's possible) it's a mediocre Bond film. FRWL is in my opinion a better movie. It's the context that makes it special - the first huge Bond movie and the first to use the formula.
  • ElvedettoElvedetto Coev'n, NetherlandsPosts: 5MI6 Agent
    Thanks for the stories so far. What annoys me the most in the entire movie, and maybe im being controversial as hell, but that is the gold painting scene. Absolutely stupid :)) it never returns in the entire movie, he never kills someone in the same fashion again, its never mentioned...just absolutely stupid :)) but the whole movie would never make it in my top 10, think not even in the top 20 ;) but really love all the stories from fellow bond fans
    *If* you play the odds...

    -For Your Eyes Only-
  • DutchfingerDutchfinger Holland With LovePosts: 1,240MI6 Agent
    Elvedetto wrote:
    Afternoon everyone! I joined this forum to get in touch with fellow Bond fans, but also to ask a simple question:

    Goldfinger is mostly in everyones personal top 3. Can anyone explain this? I get it is the first time the DB5 appears and all, but i think the storyline is just so weak... Maybe its just me :)) Hope some fans can inspire me to like this movie!

    Hi Meran! Welcome aboard! Good to see you around over here as well ! ;)

    I think the power of Goldfinger lies in the complete picture it forms. Connery at his peak, a brilliant villian and henchmen, great production design with Fort Knox, the classic sound track, the DB5, Pussy Galore, the iconic pre title sequence, the golden chick on the bed. But above all, that Goldfinger did most elements we now consider 'a typical Bond film' for the first time. It established the formula. And while the plot is far from deep, the film is great fun from start to finish and I feel it deserves a lot of the praise it gets :) :007)
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  • FiremassFiremass AlaskaPosts: 1,910MI6 Agent
    I also don't like little things like the overuse of sets and green screens when not needed (Miami hotel for example).

    Those are awful! Something I never noticed until blu-ray.

    Nevertheless, Goldfinger will always be the quintessential Bond film. Even if it doesn't hold up in some aspects it still contains all the definitive elements of what makes 007 popular.

    The mini-movie pre-title sequence
    A classic theme song
    Connery in his prime
    The Aston Martin with gadgets
    Imposing henchman Oddjob
    Memorable girl Pussy Galore
    Iconic scene of the girl painted gold
    ...

    What does FRWL have that would be memorable or iconic? Not much compared to Goldfinger. Even if FRWL is considered a better Bond film, it still would not be the definitive one.
    My current 10 favorite:

    1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
  • heartbroken_mr_draxheartbroken_mr_drax New Zealand Posts: 2,073MI6 Agent
    The comments in here as to why GF is considered iconic are bang on. It's all about setting the formula-standard (not the standard) and GF certainly did that.
    1. TWINE 2. FYEO 3. MR 4. TLD 5. TSWLM 6. OHMSS 7. DN 8. OP 9. AVTAK 10. TMWTGG 11. QoS 12. GE 13. CR 14. TB 15. FRWL 16. TND 17. LTK 18. GF 19. SF 20. LaLD 21. YOLT 22. NTTD 23. DAD 24. DAF. 25. SP

    "Better make that two."
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    This is Goldfinger, Mr Elvedetto. All my life I have been in love with its characters, its brilliance, its divine score. I appreciate any enterprise which will increase its stock- which is considerable.

    Yes, there are weaknesses which become apparent on multiple viewings (as with most movies) and these are mainly with the plot as well as technology moving on, but it's all carried off with panache. It's a good example of style over substance- "it ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it".

    And I agree with what Jeroen says above! {[]
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,618MI6 Agent
    If you have to ask .......
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • Charmed & DangerousCharmed & Dangerous Posts: 7,358MI6 Agent
    One thing which hasn't been mentioned is that it also set the blueprint for the humour in the films. Dr No and FRWL are pretty humourless by comparison, but Bond's scenes with Q, his use of one-liners and just the general sense of the cast having a ball, set the pattern for future films. And Connery is just so polished and confident and oozes sex-appeal. -{
    "How was your lamb?" "Skewered. One sympathises."
  • thesecretagentthesecretagent CornwallPosts: 2,151MI6 Agent
    For me it's Connery. He has so much presence, I don't think it's been topped since. I like Odd Job and Goldfinger, the Aston, the women, - I agree the plot drifts off and I'm not a great fan of Pussy and her flying circus. But it's definitely in my top five.
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  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,238MI6 Agent
    Context counts for a lot. It's a great family film. In that sense, it's like The Sound of Music, The Great Escape, anything you can sit down and enjoy, great scenery, great music and good jokes.

    You lose that as solitary viewing, that sense of shared laughter. You want something more intense, usually.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • walther p99walther p99 NJPosts: 3,416MI6 Agent
    The thing about Goldfinger is usually any iconic scene that's talked about from the Golden girl to the laser table happens around the first hour or so, its the last hour in Kentucky that I think tanks the film in my opinion.
  • ChriscoopChriscoop Belize Posts: 10,449MI6 Agent
    Same with the book walther p99, first half is good, then it lulls for me.
    It was either that.....or the priesthood
  • Agent LeeAgent Lee Posts: 254MI6 Agent
    It's not really one of my favs. I like it a lot, but I've always thought it was a bit overrated. Compared to From Russia With Love, its story isn't nearly as strong, and compared to the rest of Connery's tenure in the role, it's a bit underwhelming in the second half. It gets a lot of credit for establishing the Bond formula (as it good) but I think the formula is improved on immediately in Thunderball, and in many films afterword. To me the most important thing about Goldfinger is that every Bond film after it can be judged by how well it either executes or subverts (or both) its established formula.
    Wish I Was at Disneyland, podcast about Disneyland, Disney news, Disney movies, Star Wars, and life in Southern California.
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  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Slightly off-topic, but this is one instance where the film improves on the book IMHO. Richard Maibaum was very conscious of the book's strengths (Goldfinger himself as a character, for instance, and the symbolic duel (Maibaum's word) between him and Bond) and weaknesses (stealing all the gold from Fort Knox isn't technically possible; Goldfinger's reason for not simply killing Bond at Enterprises Auric is stronger in the film; etc) as he wrote his screenplay.
  • Mr_OsatoMr_Osato Posts: 398MI6 Agent
    You have to understand the Goldfinger phenomenon if you see when it was made: The movie oozes class, if you look at the locations, the clothes, the DB5. This was a world unknown to so many people. Plus it is such a fun movie. Connery was at his absolute finest here: so in control, comfortable.

    Plus like others mentioned, it set the tone for the movies to follow: the PTS, The boombastic theme song, the Bond girls, the Q scenes, again the DB5, the gadgets, the megalomaniac villain, the soundtrack from Barry.

    I still love Goldfinger, it is an all time classic with iconic moments.
    OHMSS, FRWL, DN, GF, CR, GE, SP, YOLT, TB, TSWLM, LALD, TLD, TND, FYEO, SF, MR, TMWTGG, TWINE, OP, AVTAK, DAF, LTK, QOS, DAD

    1. Connery 2. Craig 3. Brosnan 4. Dalton 5. Lazenby 6. Moore
  • zaphod99zaphod99 Posts: 1,415MI6 Agent
    Number24 wrote:
    I think objectively speaking (if that's possible) it's a mediocre Bond film. FRWL is in my opinion a better movie. It's the context that makes it special - the first huge Bond movie and the first to use the formula.

    I agree. I'd take FRWL over GF. I love the look and the gloss of GF but the saggy middle is a negative.
    Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
  • Revolver66Revolver66 Melbourne, AustraliaPosts: 470MI6 Agent
    I saw Goldfinger at the cinema late last year on a giant screen in Melbourne. Having seen it countless times before, I didn't expect to take anything new from it, but I did. And what I took is just how well made it is. If one can be objective about these things, I would say that it is technically in the best 2 or 3 films made in the series. Now I'm not necessarily saying that it's in my top 2 or 3 (though it is in my top 5 :p ) but Goldfinger is just so well made. Everything right from the direction, the editing, the score, the production design, and the script is just first class. The character of Bond has never had more of a presence than in Goldfinger, and the title villain is brilliant. Quite possibly the best one in the series. The Fort Knox caper is also ingenius and is one of the best villain schemes. Obviously the film was a smash and became a cultural phenomenon and there are many iconic moments, and these factors definitely play into why Goldfinger is so revered. And there are different reasons as to why Goldfinger did tap into the culture the way that it did, but when you strip everything away, I think you find that the essential reason why the film is a classic is because it is just a great movie. One that came along at the right time, but still a great movie -{
  • Revolver66Revolver66 Melbourne, AustraliaPosts: 470MI6 Agent
    Elvedetto wrote:
    Thanks for the stories so far. What annoys me the most in the entire movie, and maybe im being controversial as hell, but that is the gold painting scene. Absolutely stupid :)) it never returns in the entire movie, he never kills someone in the same fashion again, its never mentioned...just absolutely stupid :)) but the whole movie would never make it in my top 10, think not even in the top 20 ;) but really love all the stories from fellow bond fans

    By the way, welcome Elvedetto :) Out of curiousity, what are your top 3 Bond films?
  • Gala BrandGala Brand Posts: 1,172MI6 Agent
    It's like a dream. Most of it doesn't make any sense but you carried along with all the crazy scenes. A car with machine guns and an ejector seat! Laser beams! A girl covered in gold (you cannot actually kill somebody that way)! An Asian guy who kills people with his bowler hat! Irradiating Fort Knox. It's like Hitchcock's North by Northwest, another dream-like film with crazy scenes and its own internal logic.

    Directors try to duplicate GF (most recently Spectre) but cannot. It's one of those happy accidents where everything came together to produce a great film.
  • bigzilchobigzilcho Toronto, ONPosts: 245MI6 Agent
    Goldfinger has flaws, no question. which Bond film hasn't? But its flaws are overwhelmed by the sheer joy of its filmmaking. it has always oozed class and sophistication and set the standard of how a Bond film connects with an audience.

    The great Italian director Fellini was a big fan at the time, and its very telling that one of the world's greatest filmmakers responded to the movie like a kid with a shiny toy at Christmas. Which, I think, is the enduring charm of the film: it has always felt like it was made with a sense of sheer fun.

    Best film in series? No. But forever enjoyable.


    "No. Masterson. Jill Masterson. And she's covered in paint. Gold paint."
  • Gassy ManGassy Man USAPosts: 2,972MI6 Agent
    Geez, where to begin?

    Goldfinger has one of the strongest storylines of any Bond film. It's character-based rather than merely fill-in-the-blanks plot formula. The ego of the villain, Goldfinger, drives the entire story. He is so inadequate as a man, that only his insatiable desire for gold lifts him out of whatever depression makes his life otherwise miserable. That James Bond is exactly the kind of man he will never be explains why he is so infuriated with Bond.

    This is reinforced all throughout the film, from Bond's joke about having an inferiority complex to Goldfinger's murderous rage over being cuckolded to Goldfinger's constant need to cheat in order to measure up against Bond (and then still failing) to his gassing of his rivals only after basking in their admiration of his plan.

    Speaking of his plan, it's one of the few in a Bond film that actually is clever. Goldfinger isn't holding the world for ransom or stealing anything -- only he is. In one fell swoop, he stands to completely destabilize the economic systems of the western world. If that isn't inspired, I don't know what is. Moreover, he's aiding the communists in doing it.

    The film's iconic characters and playful aesthetic also make it rise well above its contemporaries, as well as every other Bond film. It may seem easy to do jokiness, but it's not. Actors and writers will tell you it's far easier to do drama than comedy. But Goldfinger does both, ablly. It's an adult fairy tale, and in this sense, it captures the spirit of a lot of Fleming's books, which walked that find line between reality and fantasy.

    The score is simply pitch perfect, and the directing is right on target -- so much so that Guy Hamilton would never eclipse it in his career.

    The actors knock it out of the park, and though I don't care for Cec Linder's Felix Leiter all that much, he serves the purpose of the story.

    Lastly, it is sophisticated. It doesn't take sophistication to make something brutally real. That's just copying reality. But to create the world in which Goldfinger takes place and to give it dimension and expression from start to finish is no easy task. One misstep, and the whole thing unfolds, yet Goldfinger -- from its jokes to its clothes to its set ups -- stays on point all the way through. It's a truly adult film, when that word means "for grown ups" rather than pornographic.
  • Matt SMatt S Oh Cult Voodoo ShopPosts: 6,596MI6 Agent
    Excellent post, Gassy Man. It explains why Goldfinger is the ultimate Bond film. No Bond film in decades has come close to what it did.
    Visit my blog, Bond Suits
  • Revolver66Revolver66 Melbourne, AustraliaPosts: 470MI6 Agent
    bigzilcho wrote:
    Goldfinger has flaws, no question. which Bond film hasn't? But its flaws are overwhelmed by the sheer joy of its filmmaking. it has always oozed class and sophistication and set the standard of how a Bond film connects with an audience.

    The great Italian director Fellini was a big fan at the time, and its very telling that one of the world's greatest filmmakers responded to the movie like a kid with a shiny toy at Christmas. Which, I think, is the enduring charm of the film: it has always felt like it was made with a sense of sheer fun.

    Best film in series? No. But forever enjoyable.


    "No. Masterson. Jill Masterson. And she's covered in paint. Gold paint."


    Apparently Barry's Goldfinger score was Fellini's favourite film score of all time -{
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    To truly grasp the majesty that is GF you really had to be there when it was released. There was only two others to compare it to at that time and the third outing eclipsed both of those in style and adventure. Aside from Felix the casting was impeccable, the plot was brilliant, the action was terrific, the DB5 sublime, the music astounding and Sean was so masterful he was coolness personified.

    After 50 odd years it is still a joy to watch, as are all the 1960's Bond's, they really can't be matched by anything that came afterwards.
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,238MI6 Agent
    Gassy Man wrote:
    Geez, where to begin?

    It's a truly adult film, when that word means "for grown ups" rather than pornographic.

    Not that one wouldn't want to see a pornographic Goldfinger, with starring roles for Dink and Jill Masterton in a Texan hayloft/Miami Beach suite.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,238MI6 Agent
    Oh, and while this might belong on the vinyl thread, it's possible that John Barry's score only really delivers in analogue rather than digital sound - it's the sexy feel of it, whereas digital just cleans everything and strips it off nuance.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
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