Warning; 51 year-old spoilers ahead!
Gunbarrel-twirly-bang...
ABOVE: A first edition of Goldfinger can easily run to $4,000
South America. A
petrochemical installation. Two guards trudge by and the camera pulls
back across a high wall to the wharf of the Ramirez Export Company,
the water gently lapping at the hulls of the fishing boats anchored
there. A seabird glides along, suddenly leaving the water to reveal
its a dummy; a concealment for twin snorkel tubes worn by a diver.
Casting the snorkel away with disdain, James Bond draws a piton
pistol and fires a line over the wall into the compound, the
grappling hook snagging on the masonry alerts a guard. Before the
alarm can be raised, 007 leaps down and knocks him out, dashing
across to one of the huge storage tanks. Inspecting the filler inlet,
he finds a concealed switch, a panel revolving to become a door. Once
inside a lightswitch reveals the tank hides an opium processing plant
(The hand of set designer Ken Adam clearly visible here). Unwrapping
a black plastic sausage from his waist, Bond squeezes an explosive
paste along some nitro-methane tanks and sets a timer for ten minutes
before leaving the way he came. 007 quickly sheds his nylon 'wetsuit'
(Probably easier for him to wear than the real thing here) to reveal
a white dinner jacket and bow tie – complete with red carnation!.
A local club the El
Scorpio, the patrons' attention firmly on Bonita, the beautiful
senorita dancing for them.
Sauntering in dressed to kill, Bond catches her eye and checks his
watch, lighting a cigarette just as the installation goes up in a
collossal explosion. Amidst
screams and chaos, Bond ambles up to his contact, who congratulates
him on putting Ramirez out of the heroin business. His hotel is
watched, there's a plane for Miami in an hour.
Bonita
is taking a bath when Bond walks into her dressing room. Tossing her
a towel, he hangs his jacket up and they kiss. His
PPK digs into her and Bond, somewhat unwisely hangs the shoulder
holster up on a hook. A thug – a Capungo –
sneaks out from behind a wardrobe with a large cosh (Stunt
legend Alf Joint started
his career with this fight).
BELOW: Rehearsing the Capungo fight with Alf Joint
Somewhat unbelievably, Bond
spots the Capungo reflected in Bonita's baby browns and twists her
round to take it on the nut.
Grabbing the thug's arm, Bond
wrenches it down and knees him savagely to
fall onto a sofa. Grabbing a small table, the heavy smashes it across
Bond, following up with a savage right to the jaw and a couple of
punches to the gut. The Capungo goes for a haymaker, but Bond grabs
his arm and ducks to send him flying over his back to land heavily on
the floor. The villain tries to kick Bond, who manages to grab hold
of his foot and leg to try to twist him off balance, getting a hand
pushed hard against his face in
return. Quickly transferring his hold to the thug's arm, Bond uses
it as a lever to throw him backwards into the bath, but
freezes as the Capungo grabs for his PPK hanging nearby. Desperately,
Bond swipes a small heat lamp into the bath, electrocuting the
hapless goon. Collecting his
things to leave, Bond utters the immortal line; 'Shocking. Positively
shocking.'
The
title sequence comes next and Robert Brownjohn's brilliantly
simplistic work is unforgettable; Margaret Nolan (Who plays Dink) is
painted gold and has scenes from this and the other Bond movies
projected onto her body. The
theme tune is so familiar I can dispense with serious description;
Shirley Bassey's belter of a song is accompanied by brassy accents
that set the tempo perfectly. The
soundtrack makes much use of brass; an
audio mirror to gold.
'Welcome
to Miami Beach' – the banner trails behind a plane, the silver
lozenge of the Goodyear blimp in the distance, between them a vast
expanse of white, gigantic wedding cake waterfront hotels. We close
in on the largest, the best; the Fontainebleau, circling around to
the formal gardens and the swimming pool beyond as a bronzed god
dives from the high board, spinning down to make an Olympian dive.
The next frame we are underwater with him, the camera pulling away to
reveal the trick; a massive plate glass viewing window, from which a
besuited American turns, an indoor ice rink across
the corridor. The man – Felix
Leiter, of course - strides
out purposefully amongst the sun-worshippers on their loungers,
looking for someone. James Bond is face-down, being massaged by a
girl called Dink. (The phenomenally sexy Margaret Nolan) When
Felix arrives Bond sends her on her way with a slap on the bum and
'Man Talk'. Women's lib was some way off...
Felix
has brought a mission for
Bond; 'M' has cabled from London. Bond is to investigate a man with
the unlikely name of Auric Goldfinger. The man himself arrives for
his daily card game and Bond gets a look at him; a stocky, bulky man
with a thinning shock of gold hair. Dressed in a yellow beach suit,
gold watch, chunky gold
cygnet ring and golden
slippers the man is hard to miss. Simmons,
his 'pigeon' is waiting, but Goldfinger insists on his customary
chair. Right away he begins winning and the casually floating Bond's
suspicion is piqued. Goldfinger wears a hearing aid, which Bond
registers, an idea occurring...
Padding
silently up the plushly carpeted corridor, Bond uses a Maid's key to
unlock Goldfinger's suite. The
suite is – what else! - mid-century luxurious, a well-accented
English woman's voice drifting through from the curved balcony. A
beautiful woman lies on a lounger, a transmitter beside her. She is
looking through a pair of binoculars at Simmon's hand on the terrace
below and relaying instructions to Goldfinger through his 'hearing
aid'.
Clicking off the radio
introductions are made; he is Bond, James Bond and she is Jill
Masterson, an escort who is paid to be seen with Goldfinger. Clicking
the radio back on, Bond gives the cheating Goldfinger a fright,
threatening him with the Police unless he loses $15,000.
Amused, Jill watches her employer lose and her new friend James draws
her in for a kiss, inviting
her to dinner. He knows just the place.
A
sumptuous silver-service
salmon meal is laid out, half eaten on the table, carnations and
fruit un-noticed in their
bowls (It looks good in 2015
– in sixties Britain it must have been unimagined luxury) On
the King size, Bond and Jill are kissing with passion. A quick
'satisfaction' gag and the phone rings; it's Felix with a dinner
invitation. Feigning regret, Bond declines and
returns his attention to the matter at hand. Finding his half of Dom
Perignon has become warm he
heads off to the kitchen for another, explaining some things are
simply not done (The Beatles joke hasn't aged as well as the wine).
He gets a Karate chop to the neck for insulting Liverpool and is out
cold, a sinister behatted shadow the only clue as to his attacker.
Time passes.
Eventually, groggy and dazed, James Bond wakes and stumbles into the
bedroom, an eerie metallic glow reflected on the walls. Turning the
light on, Bond is confronted with the most memorable of images;
Jill's body, stretched lifeless on the bed and covered from head to
toe with golden paint. Struggling with his shock, Bond calls Felix.
ABOVE, BELOW: Painting Shirley Eaton for the scene
A sunny day in
London, the Palace of Westminster and the Clock Tower (Big Ben is the
bell inside) the easiest, laziest of references. Nearby in 'M's
office, Bond stands awkwardly for his debrief. Incredulous, 'M' is
told that skin suffocation has been known to occur in cabaret
dancers; leave a small patch at the base of the spine for the skin to
breathe and it's ok. Someone didn't. Picking up on Bond's mood – he
wants revenge – M slaps him down. If he can't be objective, 008 can
replace him. 007 agrees, but is in the dark about the nature of the
assignment. M invites him to dinner and a bemused Bond goes out
through the famous red leather door to Moneypenny's office for a bit
of banter.
A palatial, sweeping
dining room. Bond and M sit flanking their host, Colonel Smithers. A
high official with the Bank of England, the Colonel explains their
role as the custodians of Great Britain's gold bullion. Just as Fort
Knox, Kentucky holds the American Gold Reserve. A manservant offers a
cabinet of cigars as Smithers continues; knowing the comparative
amounts of bullion each country holds enables the governments to set
the value of Sterling against the Dollar. Their concern is
'unauthorised leakages' – smuggling. The gentlemen debate the
qualities of the brandy being served; Bond states it's a thirty year
old fine (Pronouned 'Feen') indifferently blended with too much cheap
Bons Boir. M's hackles rise and he chides Bond for showing off.
Smithers explains Goldfinger has English bullion deposits spread
around the globe to the value of £20,000,000. Why spread them?; the
value of gold fluctuates so moving it to sell is not unusual. As a
legitimate jeweller, Goldfinger is perfectly entitled to operate
metallurgical installations such as his plant in Kent. What isn't
known is how he transfers the gold overseas. Bond decides to approach
Goldfinger and Smithers has just the lure; a gold bar, stamped with
the Nazi Reichsadler,
from the haul recovered from Lake Toplitz in the Salzkammergut.
It's worth £5,000 so must be returned.
'Q' Branch, the
following morning. Behind a glass screen, technician in gas masks
beside a parking meter. One feeds it a coin and a jet of gas is
sprayed from it, filling the cubicle. Amused, 007 strolls over to a
workbench to inspect a grenade which Q takes from him with an air of
irritation. Strolling past a demonstration of a bullet-proof vest
(It's not perfected yet) Bond asks after his Bentley. She's been
retired, on M's order, replaced by THAT car... of course, the Aston
Martin DB5. The glass is bulletproofed, with revolving number plates
for all countries. Next, Q shows 007 a magnetised tracker device with
a smaller counterpart, to be fitted in the heel of Bond's shoe. A
small screen concealed in the dashboard displays a roving map with a
dot of light to show the location of the vehicle being followed.
Sat-Nav MK1?. Exasperated, poor Q proceeds with the demo; the central
arm-rest conceals a panel full of switches for smokescreen,
oil-slick, rear bullet-proof screen, front-firing machine guns... and
the flip-top gear lever with the red button. Bond isn't to touch it
as it detaches a section of the roof panel then fires the passenger
ejector seat. 007 thinks its a joke, but Q, as we all know never
jokes about his work...
ABOVE, BELOW: Sean Connery and the Aston Martin DB5 at Stoke Park
A swanky golf club;
Stoke Park and a jovial Goldfinger approaches the club shop.
Blacking, the club professional suggests a game with an old member
who's dropped in and Goldfinger and Bond are eye to eye for the first
time. Goldfinger recognises Bond's voice, but accepts at a shilling a
hole. Outside, Bond is stopped by an extraordinary sight; Oddjob,
Goldfinger's Korean manservant stands impassive in formal attire,
caddying for his master. Play begins, but Goldfinger is no fool –
he knows this is no coincidence and wants to know Bond's game. In
reply, Bond drops the gold bar and Goldfinger is so entranced he
misses an easy putt. Bond hands the bar to Hawker, his caddy to look
after.
With two holes to
play, Goldfinger ups the stakes; Bond's gold bar against the cash
equivalent. As Bond swings Goldfinger suddenly insists on strict
rules of golf. Despite his crude attempt to foil Bond's shot, it goes
straight down the fairway, unlike Goldfinger's hack which lands in
the rough, disturbing a tribe of Pygmies as it goes. (Not really)
Everyone hunts around for the lost ball and if it's not retrieved in
five minutes he loses stroke and distance. Oddjob proves a caddish
caddy, dropping a duplicate ball down a cunning hole in his trouser
pocket suspiciously close to the green. The rotter!. Hawker confers
with Bond, who confides he's standing on Goldfinger's ball!. Time for
a little fun with Mister Goldfinger...
ABOVE: Guy Hamilton with his star
With one hole to
play, Goldfinger makes a putt and Bond helpfully retrieves the ball,
switching the Slazenger 1 for a Slazenger 7 he found earlier. If
Goldfinger doesn't notice, he forfeits. After a tense 'Will he see
it?' moment it comes down to the final putt; Goldfinger's goes in,
Bond's goes awry. The gloating Goldfinger is stopped by Bond
'noticing' the 7. He plays a Penfold Hearts, so Goldfinger must have
played the wrong ball... strict rules of golf... the cheat storms
off, leaving a visibly delighted Hawker to plant the flag. Oddjob is
loading his master's clubs into the boot of his car, a '37 Rolls
Royce Phantom III in lemon and black. (Registration AU1 no less)
Smoothly, Bond activates and plants the tracker in the boot. Furious,
Goldfinger arrives and warns Bond off, hinting darkly at trouble if
he persists in interfering in his affairs. At a signal from his
employer, Oddjob steps forward, removes his hat and throws it
frisbee-style across the drive towards a statue, which is
decapitated. The fallen hat reveals a nasty steel brim. With ill
grace, Goldfinger makes the cheque out to cash and Bond tosses Oddjob
the golf ball, which the Korean crushes in his hand!. A thoughtful
Bond walks over to his Aston to check the tracker is working.
ABOVE: The golf scene
BELOW: Filming the airport scene
Cut to
Southend Municipal Airport and Bond waits out of sight as
Goldfinger's Rolls is loaded aboard a Carvair transporter plane bound
for Geneva, its driver and owner boarding the passenger section. His
own flight is in half an hour, but he can afford to relax thanks to
the tracker.
ABOVE, BELOW: Connery on location in the Swiss alps
Switzerland, and
Goldfinger's Rolls glides serenely along the alpine roads. Bond is
closing the distance in his DB5, the tracking screen marking his
quarry's statelier progress. The tedium of the long range follow is
shattered by the arrival behind Bond of a brand-new white Mustang
convertible, driven by a stunning girl – an impatient one at that.
The girl passes and Bond prepares for a race, before his training
takes over and, ruefully, he settles back into his drive. Meanwhile,
up ahead Goldfinger's car has stopped at a roadside flower and fruit
stall. Seeing the tracker dot stationary, Bond parks up on a bend
above where he can observe. Goldfinger bites into his fruit,
overlooked by Bond – who in turn is overlooked from above by a
sniper; Mustang girl is taking aim. (I'd swear she's using the same
Armalite AR-7 survival rifle 007 used in From Russia With Love)
You don't need to be a pro to tell she's underestimated the range and
overestimated the rifle... the
shot whanging off the road by Bond's feet confirms it. Smirking,
Oddjob drives away and the Mustang comes down in hot pursuit, only
for the DB5 to pull out from a cutting. Bond is soon past her, taking
the inside bend and blocking her to furious horn blasts.
Apparently relenting, he waves her past, opening the arm-rest cover
as he does. A retractable tyre-shredder extends from Bond's rear
wheel and rips through the Mustang's front tyre and the side panels
before doing the same to the rear. The crippled Mustang hurtles off
the road and Bond helps the
shocked girl from the ditch.
ABOVE; Filming in Switzerland
The
girl is in a hurry and in no mood for Bond's pick-up lines, asking
him for a lift to the nearest garage. On the way, she claims her name
is Tilly Soames – a glance in the mirror at the obvious guncase
suggests her initials are 'TM'. He
recognises the case and has a little fun teasing her before a garage
saves her from dropping herself further in it. Whoever this girl is,
she's no professional. Declining the offer of further help, she
watches Bond drive off, following his little white dot. Soon, he
pulls up outside a factory, Auric Enterprises AG. Looks like the
Pilatus aircraft factoy to me. In no time, Bond is sneaking around
the treeline above the installation with his binoculars. Goldfinger's
Rolls sits outside, but there's nothing to see. Yet. Evening turns to
night and Bond has gone for a natty black spy-suit with matching
rucksack, offset by stylish blue webbing straps. Sneaking down onto
the factory grounds, he
dodges the guards, but ends up in a dead-end. What to do?. Luckily,
there's a WHACKING GREAT sign in German; 'Entry Strictly Forbidden'
by a convenient ladder, so up he goes into the shadows.
A
glance through some shutters and the mystery of the gold is revealed;
the Rolls is being dismantled, and paint has been stripped from the
wings and other parts, which are made of 18 k gold. (It's
a miracle that Carvair cleared the runway) The
entire workforce appear to be Korean,
all identically kitted out in
blue kung-fu suits
with yellow sashes, fu
yun socks and slippers.
Just then, Goldfinger appears
with Bert Kwouk dressed up in a Mao suit. Total
inconspicuousness in Switzerland guaranteed!. Bert
is Mr.Ling, a Red Chinese agent and Goldfinger is explaining the art
of smuggling gold using
ventriloquism (Look closely; his lips aren't moving. Almost all of
his lines were overdubbed by actor Michael Collins)
As the two conspirators leave the building, Bond overhears a fragment
of conversation about 'Operation Grandslam'. Time to go. Back in the
woods, he ponders his next
move when a crackling of twigs announces company, a rather curvy
sniper taking position. 007 jumps on her and her rifle barrel tilts
up to trigger an alarm wire. Inside, an indicator board has lit up
like its Christmas and the balloon is up.
Wrestling with the sniper Bond is
surprised to see it's Tilly; she wants Goldfinger dead – he killed
her sister. Bond puts it together and realises Tilly is Jill
Masterson's sister. A shot cracks past and they make a run for Bond's
car, but the guards have
discovered it, a Mercedes parked behind the DB5.
007 bounces one of the
jumpsuits off his own car and they leap into the Aston, roaring off
into the forest. Two cars are in pursuit, a goon blasting away with
an MP40 sub-machine gun. Bond flicks a switch and fills the road
behind with thick smoke, sending one
of the Mercs
off the road into a tree. One to go; more bullets are whining off the
Aston and 007 sends an oil-slick spraying across a bend in the road.
The pursuing car skids off the hillside, explodes into the
standard-issue flames and fetches up against the wall of the factory
in a gout of fire. Yet
another Mercedes arrives and more bursts smack off Bond's car.
Setting his jaw, Bond comes to a fork in the road, choosing left –
and coming up against a sheer drop, stopping just in time. Deploying
the bullet-screen, Bond engages the henchmen, blasting away (with
a Walther P-38 rather than
his trademark PPK; possibly from the under-seat weapons tray fitted,
but not seen in the film)
while Tilly makes a run for cover. As she does, Oddjob arrives,
removes his hat and throws it to break her neck. Bond
runs to her, but she's dead.
The stooges carry her prostrate body and
Bond is led back to his car, an
armed escort in the passenger seat.
The odd convoy halts at a gatehouse and an elderly fraulein
raises the barrier
with an obsequious curtsy.
Inside the compound, Bond
cuts away from the lead car and before the bemused guard can say '무슨에
대한 그 버튼?'
he's ejected; whoosh-aieee!. Bond makes his break, swerving the DB5
nimbly around the minions headed back for the barrier. Gatehouse-Gran
gets in the way with an MP40 and relives ze good old days by ripping
through a magazine. There's no way out, so Bond heads into the
complex, hoods in hot pursuit, roaring up and down the same few
streets in a hectic attempt to leave his pursuers behind.
He spots a
pair of headlights ahead and realises he'll be trapped. He fires the
Aston's machine guns... no effect!. A split second before the crash,
he wrenches the wheel over and crashes heavily into a wall, knocking
himself out. At first Oddjob can't see why Bond crashed, but spots
the large mirror mounted at a right angle between the buildings. The
headlights Bond saw were his own...
Bond comes to in
darkness, strapped to a table, below him a sheet of gold. The lights
go on and he is in an extraordinary chamber, a control booth at one
side, radio and scientific gear along the walls. Above him a large
device hangs, ominously from a rail. Goldfinger walks in and greets
his prisoner as 007. His attempt at denial is brushed aside; he's
been recognised by one of the oppisition. The device is an industrial
laser, which can project a spot on the moon – or cut through metal.
At a click of his finger the technicians activate the laser with lots
of pulsating neon coils and sound effects. It draws back to below
Bond's feet and cracks into life, a vivid red beam lancing down to
the gold sheet, which gouts into flame as the beam begins cutting...
between Bond's legs. Goldfinger explains his love of gold and bids
Bond a good night, going to confer with Ling.
Desperate now, Bond
calls out that if he doesn't report, 008 will replace him. Goldfinger
laughs this off and resumes chatting to Ling. Bond has nothing left;
just a gamble. He mentions 'Operation Grandslam'. Ling is startled,
but Goldfinger is dismissive, two words with no significance. But can
he take that chance?, perhaps Bond is worth more alive. A technician
wanders up and produces a dart gun, which he fires into Bond's side,
knocking him out.
Diversion; grab a
cuppa, have a biscuit-not the bourbons, I don't share them with
anyone. While reviewing and revisiting this most familiar,
most-praised Bond film I was struck by the revelation that
familiarity breeds, if not contempt, an under-rating effect. This
film is absolutely filled with fabulous set-pieces, unbeatable
dialogue and I wish I could see it for the first time just to
appreciate them all. Many of you have seen this film so many times
you might fail to notice just how many iconic scenes there are;
Oddjob's hat decapitatatatalising the statue, the laser table, the
Q-scene... and the next one. Drink up; we've got a long way to go.
ABOVE: Pussy Galore is Goldfinger's personal pilot
BELOW: Ken Adam's original plan for Goldfinger's private jet
Emerging resplendent
in a grey three-piece Bond is met by Pussy with a .45 Smith &
Wesson revolver. Bond points out if she fires it the round will go
through him and the fuselage, sucking them out into space and prefers
to sit down enjoying his drink. At the same time in Londinium, M
takes a scrambled call from Felix in Washington. Bond's tracker has
been received and Goldfinger's plane is listed as bound for Bluegrass
field, Kentucky. M asks Leiter to keep an eye on 007, but not to
charge in. The jet in question has landed and taxis to a hanger
festooned with a large banner advertising 'Pussy Galore's Flying
Circus'. A flight of Piper Cherokees goes over in close formation and
Bond's praise for their talents is received by Pussy with matter of
factness; she trained them. His attempt to get round her is foiled by
Oddjob, standing waiting to take him to Auric Stud Farms, Inc.
After Bond's
departure, Pussy waits for her team to land and we see they are all
female, statuesque and blonde. They all sport the same fabulous black
catsuits cinched at the waist with wide webbing belts, golden piping
and a natty gold sunburst logo over their left, erm, hearts. (Any
sixties-er and Austin Powers would have been irrelevant...) The final
briefing is tonight...
Bond arrives at
Goldfinger's stud farm, two jockeys trot by on sulkies to a burst of
jaunty banjo music. Goldfinger tries to play mein host, but
Bond just insults him and is sent to his room in disgrace. The
accomodation turns out to be a cell with a heavy steel door and an
armed blue jumpsuit outside. Resigned, Bond sits on the cot bed and
taps his shoe reflectively. Then we see a tracking screen fitted to
the dash of a Ford Thunderbird. Johnny, a CIA man calls to his
partner, Felix, wondering if they should drop in. Felix is confident
and assures his partner Bond will shout if he needs help. Bond is
left to stew in his cell.
A
vast 'rumpus room',
a splendid split-level wood
affair with a stainless
steel fireplace, bar, pool
table, carriage lamps,
fairground horses, bookshelves
etc. A gathering of
legitimate businessmen is joined by Goldfinger. The hoods aren't best
pleased to be in a room with their rivals and each is owed $1,000,000
for deliveries they made to their host. Dramatically, he offers them
each their million today – or ten million tomorrow, as soon as his
bank opens. But what kind of bank opens on a Sunday?. Pressing a
hidden switch under the pool table sends it turning and the baize
revolving to reveal a control panel. To the alarm of the gangsters,
shutters block out the windows and a section of the floor raises to
reveal an aerial picto-map printed on the bottom. Grabbing a pool
cue, Goldfinger indicates a solitary, fortress-like building. The
Gold Depository at Fort Knox. In
it's vaults; $15 Billion of gold, the entire supply of the USA. The
laughs die out to incredulity; there's thirty-five thousand troops
stationed around there according to one associate. Forty-one
thousand says Goldfinger. Undaunted,
he goes to his console and a large section of floor retracts, the bar
rotates and a scale model of Fort Knox and its surrounds rises
impressively from the floor. (Lets assume Goldfinger bumped the model
maker off to avoid awkward phone calls to the FBI.)
Here,
Goldfinger makes a rousing speech; Man has climbed Everest, reached
the Ocean floor, fired rockets to the moon. He has achieved miracles
in every field of human endeavour... except crime!.
Pacing
his cell, Bond pauses at the door grill to wave at the guard who
sits, impassive. (I'd say 'inscrutable' , but then we're on the path
to dodgy Oriental tropes
and all sorts of dubiousness) He
does this twice, but the third time he merely winks and disappears
downwards from view. The
gullible guard opens the door – and Bond has vanished!. OK, he's
braced against both sides of the cell above the door and drops on the
guard, knocking him out and stealing his pistol. He
makes his way towards the sound of voices echoing from above and
finds himself under the model peeking through the windows of the
miniature. He grabs a handy
piece of paper and pencil and scribbles a note of
the dastard's plot as
Goldfinger continues above. 'Mr.Midnight' has delivered a consignment
of Delta-9 gas smuggled across the border from Canada. Tomorrow
at dawn, Pussy Galore's pilots will fly over and spray the area of
Fort Knox with Delta-9, a task force smuggled by 'Mr.Strap' from
Mexico will launch a motorised assault with help from a consignment
from 'Mr.Solo.' Solo has heard enough and wants none of it.
Sportingly, Goldfinger acquiesces and
excuses himself to escort Solo from the meeting. Bond extracts the
tracker from his heel and wraps it in his warning note.
Without
warning, Bond's legs are pulled from under him, sending him crashing
into an air vent and he's thrown across the room with a judo hold.
He's startled and surprised; it's Pussy! (He keeps calling her
'Poosy', the only annoying part of his performance). She's got armed
backup so Bond hands back the pistol and allows himself to be
escorted out.
As he goes to his cell, Goldfinger's assistant
Kisch slyly enters a control
room and flicks on tv monitors showing the hoods in the Rumpus Room.
Donning a gas mask, (Badly; he's missed a strap) he flips a switch
and above, the steel fireplace hood drops down, a steel shutter drops
sealing the room. Another switch and a panel flicks up with four
canisters of gas, hissing ominously. The panicked hoods don't stand a
chance and drop to the floor, quite dead.
Outside,
one of Goldfinger's Oriental guards is loading gold bars into the
boot of a Lincoln Continental. Goldfinger parts company with Mr.Solo,
Pussy and Bond joining them. Sneakily, Bond slips the tracker and
note into Solo's pocket and Oddjob drives the goon off 'to the
airport.' With a smirk, Bond tells Goldfinger he enjoyed the
briefing, but Goldfinger gets one over by smiling and replying 'So
did I' before striding off. CIA
Johnny spots the tracker dot moving and calls to his partner,
following the Lincoln with Felix. Oddjob drives past the airport and
turns into a side road, turning with a suppressed pistol in his hand
he shoots Solo. He then drives into a scrap yard and simply walks
away from the Lincoln. If you are a 'petrol-head' this part may be
upsetting; a dirty great claw drops and grabs the Continental,
hauling her up into the crusher. What a waste!. In no time at all a
beautiful car is turned into a cube of scrap, dead hood and gold,
which a magnet hoists over to a pickup truck Oddjob is now driving.
The tracker signal has died
and Felix and Johnny are
baffled and don't notice the
pickup driving past with a bowler-hatted Korean at the wheel...
Meanwhile,
back at the ranch, Pussy Galore and Goldfinger are served Mint Juleps
and discuss her plans for her share of the loot. She'll buy an island
in the Bahamas. Goldfinger strokes her hand, but she pulls it away
and Kisch enters to inform his boss of two men with binoculars. Touts
looking for racing tips?, or Bond's friends?. Correctly guessing the
latter Goldfinger orders Bond join them; amusingly he's now in his
cell along with five guards. Pussy goes to change and Bond
tells his captor that Delta-9 is in fact, fatal. 60,000
people will die. Goldfinger counters this, saying American motorists
kill that number every two years. 007 Continues; the gold must weigh
10,500 tons. Sixty men would take twelve days to load it onto two
hundred trucks, making the
scheme impractical. However,
Goldfinger has no intention of removing the gold!. Bond puts it
together – Ling is a specialist in Nuclear Fission, he must have
brought a bomb from Red China... the entire gold reserve of the US
would be radioactive for over half a century!. Impressed,
Bond concedes the genius of it all; China gets economic chaos in the
West (Fifty-one years early) Goldfinger's
own stocks would multiply in value tenfold. (This is the infamous
plot hole in the novel fixed; Goldfinger's
original plan was to use a train to steal the gold and a nuke to blow
his way into the vault.)
Oddjob arrives with the cubed
Lincoln and Bond realises his plan failed.
Pussy re-emerges in a
low-cut blouse and slacks and
takes Bond's arm. The
watching CIA
men are duped accordingly; Bond must be fine, he's with
a woman. Once they are alone
in a stable, Bond tries reason, then tries it on, getting a judo
throw into the hay for his trouble and there's a bit of playful
tussling before Bond throws her, before
forcing himself on her. This scene might have played better in '64,
but it looks dodgy as hell in 2015. The inevitable; she submits to
his advances.
BELOW: Director Guy Hamilton discusses a point with Honor Blackman on set
Dawn
and the Flying Circus takes off, gas canisters slung under their
wings. Soon they are diving over Fort Knox and operation 'Rock-a-bye
baby' is on, the canisters spraying the area below. They
fly over the barracks nearby and whole squads of men simply drop.
Within moments, tanks have lost their crews and the whole garrison is
wiped out. At a nearby location, a small convoy of military vehicles
in US markings receives the news and, donning gas masks moves out,
Oddjob throwing the handcuffed Bond a mask. As
the vehicles roll, they pass evidence of the effectiveness of the
gas; a car crash, groups of dead soldiers and at the entrance to Fort
Knox itself, a crashed station wagon, the occupants hanging lifeless
from the doors and windows. A close up; Felix and Johnny are in the
car!. At the gates, Kisch –
in oddly mixed military garb – checks a device, an 'Auric
Spectrometer' that indicates the gas has dispersed and the air's
safe. Some goons appear with 'bangalore
torpedoes'
(Pipe charges) and blow the gate.
Pulling into
position a military ambulance reveals its secret; Kisch opens some
panels on the side and, from the roof emerges a laser identical to
the one that nearly tickled Bond's fancy. Now handcuffed to Oddjob,
Bond can only watch as the laser cuts through a roller security door
and with a chain hitched, the Ambulance wrenches the remains free.
With the personnel inside out of commission, the task force owns the
place. Goldfinger's helicopter flies in with Pussy at the controls
carrying Goldfinger, Ling and the atomic device. Yet more of
Goldfingers blue-suits wheel the device inside for Ling to arm with
the master-control doodad (The bomb was designed for visual value,
with spinning bits and lots going on; a good move by Director Guy
Hamilton – real nuclear devices aren't very sexy, there's no
flashing lights, counters or any of the usual movie beeping. These
all take power and are unnecessary.) Handily, they have the
combination to the vault and the gigantic door hums open. Ling locks
the case to the device and the countdown clock is ticking down...
Outside, Felix and
the others in the station wagon are suddenly awake – they were
shamming and a radiation detector (looking just like
an oscilloscope) shows the bomb is here. The Brigadier in
command relays his orders; 'commando tactics' and minimum offensive
fire. Inside, the blues take the bomb into the vault, a four-storey
fortress with level on level of brilliant, radiant gold bars stacked
high behind steel bars thick as a man's wrist. In the lift, Kisch
uncuffs Oddjob and recuffs Bond to the bomb. With a hearty 'Goodbye
Mr.Bond' Goldfinger takes his leave and the lift is sent down to the
bottom of the vault. 254 seconds to detonation. Outside, the US
troops arrive, despatching the blue-suits with bayonets. Inevitably,
they are spotted and it goes noisy, panicking Goldfinger who legs it
to the vault door console and closes it, Oddjob and Kisch still
inside. Divesting himself of his overcoat, the wily Goldfinger is
dressed as a US Officer. Slapping a side cap on he draws a
gold-plated (He can't help himself!) Colt revolver and as the good
guys arrive he shoots Ling, shouting orders and slips past to pick up
an MP40 and treacherously mows the American soldiers down.
In the vault, Kisch
has no wish to die, running to defuse the device. Oddjob's loyalty is
absolute and final, however; he grabs hold of Kisch and hurls him
from the railings to his death. Bond sees a chance; Kisch had the
handcuff keys and he begins hauling the heavy case towards the dead
man. Spotting this, Oddjob sets off down the stairs to stop him.,
flinging his deadly hat at Bond, who ducks, alerted perhaps by the
pause in the Korean's noisy descent. Freeing himself in the very
nick, Bond runs for it, ducking as the lethal hat flashes above him
to cut a high-tension power cable, sending it arcing and sparking to
the floor. Spotting a trolley laden with bars, Bond launches one at
Oddjob, but it merely bounces off his chest, the only result a smile.
Launching himself at the killer, Bond is lifted effortlessly and
flung against the wall like the proverbial rag doll. Finding a heavy
wooden staff on the floor, 007 tries using it as a battering ram,
only for Oddjob to karate chop in into two.
Two whacks to the face
with the remaining staff and Bond is slammed into the wall, then
hurled halfway across the vault as the battle rages outside. A steel
bar next, twisted from Bond's hand with inhuman strength and he
bounces off another wall. 145 seconds... Bond twists Oddjob around in
a judo hold and receives a chop to the kidney. Thrown against some
bars, Bond hangs, almost done, panting for breath and fighting to
stay on his feet. Chop; hurl, Bond slides to where Oddjob's hat lies.
As he picks it up, a flicker of fear shows momentarily; has the
Korean a human weakness?. The mask drops back as quickly as it rose
and again the impassive killer circles Bond, whose throw slashes past
to stick between the bars. Oddjob smiles; he'll kill Bond this time.
As he reaches for his hat, Bond leaps for the fizzing high-tension
wire and jabs it against the bars. A screaming Oddjob is
electrocuted, falling to the ground, quite dead. (In fact Harold
Sakata burnt his hand shooting this scene, but held on grimly
determined not to ruin the shot.)
The Bomb! 058
seconds!. Bond grabs two gold bars and frantically attacks the lock
on the case as above, the last of Goldfinger's blue boys are being
mopped up, one crushed as a soldier unlocks the combination and opens
the vault door. 036 seconds!. Looks like Bond will be preserved
forever in molten gold. A blue takes careful aim at 007 – and is
riddled with tommy-gun rounds, his corpse tumbling from the high
railing. The lock gives way and Bond is face to face with lots of
wires, doobry wotsits, moving parts and a rotating warhead. 017
seconds!. He braces himself to yank out the wiring loom as the main
force arrives, charging down the stairs. 009 seconds – and a hand
calmly reaches in and clicks a switch to deactivate the bomb. The
counter remains frozen... at 007 seconds. Felix and Johnny rush up to
Bond as the explosive ordnance expert removes the master-timer. Bond
states; 'Three more ticks and Mr.Goldfinger would have hit the
jackpot' (The 007 gag was an afterthought, evidently) Goldfinger has
escapes, but Pussy helped the CIA switch the gas in the canisters.
A grateful Felix
escorts Bond to a waiting US Government Jetstar. He's to meet the
President and dine at the White House. Knowing James, Felix has
ordered the plane stocked with liquor for three and the men shake
hands, old friends bidding each other farewell. A jaunty salute and
Bond enters the plane. In the air, Bond unbuckles his seatbelt and
presses for that drink. The stewardess looks an awful lot like
Goldfinger with his golden gun; because it IS Goldfinger with his
golden gun. (There are brief glimpses of yet another Korean;
originally, 007 was to fight him and Goldfinger, but this was
dropped) The crew of the Jetstar are bound and gagged in a hangar.
Saucily, 007 inquires if Goldfinger's dining at the White House too.
He's bound for Cuba and indicates Pussy is at the controls. Spotting
a chance, Bond grabs for the gun and they tussle. The pistol fires,
blowing out a window. Bond grabs for a bulkhead, but Goldfinger is
sucked, helpess to the window as the jet tips into a dive. He's
pushed through the window by the cabin pressure to his doom.
Desperately, Pussy wrenches at the stick for control, but the Jetstar
is dropping like a stone even as Bond joins her to help. Felix and
co. have discovered the plane's crew and rush up to the control tower
to watch an altimeter (Made for the film as a handy reference), a
white dot falling rapidly, another breaking from it at the last
moment. The Jetstar rolls over and slams into the ocean, exploding
into fragments.
From the passenger
seat of a whirlybird, Felix scans an area of woodland for any sign of
his friend. On the ground, Pussy tries signalling to the passing
chopper, but Bond is having none of it; he pulls her down onto the
parachute canopy that saved them and they kiss, 007 pulling the
canopy over them both.
The end theme blares
out, scenes from the film playing across Margaret Nolan's golden
face...
THE END OF
“GOLDFINGER” BUT JAMES BOND WILL BE BACK IN “THUNDERBALL”
So, there you have it; Bond survives – he always will, which is the
achilles heel of the series. You know that whatever perils he faces,
they cannot kill off the golden goose. (Perhaps a final film will one
day employ his death to ensure a massive box-office?) I've resisted
'doing' Goldfinger for ages
and for two main reasons; it's not a favourite of mine (It just
isn't) and its THE Bond film. I had to clear the decks and give this
a few weeks of my attention to do it any justice. I hope I have.
Connery is fantastic, but you can see the difference from Dr.No
and From Russia where
he was thin,
hungry
looking and catlike. He's not exactly stodgy here, but he's noticably
put on a little weight. This point is lost as you watch the film and
only a serious pedant would raise it. That would be me. Anyhey, he
does the business and, compared to his at-times half-hearted
performance in Diamonds
are Forever he's
in the moment perfectly. Bernard Lee is at his crusty, irascible
finest, Desmond Llewelyn had one of his best early outings in the
first proper 'Q-scene' and Lois Maxwell gives solid, charming support
as Moneypenny. Cec Linder's Felix Leiter is a warm, open character
and plays well against the British spy. Shirley Eaton and Tania
Mallet (Jill and Tilly Masterson respectively) have memorable scenes
– both are attractive women, but Eaton is one of England's most
beautiful women and quite mesmerizing. Honor Blackman, a
Judoka
in
real-life was able to show her skills in the film, making her a
capable and believable opponent. She was 38 at the time of filming,
making her the oldest Bond girl until Monica Belucci's appearance in
the imminent SPECTRE. Harold Sakata, a Hawaiian Olympic weightlifter
and wrestler won the role despite competition from Milton Reid, the
British wrestler who challenged him to wrestle for the part. The
producers went with Sakata, partly as Reid had been 'killed' in
Dr.No.
(Reid went on to play Sandor in The
Spy Who Loved Me.)
Which
pretty much leaves one Karl Gerhart Fröbe. Known as
'Gert', Fröbe he joined the Nazi's age 16 and, disillusioned, left
the partei before the war,
during which he hid two German jews from the Nazis. After the war he
went from theatre and cabaret into films, his role as a child-killer
in It Happened in Broad Daylight gaining
the attention of the James Bond producers. The
story goes that Goldfinger was
initially banned in Israel, due to his former Nazi associations, but
a family he helped came forward and the ban was lifted. (This,
along with his Nazi membership is discounted by Sinclair McKay in his
excellent book The Man with the Golden Touch.)
Much of Fröbe's
dialogue was overdubbed as I've already mentioned, but
he manages to convey his character with gusto, humour and the villain
is one of the most memorable of the series.
GOLDEN GOOFS:
Skin suffocation has been widely exposed as a myth; the only risk for
poor Jill would have been overheating.
If the rear window is bullet-proofed, why does the Aston need a
bullet-screen?.
As Oddjob drives Goldfinger's Rolls from the golf club, watch
carefully; Goldfinger isn't in it.
The DB5 has had its sun-visors removed; not uncommon with movie cars,
but you can clearly see the fixing holes.
GEEK DETAILS:
The spyhole clock in Goldfinger's jet is identical to the one seen in
Blofeld's (He's not named as such, but who else strokes fluffy white
cats in these films?) yacht in From Russia With Love.
Also, why does the jet have these spyholes fitted?; as its his
private jet and he couldn't have anticipated Bond travelling on it,
it makes no sense. Unless Mei Lei enjoys watching Goldfinger on the
throne...
The easy chairs in the plane are indentical to Blofeld's famous chair
from You Only Live Twice.
Is
it a Bowler or a Top-Hat?; clearly, Oddjobs legendary chapeau
is
styled as a short Topper, but hatmakers Lock & Co.
confirmed it was a Bowler, without the traditional domed top (These
were basically helmets for bankers)
Ian Fleming visited
the Hotel Fontainebleau set
during filming. He died before the film's release.
The film that saved
Aston Martin?; the car maker agreed to supply two cars for
production. (It was meant to have been an E-type, but snooty t**t
Sir.William Lyons of Jaguar said no!) See the incomparable
Doubleonothing site for a detailed look at the DB5;
http://doubleonothing.com/2010/05/02/no-mr-bond-i-expect-you-to-drive-the-history-of-the-james-bond-aston-martin-db5/
Another company did
rather well from the Aston; the Mettoy company, makers of the Corgi
toys made a DB5 model with working gadgets; it became the biggest
seller of the year and one of the best-known toys of all time. (Yes,
I've got one, I'm planning to scale it up to drive...)
The first of three
Bond themes sung by Shirley Bassey (Diamonds are Forever and
Moonraker, if you didn't know)
Went to school with
Scaramanga?, Blofeld?, no?; Ian Fleming did. Some of those most
memorable names were simply classmates, but he knew Architect Erno
Goldfinger through a golf buddy related to Mrs.Goldfinger. Fleming
probably hated Goldfingers brutalist modern concrete buildings, hence
the name becomes a villain. Outraged, Goldfinger launched a lawsuit
which publishers Cape settled out of court, agreeing to clarify that
all characters were fictitious. This failed to stop the exasperated
architect receiving endless calls from wags putting on mock Scottish
accents and claiming to be 007.
The score was
written by the phenomenal John Barry, the title song's lyrics by
Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. Co-producer Harry Saltzman hated
the song on first hearing, only Cubby Broccoli's intervention saving
it. It's now a classic.
ABOVE & BELOW: Pussy Galore's Flying Circus
BELOW: Shirley Eaton poses with a pistol
ABOVE: Honor Blackman is Pussy Galore
BELOW: Gert Frobe is Goldfinger
ABOVE: Harold Sakata is Oddjob
ABOVE: John Adam's plans for the DB5
ABOVE, BELOW: The stars and the premiere of Goldfinger
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