Goldfinger

Composite Score: 85.83

Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, Tania Mallet, Harold Sakata, Bernard Lee, Cec Linder, Lois Maxwell, and Desmond Llewelyn

Director: Guy Hamilton

Writers: Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn

Genres: Action, Adventure, Thriller, Spy

MPAA Rating: PG

Box Office: $51.21 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Goldfinger is the third James Bond feature film starring Sean Connery as the iconic MI6 agent 007. It follows Bond as he faces off against the titular villain Auric Goldfinger, a multimillionaire obsessed with gold who is hatching a plan to rob Fort Knox and destabilize the Western economic situation. In addition to Connery, the film stars Gert Fröbe as the villainous Goldfinger, Honor Blackman as the sultry Pussy Galore, Shirley Eaton as the golden girl Jill Masterson, Tania Mallet as her sister Tilly, and Harold Sakata as Goldfinger’s imposing bodyguard Oddjob. The film is considered by most to be the best of Connery’s stint as the handsome spy, epitomizing all of the aspects that make the first run of Bond films so beloved. Additionally, the film also won the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects and was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Art Direction.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                Goldfinger suffers from most of the same issues as every other Bond film (at least the ones that came out before Skyfall). Its protagonist is a fairly static character who enjoys womanizing, smoking, and drinking. Its villains are caricatures of Eastern European and Asian stereotypes, thinly characterized with single quirks to make them individuals. The women in the film exist almost solely as sex objects to then be either cast aside, killed, or both when James is done with them – though, oddly, Pussy Galore is the one with the most agency and doesn’t go out quite as sad as most Bond girls. The scheme feels so incredibly ridiculous that you’ve got to suspend a lot of disbelief to really buy into the film. If you can look past all of that or at least chalk it up to the times and the source material, then the rest of the film really is a pretty fun classic action flick. (Also, the “Goldfinger” theme has the same opening notes as “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which feels a bit lazy.)

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                Goldfinger is a textbook classic spy thriller, and it sings in every category that you’d want it to. Connery plays 007 as a cool and classy smooth talker with a license to kill. The plot is “high stakes” while still feeling ridiculous enough to keep you detached from reality while watching it. This detachment then helps you engage with and enjoy the hijinks, gadgets, one-liners, and dastardly villains that are staples of this genre in this era. The villains – both Goldfinger and Oddjob – are memorable in their portrayal and presentation, presenting unique challenges for Bond to overcome and creating memorable scenes in the process – Oddjob’s thrown hat trick and Goldfinger’s “I don’t expect you to talk. I expect you to die!” being the most memorable of the film. Pussy Galore (a wild name in its own right) makes for one of the most interesting and dynamic of Bond Girls, and that’s the reason that she’s gone down in history among the series’ most iconic women.

                Goldfinger checks all the right boxes for an easily watched and rewatched classic spy thriller, blending creative action, memorable characters, and zany plots into a singularly great film in the pantheon of espionage thrillers. The drawbacks of its time period are hard to overlook, but if you can bring yourself to accept them as problematic parts of a bygone era, the film can be a really fun time. You can currently stream this film on Max if you’d like to check it out.