Goldfinger.

When someone asks “What is the greatest Bond film?” there are several acceptable answers, most of which will elicit as much debate, mockery and scorn as support and accolades. The only one most people will never disagree with is Goldfinger. Why?

It is the quintessential Bond film. It sets the pattern for every other Bond film to come after it. Bond investigates seemingly routine case, things turn out to be more than they seem, someone is plotting world domination, Bond is captured, escapes, and then leads some sort of large-scale action sequence in the final 15 minutes to foil the villain’s master plan.

In this case, the subject is Auric Goldfinger. Sing it with me now:

“Goldfinger. He’s the man, the man with the Midas touch. . .”

And the film gets huge ups for having an amazing theme song which so perfectly fits, which is not always the case. I think there’s also a lot of love because this was Connery Bond in his absolute prime. For those who say Connery is not only the best but the only acceptable Bond, Goldfinger is the masterpiece they can most easily point to.

So, robots assemble! What is it about Goldfinger that makes you love it? What gripes do you have?

Citizen-Bot: I don’t think you can separate Goldfinger from some of its most iconic moments.

“Do you expect me to talk?”
“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”

Probably the best bit of dialogue in any film of this era, and probably in the entire franchise history.

Swank-mo-tron: I frequently claim this movie as my favorite Bond and finding myself quoting it constantly. “Strict rules of golf, Goldfinger?” “That’s my James.” “Shocking. Positively shocking.” And on and on and on.

Shaz-Bot: I’ll be completely honest here, I’m not the biggest Bond-a-phile, my first Bond film was GoldenEye. After that one, and all the hype surrounding Connery as the “best” Bond, I gave this film a shot just because the titles were similar. I’ve never looked back.

CB: Well, actually, Goldeneye was my first Bond, too. Well, technically it was Never Say Never Again, but we’ll get to that later. But the first Bond I plunked down money to buy my own ticket for was Goldeneye, and fell into Goldfinger under similar circumstances as you. Gee, you don’t think when they rebooted the franchise they thought about using “Gold” in the title to play on previous classic Bonds, do you?

Shaz: As for why I like it? Well, for me, it’s got to be Bond, for all his charm and wit, really screws up time after time here, I mean, he REALLY screws the pooch. Yet he stills ends up coming out on top because of those same traits. Nothing comes easy for him, aside from his luck with the ladies, and it makes for a thrilling ride,

CB: Pussy Galore and Jill Masterson also always come up on the list of favorite Bond Girls. Speaking of iconic dialogue:

“Who are you?”
“My name is Pussy Galore.”
“I must be dreaming.”

I also love how, at least in the novel and this is subtly hinted at in the film, Pussy is a lesbian– hence her all-female team of pilots. It’s completely ridiculous if you think about it in this perspective: Bond tries to bed her, she says no, basically turning what happens next after the camera fades to black into date rape, but the power of Bond’s. . .ahhem. . .”mojo” is so strong that she is not only no longer gay, she’s willing to betray her employer, Goldfinger, and help Bond. That is some powerful lovemaking. And really, in a lot of ways, kind of offensive. “As long as you’re raped by the right secret agent, you can turn from gay to strait, and go from evil to good.”  But this movie is full of chauvinism and 60’s male-dominated crap like this. Bond even slaps a girl’s ass at one point.

Swank: I always loved Pussy Galore because she was smart, attractive, and every bit Bond’s equal. That, and her name is Pussy Galore. And this isn’t the first movie Connery has to persuade ladies to sleep with him. We all remember what happened with Tippi Hedren in Marnie. But Goldfinger might have been the first Bond movie I bought on VHS right when I started working at a movie theatre and I just watched it over and over and over again. Mainly because Pussy Galore was hot and I couldn’t afford more Bond pictures.

Shaz: I’ve always thought Pussy got off light in this film. Historically of course, and especially in this film, it does not pay to sleep with James. You either get maimed a bit and left for the police, covered in gold paint, or get Oddjobbed. I actually never made the lesbian connection before, not having read the novels, but in re-watching it for this roundtable, it makes a lot of sense. Even when she and James literally roll in the hay, you could see it as her following Goldfinger’s orders and “taking one for the team” so to speak. Of course, she does switch sides thanks to Bond’s magic peener, as stated above.

CB: For me at least, I never got the fanboy love for Pussy Galore. Aside from the name, I don’t think she’s that amazing. Jill Masterson, however. . . .that’s a girl worth writing home about. And it becomes this important piece in this game of one-upsmanship between Bond and Goldfinger. It’s like Bond kind of goes into higher gear, “Ok, now I’m really going to take you down.”

Swank: I do think this is an earlier iteration of what Bond goes through in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with the Contessa and in Casino Royale with Vesper Lynd. Bond always seems to be at his best when he has that streak of revenge. This film set the stage for most future Bond films and it’s brilliant in how it presages that element as well.

CB: I also love it because Bond gets some of his most iconic toys in this one, especially that Aston Martin with the ejector seat. They used to sell that as a toy- it actually was the best selling toy of 1964, believe it or not. If they re-release a 50th anniversary one of those in a couple years, sign me up to buy one.

Swank: The Aston Martin in this movie was always my favorite. The wall, the ejector seat, the flames, everything. Bond was working with his wits and his charm, but that Aston Martin chase in the dark is second to none.

CB: And I don’t think we can talk Goldfinger without talking about OddJob, the best sidekick villain ever, in my opinion. You compare him to later attempts like Nick Nack or Jaws and. . .they just seem campy and ridiculous. Granted, it is pretty campy for him to be able to assassinate someone by throwing his hat and decapitating them. But so awesome that we can somehow look beyond that.

Swank: Well, Oddjob had a layer of plausibility to him. He was about as far as I’d be willing to stretch the fantasy in a Bond film and he worked. My favorite scenes with him might be on the golf course, though, as Goldfinger’s caddy. Here’s this badass villain whose job is, for the most part, to cheat for his employer at golf. It puts a goofy smile on my face.

CB: And it’s the only time he vocalizes, really, too.

Shaz:”Manners, Oddjob, I thought you always took your hat off to a lady.” He had a particularly clever death scene, considering how incredibly tough the guy was to kill. I actually have a silly theory about Oddjob’s return in a later spinoff because of the circumstances of his death, but I’ll be getting to that in a future article.

Swank: I love the pre-credits sequence in this film, too, from the duck hat and scuba gear right into the tuxedo and explosives. It’s brilliant.

CB: Yup- the “shocking, positively shocking.” bit is classic, as is seeing his attacker in the reflection in the girl’s eyes, then using her as a human shield? Bond is kind of evil. There’s that duality in him that is all over this film.

Shaz: I never really realised how much his movie affected pop culture, I mean yeah, there’s the laser while strapped to the table thing, but it also influenced things in ways you might not expect. For instance, the episode of The Simpsons where the police paint themselves to catch a thief and all almost end up dying because they neglected to let their pores breathe. After I saw Goldfinger the first time, I was like, oh so that’s where they got that. Even Speed Racer’s Mammoth Car made out of gold was inspired by Auric Goldfinger’s clever smuggling operation.

CB: That’s funny you bring up The Simpsons because I’ve been going around singing “>“Max Power– he’s the man with the name you want to touch. . . but you mustn’t touch!!”  That whole episode where Homer changes his name to Max Power and the episode “You Only Move Twice” with Hank Scorpio are both among my favorite Simpsons episodes ever– though I guess that is much more full of You Only Live Twice jokes. . . .but it does include Scorpio doing the laser thing on an obvious Sean Connery ripoff. Also, my daughter and I love Mythbusters, and she loves the Bond myths episodes. They test a lot of Goldfinger-related myths: explosive decompression in an airplane, can you suffocate from gold paint, throwing a hat to decapitate someone.

Swank: With the positively shocking opening sequence, the best Felix Leiter of the series, one of the best villains with Gert Frobe’s Goldfinger his brilliant plot, his incredible henchman Oddjob, and Pussy Galore, this makes for a Bond film that has everything. This is one of the few Bond films that gets 4 ½ Martinis out of 4.

Shaz: This film really is the quintessential Bond film. Most of the other movies after this one follow a similar formula, Oddjob sets the tone for future main henchmen. The initial success of Goldfinger also really lit the fuse on the spy craze of the mid-to-late 60’s as well, with stuff like Our Man Flint, the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and my personal favorite, Get Smart. It’s a great piece of cinema on its own, couple that with its profound cultural impact, and it’s 4 out of 4 martinis easily. Shaken, not stirred, of course.

CB: I’m the crazy one here. As great as it is, I’m going to commit and heresy and say it outright: I think there are better Bond films than this. That being said, it is a tight script and story, well-acted, and has some of my favorite Bond moments of all time. Yeah, it’s still 4 martinis really, but to even out Swank’s math, I’m going to be the East German Judge and give it 3 ½ martinis, with a sidecar of Goldschläger, or a bottle of Dom Perignon.

CONSENSUS AVERAGE: 4 Martinis