Dr. No and From Russia with Love preceded it, but Guy Hamilton’s "Gold Finger" was probably where James Bond, as we know him, came into prominence in the late sixties.
Of all the "Funbible" offings that James Bond had scripted over the years; this was one "Holly Grail" that very few dared to trail.
Goldfinger can’t match today’s Bond, neither in-terms of content nor in-terms of graphics and action; but it still longs to be treasured in the iconography of an once-ailing franchise, simply because it embraced all the necessary elements of "Being Bond" twice the better.To me this is the best of all Bond adventures not because it set the tune-up for an all but longing franchise to follow but because it embraced all the key metrics of a "Bond" movie.
In Sean Connery it certainly had the best bond star off all time and in Honor Blackman, the second best Bond beauty! Auric Goldfinger is just a pet-stereotype but in the performance of Gert Frobe, he comes to life, devilish cool!Its not the gadgets and new-age stuff that set him apart and attracts you to him. Its the manner in which he uses his pun wit at women, in the most corniest of situations, aroused as a byproduct of spurts and action the rather megalomaniacal rocket-science villainy, that eventually did!
In one of the most pivotal scenes in "Goldfinger" we see Bond(Sean Connery) being captured and tied up on top of a platter made of gold, by the villain in the film named Auric Goldfinger(Gert Frobe.)When Bond refuses to giveaway some vital political information, Goldfinger’s patience eludes him as he tries to have Bond killed by emitting a laser beam right through the middle of the gold platter where Bond was lying.
Out of agony, Bond whispers one sentence - "MI6 knows operations Grandslam." - presumably, a well disguised lie.Goldfinger spares his life to retrieve further information but Bond meantime, is looking downwards as the lasers come slow and steady, having reached right below his sexual organ. Masculinity was one of Bond’s main egotistical possessions and Connery, quite naturally, faints himself to sleep.He couldn’t watch himself die the death of a mock-puppet; he deserves an honorable one with dignity and respect, not irreverent and certainly not emasculating on top of a gold platter with laser beams cutting through!
Next scene, he wakes up in a private jet of Pusy Galore(Honor Blackman) Goldfinger’s sexy associate, and whispers "I must be dreaming."This scene might have had little importance had if the camera didn’t stay for that little longer focusing on the emitting laser in the vicinity of Bond’s main weapon.
Sean Connery embodies a stupendous quality in him unlike any other Bond that subsided him. He could make even the most corniest of scenes into damn funny with his wry smile, sexy wink at the camera and, yes, sheer timing!
In terms of story though, this was definitely not groundbreaking for 2014 standards as it was for the sixties. It needn’t be. Bond trails an egotistical gold smuggling expert, who threatens the US of an impeding attack at their Fort Nox vault situated at Kentucky.Then you know the story next. In fact, its this stereotypical cheesiness which Bond and his script beholds like a badge of honor, that give me a freedom to reveal that spoiler right upfront.
Gold Finger has all the right ingredients painted in Gold. And moreover, it had in Connery the best Bond star front & center. How I wished the makers remastered it with 3D effects and HD quality and had re-released it for an enhanced, amplifier pumping, pop-corn experience.For skiing action and sheer entertainment over all - Go check Die Another Day, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service or even Skyfall or Casino Royale.
For James Bond in its truest form - look no further than Guy Hamilton’s "Gold Finger." Its the Bond we’ve seen, buried in a junkyard of film strips and collages and crave for from the modern day filmmakers. Well, the franchise seems to be rekindled and all guns blazing. Just hope it brings back Bond in its truest form too!