He Loves Only GOLD!

                  One out of every three Bond aficionados agree (including Steven Spielberg and Pierce Brosnan), Goldfinger is the best James Bond movie of them all. Although Goldfinger is the third 007 movie from producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, most can agree that this is the first movie to fully adopt the successful formula that ran the James Bond series  through to Casino Royale in 2006. This is particularly striking considering not all of the founding members of the Bond series returned for this third outing.  Maurice Binder is synonymous  with the opening titles of the Bond series, but Goldfinger's were designed by the lesser known Robert Brownjohn. The projection of scenes from the three 007 movies on the golden skin of Margaret Nolan (who played Dink in the early Miami Beach-set opening) with Shirley Bassey's bold and brassy delivery of the title theme song still stands as one of the highlights of the entire Bond movie series. Guy Hamilton took over from Terrance Young, who had directed the first two films, injecting a little more humor and glitz to the series. Although previous movies, Dr. No and From Russia With Love had its share of OTT moments, this entry is the one where you can see the series really ratchet up the more escapist elements of the Bond world. The previous movie had a suitcase with gas bombs and a rather lethal shoe on Rosa Kleb, Goldfinger features the now iconic Aston Martin decked out with gadgets galore including an ejector seat, prompting even James Bond to exclaim, "you must be joking". The debut of Desmond Llewellyn as quartermaster 'Q' to the series completed the family of returning characters Bond fans looked forward to seeing every entry. The longest serving cast member in the series, it's certainly interesting to compare this initial meeting between Bond and Q with performance from Llewellyn years later in entries like License to Kill or  The World is not Enough where the relationship was considerably less frosty. On the flip side, this is the first film sans Sylvia Trench, Bond's ongoing girlfriend. Introduced in Dr.No, Eunice Grayson is equally as memorable playing opposite Sean Connery in the first time he introduces himself as Bond, James Bond and there is a part of me that enjoyed the idea of her returning to the series from time to time, especially for Grayson sultry performance.  But the idea of an ongoing serious relationship for Bond wouldn't have worked well with the 3 girl formula Goldfinger seemed to establish (the belly dancer in the pre-credit teaser, Jill Masterson in the first part of the film and Pussy Galore at the end).  The Bond girls in this entry are some of the most well remembered, starting with the stunning Shirley Eaton who went down in history as the girl painted in gold from head to toe as Goldfinger's revenge against Bond. Honor Blackman will never lose her status as the most memorably named Bond girl in the series, with an introduction that is hard to imagine would clear network censors. One Bond girl who is not onscreen, but makes herself heard is Shirley Bassey, who together with score composer John Barry, capture a sultry and brassy style of music that many subsequent films in and out of the Bond series have tried to tap. 

                Considering he's one of the few villains to double as the film title, it's not a surprise to find he's one of the more memorable ones. Gert Forbe via the dubbing by actor Michael Collins delivers one of the classic hero/villain exchanges with Bond strapped to a table with a laser slowly inching closer and closer to splitting him in half; "You expect me to talk?", "No, Mr.Bond, I expect you to die!".  The laser beam sequence is a standout scene that still plays out very suspenseful and tense. Die Another Day had a callback to the Goldfinger scene with multiple lasers and Halle Berry strapped down under interrogation that paled in comparison to the singular laser that threatened Sean Connery.  No discourse on Goldfinger can be complete without talking about Sean Connery and his definitive portrayal of the super spy.  His is still the standard by which all actors in the role are measured by. Connery was suave and witty when needed, but delivered the cold blooded ruthlessness that made you believe he was licensed to kill. In Goldfinger he's still enjoying the role and taking it seriously. 

                Goldfinger is the first of several associations the Bond films have with the city of Miami. As a kid I remember always getting a thrill of driving by the curvy Fontainebleau Hotel , designed by  Morris Lapidus, and recalling John Barry's memorable bit of scoring during the flyover of the hotel in the movie.  I grew up with stories of how Thunderball's Disco Volante rested near Watson Island for years and I yearned to see the filming that took place on the Seven Mile Bridge for License to Kill in '88. Sadly, as hard as Casino Royale tried, they couldn't convince any Miami local that the "Miami" airport seen was MIA (it was in fact Prague International  with lots of palm trees). Hopefully Bond will return to Miami soon.