Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Frobe, Honor Blackman
Composer: John Barry
Title Song: Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey
The story: The British government suspects that Auric Goldfinger is working the smuggling racket, and it's up to Bond to stop him. Throw in Fort Knox, a "dirty bomb," and the beginnings of the classic Bond formula.
The film is surprising in that it takes the original novel and improves on it rather than butchering it for the big screen (maybe the folks who do the Tom Clancy movies can learn a lesson from this.) The laser scene, which replaces the buzz saw from the novel, is now an immortal part of pop culture.
EON Productions had finally mastered the pre-title sequence and the opening credits with this movie. You have a short but exciting scene that features explosions and a battle to the death, followed by one of the most powerful and unforgettable songs ever sung for a movie.
Unlike the susbsequent Thunderball, Goldfinger's plot is short and concise. The movie just runs under two hours, and very little camera work is wasted on building mood or atmosphere. This movie is all fun. Gert Frobe puts on a great performance as the over-the-top villain, and Sean Connery is at his best. Honor Blackman does a remarkable job of hinting at the lesbianism of her character, Pussy Galore (this aspect of the character is made clear in the novel. True to form, the suave James Bond convinces her to "change teams.") Harold Sakai is impressive as the villainous Odd Job, making for a formidable foe that could not be matched until the introduction of Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me.