My name is Vincitore...Mike Vincitore. I am an (arguably) otherwise sane, married father of a nine-month old baby girl. Ive been addicted to 007 ever since I stood on an around-the block line outside a Jersey City, NJ movie theater to see a Dr. No/From Russia With Love double feature in 1964. Goldfinger was playing around the clock at another theater around the corner, but the idea of allowing nine-year old boys to see a naked woman painted gold was too much for Mom and my aunt, so my cousin and I were escorted to the double feature instead. The first Bond novel I read was Thunderball-before the film came out- and there was no looking back. Even at the age of eleven I was vaguely disappointed at how much of the book was jettisoned in that film, and today Mr. Fleming remains my favorite author-bar none. So, come along as I treat you to my opinions on the only James Bond film I have NEVER seen on the big screen (I forgive you, Mom)...
The
James Bond films turned a corner in many ways-some for better, some for
worse-with Goldfinger. With this film, they evolved from tight,
suspenseful, gritty spy dramas that still managed to keep tongue firmly
in cheek into grand epics containing unforgettable images, spectacular
stunts, and incredible gadgetry-epics for which Goldfinger became
the model. Each succeeding film would try to simultaneously emulate and
outdo Goldfinger with mixed degrees of success. Who can forget Shirley
Eaton s gold-painted corpse, the menacing Oddjob and his steel-rimmed derby,
Gert Fröbe as the gold-crazed Auric Goldfinger, or that fabulous Aston
Martin with modifications , the ultimate company car? (A 10-year-old Irish
lad named Pierce Brosnan didn t-that long-ago day at a London cinema kicked
off a lifelong dream to follow in Sean Connery s footsteps!) Goldfinger s
game: cheating at cards and golf-and, oh, yes-using an atomic device to
increase the value of his gold by making the contents of Fort Knox radioactive.
Terence Young had done some preproduction and script work, but was unable to work out his contract with EON, and left to become involved in another film. Therefore Guy Hamilton (a directorial candidate for Dr. No) directed what is in the eyes of the public at large-or those over the age of forty, at least-the definitive James Bond film.
Young still claimed to have had an uncredited hand in the finished film, however. He said in an interview that the producers weren t happy with an early cut of Goldfinger in which Bond (according to Young) was captured much earlier in the film. Young said he told them they had a damn good picture. I told them I thought they should make some cuts, which they did. Young said he had consulted with Peter Hunt and they switched some scenes in the final cut of the film.
Despite some excellent introspective passages in which the character of James Bond develops considerably, Ian Fleming s Goldfinger is really not one of his strongest novels in terms of its ability to be translated to the screen. All the best scenes are played out inside Bond s head-his ruminations on Goldfinger, on life and love, his world-weary cynicism, and the wry sense of humor that becomes more evident with each novel. The task of adapting it to the big screen-with the emphasis on big-fell to Paul Dehn and Richard Maibaum, and the result is brilliant. The pre-credit sequence is, I feel, one of the two or three very best in the series; as Raymond Benson points out in The James Bond Bedside Companion, it could stand alone as a short subject James Bond film, and is nicely adapted from the first chapter of Fleming s novel. Its tag line shocking...positively shocking , is merely the first example of what is probably the best scripted film, dialog-wise, of the entire series. Virtually every exchange between the principal characters seems to bristle with wit and intelligence, and we always have the feeling that a clever Bond mot is just around the corner.
Dehn and Maibaum also tightened up key plot elements such as having Bond present for Jill Masterson s execution by gilding instead of hearing about it from Tilly afterwards. This serves early in the film to remind us that this spy stuff is dangerous, and gives a personal edge to Bond s pursuit of Goldfinger, turning the golf game (beautifully adapted and compressed from what was arguably some of Fleming s best writing ever) into a true grudge match.
This edge is sharpened by Tilly s death taking place at Auric Enterprises instead of being postponed until the Fort Knox battle. Goldfinger s idea (in the book) of taking her to America to serve as a secretary-after she was ready to try to kill him-is ludicrous. Also, Fleming s book had Goldfinger seriously plotting to steal all the gold in Fort Knox, which, as Bond himself points out in one scene of the film, is utterly impractical. The change in plan to irradiate and make useless the gold for fifty-eight years is actually more practical, and also allows the usage of Ken Adam s masterpiece Fort Knox set (all the more impressive because the filmmakers were refused permission to even look inside the real thing-they built their own at England s Pinewood Studios) for a nail-biting climax involving a terrific fight scene and the impending doom of a potential atomic explosion.