This review of Goldfinger (1964) is part of a wider rewatch of the James Bond series to mark its 60th anniversary. 007 has always been my favourite movie franchise, and I wanted to see where each film ranks within the series. Please check out the main blog post for my rankings of this and the other twenty-four official films and links to the movie reviews for the rest of the franchise.
Long Review and Film Summary
Goldfinger is the first Bond film I remember watching, and it has been my favourite ever since. It starts with an action-packed pre-title fight scene, then moves into a classic Bond opening title and one of the most iconic 007 theme songs. At the start of the film, we meet Auric Goldfinger (played by Gert Fröbe) and Jill Masterson (played by Shirley Eaton) as Bond has a little fun with the card-cheating Goldfinger. It still has the quirks of the other two films. Although the rear projection isn’t anywhere near as bad in this one. The film overall has a compelling storyline, a charming and infamous villain, and a villain sidekick, Oddjob (played by Harold Sakata), who could easily have his own 007 movie. The film also has our first real Q scene of the franchise (played by Desmond Llewelyn) with brilliant gadgets, good pacing and chase scenes, striking visuals (Jill covered head to toe in gold paint, for example), and all for a budget of $3 million in 1964 (over $27 million in 2022). Pussy Galore (played by Honor Blackman) is again, like Oddjob, a very able villain in her own right with her own Flying Circus which is used later in the film to aid in the plot, and simultaneously used against it. Goldfinger brought in $125 million at the box office ($1.1 billion in 2022), beating box office figures for Dr. No and From Russia with Love combined. It will take an exceptional film to kick this movie off my top spot. I enjoy this movie as much today as I always have.