Goldfinger

After the success of Dr. No in 1962 and then with From Russia With Love in 1963, it would just be one year later that audiences would get to see Goldfinger. Am I jealous as I sit here patiently waiting for No Time To Die? Well I think there's a possibility of that but thankfully Bond fans still have 24 films to rely on while we witness what will likely become the longest gap in release for the franchise to date. 

Goldfinger is arguably seen as the gold standard for Bond films after the first two films had experimented and found their footing to build the foundations for the franchise with what fans would come to expect from 007 going forward. This had the pre-title sequence that didn't carry any effect on the main story to follow, the title sequence with a lyrical song, plenty of gadgets accompanied by an amusing scene with Q, memorable villains and their henchmen, and also a few more touches of humour with the one-liners as the series gradually stepped away from the seriousness of the books. The mid-1960s were fast approaching and the times were changing.

Adapted from the seventh book by Ian Fleming and sporting new director Guy Hamilton, Goldfinger sees Bond spy on gold magnate, Auric Goldfinger, and his smuggling operation leading him to discover plans for an attack against the USA's gold reserve at Fort Knox. This one again followed the book rather closely complete with the golfing duel, Bond trailing Auric through the alps and also Bond unfortunately going to one of the dullest locations for the franchise, Kentucky. However, this is also the same film which properly introduced Desmond Llewelyn's Q, a character scarcely mentioned in the books, and also gave Bond the iconic Aston Martin DB5. 

Seeing this today, it is certainly the most 'complete' Bond film of the trio and generally deserves its high reputation amongst the fans. Connery is still enjoying himself in lead role, Bond's interaction with M, Q and Moneypenny is all on top form, the title song by Shirley Bassey is fantastic, Gert Fröbe makes for a memorable villain and we also get a great Bond girl in the shape of Honor Blackman, who is thankfully not dubbed for the first time in the series. The action sequences are also a lot of fun thanks to the inventive gadgets which always seem to come in handy for Bond, how fortunate.

However, the film does suffer during the third act when Bond is (minor spoiler) imprisoned in Goldfinger's Kentucky ranch when the story changes gear for some villainous exposition. British fans at the time might have enjoyed the glimpses of the States but I wish the writer's took some creative liberties and moved Fort Knox to a more visually exciting part of America. We do still get to see the DB5 cruise through the alps but as Bond locations go, this film might be the weakest. There are also other minor pacing issues where scenes drag on in the third act, such as a car crushing sequence that's not nearly as exciting as it sounds for a Bond film, which gives this an unfortunately dated feel.

Goldfinger has all the right pieces for a Bond film and is certainly very enjoyable for the most part but I would go so far as to calling it unbalanced. The first two acts in Kent and the Swiss alps are great and while there are moments in the final act where the story weakens, Hamilton still delivers one of Bond's strongest outings to date. Any Bond fan would be hard pressed to not enjoy themselves while casual viewers will enjoy seeing all of the iconography onscreen making this an easy recommend even if it's not quite perfect.