Goldfinger (1964)
The third Bond film and arguably the best ever, and certainly
the movie which proves once and for all that Sean Connery was, is,
and always will be the one true James Bond.
Goldfinger also worked remarkably well because of a
strong trio of villains; Gert Frobe played the eponymous baddie,
bullion-obsessed Auric Goldfinger, with a very convincing attitude
of arrogance and self-confidence.
Goldfinger didn't need physical strength because his number one
henchman was Oddjob, the Korean butler, with incredible power and
one hell of a bowler hat. Oddjob remains the best physical baddie
in a Bond movie.
Harold Sakata doesn't get any dialogue in the part, but makes
Oddjob work through his sheer presence. You have to love a villain
who gets whacked by the hero and responds with a bemused smile . .
.
The final villain doesn't really count since she changes teams
(in more ways than one) by the end of the film. Pussy Galore (Honor
Blackman) spends most of the movie as an employee of Goldfinger's,
but Bond's sublime sex appeal persuades her to transfer over to
the side of what's right and proper before the action ends.
Goldfinger balanced all of the good things about Bond
(action, humour, sex and spectacle) and left out the excess that
would mar the franchise in later years.
Four decades later it remains the model that every other Bond
film strives to emulate.
The film's score became the first Bond soundtrack to hit the LP
charts, and the title track - composed by John Barry - became the
first Bond song to hit the singles charts with Shirley Bassey's
now immortal rendition reaching the US Top 10 (and Number 21 in
the UK).
It's a little-known fact that the lyrics to the title track
were written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.
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