Day 3: Goldfinger

Though I've seen Goldfinger several times, I still don't understand why many Bond aficionados consider it to be the best Bond film of all time. The continuity was very weak, many of the scenes involving cars were sped up, and Goldfinger himself seems jump the gun too early when it comes to putting his plan in place. I'll be blunt: Bond should have died several times in this film, but we're now getting to the point where the elements of Bond are becoming permanent. That is, the foe monologues his entire plan and then doesn't give a second thought to said plan being leaked to a government agency that will end up stopping him.

Though I completely agree that this was the film that set the blueprint for future Bond films, it just seems that the plot itself was full of holes. Why would Goldfinger load up a million dollars worth of gold bullion in the back seat of a car only to crush everything inside and have it returned in a cube when he could have saved himself the trouble and killed Mr. Solo along with everyone else in the briefing room? This is a man who gives himself too much work.

Oddjob's hat also bugged me. Not Oddjob himself, though he was one of the more classic sidekicks, just his hat. Why would his hat slice through a concrete statue yet barely make a mark on a human being though the hat killed her anyway? A little confusing by way of continuity if you ask me. I was also a little disappointed that the producers had to change the actor playing Felix Leiter. Surely, Jack Lord didn't do that bad of a job.

This also happens to be the film where Bond one-liners exceed their capacity. Sure the line "shocking, positively shocking" is a Bond classic, but "he had a pressing engagement", "I must have appealed to her maternal instincts," and Pussy Galore's name alone is too much to handle.

Despite all of these things, Goldfinger does carry some scenes that will forever be considered classic Bond. Bond gets his very car of the franchise, an Aston Martin DB5, equipped with the usual Q Branch gadgets. The Slazenger 1/Slazenger 7 golf ball mix-up during a high-stakes golf match. And, yes, even the passenger ejector seat with the button located inside the manual stick shift.

I won't argue that Goldfinger finalized the formula that practically all of the succeeding films in the franchise followed. I won't even argue that, yes, Goldfinger's diabolical plan was so diabolical that we Americans wouldn't have seen it coming. Luckily, Leiter was so involved Bond was didn't have to depend on his own skills to escape. I just don't understand how so many Bond fans can look past the flaws that it has. C