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Dr. No broke the ground and set the tone, From Russia With Love established Connery and added production value, adding Q and pre-title sequence in the mix, but most observers would say it was Goldfinger that finalized the formula and was the first fully formed Bond movie. Certainly the movie when it came out was nothing short of a phenomenon, breaking worldwide box office records, creating hysteria at premieres, catapulting Connery to super-stardom, and earning it’s 3 million dollar budget back in just 2 weeks. After choosing Goldfinger, Flemings 1959 novel inspired by meeting a gold broker who taught him about the trade when at a stay in a spa in 1956, the producers were unable to come to terms for director Terence Young to return, so instead went to Guy Hamilton, an experienced director at that time best known for ‘The Colditz Story’. It was Hamilton who made a conscious decision to take all the best ingredients from Terence Young’s Bond movies, but add a level of brevity.. he decided the plot was so outlandish that it needed to be taken with a pinch of salt. This can best be observed in the pre-title sequence, which in another of Hamilton’s inventions there was a whole mini-movie complete in itself, encapsulating all the ingredients of a Bond movie in just a few minutes.
Hamilton also gave Desmond Lewellyn the key direction on his character, telling him ‘no, don’t get up for Bond – he doesn’t treat your gadgets with respect’ – a character trait that stayed and was built on thereafter. The cast was rounded out with Gert Frobe, whose English was non- existent enough that he was dubbed by actor Michael Collins, Howard Zakata playing Oddjob, and of course Honor Blackman, who was a hot property after 2 years on The Avengers. Shirley Eaton only had about 5 minutes screen time, but made an indelible impression as the iconic image of the movie, and Ken Adams completed the look as production designer, creating those sets of unique scale and style, such as the inside of Fort Knox (which no-one had seen), the laser room, and Goldfingers ‘rumpus room’ where he outlines his plan to the mob bosses. It was also his idea to approach Aston Martin.. they provided the first prototypes of the DB5, for which the production had to pay full whack. However, the impact of that car was enormous, and ended up being one of the most recognizable icons of both the Bond movies, and the British car industry. At that time, cars really were status symbols – one in 7 jobs in the US was in the auto industry, so the impact of the cars in the movie cannot be underestimated at that time – and let’s not forget the first movie appearance of a Ford Mustang, and the brand new Lincoln Continental, a sign of old style American decadence – which gets crushed in the movie – a scene which brought the crew to a standstill, in disbelief at what they were watching.
Locations spanning UK, Switzerland and Miami, Shirley Basseys unforgettable introduction to the Bond world (she returned for two more Bond themes – can you name them?), THAT car, and an unforgettable mix of style, elegance, action and humour laced with sex appeal. And this, in the year that The Beatles made it big, Prince Edward was born, and UK forces were dispatched overseas quelling disturbances in countries such as Zanzibar and Cyprus. LBJ was promising a short war in Vietnam, the Civil Rights Act had been implemented and the New York Fair was proudly declaring how bright the future was.
Did it take this incredible period of history to make one of the most successful movies of the time? Or does the movie still stand the test of time to be as entertaining to audiences today as it was then? Watch it again, and make up your own mind!
Trivia
Although many of the locations in the film are American, Sean Connery never set foot in America during filming. All scenes where he's apparently in America were shot on location in England and at Pinewood Studios, London.
Aston Martin were initially reluctant to part with two of their cars for the production. The producers had to pay for the Aston Martin, but after the success of the film, both at the box office and for the company, they never had to spend money on a car again.
First appearance of a laser beam in a movie. In the original script, the scene had a spinning buzzsaw (as in the novel) until it was decided that such an image had become commonplace and unoriginal.
Goldfinger wears yellow or a golden item of clothing in virtually every scene. In the one that he appears not to - in which he wears a US Army Colonel's uniform - he carries a golden revolver.
The budget (an estimated US$3,000,000) was more than the budgets for the first two Bond films combined (estimated US$1,100,000 for Dr. No and US$2,000,000 for From Russia with Love).
This is the only Sean Connery-era Bond film without the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld or his organization SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion).
The villain's first name, Auric, is related to the Latin word for gold, 'aurum') and the periodic table code AU for the same. The license plate on Goldfinger's 12 cylinder 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedance de Ville reads AU 1 for the same reason
Honor Blackman quit her role as Cathy Gale on The Avengers to appear in Goldfinger. A 1965 episode of The Avengers made sly reference to this by having John Steed receive a Christmas card from Cathy Gale - sent from Fort Knox.
As with the first two James Bond movies, creator and author Ian Fleming visited the set during April 1964. He visited D Stage at Pinewood Studios where they were filming the UK set of the Fontainebleu Hotel pool scene. Sadly, he died a little less than a month before the film's release on 12th August 1964.
The golf scenes in the film were shot at the Stoke Poges Golf Club in England, not far from Pinewood Studios. There is now a James Bond themed bar at the golf course. The interest in golf developed by Sean Connery is said to have spawned during this filming.
Honor Blackman was the first Bond girl actress with a prior acting career.
The idea of the Aston Martin's revolving number plates came from director Guy Hamilton who had just been frustrated at receiving a parking ticket.
Steven Spielberg cites this as his personal favorite of all the Bond movies and even owns an Aston Martin DB5 due to the impact Goldfinger had on him. The Aston Martin DB5 that was seen in Catch Me If You Can was a personal prop loaned to the production by Spielberg himself. The car is the same make and model. A clip of the movie is seen in Catch Me If You Can in the scene in the cinema where we see Leonardo DiCaprio watching this movie.
Shirley Eaton was dubbed by Nikki Van der Zyl, who also worked as dialogue coach to Gert Fröbe.
Sean Connery, who was married to actress Diane Cilento at the time, wore a flesh-colored bandage (clearly seen in some production stills) over his wedding ring while filming.
Bob Simmons: The series regular stuntman is the actor appearing as James Bond in the opening gun barrel sequence. The same footage was used in Dr. No and From Russia with Love.
Alf Joint: The stuntman played Capungo, the henchman in the opening sequence due to the original actor not being able to do the role at the last minute. This was because he was a cat-burglar and had just been arrested. Joint was burnt on the leg by a smoldering coil whilst filming this pre-credits sequence.
Gert Fröbe had serious reservations about Goldfinger using nerve gas to get rid of his witnesses. Frobe felt that with him being a German, this scene would have Nazi concentration camp implications. Indeed, the film was banned in Israel for many years after Gert Fröbe revealed he had been a member of the Nazi Party. The ban was lifted after a Jewish family came forward to praise Fröbe for protecting them from persecution during World War II.
This is the only EON produced Sean Connery Bond film that doesn't end with Bond at sea.
© Stephen's Movie Guide
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