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Golden Bond
Sean
Connery is widely regarded as the best James Bond of them all. Even
his worthy successor Roger Moore once admitted, "Everyone knows
Sean is the real Bond. Kids think I’m his stand-in." The big
question is: Which is the best Bond movie? Film buffs provided the
answer in a recent poll conducted by Empire magazine and Sony
Pictures. Their all-time favourite — the Connery-starrer Goldfinger.
This 1964 film got 25 per cent of the votes, way ahead of GoldenEye
(12) and From Russia With Love (10). Goldfinger had
also topped a BBC News Online poll in 1999. Moreover, it is the only
Bond film that figures in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before
You Die (2003), which lists the world’s best films selected by
an international panel of critics. Not many Bond lovers would
pick holes in the choice. Remarkable for its style as well as
substance, Goldfinger is the quintessential Bond film, the one
that established the genre. Directed by Guy Hamilton, Goldfinger was
the third film of the series, coming after the super success of Dr
No (1962) and From Russia With Love (1963), both of which
were made by Terence Young. Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert
Broccoli not only wanted Hamilton to give a hit but also to maintain
the high standard set by the first two films. He succeeded on both
counts, and how! What makes Goldfinger so special? Of course,
Connery is at his suave best, but the man who almost steals the show
is Gert Frobe (1913-1988), who plays to perfection the serio-comic
villain Auric Goldfinger. The portly German actor — whose lines were
all dubbed — is superb as the megalomaniac who masterminds an
ingenious plan to crash the economy of the West. His attempt to
capture Fort Knox and irradiate all the gold stocked there is foiled
by the one and only Bond, James Bond. Super spy 007 is quite good at
wise-cracks but Goldfinger proves to be a step ahead. Lying under a
menacing laser machine, Bond coolly asks his rival, "You expect
me to talk?" Pat comes the reply, "No, Mr Bond. I expect you
to die." In another scene, Bond tells Goldfinger, "You will
kill 60,000 people uselessly". The latter retorts, "American
motorists kill that many every two years." Goldfinger has
grandiose plans to rule the world with the power of gold, but he is
petty enough to cheat at cards. His prodigious intelligence, morbid
sense of humour and childish arrogance make him a more fascinating
character than Bond. Even before he appears on the screen, he is
introduced through the title number. Sung by Shirley Bassey, this is
arguably the most popular Bond film song. There’s no forgetting its
lines: Goldfinger/ He’s the man/ The man with the Midas touch/ A
spider’s touch.../ Pretty girls/ Beware of his heart of gold/ This
heart is cold... Coming on to the Bond girl, Honor Blackman didn’t
have to don a bikini (a la Ursula Andress in Dr No) to make
male hearts go pit-a-pat. The job was done by her outrageous name —
Pussy Galore — and her hard-to-get attitude (with lesbian
overtones). She does surrender to Bond’s charisma in the end, but
not before putting up a stiff fight rarely shown by Bond babes.
Another unforgettable character is Goldfinger’s well-dressed mute
henchman Odd Job, played by Harold Sakata (1920-1982). He knocks down
his victims merely by hurling his bowler hat at them, and tries in
vain to keep Bond at bay during the climax. Sakata, a Hawaiian of
Korean descent, shot into the limelight on his debut, but surprisingly
he failed to get meaty roles in subsequent films. An uncouth version
of Odd Job was the giant Jaws (Richard Kiel), who troubled Roger Moore
in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). Goldfinger
is certainly much more than "a diverting comic strip for
grown-ups", as critic Judith Crist called it. Its attractive
toppings include art designer Ken Adam’s sets (particularly
Goldfinger’s lair), Norman Wanstall’s sound effects, the
gadget-laden Aston Martin and the thrilling action sequences. Last but
not least, there are Robert Brownjohn’s dazzling opening credits and
John Barry’s superb music score. Unfortunately, Bond’s creator
Ian Fleming died shortly before the film’s release. Connery went on
to star in three more 007 movies — Thunderball (1965), You
Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds are Forever (1971) —
but these were not as good as the first three ones. Roger Moore kept
the Bond flag flying for over a decade, while his successor Timothy
Dalton was a letdown. Even Connery made a futile attempt to stage a
comeback with Never Say Never Again (1983), which wasn’t part
of the series. Pierce Brosnan gave the genre a new lease of life
with the smash hit GoldenEye (1995). After four films, he has
passed on the baton to Daniel Craig, who will be seen in action soon
in the 21st Bond film, Casino Royale. No matter how
"different" the upcoming movie tries to be, it would still
have to acknowledge its debt to Goldfinger.
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