Goldfinger (film)

With the court case between Kevin McClory and Fleming surrounding Thunderball still in the High Court, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman turned to Goldfinger as the third Bond film.[20] Goldfinger had what was then considered a large budget of $3 million (US$25 million in 2019 dollars[21]), the equivalent of the budgets of Dr. No and From Russia with Love combined, and was the first Bond film classified as a box-office blockbuster.[3] Goldfinger was chosen with the American cinema market in mind, as the previous films had concentrated on the Caribbean and Europe.[22]

Terence Young, who directed the previous two films, chose to film The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders instead, after a pay dispute[2] that saw him denied a percentage of the film's profits.[23] Broccoli and Saltzman turned instead to Guy Hamilton to direct. Hamilton, who had turned down directing Dr. No,[24] felt that he needed to make Bond less of a "superman" by making the villains seem more powerful.[25] Hamilton knew Fleming, as both were involved during intelligence matters in the Royal Navy during World War II.[26] Goldfinger saw the return of two crew members who were not involved with From Russia with Love: stunt coordinator Bob Simmons and production designer Ken Adam.[27] Both played crucial roles in the development of Goldfinger, with Simmons choreographing the fight sequence between Bond and Oddjob in the vault of Fort Knox, which was not just seen as one of the best Bond fights, but also "must stand as one of the great cinematic combats"[28] whilst Adam's efforts on Goldfinger were "luxuriantly baroque"[29] and have resulted in the film being called "one of his finest pieces of work".[12]

Richard Maibaum, who co-wrote the previous films, returned to adapt the seventh Bond novel. Maibaum fixed the novel's heavily criticised plot hole, where Goldfinger actually attempts to empty Fort Knox. In the film, Bond notes it would take twelve days for Goldfinger to steal the gold, before the villain reveals he actually intends to irradiate it with the then topical concept of a Red Chinese atomic bomb.[25] However, Harry Saltzman disliked the first draft, and brought in Paul Dehn to revise it.[25] Hamilton said Dehn "brought out the British side of things".[30] Connery disliked his draft, so Maibaum returned.[25] Dehn also suggested the pre-credit sequence be an action scene with no relevance to the actual plot.[3] Maibaum, however, based the pre-credit sequence on the opening scene of the novel, where Bond is waiting at Miami Airport contemplating his recent killing of a Latin American drug smuggler.[31] Wolf Mankowitz, an un-credited screenwriter on Dr. No, suggested the scene where Oddjob puts his car into a car crusher to dispose of Mr. Solo's body.[2] Because of the quality of work of Maibaum and Dehn, the script and outline for Goldfinger became the blueprint for future Bond films.[32]

Principal photography commenced on 20 January 1964 in Miami, Florida, at the Fontainebleau Hotel; the crew was small, consisting only of Hamilton, Broccoli, Adam and cinematographer Ted Moore. Connery never travelled to Florida to film because he was shooting Marnie[4] elsewhere in the United States. On the DVD audio commentary, director Hamilton states that other than Linder, who played Felix Leiter, none of the main actors in the Miami sequence were actually there. Connery, Fröbe, Eaton, Nolan, who played Dink, and Willis, who played Goldfinger's card victim, all filmed their parts on a soundstage at Pinewood Studios when filming moved. Miami also served as location to the scenes involving Leiter's pursuit of Oddjob.[33]

After five days in the US,[34] production returned to England. The primary location was Pinewood Studios, home to, among other sets, a recreation of the Fontainebleau, the South American city of the pre-title sequence and both Goldfinger's estate and factory.[15][3][4] Three places near the studio were used: Black Park for the car chase involving Bond's Aston Martin and Goldfinger's henchmen inside the factory complex, RAF Northolt for the American airports[33] and Stoke Park Club for the golf club scene.[35]

The end of the chase, when Bond's Aston Martin crashes into a wall because of the mirror, as well as the chase immediately preceding it, were filmed on the road at the rear of Pinewood Studios Sound Stages A and E and the Prop Store. The road is now called Goldfinger Avenue.[36] Southend Airport was used for the scene where Goldfinger flies to Switzerland.[33] Ian Fleming visited the set of Goldfinger in April 1964; he died a few months later in August 1964, shortly before the film's release.[3] The second unit filmed in Kentucky, and these shots were edited into scenes filmed at Pinewood.[15]

Connery with co-star Tania Mallet during filming in Switzerland

Principal photography then moved to Switzerland, with the car chase being filmed at the small curved roads near Realp, the exterior of the Pilatus Aircraft factory in Stans serving as Goldfinger's factory, and Tilly Masterson's attempt to snipe Goldfinger being shot in the Furka Pass.[33] Filming wrapped on 11 July at Andermatt, after nineteen weeks of shooting.[37] Just three weeks prior to the film's release, Hamilton and a small team, which included Broccoli's stepson and future producer Michael G. Wilson as assistant director, went for last-minute shoots in Kentucky. Extra people were hired for post-production issues such as dubbing so the film could be finished in time.[4][38]

Broccoli earned permission to film in the Fort Knox area with the help of his friend, Lt. Colonel Charles Russhon.[4][38] To shoot Pussy Galore's Flying Circus gassing the soldiers, the pilots were only allowed to fly above 3,000 feet. Hamilton recalled this was "hopeless", so they flew at about 500 feet, and "the military went absolutely ape".[6] The scenes of people fainting involved the same set of soldiers moving to different locations.[38]

For security reasons, filming and photography were not allowed near or inside the United States Bullion Depository. All sets for the interiors of the building were designed and built from scratch at Pinewood Studios.[3] The filmmakers had no clue as to what the interior of the depository looked like, so Ken Adam's imagination provided the idea of gold stacked upon gold behind iron bars.

Adam later told UK daily newspaper The Guardian: "No one was allowed in Fort Knox but because [producer] Cubby Broccoli had some good connections and the Kennedys loved Ian Fleming's books I was allowed to fly over it once. It was quite frightening – they had machine guns on the roof. I was also allowed to drive around the perimeter but if you got out of the car there was a loudspeaker warning you to keep away. There was not a chance of going in it, and I was delighted because I knew from going to the Bank of England vaults that gold isn't stacked very high and it's all underwhelming. It gave me the chance to show the biggest gold repository in the world as I imagined it, with gold going up to heaven. I came up with this cathedral-type design. I had a big job to persuade Cubby and the director Guy Hamilton at first."[39]

Saltzman disliked the design's resemblance to a prison, but Hamilton liked it enough that it was built.[40] The comptroller of Fort Knox later sent a letter to Adam and the production team, complimenting them on their imaginative depiction of the vault.[3] United Artists even had irate letters from people wondering "how could a British film unit be allowed inside Fort Knox?"[40] Adam recalled, "In the end I was pleased that I wasn't allowed into Fort Knox, because it allowed me to do whatever I wanted."[6] In fact, the set was deemed so realistic that Pinewood Studios had to post a 24-hour guard to keep the gold bar props from being stolen. Another element which was original was the atomic device, for which Hamilton requested the special effects crew get inventive instead of realistic.[38] Technician Bert Luxford described the end result as looking like an "engineering work", with a spinning engine, a chronometer and other decorative pieces.[41]

Two Aston Martin DB5s were built for production, one of which had no gadgets.

"Before [Goldfinger], gadgets were not really a part of Bond's world," Hamilton remarked. Production designer Ken Adam chose the DB5 because it was the latest version of the Aston Martin (in the novel Bond drove a DB Mark III, which he considered England's most sophisticated car).[42] The company was initially reluctant, but was finally convinced to make a product placement deal. In the script, the car was armed only with a smoke screen, but every crew member began suggesting gadgets to install in it: Hamilton conceived the revolving license plate because he had been getting many parking tickets, while his stepson suggested the ejector seat (which he saw on television).[43] A gadget near the lights that would drop sharp nails was replaced with an oil dispenser because the producers thought the original could be easily copied by viewers.[41] Adam and engineer John Stears overhauled the prototype of the Aston Martin DB5 coupe, installing these and other features into a car over six weeks.[3] The scene where the DB5 crashes was filmed twice, with the second take being used in the film. The first take, in which the car drives through the fake wall,[44] can be seen in the trailer.[4] Two of the gadgets were not installed in the car: the wheel-destroying spikes, inspired by Ben-Hur's scythed chariots, were entirely made in-studio; and the ejector seat used a seat thrown by compressed air, with a dummy sitting atop it.[45] Another car without the gadgets was created, which was eventually furnished for publicity purposes. It was reused for Thunderball.[46]

Lasers did not exist in 1959 when the book was written, nor did high-power industrial lasers at the time the film was made, making them a novelty. In the novel, Goldfinger uses a circular saw to try to kill Bond, but the filmmakers changed it to a laser to make the film feel fresher.[25] Hamilton immediately thought of giving the laser a place in the film's story as Goldfinger's weapon of choice. Ken Adam was advised on the laser's design by two Harvard scientists who helped design the water reactor in Dr No.[40] The laser beam itself was an optical effect added in post-production. For close-ups where the flame cuts through metal, technician Bert Luxford heated the metal with a blowtorch from underneath the table to which Bond was strapped.[47]

The opening credit sequence was designed by graphic artist Robert Brownjohn, featuring clips of all James Bond films thus far projected on Margaret Nolan's body. Its design was inspired by seeing light projecting on people's bodies as they got up and left a cinema.[48]

Shirley Eaton as the murdered Jill Masterson—"one of the most enduring images in cinematic history"[49]

Visually, the film uses many golden motifs, reflecting the novel's treatment of Goldfinger's obsession with the metal. All of Goldfinger's female henchwomen in the film except his private jet's co-pilot (black hair) and stewardess (who is Korean) are red-blonde, or blonde, including Pussy Galore and her Flying Circus crew (both the characters Tilly Masterson and Pussy specifically have black hair in the novel). Goldfinger has a yellow-painted Rolls-Royce with number plate "AU 1" (Au being the chemical symbol for gold), and also sports yellow or golden items or clothing in every film scene, including a golden pistol, when disguised as a colonel. Jill Masterson is famously killed by being painted with gold, which according to Bond causes her to die of "skin suffocation". (An entirely fictional cause of death, but the iconic scene caused much of the public to accept it as a medical fact.[50]) Bond is bound to a cutting bench with a sheet of gold on it (as Goldfinger points out to him) before nearly being lasered. Goldfinger's factory henchmen in the film wear yellow sashes, Pussy Galore twice wears a metallic gold vest, and Pussy's pilots all wear yellow sunburst insignia on their uniforms. Goldfinger's Jetstar hostess, Mei-Lei, wears a golden bodice and gold-accented sarong.[51] The concept of the recurring gold theme running through the film was a design aspect conceived and executed by Ken Adam and art director Peter Murton.[12]

The model jet used for wide shots of Goldfinger's Lockheed JetStar was painted differently on the right side to be used as the presidential plane that crashes at the film's end.[52] Several cars were provided by the Ford Motor Company including a Mustang that Tilly Masterson drives,[4] a Ford Country Squire station wagon used to transport Bond from the airport to the stud ranch, a Ford Thunderbird driven by Felix Leiter, and a Lincoln Continental in which Oddjob kills Solo. The Continental had its engine removed before being placed in a car crusher, and the destroyed car had to be partially cut so that the bed of the Ford Falcon Ranchero in which it was deposited could support the weight.[53]

1964 Aston Martin DB5, produced by Corgi Toys as a tie-in to the film

The film's marketing campaign began as soon as filming started in Florida, with Eon allowing photographers to enter the set to take pictures of Shirley Eaton painted in gold. Robert Brownjohn, who designed the opening credits, was responsible for the posters for the advertising campaign, which also used actress Margaret Nolan.[3] To promote the film, the two Aston Martin DB5s were showcased at the 1964 New York World's Fair and it was dubbed "the most famous car in the world";[66] consequently, sales of the car rose.[43] Corgi Toys began its decades-long relationship with the Bond franchise, producing a toy of the car, which became the biggest selling toy of 1964.[7] The film's success also led to licensed tie-in clothing, dress shoes, action figures, board games, jigsaw puzzles, lunch boxes, toys, record albums, trading cards and slot cars.[5]

Derek Prouse of The Sunday Times said of Goldfinger that it was "superbly engineered. It is fast, it is most entertainingly preposterous and it is exciting."[67]

The reviewer from The Times said "All the devices are infinitely sophisticated, and so is the film: the tradition of self-mockery continues, though at times it over-reaches itself", also saying that "It is the mixture as before, only more so: it is superb hokum."[68] Connery's acting efforts were overlooked by this reviewer, who did say: "There is some excellent bit-part playing by Mr. Bernard Lee and Mr. Harold Sakata: Mr. Gert Fröbe is astonishingly well cast in the difficult part of Goldfinger."[68] Donald Zec, writing for the Daily Mirror, said of the film that "Ken Adam's set designs are brilliant; the direction of Guy Hamilton tautly exciting; Connery is better than ever, and the titles superimposed on the gleaming body of the girl in gold are inspired."[69]

Penelope Gilliatt, writing in The Observer, said that the film had "a spoofing callousness" and that it was "absurd, funny and vile".[70] The Guardian said that Goldfinger was "two hours of unmissable fantasy", also saying that the film was "the most exciting, the most extravagant of the Bond films: garbage from the gods", adding that Connery was "better than ever as Bond".[71] Alan Dent, writing for The Illustrated London News, thought Goldfinger "even tenser, louder, wittier, more ingenious and more impossible than 'From Russia with Love'... [a] brilliant farrago", adding that Connery "is ineffable".[72]

Philip Oakes of The Sunday Telegraph said that the film was "dazzling in its technical ingenuity",[73] while Time said that "this picture is a thriller exuberantly travestied."[74] Bosley Crowther, writing in The New York Times was less enthusiastic about the film, saying that it was "tediously apparent" that Bond was becoming increasingly reliant on gadgets with less emphasis on "the lush temptations of voluptuous females", although he did admit that "Connery plays the hero with an insultingly cool, commanding air."[75] He saved his praises for other actors in the film, saying that "Gert Fröbe is aptly fat and feral as the villainous financier, and Honor Blackman is forbiddingly frigid and flashy as the latter's aeronautical accomplice."[75]

In Guide for the Film Fanatic, Danny Peary wrote that Goldfinger is "the best of the James Bond films starring Sean Connery ... There's lots of humor, gimmicks, excitement, an amusing yet tense golf contest between Bond and Goldfinger, thrilling fights to the death between Bond and Oddjob and Bond and Goldfinger, and a fascinating central crime ... Most enjoyable, but too bad Eaton's part isn't longer and that Fröbe's Goldfinger, a heavy but nimble intellectual in the Sydney Greenstreet tradition, never appeared in another Bond film."[76] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times declared this to be his favourite Bond film and later added it to his "Great Movies" list.[77]

The film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives a 99% rating and an average score of 8.6/10 based on 67 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Goldfinger is where James Bond as we know him comes into focus – it features one of 007's most famous lines ('A martini. Shaken, not stirred') and a wide range of gadgets that would become the series' trademark".[78] Goldfinger is the highest-rated Bond film on the site.[79]

Goldfinger's $3 million budget was recouped in two weeks, and it broke box office records in multiple countries around the world.[5] The Guinness Book of World Records went on to list Goldfinger as the fastest grossing film of all time.[5] Demand for the film was so high that the DeMille cinema in New York City had to stay open twenty-four hours a day.[80] The film closed its original box office run with $23 million in the United States[63] and $46 million worldwide.[81] After reissues, the first being a double feature with Dr. No in 1966,[82] Goldfinger grossed a total of $51,081,062 in the United States[83] and $73,800,000 elsewhere, for a total worldwide gross of $124,900,000.[84]

The film distributor Park Circus re-released Goldfinger in the UK on 27 July 2007 at 150 multiplex cinemas, on digital prints.[85][86] The re-release put the film twelfth at the weekly box office.[87] Goldfinger would again receive a re-release in November 2020 in the wake of Connery's death.[88]

At the 1965 Academy Awards, Norman Wanstall won the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing,[89] making Goldfinger the first Bond film to receive an Academy Award.[90] John Barry was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score for a Motion Picture, and Ken Adam was nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for Best British Art Direction (Colour), where he also won the award for Best British Art Direction (Black and White) for Dr. Strangelove.[91] The American Film Institute has honoured the film four times: ranking it No. 90 for best movie quote ("A martini. Shaken, not stirred"),[92] No. 53 for best song ("Goldfinger"),[93] No. 49 for best villain (Auric Goldfinger),[94] and No. 71 for most thrilling film.[95] In 2006, Entertainment Weekly and IGN both named Goldfinger as the best Bond film,[96][97] while MSN named it as the second best, behind its predecessor.[98] IGN and EW also named Pussy Galore as the second best Bond girl.[99][100] In 2008, Total Film named Goldfinger as the best film in the series.[101] The Times placed Goldfinger and Oddjob second and third on their list of the best Bond villains in 2008.[102] They also named the Aston Martin DB5 as the best car in the films.[103]

American Film Institute lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills: #71
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Auric Goldfinger: #49 Villain
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "A Martini. Shaken, not stirred.": #90
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • "Goldfinger": #53
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated