**** - Very good.
Today we cover the third James Bond film, Goldfinger. Bond (Sean Connery) is tasked with observing a gold smuggler, the wealthy Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe). Of course he immediately steals his quarry's girl with ultimately fatal consequences. Now that it's personal, Bond continues on the case, meeting Goldfinger in a not-so-friendly game of golf and trailing him to Switzerland, then meeting a girl who also has a strong enmity for the smuggler. After a reconnaissance on Goldfinger's factory goes wrong, Bond finds himself in the villain's clutches and must use his wits to stay alive and learn his plans.
I've heard from so many sources over the years about how Goldfinger is 'the greatest James Bond film ever'. I find I can't totally agree but this is still a very, very good film. The movie starts off great, with a short and sweet opening teaser that manages to capture everything about 007, be one the best opening the series has ever had and generate one Bond's most memorable one-liners. The Miami scenes are fun, with Goldfinger probably getting the least sinister entrance of any Bond villain. It's only with the iconic golden murder of his girl Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) after Bond steals her that we realize that Goldfinger means business. Back in London we get some good scenes with M and Q, with the latter beginning the era of gadgets with the introduction of famous Aston Martin DB5.
The golfing sequence between 007 and Goldfinger is edifying, giving the characters a chance to show they're both quite willing to lie and cheat to fulfill their own goals. It's also here that first get a good look the series' most famous (and one of the best) henchmen, Oddjob (Harold Sakata), the Korean strongman with a deadly metal-rimmed hat. The scenes where Bond tracks the pair, meets up with Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) and scouts the factory are all well done. The escape sequence is masterful and manages to be greatly exciting and also show that Bond isn't always perfect. Of course everybody remembers the classic laser scene which produced the most famous quote from the films (after 'Bond. James Bond').
However, after all that goodness comes the movie's fatal flaw: Bond's captivity. For a large chunk of the movie 007 goes from the movie's protagonist to almost just a spectator. I have no objection to Bond being captured, but he gets little more to do than wander about and be witness to exploratory dialogue. At times I found myself getting rather sleepy-eyed. I also found the action he took that paved the way for foiling Goldfinger overwhelmed my suspension of disbelief (and that's set pretty high in a Bond flick!). Things really pick up and get interesting during the climax but the damage has been done.
In the end, the good far outweighs the bad, but the flatness of the most of the Kentucky segment keeps this film from getting five stars. It's still a good film overall and laid the groundwork for all that followed. Connery gives a great performance again and so do most of his co-actors. But still, in one word: Overrated.
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