Goldfinger (James Bond 007)

"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."

One of the best deathtraps ever. Especially amazing is the fact that Bond can't escape it himself. He has to talk Goldfinger into letting him out of it.

The movie is great, but it IS imperfect. The golf game for example is super boring. I have also heard the countdown ending on 0:07 talked up MANY times, but the movie doesn't either have Bond be the one to cut the wires, or even do a musical cue of his theme song to embrace the humor of the moment. I had expected the James Bond theme to play and it didn't. Bit of a let-down.

I still can't believe they got away with Pussy Galore in 1964. Unbelievable.

I like Bond using math to prove to Goldfinger how dumb his plan is until he realizes Goldfinger doesn't plan to rob Fort Knox at all. It was a clever plan for that reason.

First dead Bond girls of the franchise. Two of 'em.

I mentioned this in a previous Craig review but I like that there aren't a bunch of dialogue quips during Bond's fights. Him and Oddjob don't say a single word to each other in their fight in the climax, which is a bit refreshing to me.

Bond hates the Beatles? I thought he was supposed to be cool.

The explosions being done practically at this stage of the game are something that could NEVER be done nowadays. No insurers would ever let stuntmen take those kinds of crazy risks. Unions have made film sets safer, but they sure make visuals a lot less insane.

Greatness, if not perfection. ****1/2.