7 December 2014
Goldfinger 1964
- Director: Guy Hamilton
- Based on the novels by Ian Fleming
- Cast: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman, Bernard Lee, Eunice Gayson, Lois Maxwell
- Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
- Sean Connery – The Name of the Rose, The Rock, First Knight, Murder on the Orient Express, Goldfinger, Marnie, Dr No, From Russia with Love, The Longest Day and others of the early Bond films.
- Honor Blackman – Bridget Jones’s Diary, Colour Me Kubrick, The Virgin and the Gypsy
- Gert Fröbe – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Longest Day
- The others: in various old films and TV series
- Why? Curious. Hal and I saw several Bond films in a Bond festival in the early 70’s and enjoyed them. Sean Connery is the only Bond we have ever seen. Friends have said later actors have been good too. And with Judi Dench they can’t be all bad. So we bought the box...
- Seen: Once previously. Now November 28, 2014. And now 1 November 2020.
The film? We’ll see.
It’s a visual masterpiece. Incredibly sophisticated.
But what is that totally nerdy terry cloth play suit that Bond
puts on at the pool? Total macho credibility loss.
That aside, it’s grimmer at times, funnier at times and the cars are
car-ier. Wow. Thunderbirds. Mustangs. Aston Martins. I used to think they
were so cool.
The golf is non-macho too but Oddjob’s hat trick is
impressive. I like the Swiss Alps and the granny with the machine
gun.
The story is as enjoyably absent as always but the techno-toys more than
make up for it. The near castration of macho Double-O Seven by laser was quite
suspenseful.
Pussy Galore? Who got paid how much money for coming up with
that name? But she’s a pilot so I guess we have to take her
seriously.
Filled with Bond icons it’s quite watchable in spite of its weirdness
and customary absence of depth or logic. Who cares about stuff like
that? As before, I doze off in the middle but who cares about that either?
Radioactivating the Fort Knox gold? How devilishly clever. It all gets ho hum towards the end though. A pity. All in all, a cut above the other two. But even with the song it’s just
2 ½ * of 5
PS After this third
viewing, I’m afraid the negative outweighs the positive. The dozing off in the
middle sort of took over. Visual masterpiece? I promise I wasn’t tripping when
I wrote that but this time, unimpressive.
Maybe for the 60’s but no longer. Poor Sean Connery, being remembered
for this stuff. This time 1 ½* and that’s giving the song a whole star.
Original review: https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/james-bond-goldfinger.html
I'm glad you're coming to your senses about the Bond rubbish. Have you seen some of Sean's obscure movies from the same period? I have a notion he tried to escape from the Bond bondage, but, of course, he didn't succeed. Well, he wasn't offered much better material.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't seen "A Fine Madness" (1966), by all means do: I hated it (what a crap!), you'll love it (according to the Law of Our Mutually Exclusive Tastes). Don't see "Woman of Straw" (1964), a nice murder mystery I actually liked, not least because Sean is cast against type and the great Ralph Richardson shines in the supporting cast. (Hell, even Gina Lollobrigida manages to act - a kind of miracle!)
I hope to read Sean's book "Being a Scot" sometime next year. I bought it just a few weeks before his death. He'll be remembered for sure, but, as you say, perhaps not for the right stuff.
Well, one watches films at different ages and in different moods. In the 60's all this was new and cool. Now it isn't. As for Sean Connery, I can't actually remember a film with him that I liked. There must be something but the only things that come to mind were more than underwhelming, especially 'The Man Who Would Be King', which was dreadful. But his book sounds interesting. If the library has it I'll give it a try.
DeleteWe agree again - that New Year is strange indeed! "The Man Who Would Be King" is at the top of my Most Awful Movies list. Absolutely don't understand the praise heaped on it.
DeleteI can think of many fine movies with Sean, not least because of his ever-classy presence. He was downright brilliant as Indy's father in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and a tough cop in "The Untouchables". And wasn't he cool and charming in "The Great Train Robbery", that marvellous piece of Victorian fun based on Michael Crichton's excellent novel (who also wrote the screenplay and even directed himself)? For sheer escapist entertainment, vastly implausible but even more vastly entertaining, "The Rock" and "Entrapment" are great personal favourites of mine. Even Sean's bizarre Robin Hood from the 1970s (with Audrey Hepburn as Maid Marian!) has many moments of beauty, and so does Hitchcock's "Marnie" (1964).
Wow, an agreement! My heart palpitates! I'm not sure I've seen 'IJ and the LC' or 'The Untouchables' but I know I haven't seen 'The Great Train Robbery' or 'Entrapment'. 'The Rock' didn't impress me at all (yay! we disagree! Cosmic harmony is restored!). Oh yes, SC's and AH's Robin Hood might be the best ever and I had forgotten that SC was in 'Marnie' but it was a very long time ago that I saw it. So, yes, he has played some memorable roles, for better or worse, and some forgettable roles. But he himself will never be forgettable, on that I think we agree, eh?
ReplyDeleteHe's played many more duds than great roles, I'm afraid. I won't even mention "Zardoz" - there, I've mentioned it! But he did have charisma, star quality, the X factor, call it what you will, and he did have it in spades.
ReplyDeleteWe agree!!
Delete