Bond 3: Goldfinger (1964)

Elevator Pitch: Bond is holidaying in Florida after a successful operation in which a drug lab was blown up, when he receives orders to monitor the activities of Goldfinger, an international bullion smuggler. He finds and seduces a young woman who had been helping Goldfinger cheat at cards, and after she is killed by being painted gold, pursues the criminal to his ranch where he uncovers a plan to contaminate the gold in Fort Knox, using the planes operated by Pussy Galore, Goldfinger’s personal pilot who, after being seduced by Bond, changes her allegiance, and possibly her sexual preferences.

Content: Bond apparently has sex with a number of women, but implied since there is no actual nudity. They are almost randomly dispatched by the villain one by being painted gold. Subsequently  her sister joins the plot, giving Bond the opportunity of driving about in the Aston Martin a lot, and using many of its secret weapons, before she is killed by Oddjob with his hat. Bond fights with Oddjob and spends time as a captive at Goldfinger’s ranch where he learns about the super secret plot, and exchanges blows and caresses with Pussy Galore.

A View: I found this outing quite hard going even though it was extremely popular with both the critics and the general public. It cost the same as both the first and second Bond films combined but made a fortune. It seemed to me that much of the content was set up just for the short term, particularly the gold painted Shirley Eaton which made the front page of Life Magazine, and could the acting have been any more wooden? However it seems that the structure of the film set up the style for all the Bond films which followed, so maybe a watch for nothing if you are interested in the history of the franchise.

Additional Info: Despite my negative feelings about this film, it caused over 900,000 copies of the book to be sold at the time, so it was well liked.