I first saw GOLDFINGER round about 1977 and it has been shown on British television more times than I can count . In fact it`s somewhat ridiculous the amount of times it`s been repeated and having seen it so many times after more than 25 years I find it impossible to say much on it.
I will say however that future Bond production teams seem to have taken all the lesser bits of GOLDFINGER while completely ignoring all the good elements . The lesser bits are the awful puns like " Shocking " and " He blew a fuse " . How many times have you watched a Bond movie where the hero has dispatched a bad guy and you`ve made your own pun which is ten times better than the one Bond says to camera ? Exactly . Of course in 1964 these one liners might have been ground breaking but after the franchise has gone on you feel that the screenwriters have been ordered to write a sequence so that Bond can make a groan inducing one liner . Oh and I haven`t even mentioned Pussy Galore ( Insert your own joke here ) , this is another thing that the producers seem obsessed with - woman with completely unreal names , everytime someone makes a Bond movie we get a Plenty O Toole or some such weird name . The novelty wears out very quickly .
What I liked about GOLDFINGER is that James Bond is shown as being vulnerable , it`s about the only film in the franchise when he is unable to save the lives of his lovers for example , and lets not forget the classic scene of the lazer beam creeping up the table where he has to use his wits , and has anyone noticed that he doesn`t actually save the day at the Fort Knox climax ? He doesn`t even need to be there . Compare that scenario with the later Bond movies ( Especially the Roger Moore ones ) when he stops the baddies single handed in a ridiculously contrived and OTT manner , such a pity they don`t make Bond films like this anymore .
Despite seeing GOLDFINGER more times than I care to mention I`ll no doubt watch it again next time it`s on British television
I will say however that future Bond production teams seem to have taken all the lesser bits of GOLDFINGER while completely ignoring all the good elements . The lesser bits are the awful puns like " Shocking " and " He blew a fuse " . How many times have you watched a Bond movie where the hero has dispatched a bad guy and you`ve made your own pun which is ten times better than the one Bond says to camera ? Exactly . Of course in 1964 these one liners might have been ground breaking but after the franchise has gone on you feel that the screenwriters have been ordered to write a sequence so that Bond can make a groan inducing one liner . Oh and I haven`t even mentioned Pussy Galore ( Insert your own joke here ) , this is another thing that the producers seem obsessed with - woman with completely unreal names , everytime someone makes a Bond movie we get a Plenty O Toole or some such weird name . The novelty wears out very quickly .
What I liked about GOLDFINGER is that James Bond is shown as being vulnerable , it`s about the only film in the franchise when he is unable to save the lives of his lovers for example , and lets not forget the classic scene of the lazer beam creeping up the table where he has to use his wits , and has anyone noticed that he doesn`t actually save the day at the Fort Knox climax ? He doesn`t even need to be there . Compare that scenario with the later Bond movies ( Especially the Roger Moore ones ) when he stops the baddies single handed in a ridiculously contrived and OTT manner , such a pity they don`t make Bond films like this anymore .
Despite seeing GOLDFINGER more times than I care to mention I`ll no doubt watch it again next time it`s on British television