Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Goldfinger (1964) - The 007 template gets perfected in fabulously entertaining third spectacle

4/07/2020

Goldfinger (1964) - The 007 template gets perfected in fabulously entertaining third spectacle

♥♥♥♥

A hype-pushing, bold poster for Guy Hamilton's Goldfinger, which promises action, star charm and titillating sexiness

James Bond is back, this time investigating a gold smuggling kingpin.

Goldfinger is written by Paul Dehn (Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)) and Richard Maibaum (Dr. No (1962)), based on the same-titled 1959 novel by Ian Fleming (Live and Let Die (1954)), the 7th in his Bond series, and directed by Guy Hamilton (The Ringer (1952)). It is the third film in the Bond franchise.
Gert Fröbe (Ludwig (1973)) is the fat Goldfinger villain, who schemes to break into the US Treasury's Fort Know gold depository and turn all the gold radioactive. Goldfinger is the silliest film of the Bond franchise up to its point, but hysterically enjoyable all the same.
The golf scene, the Aston Martin gadgets, Goldfinger's exit through a tiny airplane window, - there's a long list of memorable scenes and elements in Goldfinger, which as a movie is similar to the Bond franchise overall in that as entertainment product, it is irresistible.

Related posts:

Bond franchise: Spectre (2015) - Mendes' second Bond delivers
Skyfall (2012) - Mendes elevates a slickly produced modern Bond to thrilling heights
Die Another Day (2002) - Tamahori makes a thrilling, grand piece of Bond escapism
A View to a Kill (1985) or, Once a Gentleman, Always a Gentleman!
For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Glen debuts with wacky, action-packed Roger Moore Bond
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Connery's last Bond adventure is a colorful romp
From Russia with Love (1963) - Several remarkable elements make Young's 2nd Bond an enduring classic
Dr. No (1962) - Bond # 1 is one attractive package
Guy Hamilton: Top 10: Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Connery's last Bond adventure is a colorful romp

Top 10: Best franchise movies

Watch a delightful clip from the film here, in which Q (Desmond Llewlyn) instructs Bond in the gadgets in his new Aston Martin car

Cost: 3 mil. $
Box office: 124.9 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 41.6 times its cost)
[Goldfinger premiered 17 September (London, UK) and runs 110 minutes. The film's budget was the equivalent of the preceding first (Dr. No) and second (From Russia with Love) Bond movies combined, and it is the first in the franchise to put focus on America. Terence Young left as director when he was refused a profit percentage. Shooting took place in Switzerland, the UK including London, Miami, Florida, Kentucky and Washington DC from January - July 1964. Fleming visited the set but died in August, shortly before the film's premiere. The production received permission to film around Kentucky's Fort Knox, the US Bullion Depository, where they violated the flying permits by flying way too low and were harshly reprimanded by the military. All the Fort Knox interiors were shot in a studio set in England. Glass doors in the Leicester Square cinema in London were broken by the ecstatic crowds at the film's premiere. The film recouped its budget in 2 weeks; with Guinness Book of World Records recording it the 'fastest grossing film of all time' and New York's DeMille cinema staying open 24 hours a day to screen the film nonstop. The film grossed 23 mil. $ (50 % of the gross) in North America in its initial release and 46 mil. $ globally. With a double feature re-release with Dr. No in 1966, the gross grew to 51 mil. $ (40.8 % of the total gross) in North America and 73.8 mil. $ elsewhere for a reported enormous 124.9 mil. $ total. The film won the Sound Effects Oscar; it was also nominated for a BAFTA, a Grammy and other awards. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to two notches higher than this review. The film was the first Bond movie to tie gadgets to the character, and the toy version of his Aston Martin DB5 car reportedly became the year's best-selling toy. Bond returned in Thunderball (1965). Hamilton returned with uncredited direction on The Party's Over (1965) and as credited director with Funeral in Berlin (1965); he returned to the Bond franchise with Sean Connery's (The Longest Day (1962)) last Bond portrayal, Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Connery returned first in The Hill (1965). Goldfinger is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.6/10 critical average.]

What do you think of Goldfinger?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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4/07/2020

Goldfinger (1964) - The 007 template gets perfected in fabulously entertaining third spectacle

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