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Why is Goldfinger the general favourite?

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  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,584
    I can't really add anything new to this discussion, so I'll just agree that Goldfinger is not necessarily the general favourite- just the most identifiable, because it pioneered all the Bondian elements we've come to know so well.
  • LeChiffreLeChiffre
    Posts: 1,548
    Because it's a bloody good film albeit just behind Russia and maybe now CR. And Roger Moore isn;t in it!
  • forgotmyusernameforgotmyusername
    edited December 2011 Posts: 2,782
    there is something special about GF - the x-factor - you can't put your finger on it but if you could, I'd put my finger on Pussy.

    It just looked lavish. Stunning to watch and Sean looked his best. Simples.

    FRWL is the fan fav movie.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    actonsteve wrote:
    Agent007391 wrote:
    Whoa! Trevelyn bashing. Tone it down a bit, actonsteve.

    No villain is off limits to criticism. If Goldfinger is fair game so is Alec "charisma bypass" Trevelyan
    Agent007391 wrote:
    The man caused his own downfall much more than any other Bond villain, and we're supposed to love him?

    Love him??? A villain is meant to be a credible threat. And, yes, most villains are surgeons of their of their own demise. That is the point of fictional villainy. Schenfreude for the reader/viewer.

    I'm mainly speaking of the "blessed Alec Trevelyn" part. I've never met anyone who loves him that much, so you're bashing him far more than he deserves.

    And Goldfinger was no credible threat. The man fouled up quite a few times long before he ever became a real "threat".
  • actonsteveactonsteve
    Posts: 1,492
    Agent007391 wrote:
    [

    And Goldfinger was no credible threat. The man fouled up quite a few times long before he ever became a real "threat".

    How did he fail up? He came close to destroying the worlds economy (perhaps he succeeded in 2008?)

    And anyone he wanted killed he had Oddjob. He mass executed a load of gangsters on a whim...

    No credible threat?
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    The world can survive without some gold.
  • actonsteveactonsteve
    Posts: 1,492
    Agent007391 wrote:
    The world can survive without some gold.

    Would the United States survive with its entire gold supply radioactive? How would the markets react? How will their enemies react? How would they maintain being a world power with nothing in the bank?
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Contrary to popular belief: money does grow on trees, and we can easily print more. And if the US falls, oh well. Maybe we need it.
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    actonsteve wrote:
    BAIN123 wrote:
    Dr No, Drax and Blofeld (namely Donald Pleasance) had something a bit more...threatening about them though. Their voices for instance sounded far more sinister and evil.

    So the fact that he doesnt sound like Vincent Price or Christopher Lee is to his detriment? He doesn't need it. His actions speak for themselves.

    The man is a maniac. His mania is gold which slips into meglomania and perversity. Watch his face when he describes his love of gold as Bond is about to be spliced in two. His perverseness slips into his way of killing people. Jill is killed with gold paint.

    I know what you mean though. Your blessed Alec Trevelyan. I speaks like a character from Coronation Street one minute and has marbles in his mouth the next. Never convinced me.

    Marbles in his mouth?

    I take it you wouldn't have liked Bean as Bond then? ;)
  • Arsenal02071Arsenal02071
    Posts: 162
    Interesting, I was looking back on other discussions, and FRWL was ranked in a poll in one of them as the best of the films by a clear mile. Maybe more hardcore Bond fans (all of the ones on this site are) appreciate it more. Don't know.
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    edited December 2011 Posts: 12,837
    Arsenal02071 wrote:
    Interesting, I was looking back on other discussions, and FRWL was ranked in a poll in one of them as the best of the films by a clear mile. Maybe more hardcore Bond fans (all of the ones on this site are) appreciate it more. Don't know.

    I noticed that. Hardcore bond fans seem to like FRWL but in public polls goldfinger seems to beat it.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    BAIN123 wrote:
    actonsteve wrote:
    BAIN123 wrote:
    Dr No, Drax and Blofeld (namely Donald Pleasance) had something a bit more...threatening about them though. Their voices for instance sounded far more sinister and evil.

    So the fact that he doesnt sound like Vincent Price or Christopher Lee is to his detriment? He doesn't need it. His actions speak for themselves.

    The man is a maniac. His mania is gold which slips into meglomania and perversity. Watch his face when he describes his love of gold as Bond is about to be spliced in two. His perverseness slips into his way of killing people. Jill is killed with gold paint.

    I know what you mean though. Your blessed Alec Trevelyan. I speaks like a character from Coronation Street one minute and has marbles in his mouth the next. Never convinced me.

    Marbles in his mouth?

    I take it you wouldn't have liked Bean as Bond then? ;)

    Just to say I like Sean Bean as anything, in anything, marbles or not. ;)
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    4EverBonded wrote:
    BAIN123 wrote:
    actonsteve wrote:
    BAIN123 wrote:
    Dr No, Drax and Blofeld (namely Donald Pleasance) had something a bit more...threatening about them though. Their voices for instance sounded far more sinister and evil.

    So the fact that he doesnt sound like Vincent Price or Christopher Lee is to his detriment? He doesn't need it. His actions speak for themselves.

    The man is a maniac. His mania is gold which slips into meglomania and perversity. Watch his face when he describes his love of gold as Bond is about to be spliced in two. His perverseness slips into his way of killing people. Jill is killed with gold paint.

    I know what you mean though. Your blessed Alec Trevelyan. I speaks like a character from Coronation Street one minute and has marbles in his mouth the next. Never convinced me.

    Marbles in his mouth?

    I take it you wouldn't have liked Bean as Bond then? ;)

    Just to say I like Sean Bean as anything, in anything, marbles or not. ;)

    I know I sound like a kid but GE was the first thing I saw SB in so, for me, he'll always be Alec.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,183
    When in fact Sean Bean could have been an excellent Bond.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    DarthDimi wrote:
    When in fact Sean Bean could have been an excellent Bond.

    Hear! Hear! Yes I think so, too.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,584
    Not to go too far off topic, but Bean had a short, albeit memorable role in the highly overlooked Equilibrium with Christopher Bale.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    QBranch wrote:
    Not to go too far off topic, but Bean had a short, albeit memorable role in the highly overlooked Equilibrium with Christopher Bale.
    I don't know it (maybe we should open a Sean Bean thread ...?) but I'll see if I can check it out. Brit tv??

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,183
    Equilibrium is a decent but far from perfect film IMO. It gets points for trying to do something new but it loses points in the execution of that specific fighting technique.
  • forgotmyusernameforgotmyusername
    Posts: 2,782
    DarthDimi wrote:
    Equilibrium is a decent but far from perfect film IMO. It gets points for trying to do something new but it loses points in the execution of that specific fighting technique.

    i thought the fight scenes were quite good. Bean as Bond not too sure about that. He was struggling with being a posh villian and slipped several times back to his Sheffy twang. As Sharpe, he was in his element and he stole the film in the first Rings' film - his heroic death and his inner torment made that film what it was.

    I know Connery was a bit rough and DC is certainly a piece of granite - Bean would be a bit too rough and ready.

    And as Bond's opposite in GE he was great. A lesson to all would be baddies, sadly not been surpassed since then in the series. Although he wilted in the final reel which I thought he was let down by the script.

    Javier Bardem has a lot to live up to - personally I think he'll be too big an actor and presence for DC to compete with onscreen.

    Chiwetel Ejiofor would have been great.


  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    I never saw all of Equilibrium. What I did see was awesome, though.
  • Char35tChar35t
    edited January 2012 Posts: 289
    GF is at the bottom for me....dull boring and the 2nd half is worse, the only interesting things are oddjob and the gangsters.


    Thunderball is more iconic to me.
  • Baltimore_007Baltimore_007
    Posts: 5,634
    Although way down my list of the Bond adventures, after a recent viewing I hold it in a more favorable light but it's still nowhere near the best the franchise has to offer. I'll bet the people who say it's the best ever, just go along with it, as they really do think it's the best ever from all sources and yet never even seen the damn film, there's this unspoken belief that 1964's Goldfinger is the best Bond ever from a fair number of neutrals or casuals and that simply isn't the case. All said it's a rather tedious boring adventure at times and has trouble generating any real interest for large proportions of the duration. Probably Connery here was getting to the end of his real Fleming type characteristics that was so prominent in Doctor No and From Russia With Love and at times here he even looks bored some of the time, I seemed to recall he spent half the time sitting about rather than doing any actual effort on screen

    One thing I liked was Goldfinger himself, Frobe goes from a calm phlegmatic nemesis into a raging irate blob between shots such as the Fort Knox demonstration but he was generally fun to watch, less so for Connery I'm afraid. Blackman did OK for 'Poosy', but I can't include her in any Top Five of Bond Ladies. Connery was still able here but noticeably less Fleming like from his previous two adventures, why some people classify this release as the best ever sometimes is a mystery.

    It isn't, it's not even Connery's best work.

  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    I think the song still does it. The most iconic Bond song ever.
  • jaguar007jaguar007
    Posts: 638
    actonsteve wrote:

    It set the Bond formula but it did so in such a memorable way it entered pop culture. The iconography of Goldfinger is only competiton is YOLT. I mean look what it gave us - the quintessential song by Bassey, Connery, the girl killed with gold paint, the Aston Martin D5, Pussy Galore, Fort Knox, ejector seat, the laser table scene, Oddjob, the bowler hat and "Do you expect me to talk? Noo..Mr Bond I expect you to DIE!!" All of which have entered film law.

    Spot on. Love it or hate it, no Bond film (or very few films period) have as many iconic moments in them as Goldfinger.

  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    Goldfinger was the moment Bond mania peaked. TB took more money but only because of the excitement generated by the commercial and critical success of GF.

    It hasn't aged particularly well. It cries out for an action sequence in the middle third (maybe a longer fist fight when he escapes from the cell), but the good bits are undeniably iconic as @actonsteve says above.
    Also @JamesPage made some good points on page 1.

  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    4EverBonded wrote:
    I think the song still does it. The most iconic Bond song ever.

    I guess if I didn't find it so annoying, I might agree, but I don't like Shirley Bassey (Bassy?) all that much (GF, DAF, and MR are all my least favorite Bond songs).
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    Agent007391 wrote:
    4EverBonded wrote:
    I think the song still does it. The most iconic Bond song ever.

    I guess if I didn't find it so annoying, I might agree, but I don't like Shirley Bassey (Bassy?) all that much (GF, DAF, and MR are all my least favorite Bond songs).

    But even if you dislike it you cannot disagree that Goldfinger of Diamond are forever are true Iconic titlesongs that are as recognisable as 007 music even to those that are not into 007.

    I dislike most of Scorcese movies but I reconize his stature.

    I think GF is one of the most recognisable 007 movies ever, it has everything that started the franchise signcalls. It might be somewhat dated but it ouzes class in a way that the recent two 007 movies lack. And I guess that is what they keep telling us with Bond23 that they are looking to revive it. And it isn't about a scary baddie but about the package.

    With MI4 refound the strenght of the MI series, it is all about the teamwork. With Bond it should all be about style and class. Something lacking from the recent 007 movies.

  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    I recognize that people like them, but personally, I wish a better Bond film (TB, FRWL, OHMSS) were the more recognizable Bond movies.

    And there's nothing scary about Goldfinger. I wish he was a real villain.
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    edited January 2012 Posts: 12,837
    Agent007391 wrote:
    I recognize that people like them, but personally, I wish a better Bond film (TB, FRWL, OHMSS) were the more recognizable Bond movies.

    And there's nothing scary about Goldfinger. I wish he was a real villain.

    Goldfinger IS a real villian. He's one of the best villians in the franchise. He has an army at his command, if he clicks his fingers he can have somebodys head chopped of by a steel bladed hat. Girlfriend cheating on you??? normally you'd just dump her or demand an explanation, not goldfinger though. Instead he has her painted all over in gold paint until she suffocates. He's mad, obsessed, and can kill himself when he wants to, he's a great villian.

    As for the film, I think its great. Its my fave connery film (tying with TB and NSNA). I think its strange how most people think of goldfinger as the best connery film (or even the best ever), then you go on fansites like this and FRWL is everyones fave.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    thelivingroyale wrote:
    and can kill himself when he wants to

    I think you'd want to rephrase that... =))
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