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Comments
Would help if you actually understood his scheme.
He wasn't trying to get the Gold, he was going to make it radioactive for over 50 years increasing the value of his own Gold supply.
Quite an ingenious plan that even improves on the novel.
With all respect, I perfectly understand the scheme, thank you... (It was just a much quicker way of explaining my point, and we are 30/40 minutes into the final half of the film before it is properly explained...)
I just don't see why I should care? Why should it matter to me if the American economy gets a set back? Will the next Bond plot be about the svindlers at Wall Street?
In the novel we at least get some kind of suspense, with Goldfinger working in coalition with Spectre. In the film I just can't be bothered to invest in the story... So no, I don't agreee that it improves on the plot in the novel.
As a matter of fact (and here is another controversial opinion), the film contains some of the laziest writing in the series. The fact that Pussy Galore is "charmed" (or raped some would claim...) into saving the day is such a childish solution to the problem! It doesn't make much sense, it is mundane and not the least satisfying!
True. I was a bit rushed there...
I don't think Sean Connery is on autopilot. The problem is that Bond is far too cool with Goldfinger, almost on friendly terms and that he doesn't do all that much. The whole assault on Fort Knox could have been thwarted had Goldfinger left him im his cell in the morning.
I love Connery in GF but I get what you mean. He seems to spend the whole time he's on Goldfinger's estate strutting round with his hands in his pockets acting cool.
And chasing ladies. Although the script writers manages to turn that into an act of heroics...
You do realize, that Goldfinger doesn't want to steal the gold, do you?
"I just don't see why I should care? Why should it matter to me if the American economy gets a set back? Will the next Bond plot be about the svindlers at Wall Street?"
There was also the fact of hundreds being gassed to death around the area of Fort Knox...
There's probably quite a few villains plots you probably not bothered about either.
Flooding Silicon valley, Atomic bomb on a U.S airforce base, Sanchez's drug deal, water rights causing droughts in Bolivia....why should you care...?
I'm not bored by GF but I definitely feel a loss in tension (relating to Bond, anyway) in the latter half of the film. And I don't believe any of the iconic images in the film are from that segment, either. So it's definitely a drop-off in the second half, but perhaps that's just because the first half was so iconic.
I think I have explained this before already on this very thread...
If you want to explode and atomic bomb, Fort Knox is luckily one of the more remote places you can do it... comparing it to the Silicon Valley is just ridiculous!
That being said, I would probably care more for the hundreds of soldiers if not the scene where they are "poisoned" is not so utterly laughable! It is hard to feel emotionally invested when they turn it all into a "drop when I whistle" gag...
Yes... for the love of god!
However it is not explained before well 30 minutes into the final half (which is the segment of the film er are discussing). For the first half hour after "Grand Slam" is explained, you must assume he is after the gold...
Well they were 'acting' being poisoned and I suppose it was realistic enough to fool the blonde pilots who were flying a hundred feet above them.
If I recall correctly, the partners in crime that he gassed at his own estate all did a laughable twirl before they collapsed as well.
Yes, which is not exactly something I would find it worth crying for...
And it is interesting you would mention that... ;) as it raises just another question about how much this "genius plot" makes sense:
We are to assume Pussy has by now allerted US officials about Goldfinger's plans. Well, so why do they wait so ridiculously long before they react? I understand the concept of "playing along" until you can catch as many as possible, but letting them get the bomb inside the Fort and even locking the door seems like a bit of a stretch, don't you think? Quite a risk to take huh? If it was really planned that the bomb was supposed to be difused seven seconds before it would blow up, I would fire whoever responsible for the operation immediatly!
For all the talk of how Skyfall doesn't make sense and is lazily written, I must say "the most iconic of all the Bonds" is not much better...
You could do that sort nit-picking with all the Bond films.
And I would probably not bother to mention it if it wasn't for the fact that this film is heralded as "perfect", with a clever plot that "improves on the novel", and that even by so many of the same people that slam Skyfall or other Bond films for not making sense or being badly conceived. By doing that you kind of ask for critique or various forms of nitpicking, although all of the points I am making here are far more serious and integral to the overall film, and thereby can't really be shrugged off as such.
Actually Felix explains to Bond that there were waiting that long so they could get the nuclear device.
That explanation makes sense to you? Nice try! ;))
It certainly does to me and to any other reader of serious spy novels. The last thing the United States would have wanted was a nuclear device on the loose on their own soil.
That is not the point! Did they have to wait until it was inside the vault and after they had set the timer? If Goldfinger hadn't, for some reason, given them that much time, it would've blown off long before they were able to get there and diffuse it. Does that make sense to you?
I think it's a very good Bond film but not one that lends itself to repeated viewings. Best to only watch it every now and again so that it doesn't lose the magic it had the first time you watched it imo. I think the same is true about SF as well.
And I love the Fort Knox set, and the contained fight between Bond and OddJob...
The informing of the gangsters and subsequent gassing makes no sense and Bond, knowing the plans doesn't seem in the least concerned.
I love Gert Frobe as an actor (those magnificent men in their flying machines!) but Connery seems to lose his edge. Odly enough, a film later he IS concearned about the plans of his enemy, and he certainly shows a nasty streak towards Largo. Where is that with Goldfinger?
And indeed, the whole tumbling over looks rediculous, but as Bond doesn't seem concearned, neither do I feel so. In the book he's appalled, devestated.
That is a very good point, and an additional reason for why I find it difficult to emotionally invest in the story which I hadn´t thought about before. It is hard to feel worried or concerned when the attitude of the main character is so casual and nonchalant. In so many stories that is the protagonist´s main purpose: To show emotion that we as an audience can connect with. One of the reasons why the gilded Masterson and the laser scene work so well, is that you can sense and feel Bond´s regret, resentment and despair. In the finale that is all gone for some reason... which is almost provocative! Heck, the guy shows more emotional intent in beating Goldfinger at golf than he does through out the latter half of the film, except for a few shots towards the end in the fight with Oddjob and when attempting to diffuse the bomb. By then it is a bit too late. And it is not only Bond, but also Felix and M seem to have a very preserved interest in what is going on.
Thanks for pointing that out!