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Comments
I'm sure I will get flak from the die-hard GF supporters on here,but I've got my tin hat on.
I've just been dying to mention my views on this and thought sod it,post them Bazza ;)
- Scubas into an enemy facility, commando-style; blows it up
- Fights/kills an assassin
- Seriously messes with Goldfinger's card game (and has fun doing it)
- "Cheats" the cheating Goldfinger at golf
- Infiltrates Goldfinger's factory in Switzerland, commando-style
- Leads Goldfinger's henchmen on a deadly car chase, deploying Q Branch gadgets
- Almost loses his nerts to an industrial laser!
- Escapes from his cell and sneaks around Goldfinger's Kentucky mansion
- Seduces the "immune" Ms. Galore
- Battles hulking henchman Oddjob to the death
- Fights Goldfinger to the death
@barryt007 - I think many Bond films have Bond just balls out confront the villain. It isn't a subtle strategy but I'm OK with it. Playing golf is the equivalent of cards or backgammon, so I find that a classic confrontation. But I'm with you on the rest.
The classic car chase has Bond crash because he is dazzled by lights. Try driving home one evening on the M25 Mr Bond.
Turning the "immune" Pussy is a bit borderline.
One thing you didn't mention is that when he has defeated Oddjob his attempts to diffuse the bomb are somewhat ineffective. Moore in his clown outfit can do it, but Connery twiddles a few cables pointlessly until a tech guy flicks the "bomb off" switch.
Not too shabby!
I don't really mind Bond scraping by and persevering through luck. Makes him seem more human. It doesn't really detract from the film for me, imo, it's not like he's running around falling at every hurdle, the film is still full of badass Bondanian moments.
Aside from his seduction of Galore, and his blowing up the drug smuggling scheme I would rate his performance on this mission a D-
-blow up a drug lab which is completely irrelevant to the main plot
-expose Goldfinger's cheating, which results in innocent Jill getting killed
-play golf
-discover how Bond smuggles his gold, which quickly becomes irrelevant
-meet innocent Tilly, then get her killed so that she immediately becomes irrelevant
-get captured for (almost literally) the entire remainder of the film
-escape, then get recaptured by Pussy
-learn about Operation Grand Slam and attempts to have Mr. Solo pass on this information, only for Mr. Solo to get shot by Oddjob
Among the massively important things Bond does NOT do:
-save Jill or Tilly
-defuse the bomb (that was the technician, if not for him Goldfinger would have succeeded)
-kill Goldfinger (Goldfinger killed himself by shooting the gun, Bond wouldn't have done that, knowing how dangerous it is)
Let's face it, I love the film but all he really does is make love to Pussy and convince her to call CIA (which is offscreen). Really Pussy's the one who saved the day.
Seriously though -- aside from killing Oddjob in an awesome battle inside the vault at Fort Knox, Bond's main accomplishment in GF is persuading Pussy Galore to switch sides. I doubt that he was unaware the Delta 9 gas had been swapped -- the thing is, some important stuff was left out of the film to increase the audience's suspense. Said important stuff being: how exactly did he convince Pussy to alter her allegiance? It don't think it was his magic penis. It was probably a post-coital conversation along the lines of the following:
Bond: "He's not going to rob Fort Knox, you know. He's already admitted it to me."
Pussy: "Whaaat?"
Bond: "Those Chinese gents you've been seeing all over the place? They've given him an atomic bomb. He's going to set it off inside the Fort, making the US gold supply radioactive and plunging the west into economic chaos. It'll increase the value of his own gold many times. Won't do anything to make you any richer, of course, but then he doesn't really care about anyone but himself, does he? You and your girls are just going to be another small batch of casualties by this time tomorrow."
Pussy: "Why, that BASTARD! I'm not going to let him get away with this!! What can we do to stop him?
Bond: "Well, I've got this friend named Felix...."
So you see, Bond learning the various things that he learned about Operation Grand Slam, plus the conversation he had with Goldfinger over mint juleps in Pussy's absence, all had a bearing on his ability to turn Pussy's loyalties. While I'll admit he does make a few mistakes here & there...throughout the film...in the end, Bond does deserve just a tiny bit of the credit for keeping the US economy safe as of 1964. We sure could have used his likes (or maybe just a little more Pussy) where it could have done the most good circa 2008...
Exactly. Many downplay the effects of Bond's efforts at spying throughout this film. Granted, he gets stymied over & over again throughout the movie, but he's still finding out stuff that pays off in the end.