Visual Index ~ Goldfinger (1964)
Tuesday, June 17, 2014 at 10:11PM For the mid season finale of Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and since we've been revisiting 1964 for its 50th, we're looking at the James Bond classic Goldfinger (1964). After selecting the movie I began to worry that perhaps the early image of a dead beauty suffocated in gold paint was too iconic to have people looking elsewhere but trust this crowd to keep their eyes open and receptive to varying beauties. Or maybe the Best Shot club (open to all -why haven't you joined?) was just purposefully avoiding it due to its fame?
Click on the images for the corresponding article...
GOLDFINGER'S BEST SHOTS
9 shots chosen by 12 secret agents of blogging
(in chronological order within the film)
The image, created by Robert Brownjohn is nearly prophetic and totally inadvertently so...
-The Movie Scene *new participant* welcome!
Girls, Girls, Girls..."
-The Film's The Thing
The all-time perfect collision of the things that, to my mind, make Bond Bond..."
-Antagony & Ecstasy
Margaret: Sexy, sexy violence.
Anne Marie: I suppose that’s what happens when you bring your work into the bedroom.
-We Recycle Movies
What I always loved about James Bond is his ability to get under the skin of his opponent - to instinctively know which buttons to push..."
-The Matinee
A cramped space that nonetheless is full of detail...
-Drew Byrd *new participant* - welcome!
Hamilton and director of photography Ted Moore shoot much of this film from wide-angles, which makes the film look "big"..."
-Entertainment Junkie
There's something beautiful about the Bond movies when they slow down..."
-Basket of Kisses via TFE *new participant* - welcome!
Three layers of depth here..."
-Allison Tooey
One of the most fascinating things about this iteration of James Bond is how ineffective he is...
-Film Actually
Goldfinger, however, does know how to pop some colors..."
-Coco Hits NY
We need to talk about James Bond's cock in Goldfinger..."
-The Film Experience
Please check out these fine articles. I really enjoyed this finale - some really funny and interesting pieces this time. This is our midseason finale. If you'd like 'Hit Me' to return in July, please do comment and support the series through comments, shares, tweets, and likes.
Reader Comments (15)
I did check out the articles and was relieved to find out that the nonsense was kept within reasonable limits. But you really need to replace the text under Coco Hits' Best Shot with the following quote from his contribution: "Action movies are all about making us feel the thrills the protagonist is feeling, and in this moment, I felt the fire." Now that's a cool statement, is it not?
In any case, I seriously wonder if the participants stopped watching Goldfinger at the halfway mark. No Pussy Galore here? Now that's a crime.
Willy - as to why i choose the quotes I do. I don't like to share the money lines because the whole point is people should click over and read. but i thank you for commenting since it's hella depressing not to get comments on these big projects.
For some reason I'm not surprised by the lack of comments so far. After all, it's only a Bond film, and fluffy entertainment like that certainly cannot stimulate the readers of The Film Experience in the way more challenging cinema like Mean Girls or Barbarella can.
One way or the other, I do love all the Best Shots shown here. I just wish that the film's second half would be represented as well.
And by the way, if you want to display the Best Shots in chronological order, then you've got to swap the first and third picture.
The Drew Byrd and Coco images are gorgeous.
I love Hit Me; it shines a distinct light on tons of movies that deserve it, and though my to-watch list already bursts at the seams, it provides extra incentive to add movies to it. I haven't seen goldfinger (and still haven't seen Barbarella or Cant Stop the Music, for that matter), but when I finally get around to them, I have this online extra I get to visit.
This series without fail always makes me want to see the movie again. After all the picks have come in, which might not be the intent, but it gets me looking at different things. Haven't seen this one in about six years, though the memory is vivid. I had mono during winter break my freshman year of college and just watched movie after movie. This particular day I remember most and watched Goldfinger, The Shawshank Redemption, Mulin Rouge, and Con Air. Come to think of it, I kind of enjoyed having mono. Best excuse ever to sit around watching movies and eating buckets of jello.
Drew -- yeah. the intent is to watch it before. haha. like a film club but i get what you're saying. I do feel like i'm seeing it again right after i've just seen it by looking at the photos and reading the pieces. So essentially it's two back-to-back watches every week ;)
It is hard for me to watch Goldfinger because I spend half my time yelling at James Bond: "Why are you doing that?" "You're misusing your car!" "Stop being an idiot and deactivate the bomb!" etc. This is a good reminder of all the visual delights in the film.
cash -- which is EXACTLY what i was talking about in my piece. He's so weirdly incompetent in this. it's a surprise given that he's practically a superhero these days.
Shirley Eaton is the perfect bond girl sexy,beautiful,flirty and just in it enough for us not to tire of her and That death is classic!!!
It's great to see a Bond film on Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and Goldfinger has so many great images. I'd have chosen the same one as Nathaniel - Bond and the laser. "This is gold, Mr Bond. All my life I've been in love with its colour, its brilliance..." Such a fantastic moment.
As for the film as a whole, though, I've always found it slightly overrated, and not quite among the top tier of Bond films. It has great sequences in its first half (the gold match is an out-and-out classic), but I think it sags a bit when Pussy Galore and her girls enter the picture, and when Bond is Goldfinger's prisoner in Kentucky. Fort Knox, though, is terrific. I think Goldfinger is so famous (still) because it set so many of the Bond series elements in motion. But I know a lot of people think it's the best Bond film. Whatever one thinks of it, its impact in 1964 must have been sky-high. O to have been in London when it opened!
The scene that has stuck in my mind from the film - and it's been years since I've seen it - is towards the denouement: Pussy Galore has her fly gurls lined up to take flight, and there is an aerial shot of the big-haired blonde piloting her plane. Even though the ladies were objectified in this film, they were yet empowered by assuming roles normally associated with manly prowess. Love how it added an extra sexual dimension.
edward -- totally. I mean in the US two Bond pictures arrived in '64 and were both HUGE hits. so culturally the 60s were very good for Bond.
craig -- it's weird that it sags in the middle and yet Pussy & her girls are so great and they are the middle.
If I wouldn't know that Nat and cash are talking in earnest, I'd actually find their attempts to misrepresent Goldfinger as some kind of Pink Panther movie highly amusing. But since it is like it is, we've now reached the point where I'm waiting for Anne Marie to chime in and declare that Garbo has never acted with her eyes open in any of her movies.
Nathaniel - I definitely will have to rewatch this film - if nothing for Ms. Pussy and her crew. And I'll be interested to see how the film loses momentum in the middle as you suggest. Plus I still remember how Sean Connery pronounces Pussy's name with his Scottish accent: Poosy. Classic.