Producers: Albert Broccoli, Harry Saltzman
Director: Guy Hamilton
Scriptwriters: Richard Maibaum, Paul Dehn
Score: John Barry
Title Song: Shirley Bassey
Locations: Switzerland, U.S.A., Pinewood Studios
Running Time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Awards: Academy Award for Best Sound Effects

     Goldfinger was produced by Eon Productions in 1964. Still hot after the first two movies, Bond's budget was upped again to 3 million dollars, and the hope was even greater for this movie. The opening scene starts off right away with a huge explosion, and a clever fight scene. The movie would become one of the best loved Bond movies ever and would earn back its 3 million dollars in less than two weeks. For a while it held the Guinness record for the fastest grossing movie ever.
     In this movie, Bond goes up against one of the best loved Bond villains of all: Auric Goldfinger. His fiendish plot is to use a nuclear bomb to make all the gold in Fort Knox radioactive for about fifty years. With this huge supply of gold out of the way, Auric's gold supply would increase immensely in price. Bond learns of Operation: Grand Slam, and with a little help from Pussy Galore, stops Goldfinger. Another memorable bad guy is in this film, Oddjob. He was the short, stocky man with the lethal derby hat, which would eventually prove to be his undoing. (With a little help from a few thousand volts of electricity.)
     This movie was also the one that started the true James Bond car line. The Aston Martin DB5 had more tricks than, I don't know, something with a lot of tricks. The car was equipped with at least the following: passenger ejector seat, bullet resistant glass, an extendible bullet proof back covering, a smoke shooter, an oil slick shooter, machine guns, tire slashers, and revolving license plates. Also, one of the cars used in the movie had even more gadgets installed in it that never made it into the movie, like a spike dropper, extendable front rammer, and a phone/radio concealed in the driver's side door. This car was the first to be significantly used to help James Bond save his life. Unfortunately, the car was destroyed, but that happens to almost every one of Bond's cars.
A NOTE ABOUT THE THEME SONG: This theme song was the first true James Bond song hit. Shirley Bassey brought such conviction to the song, and John Barry felt she was the perfect choice. She would later return to sing two more Bond songs, Diamonds are Forever, and Moonraker. This song hit #8 on U.S. charts, while it suffered a little in the U.K., reaching only #21.
MY GRADE: A   This movie is considered by many to be the greatest Bond ever. I think that it is one of the best, but not the best. In fact, I don't think it is the best Connery film. I prefer Thunderball.
BEST MOMENT: The laser scene, where probably the most famous lines in all bond history (Except for "Bond, James Bond") were uttered. Bond asks "Do you expect me to talk, Goldfinger?" To which Goldfinger replies, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die." Man, that's good stuff. (See below)
ALSO NOTABLE: I have always liked the scene where Bond walks past the door and waves to the guard a few times. Then he walks in front of the door and lowers himself out of view, as if on an elevator. After the guard's attention is caught, Bond hides above the door and ambushes the guard. I think this scene represents the light-heartedness and humor of the Connery films, which, in my opinion, was never matched with any other Bond actor.
DID YOU KNOW: *This movie had a couple last minute changes made to the final draft. The first one is that in America, the counter on the nuclear bomb stopped at 007. This was to be more symbolic (of Bond) than the original shot of the counter stopped at 003. However, Bond's line "three more ticks and Goldfinger would have hit the jackpot" is still in the movie, despite it now being seven more ticks.
*The second scene that was changed was changed due to censors. On the plane, when Bond first met Pussy, the line originally was, "I'm Pussy Galore." to which Bond would reply, "I see that, but what's your name." Bond's line was changed to "I must be dreaming."
*Gert Frobe, the actor who played Goldfinger could not speak English. Goldfinger's voice was dubbed by Michael Collins.
*The Aston Martin used by Bond was actually four different cars. Two different cars were used in the movie for car exterior shots. These cars had no modifications. The other two cars used had actual working gadgets put into them.
*The three changeable license plates of Bond's car were: BMT 216A,  4711-EA-62,  and LU-6789.