102-684: Auric Goldfinger is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Ian Fleming 's 1959 seventh James Bond novel, Goldfinger , and the 1964 film it inspired (the third in the James Bond series). His first name, Auric, is an adjective meaning "of gold ". Fleming chose the name to commemorate the architect Ernő Goldfinger , who had built his home in Hampstead next door to Fleming's; he disliked Goldfinger's style of architecture and destruction of Victorian terraces and decided to name
204-549: A depressurisation that blows Oddjob out of the plane; he then fights and strangles Goldfinger. At gunpoint, he forces the crew to ditch in the sea near the Canadian coast, where they are rescued by a nearby weathership . By January 1958 the author Ian Fleming had published five novels in the preceding five years: Casino Royale in 1953, Live and Let Die (1954), Moonraker (1955), Diamonds Are Forever (1956) and From Russia, with Love in 1957. A sixth, Dr. No ,
306-472: A "crude end to the book, a form of happy ending ". The sixth Bond novel, Dr. No began what the media historian James Chapman describes as the move of the Bond books to "fantastic and highly improbable plots"; Chapman considers that Goldfinger maintains that trend. He also finds it "the most implausible of Fleming's plots". Benson states that the plot is impractical and that "sometimes there's no logic in
408-654: A British citizen in Nassau , in the Bahamas , Goldfinger has become the richest man in England, although his wealth is not in English banks, nor does he pay taxes on it, as it is spread as gold bullion in many countries. Goldfinger is the treasurer of SMERSH, a Soviet counterintelligence agency, which is Bond's nemesis. Goldfinger fancies himself an expert pistol shot who never misses, and always shoots his opponents through
510-601: A Mexican thug. Benson also finds Bond developing something of a sense of humour in Goldfinger , verbally abusing Oddjob for his own amusement. The anthropologist Anthony Synnott examined several examples of racism in the Bond novels, and finds in Goldfinger examples of "the most blatant racism" of the series, all of which concern the Koreans; as an example, Synnott highlights the sentence "putting Oddjob and any other Korean firmly in his place, which, in Bond's estimation,
612-584: A day." He returned to London in March that year with a 270-page typescript, the longest he had produced to that time. He initially gave the manuscript the title The Richest Man in the World ; few alterations were made to the story before publication. Although Fleming did not date the events within his novels, John Griswold and Henry Chancellor —both of whom wrote books for Ian Fleming Publications —identified different timelines based on events and situations within
714-555: A device to increase their shows' ratings. Characters may be antagonists without being evil – they may simply be injudicious and unlikeable for the audience. In some stories, such as The Catcher in the Rye , almost every character other than the protagonist may be an antagonist. Another example of this occurring is through Javert in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables , in which Javert displays no malicious intent, but instead represents
816-452: A gang of lesbian burglars), will protect her, but she (Tilly) is killed by Oddjob. Goldfinger, Oddjob and the Mafia bosses all escape in the melee. Bond is drugged before his flight back to England and wakes to find he has been captured by Goldfinger, who has murdered the crime bosses (except Galore), drugged a BOAC flightcrew and hijacked their jetliner. Bond manages to break a window, causing
918-421: A gauche individual. Black considers that Goldfinger is portrayed as a killjoy as he does not consume cigarettes or alcohol—unlike many people of the time—but he does pay prostitutes; these aspects of Goldfinger's are condemned by Fleming for being outside normal appetites. Elisabeth Ladenson, the general editor of Romanic Review , believes the character of Pussy Galore to be "perhaps the most memorable figure in
1020-523: A gold-tipped ballpoint pen and included the theft or obtaining of gold in several of his stories. When researching for Goldfinger , Fleming reinforced his knowledge of gold by sending a questionnaire to an expert at the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths —one of the livery companies of the City of London who assay precious metals for purity—with a list of queries about gold, its properties and
1122-422: A literary point of view, is that he is becoming more and more synthetic and zombie-ish. Perhaps it is just as well." In The Manchester Guardian , Roy Perrott observed that " Goldfinger ... will not let [Bond's] close admirers down". Perrott thought that overall "Fleming is again at his best when most sportingly Buchan-ish as in the motoring pursuit across Europe"; he summarised the book by saying that it
SECTION 10
#17327826271581224-629: A meeting between Goldfinger and several gangsters (including the Spangled Mob and the Mafia), who have been recruited to assist in "Operation Grand Slam"—stealing gold from the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox . One of the gang leaders, Helmut Springer, refuses to join the operation and is killed by Oddjob. Bond learns that the operation includes killing the inhabitants of Fort Knox by introducing poison into
1326-714: A memorable villain after him. According to a 1965 Forbes article and The New York Times , the Goldfinger persona was based on gold-mining magnate Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. In 2003, the American Film Institute declared Auric Goldfinger the 49th-greatest villain in the past 100 years of film . In a poll on IMDb , Auric Goldfinger was voted the most sinister James Bond villain, beating (in order) Ernst Stavro Blofeld , Dr. No , Max Zorin and Emilio Largo . Goldfinger's oft-quoted line "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die," (after Bond asked him while tied to
1428-428: A more complex individual than in the previous novels, and bringing out a theme of Bond as a St George figure. This theme is echoed by the fact that it is a British agent sorting out an American problem. In common with his other Bond stories, Fleming used the names of people he knew, or knew of, throughout his story, including the book's eponymous villain, who was named after the architect Ernő Goldfinger . On learning of
1530-609: A select number of promotional activities, including appearing on the television programme The Bookman and attending a book signing at Harrods . In May 1961 Pan Books published a paperback version of the novel in the UK, which sold 161,000 copies before the end of the year. Since its initial publication the book has been issued in numerous hardback and paperback editions, translated into several languages and, as at 2024, has never been out of print. In 2023 Ian Fleming Publications—the company that administers all Fleming's literary works—had
1632-532: A table in front of a laser, "Do you expect me to talk?") was voted the number-one best moment in the James Bond film franchise in a 2013 Sky Movies poll. Auric Goldfinger was played by German actor Gert Fröbe . Fröbe, who did not speak English well, was dubbed in the film by Michael Collins , an English actor. In the German version, Fröbe dubbed himself back again. Goldfinger was banned in Israel after it
1734-448: A terrace at Goldfinger's own residence at 2 Willow Road , Hampstead . Blackwell had his name used as the heroin smuggler at the beginning of the book, with a sister who was a heroin addict. There were some similarities between Ernő and Auric Goldfinger: both were Jewish immigrants who came to Britain from Eastern Europe in the 1930s and both were Marxists. The fictional and real Goldfingers were physically very different. According to
1836-587: A variant thereof; his Korean servants are referred to by Bond as being "yellow", or yellow-faced"; and he paints his women (usually prostitutes) gold before sex. As with a number of other villains in the Bond novels, there is a reference to the Second World War, to show the post-war readers how evil Bond's villains were. Thus, Goldfinger employs members of the German Luftwaffe , Japanese and Koreans. For Operation Grand Slam, Goldfinger used
1938-531: Is Bond the British agent who has to sort out what turns out to be an American problem and this, along with Bond's warning to Goldfinger not to underestimate the English, may be seen as Fleming's reaction to the lack of US support over the Suez Crisis in 1956. Benson identifies a theme of Bond acting as St George in Goldfinger which, he says, has run in all the novels, but is finally stated explicitly in
2040-536: Is a back story explaining why they are outside Fleming's norm: in Pussy Galore's case, it is because she was raped by her uncle. According to Stephen Heath, the literature and cultural historian, Galore's lesbianism is explained by being anti-man, following the rape, and she is converted because, as she says in the book, "I never met a man before". Bond's 'conversion' of Galore from lesbian to his bed partner "reflected Fleming's sexual politics". It was, Black sees,
2142-410: Is a mere obstacle, the dragon to be got rid of before the worthy knight can make off with the duly conquered lady". Goldfinger has an obsession with gold to the extent that Ladenson says that he is "a walking tautology". Ladenson lists both his family name and his first name as being related to gold (" Auric " is an adjective pertaining to gold); his clothes, hair, car and cat are all gold coloured, or
SECTION 20
#17327826271582244-544: Is aided in his crimes by his manservant Oddjob , a monstrously strong Korean who ruthlessly eliminates any threat to his employer's affairs. Goldfinger is the owner of "Enterprises Auric A.G." in Switzerland, maker of metal furniture which is purchased by many airlines, including Air India . Twice a year, Goldfinger drives his vintage Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost car from England to Enterprises Auric. Bond learns that Goldfinger makes dead drops of gold bars for SMERSH along
2346-409: Is also an avid golfer, but is known at his club for being a smooth cheater there, also. When Bond contrives to play against Goldfinger with $ 10,000 at stake, he out-cheats Goldfinger by switching the latter's Dunlop 1 golf ball with a Dunlop 7 he had found while playing. Goldfinger loses the final hole and the match for playing a ball that does not belong to him. In both the novel and film, Goldfinger
2448-538: Is cheating. Bond soon realises that Goldfinger is using his assistant, Jill Masterton, to spy on Du Pont's cards. Bond blackmails Goldfinger into admitting his guilt and paying back Du Pont's lost money; Bond also has a brief affair with Masterton. Back in London, Bond's superior, M , tasks him with determining how Goldfinger is smuggling gold out of Britain; M also suspects Goldfinger of being connected to SMERSH and financing their western networks with his gold. Bond visits
2550-468: Is five feet (1.52 m) tall, has blue eyes, red hair, and a passion for his tan. Goldfinger's name was borrowed from Ian Fleming's neighbour in his Hampstead home, architect Ernő Goldfinger , and his character bears some resemblance. Ernő Goldfinger consulted his lawyers when the book was published, prompting Fleming to suggest renaming the character "Goldprick", but Goldfinger eventually settled out of court in return for his legal costs, six copies of
2652-519: Is invited to the White House for a meeting with the President. However, with his pilot Pussy Galore, Goldfinger hijacks the plane carrying Bond. In a struggle for Goldfinger's revolver, Bond shoots out a window, causing an explosive decompression . Goldfinger is sucked out of the cabin through the window. With the plane out of control, Bond rescues Galore before parachuting to safety with her from
2754-437: Is more relaxed". Robson saw this as a positive development, but it did mean that although "there are incidental displays of the virtuosity to which Mr. Fleming has accustomed us, ... the narrative does not slip into top gear until Goldfinger unfolds his plan". The Evening Standard looked at why Bond was a success and listed "the things that make Bond attractive: the sex, the sadism, the vulgarity of money for its own sake,
2856-428: Is odd, with a lack of proportion to his body. According to the literary analyst LeRoy L. Panek, in his examination of 20th-century British spy novels, in several of Fleming's novels he uses "characters as psychological counters in a game of simplified psychology". Fleming writes that "Bond always mistrusted short men. They grew up from childhood with an inferiority complex. ... Napoleon had been short, and Hitler. It
2958-466: Is often used by an author to create conflict within a story. This is merely a convention, however. An example in which this is reversed can be seen in the character Macduff from Macbeth , who is arguably morally correct in his desire to fight the tyrant Macbeth , the protagonist. Examples from television include J.R. Ewing ( Larry Hagman ) from Dallas and Alexis Colby ( Joan Collins ) from Dynasty . Both became breakout characters used as
3060-623: Is plotting to rob the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox , Kentucky , in an action codenamed "Operation Grand Slam". Goldfinger plans to contaminate the water supply at Fort Knox using the nerve agent GB (also known as Sarin ), killing everyone at the base. Then, using an atomic bomb designed for an MGM-5 Corporal intermediate-range ballistic missile that he had purchased for US$ 1 million in Germany, Goldfinger would blow open Fort Knox's impregnable vault, before removing roughly $ 15 billion in gold bullion by truck and train with
3162-455: Is to rob Fort Knox , but when Bond reveals to Goldfinger that this is impossible because it would take 2 weeks, 200 trucks and 60 men to steal the gold before the authorities find out and force him to return the gold, when Goldfinger denies planning to steal the gold, Bond begins to connect the dots and concludes that Goldfinger's real plan is to detonate a small dirty bomb within the gold bullion depository at Fort Knox. The explosion will render
Auric Goldfinger - Misplaced Pages Continue
3264-454: The Bank of England for a briefing on the methods of gold smuggling. Coincidence Bond contrives to meet and play a round of golf with Goldfinger; Goldfinger attempts to win the golf match by cheating, but Bond turns the tables on him, beating him in the process. He is subsequently invited to Goldfinger's mansion near Reculver where he narrowly escapes being caught on camera looking through
3366-496: The novel series as a whole. Chancellor put the events of Goldfinger in 1957; Griswold is more precise, and considers the story to have taken place from late April to early June that year. Fleming had long been fascinated with gold. He was a collector of Spanish doubloons , and he commissioned a gold-plated typewriter from the Royal Typewriter Company , although he never actually used it; he wrote with
3468-530: The third James Bond feature film of the Eon Productions series, released in 1964 and starring Sean Connery as Bond. In 2010 Goldfinger was adapted for BBC Radio with Toby Stephens as Bond and Sir Ian McKellen as Goldfinger. Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action." Miami, Sandwich and now Geneva. I propose to wring
3570-570: The Berkshire Golf Club in which Fleming partnered Peter Thomson , the winner of The Open Championship . On its release Goldfinger went to the top of the best-seller lists; the novel was broadly well received by the critics and was favourably compared to the works of the thriller writers H. C. McNeile and John Buchan . Goldfinger was serialised as a daily story and as a comic strip in the Daily Express , before it became
3672-420: The Bond novels, including Goldfinger , "Ugliness, evil and foreignness go together, complementing and reinforcing each other. Ugliness symbolizes evil and evil is symbolized by ugliness and foreignness." Fleming employs devices he uses elsewhere in the series to show Goldfinger is corrupt or outside what Fleming considered normal. Goldfinger cheats at cards and golf; Panek considers this is a traditional sign of
3774-521: The Bond periphery". Galore was introduced by Fleming for Bond to seduce her, proving Bond's masculinity by his being able to seduce a lesbian. To some extent the situation also reflected Fleming's own opinions, expressed in the novel as part of Bond's thoughts, where "her sexual confusion is attributable to women's suffrage"; in addition, as Fleming himself put it in the book: "Bond felt the sexual challenge all beautiful Lesbians have for men." Ladenson points out that, unlike some Bond girls, Galore's role in
3876-568: The Bond series edited as part of a sensitivity review to remove or reword some racial or ethnic descriptors. The rerelease of the series was for the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale , the first Bond novel. Goldfinger received more positive reviews than Fleming's previous novel, Dr. No , which had faced widespread criticism in the British media. Writing in The Observer , Maurice Richardson thought that "Mr. Fleming seems to be leaving realism further and further behind and developing only in
3978-501: The North Atlantic. As with other Bond novels, such as Casino Royale , gambling is a theme—not only the money staked on the golf match as part of the novel, but opening with the canasta game. Raymond Benson identified times in the novel when Bond's investigation of Goldfinger was a gamble too, and cites Bond tossing a coin to decide on his tactics in relation to his quarry. Once more (as with Live and Let Die and Dr. No ) it
4080-710: The Rolls-Royce is actually white-gold, cast into panels at his Kent refinery. When the car reaches the factory in Switzerland (Enterprises Auric AG), Goldfinger recasts the gold from the armour panels into aircraft seats and fits the seats to the aeroplanes of Mecca Charter Airline, in which he holds a large stake. The gold is finally sold in India at a large profit. Bond foils an assassination attempt on Goldfinger by Jill Masterton's sister, Tilly, to avenge Jill's death at Goldfinger's hands: he had painted her body with gold paint, which killed her. Bond and Tilly attempt to escape when
4182-471: The aircraft and load Goldfinger's three-ton personal bullion hoard onto it. The hijacked airplane is piloted by three German ex- Luftwaffe pilots who work for Goldfinger. Oddjob meets his end when he is sucked through an airliner window after Bond pierces it with a knife. Bond and Goldfinger engage in a brief struggle, during which Bond is seized by a violent rage for the first time in his life, strangling Goldfinger to death with his bare hands. Bond then turns to
Auric Goldfinger - Misplaced Pages Continue
4284-466: The aircraft. Antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist . The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – antagonistēs , "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, rival," which is derived from anti- ("against") and agonizesthai ("to contend for a prize"). The antagonist is commonly positioned against
4386-525: The alarm is raised, but are captured. Enemy action Bond is tortured by Oddjob when he refuses to confess his role in trailing Goldfinger. In a desperate attempt to escape being cut in two by a circular saw , Bond offers to work for Goldfinger, a ruse that Goldfinger initially refuses but then accepts. Bond and Tilly are subsequently taken to Goldfinger's operational headquarters in a warehouse in New York City. They are put to work as secretaries for
4488-401: The background of the industry, including smuggling. Fleming had originally conceived the card game scene as a separate short story but instead used the device for Bond and Goldfinger's first encounter. The architect Ernő Goldfinger threatened to sue Fleming over the use of the name. With the book already printed but not released, Fleming threatened to add an erratum slip to the book changing
4590-406: The bodywork re- smelted once it arrives at its destination. After Goldfinger's business affairs come under suspicion from the Bank of England , Bond is sent to investigate. In the film, Felix Leiter says that Goldfinger is "British, but he doesn't sound like it"; however, this may simply mean he possesses British citizenship, as by his accent and red-blond hair he is probably German by birth. Fröbe
4692-484: The book as part of Bond's thoughts. This is after Goldfinger reveals he will use an atomic device to open the vault: "Bond sighed wearily. Once more into the breach, dear friend! This time it really was St George and the dragon . And St George had better get a move on and do something". Jeremy Black notes that the image of the "latter-day St George [is] again an English, rather than British image". According to Ladenson, by making Bond St George, "Goldfinger himself ...
4794-435: The book to be "a superlative thriller from our foremost literary magician". Burgess cites Goldfinger as one of the 99 best novels in English since 1939. "Fleming raised the standard of the popular story of espionage through good writing—a heightened journalistic style—and the creation of a government agent—James Bond, 007—who is sufficiently complicated to compel our interest over a whole series of adventures." Goldfinger
4896-421: The bullion, he soon realizes that the true plan is to set off a Chinese-supplied dirty bomb within the vault. The explosion will irradiate the gold and render it unusable for decades, crippling the gold standard –based economy and greatly increasing the value of Goldfinger's personal bullion holdings. During this conversation, Bond points out the logistical flaws in the theft as set out in the original novel. In
4998-410: The cause of the protagonist's main problem, or lead a group of characters against the protagonist; in comedies, they are usually responsible for involving the protagonist in comedic situations. Author John Truby argues that a true opponent not only wants to prevent the hero from achieving his desire but is competing with the hero for the same goal. According to John Truby, "It is only by competing for
5100-564: The cult of power, the lack of standards". The Sunday Times called Goldfinger "Guilt-edged Bond"; the critic for The Manchester Evening News thought that "Only Fleming could have got away with it ... outrageously improbable, wickedly funny, wildly exciting". Even the "avid anti-Bond and an anti-Fleming man", Anthony Boucher , writing for The New York Times appeared to enjoy Goldfinger , saying "the whole preposterous fantasy strikes me as highly entertaining". The critic for The New York Herald Tribune , James Sandoe considered
5202-498: The design of the front cover, which featured a rose between a skull's teeth. He commissioned Richard Chopping to provide the artwork. According to Jonathan Hopson of the Victoria and Albert Museum , the cover's "macabre symbolism memorably expresses the novel's themes of greed, sex and death". The book was dedicated to "gentle reader, William Plomer". The novel went straight to the top of the best-seller lists. Fleming took part in
SECTION 50
#17327826271585304-431: The details of "Operation Grand Slam" were questioned, with critics noting it would have taken hours, if not days, to remove $ 15 billion from Fort Knox, during which the U.S. Army would have inevitably intervened. The issue of getting every soldier on the base to drink the poisoned water without an alarm was also raised. A final problem was the "clean" atomic bomb, tactical or not, which in all likelihood would have annihilated
5406-509: The direction of an atomic, sophisticated Sapper ". Though Fleming may have left reality behind, Richardson considered that the writer, "even with his forked tongue sticking right through his cheek, ... remains maniacally readable". Richardson said that Goldfinger "is the most preposterous specimen yet displayed in Mr. Fleming's museum of super fiends", and, referring to the novel's central character, observed that "the real trouble with Bond, from
5508-479: The film, Goldfinger is a successful businessman, owning many properties throughout the world, including "Auric Enterprises, AG" in Switzerland and a stud-farm in Kentucky called "Auric Stud". However, Goldfinger's real business is that of internationally smuggling gold, using the method of having a car (precisely, a Rolls-Royce Phantom III ) built with gold body castings and transporting it via airplane before having
5610-652: The film.) He is also a jeweller, a metallurgist , and a smuggler. When Goldfinger first meets Bond in Miami , he claims that he is agoraphobic ; a ploy to allow him to cheat Junius du Pont, a previous acquaintance of Bond's (from Casino Royale ), at a game of two-handed Canasta . Bond figures out how Goldfinger is managing this and blackmails him by forcing him to admit his deception. This incident also establishes Goldfinger as boundlessly greedy, as whatever sums he can gain by this elaborate cheating are negligible compared with what he already has in his possession. Goldfinger
5712-552: The game between Bond and Goldfinger. In June 1957 Fleming played in the Bowmaker Pro-Am golf tournament at the Berkshire Golf Club, where he partnered Peter Thomson , the winner of The Open Championship ; much of the background went into the match between Bond and Goldfinger. One of Fleming's neighbours in Jamaica, and later his lover, was Blanche Blackwell ; Fleming used Blanche as the model for Pussy Galore, although
5814-495: The gold radioactive and unusable for 58 years, increasing the value of his own gold and giving the Chinese an advantage resulting from the ensuing economic chaos. Bond, at this point held captive by Goldfinger, is able to smuggle the details of the operation out to his CIA associate Felix Leiter and, taken along on the operation by Goldfinger, ultimately thwarts the operation by defusing the atomic device. With Fort Knox safe, Bond
5916-602: The gold-smuggling activities of Auric Goldfinger , who is also suspected by MI6 of being connected to SMERSH , the Soviet counter-intelligence organisation. As well as establishing the background to the smuggling operation, Bond uncovers a much larger plot: Goldfinger plans to steal the gold reserves of the United States from Fort Knox . Fleming developed the James Bond character in Goldfinger , presenting him as
6018-591: The help of American criminal organizations, including the Mafia, the Purple Gang (an organization that existed in real life), the Spangled Mob (a fictional gang featured in the earlier Bond novel Diamonds Are Forever ), and the Cement Mixers, an all-female gang led by lesbian and former trapeze artist Pussy Galore . They would then escape to the Soviet Union on a cargo boat. Goldfinger bribes
6120-417: The hero being threatened with the novel's circular saw, rather than the film's laser beam—and Diamonds Are Forever . Following its radio version of Dr. No , produced in 2008 as a special one-off to mark the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, Eon Productions allowed a second Bond story to be adapted. On 3 April 2010 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio adaptation of Goldfinger with Toby Stephens (who played
6222-511: The historian Jeremy Black considers that Bond "was presented as a complex character". The novelist Raymond Benson —who later wrote a series of Bond novels—sees Goldfinger as a transitional novel, making Bond more human than in previous books and more concerned with what Benson calls "the mortal trappings of life". This manifests itself in the opening chapter of the book as Bond sits in Miami airport and thinks through his fight with and killing of
SECTION 60
#17327826271586324-567: The historian Henry Chancellor the likely model for Auric Goldfinger was the American gold tycoon Charles W. Engelhard Jr. , whom Fleming had met in 1949. Engelhard had established a business, the Precious Metals Development Company, which circumvented numerous export restrictions, selling gold ingots directly into Hong Kong. The character of Bond was developed more in Goldfinger than in the previous novels;
6426-522: The house. Goldfinger introduces Bond to his factotum , a Korean named Oddjob . Issued by MI6 with an Aston Martin DB Mark III , Bond trails Goldfinger in his vintage Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (adapted with armour plating and bulletproof glass ), driven by Oddjob. Both travel by air ferries to Switzerland. Bond manages to trace Goldfinger to a warehouse in Geneva, where he finds that the armour of
6528-486: The irradiation of the gold in Fort Knox, and the change of Pussy Galore's organisation to stunt pilots, rather than masquerading as nurses, as examples of improvements. The 1973 BBC documentary Omnibus : The British Hero featured Christopher Cazenove playing a number of such title characters (e.g. Richard Hannay and Bulldog Drummond ), including James Bond in dramatised scenes from Goldfinger —notably featuring
6630-431: The last hole, costing him the match. Goldfinger is shown to take sadistic pleasure in killing his enemies, which he accomplishes in elaborate ways. This is shown when he attempts to kill a captured Bond by slowly cutting him in half with a laser (but is talked out of it by Bond) and, later, when he uses nerve gas to execute a group of gangsters he had invited to his ranch. Initially Goldfinger makes it appear that his plan
6732-430: The most extravagant of these". The character was described by Benson as "Fleming's most successful villain" to that point in the series, and Fleming gives him several character flaws that are brought out across the novel. Black writes that psychologically Goldfinger is warped, possibly because of an inferiority complex brought on by his shortness, in contrast to several of Fleming's other over-sized villains. Physically he
6834-410: The movie and decided upon the "big bad German" for the role. In the film, Goldfinger, an avid golfer, reveals a fascination with Nazi gold when Bond tempts him to bet £5,000 against a lost, historical Nazi gold bar, an incident not in the novel (the golf game is played for $ 10,000). Goldfinger cheats with help from Oddjob, but Bond figures out the deception and tricks him into playing the wrong ball on
6936-457: The name "Pussy" came from Mrs "Pussy" Deakin, formerly Livia Stela, an SOE agent and friend of Fleming's wife. Fleming's golf partner, John Blackwell (a cousin to Blanche Blackwell), was also a cousin by marriage to Ernő Goldfinger and disliked him: it was Blackwell who reminded Fleming of the name. Fleming also disliked Goldfinger, who, Fleming thought, destroyed Victorian buildings and replaced them with his own modernist designs, particularly
7038-433: The name from Goldfinger to Goldprick and explaining why; the matter was settled out of court after the publishers, Jonathan Cape , paid Ernő's legal costs, agreed to ensure the name Auric was always used in conjunction with Goldfinger and sent him six copies of the novel. Once Fleming completed the novel—which he found the easiest of all the Bond books to write—he thought he had exhausted his inspiration for plots. He told
7140-657: The names of several friends or associates in the novel. The surname of Sir John Masterman , the MI5 agent and Oxford academic who ran the double-cross system during the Second World War, was used as the basis for the Masterton sisters; Alfred Whiting, the golf professional at Royal St George's Golf Club , Sandwich, became Alfred Blacking; while the Royal St George's Golf Club itself became the Royal St Mark's, for
7242-419: The novel in three sections—"Happenstance", "Coincidence" and "Enemy action"—which was how Goldfinger described Bond's three seemingly coincidental meetings with him. Like Dr. No , what seems to be a trivial event—in this case the card game—leads to what Chapman calls "a grandiose criminal conspiracy". The denouement of the novel is described by Black as "hurried and unsatisfactory", and the "one-man heroism" of
7344-444: The novel, Goldfinger captures Bond and threatens to cut him in half with a circular saw as Oddjob tortures him using his pressure points . Bond offers to work for Goldfinger in exchange for his life, but Goldfinger refuses to spare him, and he blacks out. Bond wakes to find that Goldfinger is going to take him up on his offer after all, and makes him his prisoner and secretary. While working at this job, Bond discovers that Goldfinger
7446-417: The novel, and an agreement that the character's first name 'Auric' would always be used. Goldfinger is typically a German - Jewish name, and the protagonists of the novel know this, but neither Bond nor Mr. Du Pont think Goldfinger is Jewish. Instead, Bond thinks the red-haired, blue-eyed man to be a Balt , being proved correct when Goldfinger is revealed to be a Latvian émigré. Following naturalisation as
7548-409: The pilots and forces the airplane to turn back from its intended flight path, causing it to ditch in the ocean after running out of fuel. The weight of Goldfinger's gold causes the airplane to sink rapidly, taking his body and his pilots down with it. Only Bond and Pussy Galore , both wearing lifejackets, appear in the ocean and are soon picked up, as the only survivors. After publication of the novel,
7650-422: The plot is crucial and she is not just there as an accessory: it is her change of heart that allows good to triumph over evil. The cultural historians Janet Woollacott and Tony Bennett consider that many of the female characters in the Bond series depart from Fleming's accepted cultural norms; both Pussy Galore and Tilly Masterton conform to this rule because they are lesbian. For those that Bond sleeps with, there
7752-471: The poison GB—now known as Sarin —which had been discovered by the Nazis. Pussy Galore's all-woman criminal gang has some members that look "like some young SS guardsman", to underline the connection to evil. Goldfinger was published on 23 March 1959 in the UK as a hardcover edition by Jonathan Cape; it was 318 pages long and cost fifteen shillings . As with his previous four novels, Fleming came up with
7854-623: The protagonist and their world order. While narratives often portray the protagonist as a hero and the antagonist as a villain , like Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter , the antagonist does not always appear as the villain. In some narratives, like Light Yagami and L in Death Note , the protagonist is a villain and the antagonist is an opposing hero. Antagonists are conventionally presented as making moral choices less savory than those of protagonists. This condition
7956-402: The right eye. He tells Bond at the end of the novel he has done so with four Mafia heads. Goldfinger is obsessed with gold, going so far as to keep a yellow-bound copy of an erotic novel in his nightstand and have his lovers painted head to toe in gold so that he can make love to gold. (He leaves an area near the spine unpainted, but painting this area also is what kills Jill Masterton , as in
8058-418: The rigid and inflexible application of the law, even when it leads to moral and ethical dilemmas. An aspect or trait of the protagonist may be considered an antagonist, such as morality or indecisiveness. An antagonist is not always a person or people. In some cases, an antagonist may be a force, such as a tidal wave that destroys a city; a storm that causes havoc; or even a certain area's conditions that are
8160-406: The root cause of a problem. An antagonist may or may not create obstacles for the protagonist. Societal norms or other rules may also be antagonists. An antagonist is used as a plot device, to set up conflicts, obstacles, or challenges for the protagonist. Though not every story requires an antagonist, it often is used in plays to increase the level of drama. In tragedies, antagonists are often
8262-574: The same goal that the hero and the opponent are forced to come into direct conflict and to do so again and again throughout the story." Jill Masterton Goldfinger is the seventh novel in Ian Fleming 's James Bond series. Written in January and February 1958, it was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 23 March 1959. The story centres on the investigation by the British Secret Service operative James Bond into
8364-550: The sequence of events"; the author Kingsley Amis —who also later wrote a Bond novel—says that the novel was "more implausible than most". According to Panek there is an episodic approach in Fleming's works; in Goldfinger this manifests itself in the use of the card game—something also seen in Casino Royale and Moonraker ; Benson considers the novel to be more episodic than Fleming's previous books. Fleming structured
8466-403: The shoulders, a huge and it seemed almost exactly round head. It was as if Goldfinger had been put together with bits of other people's bodies. Nothing seemed to belong. Goldfinger The writer Anthony Burgess , in his 1984 work Ninety-nine Novels , describes Fleming's malefactors as "impossible villains, enemies of democracy, megalomaniacs"; Burgess goes on to write that Goldfinger "is
8568-433: The syndicate leaders with $ 15,000 in gold apiece to secure their attendance at the meeting and promises that each group will receive at least $ 1 billion, while he will keep $ 5 billion. In addition, Goldfinger has promised Bond £1 million in gold once the theft is complete. Bond foils Goldfinger's plan by writing a note to his American colleague Felix Leiter , containing the details of the impending operation, and taping it to
8670-479: The truth out of you. Goldfinger Happenstance While changing planes in Miami after closing down a Mexican heroin-smuggling operation, the British Secret Service operative James Bond meets Junius Du Pont, a rich American businessman whom Bond had briefly met and gambled with in Casino Royale . Du Pont asks Bond to watch Auric Goldfinger , with whom Du Pont is playing canasta , to discover if he
8772-605: The underside of an airplane toilet seat. Once the note reaches Leiter, he arranges for help from the FBI and the Pentagon . Leiter is able to foil the theft, but Goldfinger escapes. Later, Goldfinger and his henchmen learn from SMERSH who Bond is and determine to take him with them in defecting to the Soviet Union. They pose as doctors to incapacitate crew and passengers (including Bond) with drugged inoculations. Then they hijack
8874-418: The use of his name, Goldfinger threatened to sue, before the matter was settled out of court. Auric Goldfinger is obsessed by gold and is—to Bond's eye—a gauche individual with unusual appetites; Fleming probably based the character on the American gold tycoon Charles W. Engelhard Jr. Fleming also used his own experiences within the book; the round of golf played with Goldfinger was based on a 1957 tournament at
8976-407: The vault instead of breaking it open. The novel itself has a scene where Bond points out to Goldfinger several reasons why the plan could not possibly work, and Goldfinger responds only with a vague assurance that he has prepared solutions for these problems. Consequently, the filmed version of the novel altered the details of the plan. Although Bond initially believes that Goldfinger intends to steal
9078-445: The water supply. He manages to conceal a message in the toilet of Goldfinger's private plane, where he hopes it will be found and sent to Pinkertons , where his friend and ex-counterpart Felix Leiter now works. Operation Grand Slam commences, and it transpires that Leiter has found and acted on Bond's message. A battle commences, but Goldfinger escapes. Tilly, a lesbian, hopes that one of the gang leaders, Pussy Galore (the leader of
9180-439: The way, and that his car's bodywork is 18-carat (75%), solid white gold under the ploy that the added weight is armour plating. Once at Enterprises Auric, the bodywork is stripped off, melted and made into airplane seats for a company that Enterprises Auric is heavily invested in. The plane(s) are then flown to India where the seats are melted down again into gold bars and sold for a much higher rate—100 to 200 per cent profit. In
9282-414: The work is too stretched across the novel. Benson, and Fleming's biographer Matthew Parker , consider Goldfinger to be the "densest" of the Bond novels, with a fast pace and high levels of action, in which Bond moves from Miami, via New York to London, then through Kent and northern France to Switzerland, then back to New York, to Kentucky, to New York, Washington, and finally ditching the aeroplane in
9384-486: The writer William Plomer —his friend who proof-read all the Bond books—that Goldfinger was to be "the last full length folio on Bond ... Though I may be able to think up some episodes for him in the future, I shall never be able to give him 70,000 words again". Fleming based some points in the book on events he had read about. The pre-First World War death of a showgirl in Europe after she had covered herself in paint
9486-558: Was "hard to put down; but some of us wish we had the good taste just to try". The Times thought that Bond was "backed up by sound writing" by Fleming; the critic thought that although the plot was grandiose "it sounds—and is—fantastic; the skill of Mr. Fleming is to be measured by the fact that it is made not to seem so". For The Times Literary Supplement , Michael Robson considered that "a new Bond has emerged from these pages: an agent more relaxed, less promiscuous, less stagily muscular than of yore". Robson added that "the story, too,
9588-528: Was being edited and prepared for production. That month Fleming travelled to his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica to write Goldfinger . He followed his usual practice, which he later outlined in Books and Bookmen magazine: "I write for about three hours in the morning ... and I do another hour's work between six and seven in the evening. I never correct anything and I never go back to see what I have written ... By following my formula, you write 2,000 words
9690-439: Was chosen to play the villain because producers Saltzman and Broccoli had seen his performance in a German thriller titled Es geschah am helllichten Tag ( It happened in broad daylight , 1958), based on the story Das Versprechen ( The Pledge ) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt . In that film, Fröbe played a serial killer named Schrott, who kills children to vent his frustrations with his domineering wife. Broccoli and Saltzman had seen
9792-456: Was mostly similar to the novel, but Jill and Tilly Masterton (renamed Masterson for the film) have shortened roles and earlier deaths in the story. The plot of the film was also changed from stealing the gold at Fort Knox to irradiating the gold vault with a dirty bomb . Alan Barnes and Marcus Hearn, in their examination of the Bond films, consider that the film improves on what they see as some of Fleming's "ludicrous notions". The pair highlight
9894-492: Was one such idea, and the depressurisation of Goldfinger's plane was a plot device Fleming had intended to use elsewhere, but which he included in Goldfinger . Some years previously a plane had depressurised over the Lebanon and an American passenger had been sucked out of the window; Fleming, who was not a comfortable airline passenger, had made note of the incident to use it. As he had done in previous Bond novels, Fleming used
9996-401: Was rather lower than apes in the mammalian hierarchy". Benson agrees that Bond is shown as a bigot in the passage quoted, and observes that this is the only point in all the works in which Bond disparages a whole race. ... everything was out of proportion. Goldfinger was short, not more than five feet tall, and on top of the thick body and blunt, peasant legs, was set almost directly into
10098-463: Was revealed that Fröbe had been a member of the Nazi Party . However, he left the party before the outbreak of World War II . After several years, the ban was lifted, as it was found that Fröbe likely saved the lives of two Jews by hiding them in his basement during the war. In the novel, Auric Goldfinger is a 42-year-old from Riga , Latvia, who emigrated to Britain in 1937 at the age of 20. He
10200-444: Was serialised on a daily basis in the Daily Express newspaper from 18 March 1959 onwards. Fleming's original novel was adapted as a daily comic strip which was published in the same paper and syndicated around the world—the first of the novels to be adapted as such. The adaptation ran from 3 October 1960 to 1 April 1961, and Fleming received £1,500 for the British publication and a percentage for syndicated copies. The adaptation
10302-422: Was the short men that caused all the trouble in the world", an opinion Black considers a reflection of the "racialism and crude psychology" of early-twentieth century literature. Like many other of Fleming's villains, Goldfinger is not of British extraction (although he is a British citizen); other villains have been, for example, Russian, German, Jewish, Chinese-German or Slav. Synnott observes that in many of
10404-591: Was written by Henry Gammidge and illustrated by John McLusky . Goldfinger was reprinted in 2005 by Titan Books as part of the Dr. No anthology, which in addition to Dr. No , also included Diamonds Are Forever and From Russia, with Love . In 1964 Goldfinger became the third entry in the James Bond film series. Sean Connery returned as Bond, and the German actor Gert Fröbe played Auric Goldfinger. The film
#157842