148-707: Paul Edward Dehn ( / ˈ d eɪ n / DAYN ; 5 November 1912 – 30 September 1976) was a British screenwriter, best known for Goldfinger , The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , Planet of the Apes sequels and Murder on the Orient Express . Dehn and his life partner, James Bernard , won the Academy Award for Best Story for Seven Days to Noon . Dehn was born in 1912 in Manchester , England. He
296-473: A Nielsen Media Research household television rating of 34.0 and a share of 52, ranking number two for the week behind only Marcus Welby, M.D. airing on the same network. The premiere was sponsored by Chevrolet and included several of its new models for 1973, even though the movie itself featured several cars from the Ford Motor Company . At the 1965 Academy Awards , Norman Wanstall won
444-549: 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 ,
592-594: A drug laboratory and electrocutes an unnamed antagonist in the bath in Latin America. Bond then heads to Miami Beach , where his superior M via CIA agent Felix Leiter directs Bond to observe bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger at the hotel in Miami Beach. Bond discovers Goldfinger cheating at a high-stakes gin rummy game, aided remotely by his employee Jill Masterson. Bond interrupts Jill and blackmails Goldfinger into losing. After an evening with Jill, Bond
740-472: 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
888-498: A "superman" by making the villains seem more powerful. Hamilton knew Fleming, as both were involved during intelligence matters in the Royal Navy during World War II . Goldfinger saw the return of two crew members who were not involved with From Russia with Love : Bob Simmons as stunt coordinator and production designer Ken Adam . Both played crucial roles in the development of Goldfinger , with Simmons choreographing
1036-411: A 99% rating and an average score of 8.7/10 based on 74 reviews. The website's consensus reads, " Goldfinger is where James Bond as we know him comes into focus – it features one of 007's most famous lines ('A martini. Shaken, not stirred') and a wide range of gadgets that would become the series' trademark". Goldfinger is the highest-rated Bond film on the site. Goldfinger ' s $ 3 million budget
1184-399: A Chinese nuclear physicist, Ling that he incorporates gold into the bodywork of his Rolls-Royce Phantom III to smuggle out of England. Bond overhears Goldfinger mention "Operation Grand Slam" and encounters Tilly, who again tries to kill Goldfinger. An alarm is tripped, and Oddjob kills Tilly with his steel-rimmed hat. Bond is captured and strapped to a table with an overhead industrial laser,
1332-601: 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,
1480-484: A car over six weeks. The scene where the DB5 crashes was filmed twice, with the second take being used in the film. The first take, in which the car drives through the fake wall, can be seen in the trailer. Two of the gadgets were not installed in the car: the wheel-destroying spikes, inspired by Ben-Hur ' s scythed chariots , were entirely made in-studio; and the ejector seat used a seat thrown by compressed air, with
1628-555: A dancer who sets a trap for Bond in the pre-credit sequence. Burt Kwouk portrayed Mr Ling, the Communist Chinese nuclear fission specialist. Richard Vernon played Colonel Smithers, a Bank of England official. Margaret Nolan played Dink, Bond's masseuse from the Miami hotel sequence. (Vernon and Nolan both appeared in A Hard Day's Night that same year.) Nolan also appeared as the gold-covered body in advertisements for
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#17327797288931776-584: 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
1924-411: A dummy sitting atop it. Another car without the gadgets was created, which was eventually furnished for publicity purposes. It was reused for Thunderball . Lasers did not exist in 1959 when the book was written, nor did high-power industrial lasers at the time the film was made, making them a novelty. In the novel, Goldfinger uses a circular saw to try to kill Bond, but the filmmakers changed it to
2072-452: 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
2220-421: 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
2368-523: 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
2516-472: A laser to make the film feel fresher. Hamilton immediately thought of giving the laser a place in the film's story as Goldfinger's weapon of choice. Ken Adam was advised on the laser's design by two Harvard scientists who helped design the water reactor in Dr No . The laser beam itself was an optical effect added in post-production. For close-ups where the flame cuts through metal, technician Bert Luxford heated
2664-422: 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
2812-629: 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
2960-544: A part of Bond's world," Hamilton remarked. Production designer Ken Adam chose the DB5 because it was the latest version of the Aston Martin (in the novel Bond drove a DB Mark III, which he considered England's most sophisticated car). The company was initially reluctant, but was finally convinced to make a product placement deal. In the script, the car was armed only with a smoke screen , but every crew member began suggesting gadgets to install in it: Hamilton conceived
3108-466: A prison, but Hamilton liked it enough that it was built. The comptroller of Fort Knox later sent a letter to Adam and the production team, complimenting them on their imaginative depiction of the vault. United Artists even had irate letters from people wondering "how could a British film unit be allowed inside Fort Knox?" Adam recalled, "In the end I was pleased that I wasn't allowed into Fort Knox, because it allowed me to do whatever I wanted." In fact,
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#17327797288933256-609: 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
3404-448: 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
3552-411: A toy of the car, which became the biggest selling toy of 1964. The film's success also led to licensed tie-in clothing, dress shoes , action figures , board games , jigsaw puzzles , lunch boxes , toys, record albums, trading cards and slot cars . Derek Prouse of The Sunday Times said of Goldfinger that it was "superbly engineered. It is fast, it is most entertainingly preposterous and it
3700-587: 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
3848-514: A young Jimmy Page , who was doing many sessions at the time. The lyrics were described in one contemporary newspaper as "puerile", but what remained undisturbed was the Shirley Bassey interpretation world impact. Like the score, the arrangement makes heavy use of brass, meeting well Miss Bassey's signature belting , and incorporates the Bond theme from Dr. No . Newley recorded the early versions, which were even considered for inclusion in
3996-586: 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
4144-536: 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,
4292-410: 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
4440-416: Is an entirely fictional cause of death, the iconic scene caused much of the public to accept it as a medical fact; an urban legend circulated that the scene was inspired by a Swiss model who accidentally died the same way while preparing for a photo shoot. ) Bond is bound to a cutting bench with a sheet of gold on it (as Goldfinger points out to him) before nearly being lasered. Goldfinger's factory henchmen in
4588-565: Is astonishingly well cast in the difficult part of Goldfinger." Donald Zec , writing for the Daily Mirror , said of the film that "Ken Adam's set designs are brilliant; the direction of Guy Hamilton tautly exciting; Connery is better than ever, and the titles superimposed on the gleaming body of the girl in gold are inspired." Penelope Gilliatt , writing in The Observer , said that the film had "a spoofing callousness" and that it
Paul Dehn - Misplaced Pages Continue
4736-616: Is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action." Miami, Sandwich and now Geneva. I propose to wring 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
4884-486: Is described as "brassy and raunchy" with "a sassy sexiness to it". Goldfinger began the tradition of Bond theme songs introduced over the opening title sequence , the style of the song from the pop genre and using popular artists. (Although the title song, sung by Matt Monro , in From Russia with Love was introduced in a few phrases on Bond's first appearance, a full rendition on the soundtrack only commenced for
5032-456: Is exciting." The reviewer from The Times said "All the devices are infinitely sophisticated, and so is the film: the tradition of self-mockery continues, though at times it over-reaches itself", also saying that "It is the mixture as before, only more so: it is superb hokum." Connery's acting efforts were overlooked by this reviewer, who did say: "There is some excellent bit-part playing by Mr. Bernard Lee and Mr. Harold Sakata: Mr. Gert Fröbe
5180-488: Is knocked out by Goldfinger's Korean manservant Oddjob . Bond awakens to find Jill covered in gold paint, dead from "skin suffocation." In London, M tasks Bond with determining how Goldfinger smuggles gold internationally. Q supplies Bond with a modified Aston Martin DB5 and two tracking devices. Bond plays a round of golf with Goldfinger at his country club in Kent , wagering a bar of recovered Nazi gold supplied to him by
5328-437: 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,
5476-428: 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
5624-578: Is playing canasta , to discover if he 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
5772-480: The Austin Powers series. The US television programme MythBusters explored many scenarios seen in the film, such as the explosive depressurisation in a plane at high altitudes, the death by full body painting, an ejector seat in a car and using a tuxedo under a drysuit. The success of the film led to Ian Fleming's Bond novels receiving an increase of popularity and nearly 6 million books were sold in
5920-609: The Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing , making Goldfinger the first Bond film to receive an Academy Award. John Barry was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score for a Motion Picture , and Ken Adam was nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for Best British Art Direction (Colour), where he also won the award for Best British Art Direction (Black and White) for Dr. Strangelove . The American Film Institute has honoured
6068-454: 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
Paul Dehn - Misplaced Pages Continue
6216-536: The Bank of England . Goldfinger attempts to cheat, but Bond tricks him into losing the match. Goldfinger warns Bond against interfering in his affairs, and Oddjob demonstrates his formidable strength, along with a steel-rimmed hat, making it deadly when thrown. Bond trails Goldfinger to Switzerland and meets Jill's sister Tilly, who tries to assassinate Goldfinger but is prevented by Bond. Bond sneaks into Goldfinger's refinery in Switzerland and overhears him telling
6364-592: The gold reserves of the United States from Fort Knox . Fleming developed the James Bond character in Goldfinger , presenting him as 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
6512-496: 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
6660-526: The 1951 film Waters of Time and later wrote plays, operettas and musicals for the stage. He wrote the lyrics for songs in two films, Moulin Rouge (1952) and The Innocents (1961). In 1949 or 1950, Dehn began a collaboration with composer James Bernard . Dehn asked Bernard to collaborate with him on the original story for the Boulting Brothers film Seven Days to Noon (1950). Through
6808-485: The 1960s, and an image of gold-painted Eaton on the cover of Life . Goldfinger was the first Bond film to win an Academy Award (for Best Sound Editing ) and opened to largely favourable critical reception. The film was a financial success, recouping its budget in two weeks and grossing over $ 120 million worldwide. In 1999, it was ranked 70th on the BFI Top 100 British films list. MI6 Agent James Bond destroys
6956-488: The 1960s, Dehn concentrated on screenwriting for espionage films, including Goldfinger (1964), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), and The Deadly Affair (1967). He later wrote the screenplays for the second, third, and fourth original Planet of the Apes movies and received the story-by credit on the fifth. He wrote the libretto for William Walton 's opera The Bear and two by Lennox Berkeley ; A Dinner Engagement and Castaway . His last screenplay
7104-431: The 22nd Bond film, Quantum of Solace , includes an homage to the gold body paint death scene by having a female character dead on a bed nude, covered in crude oil. Outside the Bond films, elements of Goldfinger , such as Oddjob and his use of his hat as a weapon, Bond removing his drysuit to reveal a tuxedo underneath, and the laser scene have been homaged or spoofed in works such as True Lies , The Simpsons , and
7252-420: 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
7400-521: 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
7548-509: 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
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#17327797288937696-501: The British side of things". Connery disliked his draft, so Maibaum returned. Dehn also suggested the pre-credit sequence be an action scene with no relevance to the actual plot. Maibaum, however, based the pre-credit sequence on the opening scene of the novel, where Bond is waiting at Miami Airport contemplating his recent killing of a Latin American drug smuggler. Wolf Mankowitz , an un-credited screenwriter on Dr. No , suggested
7844-599: The CIA by planting his homing device in Solo's pocket as he leaves. Solo is killed by Oddjob and his body destroyed in a car crusher , along with the homing device. Bond confronts Goldfinger over the implausibility of moving the gold. Goldfinger agrees. Bond deduces from Ling's presence that the Chinese government provided a dirty bomb to irradiate the gold, making it worthless. Goldfinger's own gold will greatly increase in value and
7992-443: The Chinese will gain from the resulting economic meltdown. Operation Grand Slam begins with Pussy Galore's Flying Circus spraying gas over Fort Knox, seemingly knocking out the military guards. Goldfinger's private army breaks into Fort Knox and accesses the vault as Goldfinger arrives in a helicopter with the bomb. In the vault, Goldfinger's henchman Kisch handcuffs Bond to the bomb. Unknown to Goldfinger, Bond convinced Pussy to alert
8140-501: 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
8288-710: 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
8436-481: The UK by Jonathan Cape on 23 March 1959. The story centres on the investigation by the British Secret Service operative James Bond into 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
8584-580: The United Kingdom in 1964, including 964,000 copies of Goldfinger alone. Between the years 1962 to 1967 a total of 22,792,000 Bond novels were sold. The 2012 video game 007 Legends features a level based on Goldfinger . Goldfinger (novel) Goldfinger is the seventh novel in Ian Fleming 's James Bond series. Written in January and February 1958, it was first published in
8732-414: The United States and $ 46 million worldwide. After reissues, the first being a double feature with Dr. No in 1966, Goldfinger grossed a total of $ 51,081,062 in the United States and $ 73,800,000 elsewhere, for a total worldwide gross of $ 124,900,000. The film distributor Park Circus re-released Goldfinger in the UK on 27 July 2007 at 150 multiplex cinemas, on digital prints. The re-release put
8880-607: The airport to the stud ranch, a Ford Thunderbird driven by Felix Leiter, and a Lincoln Continental in which Oddjob kills Solo. The Continental had its engine removed before being placed in a car crusher , and the destroyed car had to be partially cut so that the bed of the Ford Falcon Ranchero in which it was deposited could support the weight. The opening credit sequence was designed by graphic artist Robert Brownjohn , featuring clips of all James Bond films thus far projected on Margaret Nolan 's body. Its design
9028-525: 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
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#17327797288939176-513: The authorities and replaced the gas with a harmless substance. Goldfinger locks the vault with Bond, Oddjob and Kisch inside. When the US Army attacks, Goldfinger kills Ling and escapes. Oddjob tosses Kisch off a gangway after he tried to escape the vault. Bond frees himself with Kisch's key, but Oddjob batters him. Bond electrocutes Oddjob and forces the lock off the bomb, but is unsure how to disarm it. After killing Goldfinger's men, US troops open
9324-401: 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
9472-432: The beam advancing toward his crotch. Bond lies to Goldfinger that MI6 knows about Operation Grand Slam and Goldfinger spares his life. Pussy Galore , a pilot, flies the captive Bond to Goldfinger's stud farm near Lexington, Kentucky in a private jet. Once there, Bond escapes his cell and witnesses Goldfinger's meeting with American mafiosi , who have supplied materials needed for Operation Grand Slam. Goldfinger reveals
9620-484: 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 ...
9768-435: 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
9916-431: The book's eponymous villain, who was named after the architect Ernő Goldfinger . On learning of 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
10064-497: The book; the round of golf played with Goldfinger was based on a 1957 tournament at 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
10212-468: The characters Tilly Masterson and Pussy specifically have black hair in the novel). Goldfinger has a yellow-painted Rolls-Royce with number plate "AU 1" ( Au being the chemical symbol for gold), and also sports yellow or golden items or clothing in every film scene, including a golden pistol, when disguised as a colonel. Jill Masterson is famously killed by being painted with gold, which according to Bond causes her to die of "skin suffocation". (While this
10360-564: 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
10508-614: The death between Bond and Oddjob and Bond and Goldfinger, and a fascinating central crime ... Most enjoyable, but too bad Eaton's part isn't longer and that Fröbe's Goldfinger, a heavy but nimble intellectual in the Sydney Greenstreet tradition, never appeared in another Bond film." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times declared this to be his favourite Bond film and later added it to his "Great Movies" list. The film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives
10656-498: 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
10804-509: 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
10952-763: The exterior of the Pilatus Aircraft factory in Stans serving as Goldfinger's factory, and Tilly Masterson's attempt to snipe Goldfinger being shot in the Furka Pass . Filming wrapped on 11 July at Andermatt , after nineteen weeks of shooting. Just three weeks prior to the film's release, Hamilton and a small team, which included Broccoli's stepson and future producer Michael G. Wilson as assistant director, went for last-minute shoots in Kentucky. Extra people were hired for post-production issues such as dubbing so
11100-466: The factory complex, RAF Northolt for the American airports and Stoke Park Club for the golf club scene. The end of the chase, when Bond's Aston Martin crashes into a wall because of the mirror, as well as the chase immediately preceding it, were filmed on the road at the rear of Pinewood Studios Sound Stages A and E and the Prop Store. The road is now called Goldfinger Avenue. Southend Airport
11248-524: The fantastic. Goldfinger has been described as perhaps "the most highly and consistently praised Bond picture of them all" and after Goldfinger , Bond "became a true phenomenon." The success of the film led to the emergence of many other works in the espionage genre and parodies of James Bond , such as the Beatles film Help! in 1965 and a spoof of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel , Casino Royale , in 1967. Indeed, it has been said that Goldfinger
11396-403: The fight sequence between Bond and Oddjob in the vault of Fort Knox, which was not just seen as one of the best Bond fights, but also "must stand as one of the great cinematic combats", whilst Adam's efforts on Goldfinger were "luxuriantly baroque" and have resulted in the film being called "one of his finest pieces of work". Richard Maibaum, who co-wrote the previous films, returned to adapt
11544-546: The film and in the opening title sequence as the golden silhouette, described as "Gorgeous, iconic, seminal". Gerry Duggan portrays Hawker, Bond's golf caddy. While From Russia with Love was in production, Richard Maibaum began working on the script for On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the intended next film in the series, but with the release date set for September 1964 there was not enough time to prepare for location shooting in Switzerland and that adaptation
11692-482: The film could be finished in time. Broccoli earned permission to film in the Fort Knox area with the help of his friend, Lt. Colonel Charles Russhon . To shoot Pussy Galore's Flying Circus gassing the soldiers, the pilots were only allowed to fly above 3,000 feet. Hamilton recalled this was "hopeless", so they flew at about 500 feet, and "the military went absolutely ape". The scenes of people fainting involved
11840-440: The film four times: ranking it No. 90 for best movie quote ("A martini. Shaken, not stirred "), No. 53 for best song ("Goldfinger"), No. 49 for best villain (Auric Goldfinger), and No. 71 for most thrilling film . In 2006, Entertainment Weekly and IGN both named Goldfinger as the best Bond film, while MSN named it as the second best, behind its predecessor. IGN and EW also named Pussy Galore as
11988-452: The film had been pre-determined and filming had finished close to that date, John Barry scored some sequences to rough, non-final versions of the sequences. Barry described his work in Goldfinger as a favourite of his, saying it was "the first time I had complete control, writing the score and the song". The musical tracks, in keeping with the film's theme of gold and metal, make heavy use of brass, and also metallic chimes. The film's score
12136-554: The film twelfth at the weekly box office. Goldfinger again received a re-release in November 2020 in the wake of Connery's death. Goldfinger was the first James Bond movie to premiere on the ABC Television Network in the United States, which would go on to have a nearly two decade relationship with the film series. The initial September 17, 1972 airing of Goldfinger on The ABC Sunday Night Movie garnered
12284-495: The film was "dazzling in its technical ingenuity", while Time said that "this picture is a thriller exuberantly travestied." Bosley Crowther , writing in The New York Times , was less enthusiastic about the film, saying that it was "tediously apparent" that Bond was becoming increasingly reliant on gadgets with less emphasis on "the lush temptations of voluptuous females", although he did admit that "Connery plays
12432-418: The film wear yellow sashes, Pussy Galore twice wears a metallic gold vest, and Pussy's pilots all wear yellow sunburst insignia on their uniforms. Goldfinger's Jetstar hostess, Mei-Lei, wears a golden bodice and gold-accented sarong. The concept of the recurring gold theme running through the film was a design aspect conceived and executed by Ken Adam and art director Peter Murton . Since the release date for
12580-710: The film. The soundtrack album topped the Billboard 200 chart, and reached 14th place in the UK Albums Chart . The single for "Goldfinger" was also successful, reaching 8th in the Billboard Hot 100 and 21st in the UK charts . Goldfinger premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 17 September 1964, with general release in the United Kingdom the following day. Leicester Square
12728-417: The final scene on the waters at Venice and through the following end titles .) Shirley Bassey established the opening title tradition giving her distinguished style to " Goldfinger ", and would sing the theme songs for two future Bond films, Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker . The song Goldfinger was composed by John Barry, with lyrics by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse . The track features
12876-443: The friendly antagonism between Q and Bond that became a hallmark of the series. He had already appeared in the previous Bond film, From Russia with Love , and, with the exception of Live and Let Die , would continue to play Q in the next 16 Bond films. Michael Mellinger portrayed Kisch, Goldfinger's secondary and quiet henchman and loyal lieutenant who leads his boss's fake Army convoy to Fort Knox. Nadja Regin played Bonita,
13024-404: The gadgets and a more tongue-in-cheek approach, though trying to balance action and comedy. Goldfinger represents the peak of the series. It is the most perfectly realised of all the films with hardly a wrong step made throughout its length. It moves at a fast and furious pace, but the plot holds together logically enough (more logically than the book) and is a perfect blend of the real and
13172-552: 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
13320-489: The gold magnate Auric Goldfinger, who plans to contaminate the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox . Goldfinger was the first Bond blockbuster , with a budget equal to that of the two preceding films combined. Principal photography took place from January to July 1964 in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States. Goldfinger was heralded as the film in the franchise where James Bond "comes into focus". Many elements introduced in it appeared in many of
13468-417: 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
13616-664: The hero with an insultingly cool, commanding air." He saved his praises for other actors in the film, saying that "Gert Fröbe is aptly fat and feral as the villainous financier, and Honor Blackman is forbiddingly frigid and flashy as the latter's aeronautical accomplice." In Guide for the Film Fanatic , Danny Peary wrote that Goldfinger is "the best of the James Bond films starring Sean Connery ... There's lots of humor, gimmicks, excitement, an amusing yet tense golf contest between Bond and Goldfinger, thrilling fights to
13764-459: 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
13912-511: 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;
14060-522: 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
14208-429: 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
14356-401: The later James Bond films, such as the extensive use of technology and gadgets by Bond, an extensive pre-credits sequence that stood largely alone from the main plot, multiple foreign locales and tongue-in-cheek humour. The film's release led to a number of promotional licensed tie-in items, including a toy Aston Martin DB5 car from Corgi Toys , which became one of the biggest-selling toys of
14504-472: The main story —in this case allowing Bond to get to Miami after a mission. Also introduced for the first of many appearances is the briefing in Q-branch, allowing the viewer to see the gadgets in development. The subsequent films in the Bond series follow most of Goldfinger ' s basic structure, featuring a henchman with a particular characteristic, a Bond girl who is killed by the villain, big emphasis on
14652-439: The metal with a blowtorch from underneath the table to which Bond was strapped. The model jet used for wide shots of Goldfinger's Lockheed JetStar was painted differently on the right side to be used as the presidential plane that crashes at the film's end. Several cars were provided by the Ford Motor Company including a Mustang that Tilly Masterson drives, a Ford Country Squire station wagon used to transport Bond from
14800-430: 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
14948-457: 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
15096-433: 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
15244-657: 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
15392-419: 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
15540-451: The opening credits, was responsible for the posters for the advertising campaign, which also used actress Margaret Nolan. To promote the film, the two Aston Martin DB5s were showcased at the 1964 New York World's Fair and it was dubbed "the most famous car in the world"; consequently, sales of the car rose. Corgi Toys began its decades-long relationship with the Bond franchise, producing
15688-520: The plan is to breach the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox by releasing Delta-9 nerve gas into the atmosphere, which Goldfinger claims induces unconsciousness for 24 hours. Goldfinger promises to multiply the mobsters' payoff if the scheme succeeds, but they ridicule his plan, particularly Mr. Solo, who demands to be paid immediately and leaves before the others are fatally gassed. Bond is captured by Pussy Galore, but attempts to alert
15836-422: 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
15984-471: 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
16132-414: The release of the 'Ultimate Edition' DVD, whose video was sourced from a newly scanned 4K master of the original film. In 2008, Goldfinger was made available on Blu-ray Disc. Goldfinger ' s script became a template for subsequent Bond films. It was the first of the series showing Bond relying heavily on technology, as well as the first to show a pre-credits sequence with only a tangential link to
16280-516: The revolving license plate because he had been getting many parking tickets, while his stepson suggested the ejector seat (which he saw on television). A gadget near the lights that would drop sharp nails was replaced with an oil dispenser because the producers thought the original could be easily copied by viewers. Adam and engineer John Stears overhauled the prototype of the Aston Martin DB5 coupe, installing these and other features into
16428-427: The ruptured window. Bond and Pussy parachute from the crashing plane. Leiter's search helicopter passes over the unseen pair. Pussy tries to make their presence known, but Bond declares, "This is no time to be rescued", and draws the parachute over them. Desmond Llewelyn is not credited in the opening sequence, but he plays Q , the head of Q-branch. Hamilton told him to inject humour into the character, thus beginning
16576-495: The same set of soldiers moving to different locations. For security reasons, filming and photography were not allowed near or inside the United States Bullion Depository . All sets for the interiors of the building were designed and built from scratch at Pinewood Studios. The filmmakers had no clue as to what the interior of the depository looked like, so Ken Adam 's imagination provided the idea of stacks of gold ingots behind iron bars. Adam later told The Guardian that "no one
16724-617: The scene where Oddjob puts his car into a car crusher to dispose of Mr. Solo's body. Because of the quality of work of Maibaum and Dehn, the script and outline for Goldfinger became the blueprint for future Bond films. Principal photography commenced on 20 January 1964 in Miami Beach, Florida , at the Fontainebleau Hotel ; the crew was small, consisting only of Hamilton, Broccoli, Adam and cinematographer Ted Moore . Connery never travelled to Florida to film because he
16872-623: The scenes involving Leiter's pursuit of Oddjob. After five days in the US, production returned to England. The primary location was Pinewood Studios , home to, among other sets, a recreation of the Fontainebleau, the South American city of the pre-title sequence and both Goldfinger's estate and factory. Three places near the studio were used: Black Park for the car chase involving Bond's Aston Martin and Goldfinger's henchmen inside
17020-511: The second best Bond girl . In 2008, Total Film named Goldfinger as the best film in the series. The Times placed Goldfinger and Oddjob second and third on their list of the best Bond villains in 2008. They also named the Aston Martin DB5 as the best car in the films. The film was released in 1994 in the US and Europe on Video CD . It was first released on DVD in the US in 1997 by MGM Home Entertainment and in Europe in 2000. 2006 saw
17168-550: 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
17316-480: The set was deemed so realistic that Pinewood Studios had to post a 24-hour guard to keep the gold bar props from being stolen. Another element which was original was the atomic device, for which Hamilton requested the special effects crew get inventive instead of realistic. Technician Bert Luxford described the result as looking like an "engineering work", with a spinning engine, a chronometer and other decorative pieces. "Before [ Goldfinger ], gadgets were not really
17464-553: The seventh Bond novel. Maibaum fixed the novel's heavily criticised plot hole , where Goldfinger actually attempts to empty Fort Knox. In the film, Bond notes it would take twelve days for Goldfinger to steal the gold, before the villain reveals he actually intends to irradiate it with the then topical concept of a Red Chinese atomic bomb . However, Harry Saltzman disliked the first draft as being "too American ," and brought in Paul Dehn to revise it. Hamilton said Dehn "brought out
17612-403: 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
17760-526: The third instalment in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions , starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond . It is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming . The film also stars Honor Blackman , Gert Fröbe and Shirley Eaton . Goldfinger was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman . The film was the first of four Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton . The film's plot has Bond investigating
17908-518: The vault and a specialist turns off the device with "007" seconds remaining. Bond boards a jet to have lunch with the President at the White House , but Goldfinger hijacked the plane, tying up the plane's crew in the hangar and putting Pussy in the cockpit. In a struggle for Goldfinger's revolver, the gun fires, shattering a window and creating an explosive decompression ; Goldfinger is blown out
18056-445: 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
18204-414: 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
18352-433: 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
18500-583: Was "absurd, funny and vile". The Guardian said that Goldfinger was "two hours of unmissable fantasy", also saying that the film was "the most exciting, the most extravagant of the Bond films: garbage from the gods", adding that Connery was "better than ever as Bond". Alan Dent , writing for The Illustrated London News , thought Goldfinger "even tenser, louder, wittier, more ingenious and more impossible than ' From Russia with Love ' ... [a] brilliant farrago", adding that Connery "is ineffable". Philip Oakes of The Sunday Telegraph said that
18648-558: 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,
18796-458: Was allowed in Fort Knox but because [producer] Cubby Broccoli had some good connections and the Kennedys loved Ian Fleming's books I was allowed to fly over it once. It was quite frightening – they had machine guns on the roof. I was also allowed to drive around the perimeter but if you got out of the car there was a loudspeaker warning you to keep away. There was not a chance of going in it, and I
18944-528: 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
19092-468: Was delighted because I knew from going to the Bank of England vaults that gold isn't stacked very high and it's all underwhelming. It gave me the chance to show the biggest gold repository in the world as I imagined it, with gold going up to heaven. I came up with this cathedral-type design. I had a big job to persuade Cubby and the director Guy Hamilton at first." Saltzman disliked the design's resemblance to
19240-612: Was educated at Shrewsbury School , and attended Brasenose College, Oxford . While at Oxford, he contributed film reviews to weekly undergraduate papers. He began his career in 1936 as a film reviewer for several London newspapers. He was film critic for the News Chronicle until its closure in 1960 and then for the Daily Herald until 1963. During World War II , he was stationed at Camp X in Ontario , Canada . This
19388-541: Was for Sidney Lumet 's all-star Murder on the Orient Express (1974), based on the Agatha Christie whodunit , for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Dehn resurrected or reinvented at least three genres given up for dead at the time; the British mystery, the Shakespeare adaptation, and the spy film. Goldfinger (film) Goldfinger is a 1964 spy film and
19536-425: Was inspired by seeing light projecting on people's bodies as they got up and left a cinema. Visually, the film uses many golden motifs, reflecting the novel's treatment of Goldfinger's obsession with the metal. All of Goldfinger's female henchwomen in the film except his private jet's co-pilot (black hair) and stewardess (who is Korean) are red-blonde, or blonde, including Pussy Galore and her Flying Circus crew (both
19684-456: 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
19832-736: Was one of several training facilities operated by the British Special Operations Executive to train spies and special forces teams. According to the British writer and former spy John le Carré , Dehn worked in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as an assassin during World War II . He was the Political Warfare officer from 1942 to 1944 and held the rank of Major. Dehn took part in missions in France and Norway. He narrated
19980-492: 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
20128-525: Was packed with sightseers and fans and police were unable to control the crowd. A set of glass doors to the cinema was accidentally broken and the premiere was shown ten minutes late because of the confusion. The United States premiere occurred on 21 December 1964, at the DeMille Theatre in New York. The film opened in 64 cinemas across 41 cities and eventually peaked at 485 screens. Goldfinger
20276-534: Was put on hold. With the court case between Kevin McClory and Fleming surrounding Thunderball still in the High Court, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman turned to Goldfinger as the third Bond film. Goldfinger had what was then considered a large budget of $ 3 million (US$ 29 million in 2023 dollars ), the equivalent of the budgets of Dr. No and From Russia with Love combined, and
20424-401: 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
20572-487: Was recouped in two weeks, and it broke box office records around the world. Demand for the film was so high that the DeMille cinema in New York City had to stay open twenty-four hours a day. The Guinness Book of World Records went on to list Goldfinger as the fastest grossing film of all time with a gross of $ 10.3 million in 14 weeks in the United States. The film closed its original box office run with $ 23 million in
20720-585: Was serialised as a daily story and as a comic strip in the Daily Express , before it became 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
20868-444: 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
21016-487: Was shooting Marnie elsewhere in the United States. On the DVD audio commentary , director Hamilton states that other than Linder, who played Felix Leiter, none of the main actors in the Miami sequence were actually there. Connery, Fröbe, Eaton, Nolan, who played Dink, and Willis, who played Goldfinger's card victim, all filmed their parts on a soundstage at Pinewood Studios when filming moved. Miami also served as location to
21164-625: Was temporarily banned in Israel because of Gert Fröbe's connections with the Nazi Party . The ban, however, was lifted after several months when a Jewish family publicly thanked Fröbe for protecting them from persecution during World War II . The film's marketing campaign began as soon as filming started in Florida, with Eon allowing photographers to enter the set to take pictures of Shirley Eaton painted in gold. Robert Brownjohn, who designed
21312-399: Was the cause of the boom in espionage films in the 1960s, so much so that in "1966, moviegoers were offered no less than 22 examples of secret agent entertainment, including several blatant attempts to begin competing series, with James Coburn starring as Derek Flint in the film Our Man Flint and Dean Martin as Matt Helm ". Even within the Bond canon, Goldfinger is acknowledged;
21460-688: Was the first Bond film classified as a box-office blockbuster. Goldfinger was chosen with the North American cinema market in mind, as the previous films had concentrated on the Caribbean and Europe . Terence Young , who directed the previous two films, chose to film The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders instead, after a pay dispute that saw him denied a percentage of the film's profits. Broccoli and Saltzman turned instead to Guy Hamilton to direct. Hamilton, who had turned down directing Dr. No , felt that he needed to make Bond less of
21608-422: 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
21756-529: Was used for the scene where Goldfinger flies to Switzerland. Ian Fleming visited the set of Goldfinger in April 1964; he died a few months later in August 1964, shortly before the film's release. The second unit filmed in Kentucky, and these shots were edited into scenes filmed at Pinewood. Principal photography then moved to Switzerland , with the car chase being filmed at the small curved roads near Realp ,
21904-532: 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
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