That's No Moonraker: Goldfinger

←Previous Episode

Next Episode→

Date

June 6th, 2020

Summary

Alex and Pete assess the value of 1964's "Goldfinger"

Duration

1:50:15

Notes

Film

• 3rd film based on the 7th book.
• First Bond movie to be a blockbuster with a budget equivalent to the previous two movies combined.
• Alex's quick summary: James Bond goes up against Goldfinger, a rich guy obsessed with gold who plans to bomb Fort Knox in conjunction with the Chinese, thereby destabilizing American currency and making his own gold more valuable in the process. Bond defeats him with the help of his former henchwoman and personal pilot Pussy Galore.
• First time we have the theme song be the title of the film.
  • Performed by Shirley Bassey, who we'll hear from again.
• Goldfinger body was Gert Fröbe. He was dubbed by Michael Collins for almost the whole thing.
  • You can hear his real voice in the distance while Bond is hiding under the scale model.
• Woman in the title sequence is Margaret Nolan (see below).
• All the scenes in Miami were filmed in London.
• No scene of James Bond gambling in this film.

Podcast

• The popular, critical, and cultural success of this movie. Many "Bond tropes" come specifically from this film.
• Cold open.
  • One-off action set piece that doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the movie.
  • This sets a precedent for other James Bond films.
  • Bond has a duck on his head and a tuxedo under his dry suit.
• Title sequence is now what we've come to expect: scenes from the movie projected against a woman painted gold.
• The theme song is extremely on the nose. It does meet Pete's three criteria for consideration for top Bond song.
• TV's "The Golden Girls".
• The team of Fröbe and Collins.
• Margaret Nolan ("Dink" the masseuse) was in A Hard Day's Night she was "Girl at casino".

  • Bond name-checks The Beatles in this movie.
  • Shout out to Alphabeatical co-hosts Adam and John.

In the previous movie, Felix Leiter was played by Jack Lord, but he wanted too much money so they recast him (it's still the same character).

• Played by Cec Linder, this is his only appearance as Felix Leiter. They swapped him at the last minute with the guy who Goldfinger cheats at cards (Austin Willis).

High stakes gin (card game): is that a thing?

• Compare this scene of Goldfinger with James Bond's debut running the table at Baccarat. It's not as intimidating for introduction of a villain.

Just by virtue of showing up, James Bond seduces henchwoman Jill Masterson away from her boss Goldfinger.

• "Brakefast" watch: three films for three.
• Skin Suffocation is not a real thing.
• The in-universe forensics of how they pulled this off.

008 is name-dropped, implying there other agents. What license plate numbers you can't get.

Meta Notes

• The Mythbusters tested a myth based on the cold open of this film. They concluded that it is possible to wear a tuxedo under your dry suit, scuba dive to reach a party and then (once you've removed your scuba gear) infiltrate the party without rumpling your tux and giving yourself away.
  • They also tested being painted with gold paint as a means of execution on a number of occasions, and found that although it's probably not a good idea, it is not deadly as myth proponents would claim.
• This movie came out in 1964, but the UK would not formally adopt the metric system until the following year, so it is perfectly reasonable that Bond would refer to a temperature on degrees Fahrenheit.

Quotes

• Alex: Let's Bond with the this!

Star Wars names

Star Wars pun names for Goldfinger
Alex	Name 1 Name 2 Name 3
Pete	Name 1 Name 2 Name 3

Link (Patreon supporters only)

---

Back to the list of Patreon-exclusive episodes