Tag Archives: Sean Connery

Goldfinger (1964) a (ludicrously) belated review

Way, waaay back when Dr. No, the first James Bond movie, was released in 1962, it was a hit and launched the then new action/secret agent genre. A year later and in 1963, Sean Connery returned to the role for From Russia With Love. And a year after that, he would return for the third time in what many consider the best of the early Bond films, Goldfinger.

For those living in a cave the last few decades, the movie’s trailer:

This was the Bond movie that first really pushed the idea of spectacle and it was mostly done by giving Bond a tricked out car, the famous silver Aston Martin DB5 and its many gadgets…

This weekend and for whatever reason, our local iPic theater was playing Goldfinger and we decide to give it a look. I’ve seen the film several times before but not recently so I was curious how I would react to seeing it again, this time on the big screen, and if it would show its age.

Well, I won’t keep you in suspense here: I felt the film did show its age. But having said that, it was expected.

Considering the way “spectacle” films are nowadays, Goldfinger comes off as at times almost tame in its bigger action sequences yet the story is what makes the film sing.

For Goldfinger is a film that puts you in bond’s shoes regarding what the villain is up to… and often Bond -and the viewer- don’t know quite what the hell is going on.

The movie starts with Bond finishing off a mission before heading to Miami Beach and brushing against Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe, quite good as the spoiled yet devious titular villain). Goldfinger, we find, has somehow been smuggling (you guessed it) gold from country to country, taking advantage of the exchange rates to make out like a bandit… and England isn’t too happy about that. They’ve tried to figure out how he does it but so far haven’t and Bond, afterwards, is assigned to figure out what he’s up to.

I’ve skipped a few details because I don’t want to get into SPOILERS but suffice to say Bond winds up finding himself in great danger the closer he gets to Goldfinger. More importantly, he realizes Goldfinger has some kind of sinister master plan in the works and must use his wits to stay alive long enough to both figure that plan out and thwart it.

Again, the action sequences may be lacking to modern audiences but the general excitement, and mystery, regarding Goldfinger is the engine that keeps this film going. The cast, beyond Connery’s Bond and Frobe’s Goldfinger, is also to die for. The almost ethereally beautiful Shirley Eaton has a small role at the start of the film as Jill Masterson. Honor Blackman is cool and sexy as (don’t know how they got away with it) Pussy Galore. And then there’s Harold Sakata as Oddjob, the first -and perhaps the best!- of the very fearsome henchmen Bond faces during his decades of adventures.

So while as an action film Goldfinger may not thrill quite as it did when first released and if you can forgive one sequence many modern eyes view as “rapey”, recommending Goldfinger is a no-brainer.

Especially if you can see it in a theater!

Time gets us all…

Years ago I recall seeing this magazine on the newsstands with what was then a surprising image/interview of actor Cary Grant.

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The image was surprising to see because it had been years since Mr. Grant retired from acting and to suddenly see him re-appear and have this “silver fox” look was stunning.  To many, like me, he was frozen in time thanks to the magic of cinema and might be recalled by the way he looked in the mid-1960’s, in his last movie role before retiring…

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Or perhaps in his prime, one of the more handsome Hollywood lead actors ever…

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Shortly after this GQ article came the sad news of Mr. Grant’s passing, and I distinctly recall reading another magazine offering a tribute to the legendary actor.  While I can’t remember the exact details of the entire article, one line at the start of it really hit me.

It went something lIke this: “The actor you thought would live forever has passed away.”

I could understand the sentiment and the shock of seeing someone I had seen so many times before on the silver screen in their “prime” suddenly looking so old…so frail.

These sentiments came back really strong when images of another favorite actor of mine, who interestingly enough is tangentially tied in to Mr. Grant, was caught out and about shopping with his wife…

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There are plenty of others pictures out there to show (it appears paparazzi followed this individual and his wife around for a while), but suffice it to say that if I wasn’t aware of who this is, I likely never would have guessed.

The above picture is of Sean Connery and his wife Michelle Roquebrune out shopping.

As I said above, Cary Grant and Mr. Connery share a tangential relationship.  Though they were never in a film together (to the best of my memory!) the Cary Grant film North By Northwest (directed by Alfred Hitchcock) was a big inspiration for the James Bond films.  In fact, when the producers of the Bond films were working on developing the property, they wanted Cary Grant to play the secret agent but he ultimately declined because he didn’t want to tie himself to more than one film, thus paving the way for Sean Connery (who effected a Cary Grant-like suave style).

Interestingly enough, like Cary Grant, Mr. Connery also retired from making films and has stuck to this promise, thus also “freezing” himself in time, making us remember him like this…

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The image above is from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mr. Connery’s last movie role before retiring.  Of course, we also may remember Mr. Connery like this…

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I truly hope Mr. Connery is enjoying his retirement.  I presented the above image not to shock but rather to show, as if anyone needs to be reminded, that the passage of time affects us all.