In 1964, the formula for nearly 20 future movies was set in stone with the third James Bond film, Goldfinger, often regarded the best of the Bond films. I'm in no position to judge the merit of such a statement, but I will say it's a favorite of mine. To start off with, I'm a Sean Connery-Bond person; no warm spot in my heart for Roger Moore or Timothy Dalton, though Pierce Brosnan has added life to the franchise, as far as I'm concerned. In Goldfinger, Connery exudes everything that makes James Bond that character that we think of: suave, cool under pressure, quick on his feet, a ladies man. We see the ladies of Bond, from the first scene to the last, as Bond conquers not only evil herion dealers to a loony gold-hungry super villain who's plan is a simple one: take over Ft. Knox and crash the gold market. So the plan is silly, and the execution of the plan is just as absurd, but with most Bond movies, the plot is not what's important, it's the scenes you're expected to see. In Goldfinger, we get to see the Bond-blow something up scene, the Bond-flirt with Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) scene, the Bond-meet with Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and get vital equipment scene, we see Bond-roll in the hay with the villain's woman scene (literally in Goldfinger), and we see the return of the villain for one last hurrah scene. The formula is all there for us to see in Goldfinger, and we'll see it again in the future. The joy of Goldfinger is the villain, Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe), with his head henchman Oddjob (Harold Sakata), as they formulate a ridiculous scheme to take over Ft. Knox and blow up all of the gold inside of it. Oh yeah, there's help from the Communish Chinese too. The movie also features the dirtiest of the double entendre-named Bond girl, Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman), prompting the movie's biggest laugh when Bond realizes who he's waking up to. Goldfinger's special effects are pedestrian by today's standards, and director Guy Hamilton's use of speeding up the film distracts in some scenes, the movie still holds up as one of the ultimate Bond movies.
Review of Goldfinger
