“I’m beginning to like you Mr. Bond.”
“Call me James.”
After the overwhelming success his first two outings, James Bond was a world wide phenomenon. Dr. No and From Russia with Love set a standard for the franchise to look up to from that point on. While the Bond formula was firmly set, producers “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman did not want to get complacent with their success. While the first two adventures were big money makers, the producing team needed to take Bond off the chart to keep the series going indefinitely. The third Bond film needed to be bigger than the other two, but not lose the elements of the Bond formula that made them successful. To find a proper story for this adventure, Broccoli and Saltzman would once again go back to the well with the books of Ian Fleming. Their choice was a book entitled Goldfinger.The result was the most enduring Bond adventure and perhaps one of the greatest action films of all time.
Goldfinger starring Sean Connery and Honor Blackman Directed by Guy Hamilton
In spite of wanting a “bigger” film for Bond’s second sequel, the plot for Goldfinger is actually quite simple. Bond is sent to observe gold enthusiast Auric Goldfinger after MI6 discovers that the man is buying up all the gold he can get his hands on. Things get interesting when an associate of Goldfinger’s, Jill Masterson, turns up dead in Bond’s hotel room. Bond’s hunt for Goldfinger continues, but ultimately gets him captured and sent to Goldfinger’s hideout in Kentucky. There Bond learns of his villains plan to destroy the gold of Fort Knox, making his gold the most valuable in the world. Bond also falls for Goldfinger’s assistant, Pussy Galore, but she seems too entrenched in her boss’ plan to help 007. This all leads to the climactic confrontation for the safety of the free world. Bond must once again stop the villain, save the girl and most importantly, make it look good.
Sometimes the elements of a Bond film formula really click on all levels. Whether it be The Spy Who Loved Me, Goldeneye, or On her Majesty’s Secret Service, certain Bonds just shine brighter than others. The finest example of what a Bond film should be is Goldfinger. The film is the culmination of the hard work put forth by the creators of Dr. No and From Russia with Love in trying to establish a Bond formula.
First off Goldfinger begins how a Bond film should begin, with a ridiculous pre-credit action sequence that has nothing to do with the rest of the film. Bond infiltrates an enemy compound by putting a decoy duck on his head and swimming to his desired location. He then peels off his wetsuit to reveal a tuxedo before dispatching a few thugs and blowing up the hideout. To top it off, Bond goes for a drink, picks up a lady, and kills another bad guy in the process before the opening credits even role. All this was the idea of new director Guy Hamilton. Taking over for Bond veteran director Terrance Young, Hamilton brought a lighter sense of humor to Goldfinger that was absent in the previous entry. With Character development already established in From Russia with Love, Hamilton was able to take Bond and have him concentrate on being a man of action.
Screenwriter Richard Maibaum helped to also become a cornerstone of Goldfinger’s success. Maibaum wrote a tight script that took all the thriving components of the previous films and combined them into one triumphant feature. Connery also finally seems to feel one hundred percent comfortable in Bond’s shoes. Connery’s confidence shines through as he seduces the unwitting Jill Masterson and spars mentally and physically with Honor Blackman’s Pussy Galore.
Speaking of which, the “Bond Girls” in this film are top notch. Honor Blackman is able to go pound for pound with Connery physically and is able to bring sensuality to the role of Pussy Galore without making her “slutty”. Her entrance and introduction as well as Connery’s “I must be dreaming” response is my personal favorite moment. Shirley Eaton’s Jill Masterson has one of the most memorable deaths in screen history. Eaton comes off as such an innocent, that when Bond finds her lying dead from skin asphyxiation as her entire body has been covered in gold paint, the moment shocks audiences to this day.
While villains of the series have never been particularly subtle, Auric Goldfinger’s flamboyancy gives him a special elevated place in the Bond Gallery of Rogues. From trying to become the richest man in the world to simply cheating at cards, Goldfinger takes every opportunity to prove how evil he is. Goldfinger’s henchman is also a series favorite. Bowler wearing mute Korean, Oddjob is a sinister menace. Every moment he’s on screen, Oddjob comes off as one of Bond’s most imposing opponents. In the whole of the Bond series only Richard Kiel’s Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me comes off as a more formidable henchman. Giving the villains a proper stronghold that is esthetically pleasing, Ken Adam’s production design keeps every set looking amazing. Goldfinger’s boardroom where he reveals his plans is a megalomaniac’s dream come true as it goes from a game room to a headquarters of evil in moments.
Making its screen debut was Bond’s signature tricked out Aston Martin. Filled with machine guns and oil slicks, the ultimate spy demanded the ultimate car and this was it. Also making this feature an exemplary Bond film is the work of John Barry. His score on the film surpassed even his From Russia With Love masterpiece. The theme song sung by Shirley Bassie is also the most memorable of the series.
All these elements helped Goldfinger become a phenomenon the world over. The Bond series skyrocketed like a franchise never had before. Merchandise such as T-shirts, games and posters flew off the shelves as Goldfinger became one of the most popular movies ever. Once again, producers of the Bond series could have been complacent with success and cashed in, but instead the series strived for more.
Thunderball starring Sean Connery and Claudine Auger Directed by Terrance Young
Originally the Ian Fleming novel, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was going to be the follow-up to Goldfinger. Bond producers then decided they wanted a bigger film to follow the international successful of the previous sequel. But what film could possibly match Goldfinger in action and intrigue? That successor would be Thunderball. The film involves the re-emergence of the evil terrorist organization SPECTRE, who had previously employed the services of Dr. No and “Red” Grant for their purposes. The plot has SPECTRE’s Number 2, Emilio Largo, stealing two nuclear warheads in a plot to ransom the United States and the Soviet Union. Bond is of course sent in to subdue Largo and take care of the warheads. Complicating the matter is Domino, the young lady accompanying Largo. After Bond convinces her to help him, Largo discovers their alliance and punishes Domino. In the end, Bond’s objectives remain the same; infiltrate Largo’s headquarters and defeat him, save the girl, and by any means necessary, make it look good.
Thunderball kept the ball rolling with Bond’s success. At the end of Goldfinger the finale involves Bond being handcuffed to a nuclear bomb at the bottom of Fort Knox while he has a brawl with Oddjob. Instead of just trying to make Thunderball‘s finale “bigger”, the entire film was given an epic landscape.
First and foremost, Thunderball was the first Bond film shot in the widescreen aspect ratio. This automatically gave the cinematography a bigger scope. Next the pace of Thunderball is much slower than that of the previous Bond entry. Some reports put the picture’s original cut at 4 1/2 hours in length. The final cut of the fourth Bond is actually a couple of hours shorter than that, but it’s a very leisurely 2 1/2 hours. Next, the locations for Thunderball, from a chateau in France to Largo’s estate in the Bahamas, were as exotic as locations in Bond films had ever been.
In addition The Bond tradition of beautiful women continued as Claudine Auger’s Domino and Luciana Paluzzi’s Fiona Volpe light up the screen. Paluzzi’s character is particularly important to the series as she is the first “femme fatale” in Bond history. Despite Bond’s attempts at wooing the fiery redhead to his cause, Volpe refuses to betray SPECTRE. Using her charms for the purposes of evil, Volpe showed a new side to a “Bond Girl” that set a precedent for future villainous females such as Famke Jansen’s Xenia Onatopp from Goldeneye and Caroline Munro’s Naomi, the lethal helicopter pilot in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Finally the film’s action set pieces rival those in any installment of the franchise. Thunderball features a spectacular climactic undersea battle between the forces of SPECTRE and those of the free world. All these ingredients added up to make Thunderball another triumph for the James Bond series. Box office for the film surpassed even Goldfinger as Bond seemed to be an unstoppable force in pop culture.
The franchise just kept on rolling with these two excellent installments. No film series had taken the world by storm quite like Bond had at that time. The film makers involved were able to take all the right elements from each of the first two movies and make the second two even better. Bond of course would go on, but it is the opinion of many that Bond films have not reached these heights ever again. Bond became a huge phenomenon, the likes of which would not be seen again until the cinematic landscape was forever changed by Star Wars in the late 1970’s. Filmmakers now had the power to take Bond where ever they felt necessary, but Bond was going to have to adapt to the changing times soon after. For that moment in film history though, Bond was on top of the world.
