MIT Lecture Series Committee

Rated PG
110 minutes

A FREE Summer Film, sponsored by the UA Finance Board

Goldfinger (1964)

In James Bond's third cinematic adventure, the dangerously suave spy (Sean Connery) must stop the criminal capitalist Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) from contaminating Fort Knox's gold with atomic radiation. Aiding the villain is the alluring Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) and the imposing Oddjob (Harold Sakata). Bond, on the other hand, is armed with his trademark charm and, of course, a slew of gadgets, courtesy of Q (Desmond Llewelyn). Encountering the usual bevy of beautiful women and perilous traps, 007 sets out for America to foil Goldfinger's financial fiasco. Based on Ian Fleming's 1959 novel, Goldfinger marks the appearance of a more carefree, wisecracking Bond and is widely considered to be one of the best films in the series. In fact, with stylized elements such as the gold-painted girl, the wince-inducing laser beam, Oddjob's razor-sharp bowler hat, and Bond's modified Aston Martin car, the film is quite possibly the most memorable Bond outing, and would be famously parodied decades later in the Austin Powers series, particularly Goldmember. [www.rottentomatoes.com]

The iconic James Bond movie, this third entry into the franchise is rightly heralded for offering the perfect blend of action, adventure, gunplay, fisticuffs, gadgetry (that Aston Martin!), romance, derring-do, and just about everything else.
      -- Christopher Null, filmcritic.com. Read this review.