Film

Goldfinger (1964)

Director: Guy Hamilton

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

To celebrate the BBC’s forthcoming Summer of British Film season, the UK Film Council – in partnership with the Beeb – is staging a selection of seven Brit flicks for a series of one-off cinematic releases across the country. It’s not necessarily the most imaginative selection of classics – ‘Brief Encounter’, ‘Henry V’, ‘Dambusters’, ‘Withnail & I’ etc – but, hey, musn’t grumble; we could argue the toss for months and still not arrive at a satisfactory list.

The season kicks off with Guy Hamilton’s Pinewood-produced ‘Goldfinger’, the first of four James Bond films he directed, and the third to star Sean Connery. Any kid growing up in the early ’60s will remember this one for several reasons: Birley Shassey’s screamer of a theme; Bond’s shocking use of a beautiful girl as a human shield; bullion-obsessed baddie Auric Goldfinger’s top hat-wielding henchman, Oddjob; Honor Blackman’s risquely monikered Pussy Galore; and, above all, Bond’s stupendous, gadget-infested silver Aston Martin DB5, the car that spurred a thousand Corgi purchases. Presented here in a newly restored digital print, it should look especially swish on the big screen.