16 Comments

The death of Fiona to the tune of ‘Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ is such an excellent set piece. And the Avro Vulcan is one of the film’s silent stars, a thrilling piece of British hardware, though sadly ill-fated.

Anyway, yes, an underrated Bond. Not as zippy as some but with much else to commend it. The thing that always bothers me about ‘Goldfinger’ is that most of the ‘iconic’ (sorry) moments occur in the first half, while Bond spends much of the second somewhat ineffectually locked up. But don’t get me started.

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Though she’s not a major Bond girl, in the sense of screen time, Molly Peters made a very, very big impression on me at an impressionable stage of my life!

And she was the first Bond girl to be shown naked, albeit from the back and through an appropriately steamed-up window, which I’ll happily always remember her for.

Watched it again recently, and was pleasantly surprised by the pre-title fight sequence…it is pretty violent, isn’t it? And, of course, the unforgettable jet pack, and the Vulcan sequence, which were just manna from heaven for boys of a certain vintage and bent. A different manna, though, than the one dispensed by Molly, of course!

Was Connery already bewigged by the time of Thunderball, Luke? If so, they did a good job keeping it attached for all those underwater sequences, no!?

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Sean's wig. Yes, absolutely. Bald from the start! I like the fight scene at the beginning. Like the brutal fight on the Orient Express in From Russia with Love, it's very much what Bond's all about.

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Bald in Dr No?! Really?

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Ah, just checked. Connery's hair was thinning extensively by Dr No. They didn't use a toupee for that one, but had to cover it up using 'techniques'. Connery wore, I think, a wig for Goldfinger- and then all subsequent films.

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Thanks, Luke!

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There seems to be dissent about this... various opinions out there...

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Yes.

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Wig, yes. Chest wig, absolutely not. But apparently, they did have to shave his back...

I've just started the book again, I'm still in Shrublands, deep in the Sussex Downs. I'm looking forward to the rest and will then see the film again. Great stuff! Connery's finest Bond performance?

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It was my little joke.

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Time to read Fleming again! The quilted dressing gowns excerpt is drier than Bond's Martinis!

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That one left strong memory imprints. Adolfo Cell and his Disco Volante yacht... The later remake, Never Say Never, did a good job with the health farm, I think, in a more funny vein... well Sean was older so the "free radicals" treatment made a lot of sense!

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Largo! White dinner jackets, eye patch and a Thunderbird!

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White dinner jackets. That's VERY Fleming. Very Surrey.

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Ah, just what one needs on a winter storm Sunday. Bond, bikinis and Blofeld.

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The three Bs.

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