This grabs you right away even before Dame Shirley Bassey starts singing the title song over the credits, probably the most beloved Bond theme ever. "Shocking!", Sean Connery says after dispatching one villain in the most sizzling death scenes, and that's within the first few minutes. He'll have his hands full as he takes on the most notorious of all Bond villains, a vile man obsessed with Gold and able to turn a woman into gold, literally suffocating her to death. Connery finds himself at the mercy of that character, played with delicious malevolence by Gert Frobe. At one point, the use of gold gets a little to hot as it nears a very precarious place on Connery's body.Then there's the character of Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) who works as Frobe's pilot and could literally be out to un- Bond 007. Another villain is a silent Asian strongman, who like the much later Jaws (Richard Kiel) opposite Roger Moore seemed unbeatable. The battle of the will and strength between the two is often both chilling and funny. Even as bizarre and far fetched as these can be, that often makes them even better. And we all know nobody does it better!

By the last couple of decades of the 20th century and into the first decades of the 21st century, action films became the highest grossing offerings from Hollywood. Prior to circa 1960, period dramas were more often the pictures which brought movie-goers into the theater seats with their popcorn: "Gone with the Wind", "Spartacus", "Ben Hur", etc. A few action-suspense films, such as those directed by Alfred Hitchcock and film noir, did also bring in the box office bucks. Westerns were probably the most prevalent action movie prior to James Bond but many of them were lower-budgeted B-films. In 1956, the only action movie among the top-10 grossing films was "The Searchers", a western starring John Wayne. All others in the top-10 were epic period pictures and dramas. However, by circa 2000, the reigning king of film genres became the action film. By 2014, 50 years later, all the top-10 grossing films were action-oriented including science fiction, fantasy and/or superhero. Unlike decades gone by, the highest-grossing films and best picture winners are almost never the same. The original James Bond films of the 1960's, particularly "Goldfinger", paved the way and included so many of the elements currently found in the genre. Firstly, the James Bond films were the first action films outside of detective films/series and Westerns to feature a recurring character in multiple offerings. Secondly, much of the genre's formula was established with "Goldfinger" and other Connery-Bond installments. The action doesn't begin with the main plot but instead begins with Bond engaged in another mission as a kind of "prelude" to the main story. This device has been used ever since ad infinitum, such as in some of the later Die Hard films with Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) which began in the late 1980's and even up to the Mission Impossible films starring Tom Cruise in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Thirdly, Bond makes little funny comments which has become such a trademark in entertainment action films. Often these comments are in the wake of a kill. For example, in "Dr. No", Bond kills a man with a bow and arrow and says, "I think he got the point.""Goldfinger" became the second-highest grossing film of 1964 behind "My Fair Lady" and is probably one of the two best Connery/Bond films, the other "From Russia with Love". The plot is typical of many of the Bond stories: a kingpin criminal magnate, called simply Goldfinger, is suspected of smuggling large amounts of gold out of first-world nations and possibly reselling it to third world nations who pay more. (This couldn't happen today since international markets constantly track the price of gold.) James Bond (Sean Connery), Agent 007, is sent on a mission to find out about Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe). Turns out he's vacationing at the same hotel in Miami Beach as Bond! Then Bond turns up at a golf course where Goldfinger just happens to be playing. The informal gold, I mean golf competition, is worth the price of admission alone.The trail leads to a complex in Switzerland where Bond finds out about an operation called "Grand Slam". Bond doesn't know what Grand Slam is but is apprehended by the baddies in which Bond is shackled to a table and going to be sliced into pieces for 007 sandwiches by a laser. Bond must find out the nature of Goldfinger's scheme, but if he doesn't somehow get off the table, it will be Bond mince pies. Eventually he also meets Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman), a beautiful blond who knows automatic weapons, judo and airplane flying. She is part of Goldfinger's operation for the money and immune to Bond's "charms".A very enjoyable installment in the Bond canon and does uphold relatively well. Some of the sequences were a bit unbelievable by today's standards, such as Goldfinger puts only one guard on Bond initially. Of course the guard is not given reinforcements and Bond easily subdues him! (Goldfinger should be smart enough to use a lot more manpower to guard a hired assassin!) Although we may expect a bit more from action pictures (or may we don't!), the Bond cycle was the original blueprint which has influenced so many action films for over the next half-century. The series itself has continued at this writing with Daniel Craig as 007, for my money the best Bond since Connery. Still the Connery-Bond installments still provide good escapist entertainment. Pass the popcorn.

The third is a charm, as it proves "Goldfinger", the great third installment of James Bond franchise!With Guy Hamilton hopping in as a director and John Barry accompanying him in making the movie, they made no mistake!James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to investigate the gold smuggling led by Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe). What simply is supposed to be a gold smuggling, it's much more dastardly and a really great villain scheme, Operation Grand Slam! Bond not only has to fight Goldfinger but his deadly and memorable henchman Oddjob (Harold Sakata). Bond gets to meet the girl who'd be measured as a equal, Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman)!James Bond goes across Mexico, Miami, United Kingdom, Switzerland all the way to Fort Knox, Kentucky to prevent Goldfinger from his deadly scheme! Is Goldfinger the villain that's so memorable that doesn't hesitate to kill Bond?The pre-title sequence is solid at its' best, but that reflection in the girl's eye is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. But wait... there's the first theme song sang beautifully by Shirley Bassey! Desmond Llewelyn has been finally credited as Q in this movie, showing his basement and introducing us to the iconic Aston Martin DB5.Shirley Eaton and Tania Mallet portray Jill and Tilly Masterson as two of Bond Girls, but the ultimate Bond girl is Pussy Galore, who's tough, knows Judo and doesn't succumb to Bond's charm until the end of the movie! Gert Fröbe is so amazing as Auric Goldfinger and his scheme is brilliant even by today's standards. Would you believe it that he was dubbed by Michael Collins? Harold Sakata is awesome in his role as a mute Oddjob, who's also able to defy the pain when James throws a gold bar at his chest. We have Felix Leiter back again, but this time recast with Cec Linder, who does his work pretty well and helps James to prevent Goldfinger's scheme.Goldfinger is indeed a great film, introducing us to the gadgets, humor, one liners and many other things Bond fans desire. Sean Connery's performance is really great!5 out of 5 stars!

James Bond wears a strap on plastic seagull hatThis entry is widely recognised as the template for all the Bond films that followed - and we can see why in the opening sequence. James Bond ( Sean Connery) in disguise wearing a strap on plastic seagull on his head.It's a Roger Moore Bond movie nine years before Roger Moore! I love the ludicrous Bond movies such as Goldfinger and Octopussy - two of my favorites. Octopussy has Roger Moore riding a plastic crocodile and Goldfinger has Sean Connery wearing a strap on plastic seagull hat!Thunderball, a year later, continued the ludicrous fun with Connery's Bond riding a jet pack and fighting cross dressing assassins.It's a shame that in 2006, the franchise died and became something utterly bland with the advent of the Craig era.