"Goldfinger" 4K UHD Movie Review

Goldfinger

Director: Guy Hamilton
Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Desmond Llewelyn
Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Theatrical Release Date: September 20, 1964 (UK) / January 9, 1965 (US)
4K Ultra HD 6-Film Release Date: June 10, 2025 (Amazon.com)

READER RATING:

Plot Summary

While investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve. (from IMDB)

Film Review

Goldfinger is the third installment in the long-running James Bond film franchise, and it continues Sean Connery's exploits as the beloved British spy. In this entry, Bond comes up against the villainous Goldfinger who has a secret plot that involves the United States' gold supply. And while that might not sound particularly treacherous, it proves to be Bond's most dangerous mission yet.

Like From Russia With Love, Goldfinger is a big step up from Dr. No. While some moments could be accused of running a little long or slow still (the gassing flyby sequence overstays its welcome for sure), the pacing is much better in Goldfinger, and Connery seems as comfortable as can be in his signature suit of gray. The action is a little more frequent, so if you like that aspect of the Bond films, this one delivers a little more. For example, while Dr. No and From Russia with Love had rather underwhelming climaxes in the third act, Goldfinger - by comparison - pulls out all the stops for the biggest finale of the franchise up until this point. Bond gets some one-on-one fights with the Big Bads, soldiers from both sides shoot it out, and there's even a surprise dramatic showdown on an airplane. And of course, there's Bond girls throughout.

This is also the first film that leans into the double-entendre Bond girl names. "Pussy Galore," in all its absurdity (and lack of subtlty), is played by Honor Blackman here. She's a tougher match for Bond, too, which makes for an interesting dynamic. But Bond is still pretty forceful with the women and literally forces a kiss on her (that leads to other things off screen) after the two briefly have a physical fight. Again, it's stuff like that that somehow flew in the 60's (not that it should have), but is especially icky today.

Goldfinger
This third entry is directed this time by Guy Hamilton, but the content is pretty similar to the first two movies. The profanity is minimal, with just one use each of "h*ll" and "d*mn," and the only blood shown in the movie is a small scrape on Bond's cheek. There are quite a few background characters getting shot in the film's climax, but it's pretty bloodless. Also, two scenes show bad guys meeting their end by being electrocuted. It's not bloody or gory - they just are shown reacting to the shocking and then are shown dead. (Nothing burned or gross either.) Sex is implied in several scenes involving Bond with a couple different women, and then one of them is shown murdered by skin suffocation by being covered from head to toe in gold paint. She's lying nude on a bed, but a chair in the foreground blocks the view of her bare butt (so we see her bare back and legs only). Overall, the content still leans on the mature side given the violence and sexual content, so I'd just keep that in mind.

As I work my way through this 4K UHD 6-movie set of the Connery 007 films (rewatching them after many years have passed since I last saw them), I think this one may be the most entertaining of the first three so far, with From Russia with Love maybe being a slightly better movie overall.

Goldfinger in 4K UHD: Like the first two, I was impressed with the 4K transfer for Goldfinger. It really does look excellent in 4K, and fans should not be disappointed.

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 6/14/25)

Parental Guide: Content Summary

Sex/Nudity: We see a dancer shaking her chest; We see a woman in a tub holding a towel to her chest. She gets up and wraps towel around herself, showing her bare back; The opening credits features women in bikinis close-up in dim light; We see many women in bikinis at a hotel pool; Bond slaps Dink's butt; Bond kisses Jill, who is wearing a bikini, and then we see him in bed with her, kissing her. She's in a dress shirt and panties. He has no shirt. Felix calls and asks him to meet him out and Bond says he can't, "something big has come up"; We see Jill naked covered head to toe in gold paint. An object in the foreground blocks our view of her bare butt; A woman introdusces herself as "Pussy Galore," and Bond replies "I must be dreaming." We hear her referred to by name and just as "Pussy" several times during the film; Galore changes into a shirt that shows a lot of cleavage to entice Bond; After fighting briefly, Bond and Galore struggle and then he forcefully kisses her. The scene fades out; Galore shows some cleavage in her outfit; Bond pulls her down (from standing) onto a deflated parachute and kisses her. He then pulls the parachute over them as the film ends.

Vulgarity/Language: 1 "h*ll", 1 "d*mn," A woman's name is "Pussy Galore" and we hear her name said many times in the latter half of the film.

Alcohol/Drugs: Bond has champagne in a bucket; M and Bond drink at a meeting.

Blood/Gore: Bond has a small bloody scrape on his cheek.

Violence: During the opening credits, a man shoots at the screen and red comes down; Bond knocks a guy down and kicks him in the face; There's an explosion at a plant with a big fireball; A man rushes at Bond. Her realizes the girl he's with is in on it, so he pushes her in front of his blow and he hits her. Bond and the man fight, throwing each other around. And he throws the guy into bathtub. Then throws an appliance into the water, frying him to death; A man hits bond on the back, knocking him out; We see Jill naked covered head to toe in gold paint. An object in the foreground blocks our view of her bare butt. We learn she died from skin suffocation from the paint; Bond visits Q branch. We see a man shooting another man with a machine gun while testing a bulletproof vest; Odd job slices the head off a statue with the throw of his hat; A gunshot goes off close to Bond; He uses a blade from his car's tires to cut into and pop another car's tires while driving side-by-side; We see a car chase with one car shooting at the other. One hits a tree. Another explodes and goes off a cliff. Bond and the survivors have a shootout; Odd job throws his hat and kills a woman who was running away. It happens in the dark, so we see no details of the impact; A car's ejector seat shoots a guy out of the top of the car; They shoot at Bond, including an old lady (who previously seemed innocent) with a machine gun; Bond crashes his car into a wall; Bond is strapped to table as a laser slowly shoots between his legs; Bond is shot with a tranquilizer gun; A guard kicks open a cell door. Bond drops down from the ceiling on top of him and struggles with the guard's gun and then kicks him, knocking him out; Someone grabs Bond's legs while he's standing on something and pulls them out from under him. He falls on his face. He gets up and is knocked to the side; A room is gassed and men pass out (or die?); The driver of a car turns around and shoots the person in the back of the car; The car gets dumped in a junkyard and gets crushed in a crusher; While in a barn, Bond grabs Galore's arm two different moments and she flips him. He then knocks her down into the hay. She gets up and he flips her over in the hay. They struggle and then he forcefully kisses her; Military men collapse by the dozens as planes overhead rain down gas on the base; Soldiers attack Fort Knox. Goldfinger shoots one of his own guys to pretend to be on the side of the soldiers. As soldiers pass him, he grabs one of their machine guns and mows them down; Odd job throws a man off a high ledge to his death; Bond throws a gold bar at Odd Job that just bounces off him. Odd throws Bond against the wall he grabs a beam and hits Odd Job with it and then Odd Job breaks it. They keep fighting and he throws Bond around a couple times. He karate chops Bond in the kidney area and stomach and then throws him across the floor. Bond throws Odd Job's hat at Odd Job and it wedges into a metal gate behind Odd Job. Bond dives for a live wire lying on the floor and electrifies the gate, frying Odd Job. Odd Job falls over dead; We see more of soldiers and Goldfinger's men shooting at each other; A vault door opens slowly and crushes a man against a railing; There is more shooting. A man falls from a high up floor. Then another falls too; Some men are shown tired up; Bond struggles with a man over a gun. A bu;let goes through an airplane window and a man is sucked out, to his death; A plane explodes on the water; We see some fight scenes projected onto a woman's face briefly during the film's end credits.

Disclaimer: All reviews are based solely on the opinions of the reviewer. Most reviews are rated on how the reviewer enjoyed the film overall, not exclusively on content. However, if the content really affects the reviewer's opinion and experience of the film, it will definitely affect the reviewer's overall rating.

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