"Casually, one hand reached out to the control panel and pressed down a switch. There came a slow metallic growl from the end of the table on which Bond lay. It curved quickly up to a harsh whine and then to a shrill high whistle that was barely audible. Bond turned his head wearily away. How soon could he manage to die?"

I've been trying to write up a review for Goldfinger - probably the most famous of the Bond adventures - for a couple of days now. Well, since this was a re-read, I guess you could say I have been trying to write down my thought for a couple of years!
The problem is that I didn't find this one as interesting a story as some of the others.
Don't get me wrong, there are some great characters in this - namely Auric Goldfinger and Tilly Masterton, and of course Pussy Galore, but the plot of this book was rather boring, especially when it became clear towards the end that the book heavily deviated from the film.
In the book, they never get to conquer Fort Knox.

So, what about the characters?

In typical fashion, Fleming vilifies the baddies (Goldfinger and his assistant Oddjob) by endowing them with the appropriate physical descriptions.
Goldfinger is another caricature villain:
"Perhaps, Bond thought, it was to conceal his ugliness that Goldfinger made such a fetish of sunburn. Without the red-brown camouflage the pale body would be grotesque. The face, under the cliff of crew-cut carroty hair, was as startling, without being as ugly, as the body. It was moon-shaped without being moonlike. The forehead was fine and high and the thin sandy brows were level above the large light blue eyes fringed with pale lashes. The nose was fleshily aquiline between high cheek-bones and cheeks that were more muscular than fat. The mouth was thin and dead straight, but beautifully drawn. The chin and jaws were firm and glinted with health. To sum up, thought Bond, it the face of a thinker, perhaps a scientist, who was ruthless, sensual, stoical and tough. An odd combination. What else could he guess? Bond always mistrusted short men. They grew up from childhood with an inferiority complex. All their lives they would strive to be big – bigger than the others who had teased them as a child. Napoleon had been short, and Hitler. It was the short men that caused all the trouble in the world. And what about a misshapen short man with red hair and a bizarre face? That might add up to a really formidable misfit."

And Oddjob is another victim of Fleming's general racial stereotyping, which by now I am pretty much expecting from Fleming, even tho they are no less aggravating:
"Bond had had a good look at the chauffeur. He was a chunky flat-faced Japanese, or more probably Korean, with a wild, almost mad glare in dramatically slanting eyes that belonged in a Japanese film rather than in a Rolls Royce on a sunny afternoon in Kent. He had the snout-like upper lip that sometimes goes with a cleft palate, but he said nothing and Bond had no opportunity of knowing whether his guess was right. In his tight, almost bursting black suit and farcical bowler hat he looked rather like a Japanese wrestler on his day off. But he was not a figure to make one smile."

Yeah, this is the general description of Oddjob. The, in this instance, more than casual racism is added a little later:
"Now then,’ Oddjob had dressed and was standing respectfully at attention, ‘you did well, Oddjob. I’m glad to see you are in training. Here –’ Goldfinger took the cat from under his arm and tossed it to the Korean who caught it eagerly – ‘I am tired of seeing this animal around. You may have it for dinner.’ The Korean’s eyes gleamed."

However, Fleming's does like to make his villains interesting, and in Goldfinger, Fleming introduces his audience to new fighting skills that have been around in Europe but have not yet enjoyed the popular appeal that would come a couple of decades later.

‘Have you ever heard of Karate? No? Well that man is one of the three in the world who have achieved the Black Belt in Karate.

I thought this was interesting. It shows that Fleming is still trying to keep the stories fresh and interesting. The previous books have been outlandish and daring, but each had a slightly different twist. Fleming enthusiasts may be able to convey more insight on this than I can, but it would be interesting to find out if Fleming himself had some interest in Japan or Korea when writing Goldfinger (and the later You Only Live Twice), since he seemed to have turned to Asia for inspiration in both books.
Of course, as mentioned in previous reviews, Fleming either seems to not have been a great believer in fact checking or he preferred to make use of sensationalist claims for the benefit of the story, but the claim of there only being three Black Belts in the world (in 1959) is of course false.

In a way, I guess this is what irks me most about Fleming's writing. When the plot does not hold up, the rest of the books crumbles with awkward writing, made-up facts, and predictable characterisations. Except, ....

Well, every now and then, Fleming does something to surprise: either he comes up with an unexpected gem of a character like Pussy Galore:
‘Who is this Pussy Galore from Harlem?’ ‘She is the only woman who runs a gang in America. It is a gang of women. I shall need some women for this operation. She is entirely reliable. She was a trapeze artiste. She had a team. It was called “Pussy Galore and her Abrocats”.’ Goldfinger did not smile. ‘The team was unsuccessful, so she trained them as burglars, cat burglars. It grew into a gang of outstanding ruthlessness. It is a Lesbian organization which now calls itself “The Cement Mixers”. Even the big American gangs respect them. She is a remarkable woman.’

Yeah, don't get me started on the name or the idiotic ideas about sexuality in the book, but Fleming actually created another female character (the first since Gala Brand in Moonraker) that is more competent than Bond. Pussy Galore pretty much saves the day in this book. Of course, Fleming then spoils this by having her fall for Bond (again idiotic notions....) but I give Fleming credit for trying.

The second surprise was that Fleming actually gives Bond a chance to be human - in this one he tries to help Jill Masterton escape from Goldfinger, and later he helps her sister, Tilly, plot revenge.

So, while this was not the most exciting of Bond books - and it definitely suffers by comparison with its predecessor Dr. No - there are some interesting parts in it. It is just a shame that the plot is not one of them, and that the gimmicks are not enough to make it special.

After hitting a stride with From Russia With Love and Doctor No, Goldfinger feels like a step backwards. I went through From Russia With Love and Doctor No fast because the story and writing was really compelling. With Goldfinger, the plot wasn’t as interesting and some parts were a slog to get through.

We watched Goldfinger last night on DVD - I'd seen it once before, around 1975, but I could hardly remember a thing about it. Really quite interesting! Some reactions:

The women

OMG. There are some scenes one could hardly believe. This was our favourite. Felix Leiter, Bond's opposite number from the CIA, turns up in Miami, where Bond is lounging by a swimming pool, having his shoulders massaged by an opulent blonde. They have the following exchange (from memory):

Leiter: Ah, Bond, I thought I'd find you in good hands!

Bond: Felix, this is Dink. Dink, say hello to Felix.

Blonde: Hello.

Bond: Dink, say goodbye to Felix. Run along now. Man talk. (He slaps her condescendingly on the ass)

And... she DOESN'T hit him, she DOESN'T say anything sarcastic, and she DOES run along! Wow. We were trying to remember if this really could have happened in 1964, but we were too young at the time.

The acting

We were pleasantly reminded of the Elvis movie Fun in Acapulco, a family favourite. Elisabeth thought Acapulco was better, mainly because the story was more plausible. I preferred Bond, on the grounds that Connery is a more competent actor than Elvis. But we both had to admit it was close.

The story

It sounded strangely familiar. The Chinese get together with an unscrupulous Western multi-billionaire, and hatch a scheme to create panic and chaos in the world's economic markets, starting with the US. They're both going to make a killing out of it. Where had we heard that before?

_____________________________________________

We heard on the news a couple of days ago that some enterprising trader has managed to corner Europe's entire supply of cocoa beans. They've started calling him Chockfinger.

Well, the script just writes itself, doesn't it? I can already see the naked girl lying sprawled on the bed, stone dead and covered in chocolate...

I suppose that GOLDFINGER is the most famous of Bond movies, so I decided to check out the book to see if one of the Ian Fleming 007 thrillers could keep me occupied. It turns out that this 1959 title is also one of the best Bond novels, as Fleming used the book’s adventures to create the James Bond we thought we all knew. He’s still a killer and a man of few scruples, but there is also something else there, a hidden heart and a knight in really cool clothes.

SMERSH is at it again. The counter-intelligence organization of the Soviet Union is using a gold-obsessed criminal by the name of Auric Goldfinger to smuggle gold. When the British Secret Service discover that Goldfinger really wants to take all the gold in Fort Knox, James Bond must step up his game to uncover and the stop the shenanigans. Oddjob, a great name for Goldfinger’s deadly assassin, fights and tortures 007, nearly killing him. But our Secret Service Agent is going to be tough to stop, as he realizes the world’s safety is at stake if Goldfinger isn’t taken down.

I’ve read other Ian Fleming titles, but this one made me a bit more involved. Whereas the other books seemed like a fling for the author, this one has more of a serious tone, while still presenting itself as a stylish thriller. The character of James Bond is better developed and maybe that’s why the movie was also better than most of the other films. I still have more Bond books to read, but this one would be my favorite thus far.

Book Season = Year Round (flying hats)

Goldfinger,
he's the man,
the man with the Midas touch
A spider's touch
Such a cold finger
beckons you to enter his web of sin
But don't go in
- Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley

I was really excited to read this book. Goldfinger was the first James Bond movie I ever saw so I have a special place in my heart for it. The screenplay was written by Richard Maibaum (dec.) and Paul Dehn (dec.) and how they turned this book into that movie is worthy of accolades and rewards. Posthumous awards

Standard disclaimer this book was written in 1959 and thus is full of misogyny, racism, sexism and homophobia. I'm pretty acclimated to the era when I grew up and still it was a bit stunning.

The book begins as does the movie with Bond waiting for a flight at the Miami airport, there he encounters a man who met him in Monte Carlo who needs his help discovering how a man is cheating at Canasta. Bond takes the commission for $10,000 for 48 hours work. The man in question is Auric Goldfinger and Bond solves the mystery quickly and get the girl. Bond then returns to the UK and goes back to spy work. Eventually his plans to track down Goldfinger and MI6's plan intersect and he is sent off to play golf with the man. I am not a golf fan, I don't play and I don't watch it – except for Happy Gilmore. If you think watching golf is boring, and I do, try reading about it. Fleming gives us details of at least 9 of the 18 holes, and it is deadly dull. Bond is invited to dinner, bumbles around a bit, is shown Odd Jobs creepy specialty

Then Bond tracks Goldfinger from England to Switzerland, and meets up with Jill Masterson. Yet somehow Fleming makes this deadly dull too. She is out to avenge the death of her sister, killed by Goldfinger for accompanying Bond to NY, off page unlike in the movie. When they try to spy on him they are captured and made into Goldfinger's minions. Now we are treated to James Bond, recording secretary. Goldfinger's plan in the book is terribly more convoluted and ridiculous than in the movie and takes place in a warehouse in New York rather than a Kentucky horse farm. No awesome model of Fort Knox, just some maps... Then they take the train to Kentucky. Oh and Pussy isn't a pilot so the cool scene where she is flying the plane doesn't happen either, instead Goldfinger steals a BOAC plane. Of course Bond saves the day, sort of and gets the girl who tells him about her sexual abuse at the hands of her uncle The End.

So while I love Bond movies and I really enjoyed Flemings tales of travel. I need A break from these books before I read any more.

Very rarely does a film improve upon the source novel. The novel is too long, is illogical in some parts, offensive in others and makes the reader realize what a superb job screenwriter Richard Maibaum did in adapting it for the film. These weaknesses stand out in particular:

First, the behavior of villain Auric Goldfinger is completely illogical during the torture scene. You might remember the terrific laser beam scene in the film where Goldfinger, played by Gert Frobe, threatens to slice James Bond, played by the great Sean Connery, in half. In the film, Bond gets out of the mess by bluffing, making Goldfinger believe that he knows all about Operation Grand Slam, Goldfinger's plan to blow up Fort Knox. Goldfinger reasons that he can keep the CIA and the British Secret Service at bay by keeping Bond alive and making them think that Bond is his guest, not his prisoner.

The novel, in contrast, has Goldfinger threaten Bond with a saw. Bond doesn't mention Operation Grand Slam and has been a constant thorn in Goldfinger's side. Goldfinger has Bond dead to rights and, unlike in the laser beam scene in the film, has no logical reason to spare his life. However, just before Bond is about to be sawed in half, Goldfinger inexplicably spares him and forces Bond to pose as his secretary. There's a running joke that Bond villains seal their own fate by devising elaborate ways to kill him that allow Bond to escape. However, Goldfinger's action in this scene in the novel completely defy logic and cripple the story's credibility. Bond novels are an escape from reality -- an adult comic book -- but this plot development makes absolutely no sense.

In the novel, Goldfinger's plan is to rob Fort Knox of its gold supply. Fleming, unlike Richard Maibaum, apparently never realized how logistically impossible this is. Connery rightfully points out in the film that to rob Fort Knox would require a whole fleet of trucks and several days to complete. Maibaum's plan, while still fantastic, makes more sense -- detonating a nuclear weapon in Fort Knox to irradiate the U.S. gold supply and drive the value of his own supply up ten times over.


The film has a lot of Asian villains. Harold Sakata is terrific as Goldfinger's superpowered Korean henchman Oddjob, Burt Kwouk (Kato in the Pink Panther films) is Mr. Ling, a Chinese nuclear scientist who supplies Goldfinger with the bomb and most of Goldfinger's henchmen are Korean. However, the film, for the most part, avoids extreme racial stereotyping. Many of the villains are Asian, but there's no suggestion that simply being Asian is a source of evil. Asians would later play a prominent heroic role in You Only Live Twice.

The novel, in contrast, is vicously racist in nature. The nadir of this being Bond's statement that Koreans "are lower than apes." It's hard to believe that even in the pre-civil rights era of the 1950's, this statement could slip by without triggering a major protest from an Asian rights group. Today, it seems so ugly and hateful that I immediately lost a lot of respect for Ian Fleming. This is his hero who believes these vile things, so clearly what Bond believes, Fleming believes -- there's no way to separate the two. One wonders which other racial groups Fleming was bigoted against. It's a disgraceful moment in the Bond saga and a shameful comment on Fleming's view of the world.

Novels like Casino Royale, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice are classics and rank among my favorite novels. Goldfinger, however, falls way short of that standard. When I finished Goldfinger, I was left wishing that I had not read it and instead had left my impression of the story to the vastly superior film. The novel not only disappointed me, it made me think much less of Ian Fleming as a person.

the plotting has some solid moments but also many silly holes, such as GF working for SMERSH but never having heard of Bond(?!), GF keeping Bond alive, the plane not nose-diving immediately after the window is broken, Pussy's sudden about face (so to speak), etc etc. Yes, I know it's just a spy story, but certain loose ends need to be tied up a little more tightly for it to roll smoothly. And to be honest, Fleming is quite simply not a very strong writer. His ideas are interesting but he's a B-grade thrillerist and nowhere near the level of the true greats of the genre. Creating Bond as a character was his genius idea, and he was merely keeping the franchise alive at this point. There's precious little sense of fun here, mostly just ego and overkill and it's all rather plodding at more than one juncture.

Overall, it was ok. There's a lot more going on in Bond's mind here in the book and it was fun and interesting to "see" this side of the original character. Story was good as well. However, Fleming is a lot more descriptive than I thought he would be. I don't mind authors wanting to paint some details in their stories, but I'm not a fan when authors remove the ability for me to use my imagination or go into great detail about something or someone that is not all that important. I seriously almost put this book down for good during the golf scene (which lasted for TWO chapters). Also, the blatant sexism and racism was very eye-rolly. I know this book was written in a different time, but I still feel it was bad for even the mid-century.
3 stars. Didn't love it, but definitely didn't hate it.

Sport, Torture and More

Having read Casino Royale again, I moved on to Goldfinger and was astonished at the similarities between the two. Both begin with extended confrontations between Bond and the villain over a game (cards for CR, and cards and golf for G), followed by an extensive torture scene. So you're over 150 pages into the book before anything else happens. Fortunately, Goldfinger moves on to the incredible Fort Knox stuff, although the source book is not as insane as the film from 1964.

Bond is in awe of Goldfinger - he regards him as the greatest criminal mind alive by the ned of the book. He is also surrounded by lesbians, one of whom he converts in the end (pretty bad stuff). It makes me laugh how dour this book is compared to the super glamorous film (the best of the original series). Bond is more like a cop than secret agent in these novels, but he does need to have balls of steel - sometimes literally - to survive. I'm not sure I loved the characters here, but the tale is familiar enough and classic, I suppose.

On to Live and Let Die (3rd of 4).

The movie has got to be better than this shit. Yes, I shall procure a copy for myself, and watch it all the way through. I must confess I have only seen parts of this cinematic Sean Connery classic, and the parts I have seen did offer up a slight sense of endearment for yours truly. But my attention span waned, and my movie prowess faltered, and I must confess I sometimes have the attention span of a fruit fly. But I shall push through, much as I did with this piece of male chauvinistic trash.

The golf scene proved longwinded and a bit of a bore. And I happen to really like golf. After the scene, though, I wanted to chuck my clubs through an open window and burn my golf shirts in a bonfire. So…I’ve got that going for me.

Pussy Galore is one of the best names of all time, right? Yes, you are absolutely correct. But the way she falls for James Bond made me want to hurl up a Happy Meal. She may have been a lesbian, but she’d never met a man like James Bond. I haven’t either, but that doesn’t mean I want to marry the bastard.

Even Auric Goldfinger felt limp-dicked compared to his grand cinematic self. And I’m sorry but I just didn’t buy Bond and GOLDFINGER working together. More than anything, though, I wanted to hear one of the most famous exchanges of all time, and I ended up with zip. Zilch. Nada. What exchange? You might ask. Why, it’s this one:

James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Auric Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!

I think it’s safe to say I was screwed.

Cross-posted at Robert's Reads

Returning in the 7th thriller by Ian Fleming, James Bond is back again, and he is up against one of his most evil adversaries ever-Auric Golfinger. Goldfinger is a short, ugly man with a large body. Golfinger who has a pechant for gold, has devised the catastrophic Operation Grand Slam. He is planning the worlds largest heist. He is planning to take the gold from Fort Knox!

The story begins as a friend of Bond has informed him that he plays canasta with a man called Goldfinger. He has also told him that Goldfinger cheats at cards and that he will pay Bond if he finds out how. Bond discovers that a girl called Jill Masterson works for Goldfinger spy's through bioculars over the card game and informs Goldfinger via transmitter what the cards are. Bond forces Goldfinger to confess and lose a considerable amount of money.

He then goes on a vacation with Jill. Bond is later informed by M that Goldfinger steals or attains any market that will increase his amount of gold, and also works for SMERSH. Bond then duels Goldfinger in a game of golf, where Goldfinger cheats again, until the end where Bond gets the upper hand and tricks Goldfinger into using the wrong ball and losing the game. Bond is invited to Goldfinger's mansion where he meets Goldfinger's Korean manservant Oddjob.

Oddjob has a cleft palate, and his hands and fingers are all muscle on both sides. He also carries a deadly bowler hat which can be thrown to slice off whatever it hits. Bond leaves and meets Tilly Masterson who tells him that Goldfinger had her sister Jill killed by painting he entire body gold. Bond and Tilly are captured and tortured. Bond is then informed by Goldfinger of his deadly scheme of Operation Grand Slam to steal the gold in Fort Knox.

Bond becomes the secretary of Goldfinger and is introduced to the hood's convention helping Goldfinger, including Miss Pussy Galore, who has a certain distaste for Bond. Bond leaves information on the evil plot to Felis Leiter on a plane and the plot is foiled. Tilly is killed, but Goldfinger, Oddjob and Pussy Galore escape. They all come face to face once again on an airplane where Pussy Galore changes sides to help Bond, and they kill Goldfinger and Oddjob. Bond then gives a lesson of TLC to Pussy Galore and the story ends.

A monster of a story for Ian Fleming, which is exciting, but filled with some holes in the plot. Not the place to first start reading James Bond, but for avid readers of the series all will love this thrilling tale of James Bond.

Running on fond memories of watching the Bond films in my childhood, I was recently inspired to pick this up. I wish I hadn't bothered. See, it wasn't the I didn't expect the sexism and the racism...ok I probably didn't expect the homophobia...but I didn't expect it to be so blatant! I expected useless women who's only function to the plot was to fall into Bond's arms or die, to be honest I'm used to it. I didn't expect a diatribe blaming homosexuality on women getting the vote. I didn't expect a character to die because she was lesbian. Admitedly, once a lesbian showed up I expected that Bond would cure her of this affliction with the power of his ALMIGHTY PENIS but, still, I can be annoyed that I was right and it did. Not to mention the child abuse thrown in to explain lesbianism. And, of course, the blatant racism. I'd expected that we wouldn't have any possitive characters who weren't white, but still, the out and out, blatantly stated racism was just too much for me.

I wouldn't recomend this to anyone and won't read it again. If James Bond is a real man that I think Pussy Glaore was better sticking with women.

The film was made at a time (1964) when they differed little from the books - this one originally being published in 1959. The one big difference being what Goldfinger plans to do with the gold when he breaks into Fort Knox. This is one of the most enjoyable Bond books, and as with the film, the compulsively cheating Goldfinger of the book is one of the great villains.

I enjoy the sixties Bond films and the Bond books - which are essentially a product of the previous decade. I think that's why I can enjoy both without the memory of one influencing the other. The books have a darker post-war atmosphere about them, and Fleming as a writer is often underrated for his character creation, dialogue and general descriptive flair! His prose is snappy and precise with not a word wasted.

And an additional note! One thing which leaves him streets ahead of many a modern writer is the fact that he knows when to stop. They're short novels, but they race along and pack a lot in. I don't know whether it's the policy of publishers or writers, but there really is no need to drag novels out to this current norm of 400 pages. Each story has its natural length. Right, rant over!