Customer Reviews

Goldfinger (James Bond) (Amazon.com Exclusive Steelbook Edition) [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

GOLDFINGER has become recognized as a cultural phenomena and the Jams Bond craze started taking off after the release of this film. GOLDFINGER contains a well-balanced level of depth and action leaving one emotionally charged. This is perhaps Sean Connery's finest James Bond film. The golden girl, Oddjob's bowler hat, Goldfinger's lethal laser, the Astin Martin DB5 with modifications introduced by Q, and Shirley Bassey's legendary rendition of the theme song belted out over the titles immediately became an integral part of the James Bond lore and remained in the psyche of the public.

Director Guy Hamilton, screen writers Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn and editor Peter Hunt were able to produce a solid, well balanced, entertaining film based on Ian Fleming's novel that does not rely totally on the spectacle and whimsy that would weaken the subsequent entries in the series. Production designer Ken Adam and art director Peter Murton gave the production a stunning and lavish distinction. The Fort Knox set and Goldfinger's playroom at his stud ranch was a testament to imagination and achievement. John Barry's score is unique in some respects as he continued to finally hone his distinctive style to perfection with this memorable score.

This edition contains a digitally remastered print restored frame by frame and the sound has been remastered in a 5.1 DTS mix. Most impressive is that there is true Front Left and Right stereo separation. I think the technicians had a lot to work with. If you examine the last Laserdisc release of GOLDFINGER it contained an isolated music and sound effects track, so some valuable audio separation existed to work with. The results are impressive on this front and the basic sound of the audio is much more defined and sounds clean and crisp to the ear.

I hadn't seen Goldfinger in quite some time, but I've been a Bond fan, and a Connery Bond fan in particular, since I was a kid, so I was especially anticipating the Blu-ray release of this movie. Fortunately, I was not disappointed.
First, the video quality; simply spectacular! This is due in no small part, of course, to the amazing film restoration process employed by Lowry Digital. For anyone wanting examples of BD discs that exploit the maximum video quality of which blu-ray is capable, this is the disc to own -- whether you like Bond movies or not. Color saturation is rich, while still maintaining life-like realism (especially with respect to flesh tones); sharpness is excellent, too. One drawback common to pristine restorations of old movies, however, is they tend to reveal the weakness of the period special effects, but that is a minor issue (in some ways, that "weakness" heightens the sentimental appeal of such movies).
Second, the audio quality; very impressive. Unfortunately, my BD player can't output the disc's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, so I had to make do with standard DTS, but even with that "lossy" format, the sound quality was extremely lifelike, clear, and engaging -- especially with respect to the score.
I don't often focus on a disc's special features, but they are plentiful and interesting on this disc. I particularly enjoyed the "making of" featurette. The Connery off-set interview during the Goldfinger shoot is also worth watching.
The only thing preventing me from granting "Goldfinger" a full five stars is that this is not altogether my favorite Bond film, though I appreciate its importance in establishing much of the pattern of the later Bond movies.
In sum, this disc's reference quality video alone would make it an excellent addition to anyone's BD library. Add to that the fine soundtrack, plentiful and amply engaging special features, and a classic and very entertaining movie to boot, and you have a terrific purchase in this Blu-ray release of Goldfinger.

What happened to the 2-disk "ultimate" edition of this (and the other) Bond films? One day they were available, the next they're gone! There was no indication that these were a limited edition of any sort, were they pulled from shelves? I guess that I should have placed an order as soon as I saw this edition of Goldfinger (my favorite Bond flick) but I was hoping to give my battered wallet a rest for a couple of months after Christmas! I don't want to order the box set because I'm only interested in the Connery-era Bond films. Why is this 2-disk DVD already unavailable??

Many will argue over which is the best bond movie in the franchise . If you like gadgets, cars with impressive arsenals and catchy names with double entendre than more than likely you're favorite Bond movie might be "Goldfinger". As for me, I prefer "From Russia with Love (1963)" over Goldfinger, just for the quality that From Russia with Love is more plausible and realistic. Now that does not mean I dislike Goldfinger, on the contraire I think its #2 in the bond franchise, leaving # 3 to "Casino Royale".

Goldfinger is the first Bind film to introduce gadgets to the series, aside from the storable rifle in "From Russia with Love" here in "Goldfinger we see for the first time the Aston Martin DB5; equipped with all the necessary gadgets for traffic alleviation, enemy destruction, and why not, impress the girls on the way. Goldfinger is also the first 007 movie to have a title sequence with actual lyrics in it; neither two previous films had words in the music, just orchestra. The famous title song is performed by Shirley Bassey, who would perform songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Moonraker (1979). She is the only singer to have recorded more than one James Bond theme song.

The movie begins with an unforgettable entrance, a pre-title sequence that..Honestly really had nothing to do with the rest of the movie, but hey it works fabulously. Anyways, Auric Goldfinger is a gold smuggler, and a fanatic of gold..Hence Goldfinger. Bond is sent by M to investigate how Goldfinger manages to smuggle gold internationally; Bond later discovers that he is preparing a diabolical plan called "Operation Grand Slam" consisting of eradicating all gold in Fort Knox by A-Bombing it, leaving all the gold radioactive for 58 years and useless...except Goldfingers which he plans to keep and let it duplicate or triplicate its value.

While the plot is a bit fantasy, newcomer to the franchise Guy Hamilton, he brings a magnificent touch of believable fantasy. Unfortunately subsequent Bond films tried to cash in on Goldfingers success by borrowing ideas and redoing the plot. Of course all attempts were futile, they were incomparable with Goldfinger. A perfect example would be "A View to a Kill (1985)" it presented a reminiscent plot, only difference instead of gold it was silicon, and instead of Fort Knox it was Silicon Valley. It didn't work, Goldfinger is a timeless classic that works perfect and is in my opinion the best of the extravaganza entries.

SPECIAL FEATURES

DISC 1:
> feature film re-mastered in high definition, using the original negative to bring the image to its best possible quality, eliminating any dirt or flickering.
> Audio Commentary featuring Guy Hamilton
> Original Mono Track
> 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
> 5.1 DTS Theater sound

DISC 2

> Sean Connery on the set of Goldfinger
> Screen tests
> On Tour with the Aton Martin DB-5
> Honor Blackman Open-Ended Interview
> Interactive Guide into The World Of Goldfinger
> The Making of Goldfinger
> The Goldfinger Phenomenon
> Original Publicity Featurette
> Original Trailers, T.V. Spots & Radio Communications

James Bond Will Return In "Thunderball"

MY PERSONAL RATING: 5 OUT OF 5

If you're a Bond fan and you have Blu-ray, this is a must own. It's considered by many to be not only the best of Connery's Bond films, but the best out of the entire series.
They have painstakingly restored it, and the work really shows off. In many scenes, it looks as though it were filmed yesterday. It's absolutely amazing.
Five out of five.
(Oh, and the Steelbook case is really neat, too.)

Goldfinger (James Bond) (Amazon.com Exclusive Steelbook Edition) [Blu-ray]
"Goldfinger" was the third James Bond film, and now, 45 years later it remains one of the best of the series. Great villains (including the almost-lovable Oddjob), great action sequences and a girl named Pussy Galore. What more could you want? Like the rest of the recent remasters, this edition benefits from a sterling remastering job by Lowery Digital. The original camera negatives were transferred to video in super-high-definition, then cleaned up and re-color-balanced. The image is sharp, sporting eye-popping color, contrast and detail. This is the best the film has looked since its release to theaters in 1964.

Strangely, the James Bond classics did not make it into the top 100. Goldfinger has it all. The John Barry soundtrack, the interesting set designs, the intro graphics, good photography, good script, good acting etc. These films were new and fresh, there was nothing like it before and have influenced a ton of action films since. There's nothing wrong with the Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, The Sound Of Music, and so on. There're all good in their own kind of way. However, some of these films seem really dated and stale and don't hold up very well and they do not generate the level of continued enthusiasm as the classic Bond films. Who knows, maybe next time around AFI will take a second look and give James Bond a few votes. Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, take your pick.

Appropriately enough the first of the series to have a really imaginative use of colour, Goldfinger is in many ways the most visually sensual of the films, the unforgettable image of Shirley Eaton's golden girl reflected in a golden glow to much of Ted Moore's cinematography. It's oozing with striking and surreal imagery, from Oddjob's menacing shadow on the hotel room wall, to the little old lady with machine gun or Bond making his entry by unzipping his wetsuit to reveal an evening one underneath. Ken Adam's production design is his possibly his finest hour, genuine architecture of the imagination that is at once both fantastic and strangely credible, maintaining a sense of scale and verisimilitude by his use of ceilings on the smaller sets.

It's also the one that set the Bond formula in stone, something that would later become more a hindrance than a help to the series before something more radical was attempted with Casino Royale. Aside from establishing the trend for irrelevant but enjoyable pretitle sequences, it is from here on that the gadgets begin to assume a more prominent role. However, unlike most of the Roger Moore efforts, they are no match for Bond's own wits - even the famed Aston Martin DB5 does not save him. After putting it through its paces, he is left to his own initiative.

There is no getting away from the overtly sexist approach here ("Dink, say goodbye to Felix - man talk."). Even Blackman's villainy seems inextricably linked to her lesbianism ("You can turn off the charm, I'm immune") but one good one from Bond and she's on the side of the angels.

As with all Bond films, many of the cast are dubbed - in this case, Frobe was dubbed by actor Michael Collins. Regardless, his Auric Goldfinger is easily the best of the Bond super-villains, and comes equipped with the best line in the series as Bond, strapped down in front of the laser beam (in the novel it was a chainsaw), asks if he expects him to talk: "No Mr Bond, I expect you to die." And for possibly the only time in the series, you think that maybe Bond really has had it. Incredibly enjoyable and one of the best-paced entries in the series, it's not hard to see why this is many people's favorite Bond film. It may be formulaic, but then the formula still worked wonders.

While all the extras from the previous release have been carried over, there are not as many new features as you might expect. Most interesting are Theodore Bikel and Tito Vandis' screen tests as Goldfinger, but there are also somewhat awkwardly presented archive interviews with Connery and Honor Blackman as well as a featurette about the Aston Martin DB5, though perhaps the most enjoyable remain the radio spots from the original release.

The ultimate Bond in this fantastic re-master of Goldfinger sizzles the screen! Trevor Young steps down and Guy Hamilton takes us on a new Bond trip! Hamilton modernizes the series and gives it panache with great twists and turns! There's an involving main villain played brilliantly by the lead actor. The Bond babe 'Pussy Galore' is a mature woman with character and the scenes between the sexy Connery and this sexy woman are classic! The scenes are well edited and the rhythm of the film set a standard for the fans and for future Bond films! One of the best in the series!

"Goldfinger" was the third movie in the Bond series. This movie set the standard for the Bond genre, and is generally regarded as one of the best Bond films, if not the best.

Gadgetry goes high-tech in this movie and will stay with Bond in every film from this point forward (with the exception of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service). In this movie we have a cutting laser; very impressive technology for 1964 when the laser was still a very new device. A lot of poetic license was used for this special effect since even visible light lasers can barely be seen under most circumstances, and high power cutting lasers can not be seen at all.

Sean Connery appears very confident in this film. His style of Bond is well developed by this point and remains the standard by which all other actors playing Bond are measured. Most men at some point in their lives (and perhaps some women too!) want to be the James Bond portrayed by Sean Connery in this movie.

There are very cool gadgets in this movie. The Aston-Martin DB-5 has to be the best. Everyone needs a car with machine guns, a smoke screen and an ejection seat (which only covers a few of the neat features). Apparently, you do not want an Aston-Martin near a Ford Mustang, as Tilly Masterson found out. Oddjob's hat, while low tech, presaged the martial arts movies of the 70's. The cargo plane with the Boeing 747 style front end was very interesting. Goldfinger's model of Fort Knox was very good. Goldfinger also provided the best way to get rid of a body in the 60's. One detail I had missed on previous viewings of this movie was the license plate on Goldfinger's car. How could I have missed that?

The first portion of the movie provides two pieces of information. First, Goldfinger loves gold. Second, Goldfinger has something going, but what? The second portion of the movie begins when it's revealed that Goldfinger plans to attack Fort Knox. Goldfinger would be very brave, or very stupid, to attack Fort Knox. But even that is not the end of the plot. Goldfinger plans on setting off a nuclear bomb in Fort Knox to contaminate the U.S. gold reserves, making Goldfinger's gold even more valuable. I guess you can never be too rich. Fortunately James Bond is in all the right places at all the right times, though he risks death more than once in the process.

The locales become more exotic with each Bond movie. This time we get to go to Switzerland, England, and exotic Kentucky (well, Fort Knox is pretty exotic). Being on location adds a lot of realism to these films.

The biggest advantage to the Ultimate Edition of Goldfinger is the cleaned picture. The techniques used to clean the picture were explained in a feature in the Ultimate Edition of "Dr. No." If you are looking to upgrade from a VHS tape or the first DVD release, or you are a first time buyer of "Goldfinger," I recommend this edition.

This version of "Goldfinger" has a few extras that are different from the Special Edition DVD. There are screen tests and a featurette, "On Tour with the Aston Martin DB-5." There is also an open ended interview with Honor Blackman. As with the other Ultimate Editions, the photographs in the images sections play like a slide show. I believe nearly all the remaining extras were available in previous releases.

This movie is a lot of fun. Grab yourself a bowl of popcorn, sit back and spend a couple of hours in a world and a time that may feel like long ago, but really was not.

Enjoy!