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movie review - Goldfinger

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

I watched this with my almost-thirteen-year-old this morning. On the whole, I thought it held up rather well, with an only moderately bonkers plot that involved a Western crook partnering with the Chinese Communist Party to set off a dirty bomb in Fort Knox. The plan was a) to bankrupt the US by irradiating the gold supply and b) making the titular gangster wealthy by making his gold worth ten times what it would be otherwise.

There was a problematic scene that frankly was unnecessary in which the womanizing Bond forces himself on "Pussy Galore", the expressly disinterested soldier of fortune working for Goldfinger. It's more or less spelled out that she's disinterested in men period, for crying out loud. I'm not sure why the hell this got shot.

My son's complaint was that Goldfinger had absurdly good luck escaping Fort Knox - e.g. by switching his uniform as if no one would know he wasn't a member of the force at the base.

Not recommended. I think this dated outing is more for fans of the series than for the general population.