831. Goldfinger (1964)

Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman

Director: Guy Hamilton

Running Time: 110 mins

Goldfinger is a British film and the third film in the James Bond series. Here, Bond is assigned to investigate and pursue a criminal gold magnate, and discovers an evil plot to steal the United States’ entire gold supply.

This is just such a fun Bond film, full of action, 007’s classically excessive suaveness and, for the first time, GADGETS! But it’s not only that, this film also blends a really clever and mysterious story with all of that silly action, and although it may again be a bit preposterous, it’s a James Bond film, and it really pulls off making this story incredibly exciting and intriguing.

First of all, we’ve got to talk about the villains here, who are some of the coolest bad guys in the history of film. In reality, and upon reveal, he’s just some fat Soviet, but as the film goes on, he becomes even more dastardly, mysterious and even scary, particularly when he’s got the advantage on James Bond.

What’s more is that it’s not just Goldfinger that’s a cool baddie, but also his henchman: Oddjob, who is probably one of the frustratingly powerful villains I’ve ever seen, but also he’s so scary, and is the main point where you see Bond really have to pull out the big guns in order to save the world, which makes it all the more exciting and action-packed.

Finally, the third villain is the very 60s-named Pussy Galore. She’s probably the most interesting baddie in the whole film, because you see her waver between being fully evil and falling for Mr. Bond, which makes her probably the most unpredictable character on screen.

Away from the bad guys, this film has got such a cool, intelligent story. Like Dr. No, it’s a little silly, and very action-based, but like From Russia With Love, it’s a story that’s more about espionage than just fighting your way to defeat the villains trying to take over the world, and those two elements mixed together make for a hugely unpredictable and mysterious film, which is still massively entertaining to watch.

Finally, this film is considered one of the best Bond films because it’s basically genesis for the genre we know and love. The first two films had a lot of the most Bond-ish elements, but never altogether, whereas this film encompasses action, espionage, a very promiscuous 007 and loads of epic gadgets, and that’s what really gives it a special feeling to watch.