“Don’t flatter yourself. What I did tonight I did for King and country.”
This film begins with a punch. After a funeral, James Bond punches a grieving widow in the face. But hang on, it’s really the SPECTRE agent who had faked his death and not a crying woman. The opening fight scene is pretty good and it ends with Bond escaping on a jet pack, cutting edge tech for the 1960s.
Then the opening credits roll and Tom Jones trumpets a thunderous title song. This intense, high pace, booming song sets the mood perfectly for the film. This is a great song, by a great singer, for a great film.
Right away we recognize the Goldfinger formula. The film started with an impressive action scene immediately followed by a big song from a big name. Bond then sleeps with a beautiful young woman, so the Goldfinger plot design is practically scene-by-scene at this early point.
SPECTRE is at it again. They have their headquarters in Paris, where one of their meetings is taking place. We see the breadth of SPECTRE’s organization. Austin Powers will capture the scene well.
Among SPECTRE’s schemes is a plan to steal nuclear weapons from NATO, which is the story of this film. Bond must find the warheads, stop the plot, save the world. Straightforward and not too complicated is the best kind of plotline. This is Bond, not rocket science.
Bond is at a spa recovering from the physical demands of his dangerous job when he notices mysterious activity. A dead body is found, and a stolen identity plan is underway, but our hero knows little. Bond then heads back to London and M wants to send him to Canada. Ha! Bond in boring Canada? Not likely. Bond recommends he goes to the Bahamas instead to stay on the lead from the mysterious dead body from the spa. So of course he goes to the Bahamas; it’s a Bond film.
Felix Lieter, Bond’s friend in the CIA, is back in this one, making that three appearances from three different actors in the first four films. Bond and Felix work closer in this one, they are almost a team.
Bond finds SPECTRE’s “Number Two,” known to us as Mr. Largo. They are introduced at the card table where Bond beats him. Largo with his eye-patch is a solid villain. He has sharks. A villain with sharks is something that we will see repeatedly in Hollywood, but Largo may have done it best.
Q makes it to Nassau to equip Bond with the latest in nuclear detection and underwater technology. Another great scene between these two. The way they look at each other is perfectly placed. Desmond Llwelyln established a rapport with each Bond actor that’s genuine. Llwelyln is a treasure to this film franchise.
Bond scores three times, the max for Bond films. He plays hardball with a nurse, sleeps with Dominio, who is Largo’s (I’m not sure what she is to Largo but she’s played by Claudine Auger), and nails the bad girl, Fiona, played by gorgeous Luciana Paluzzi. The sex scenes are done with creativity and class. The camera cuts quickly to a few seconds of the intense local Junkanoo parade before returning to Bond and Fiona getting dressed. For the scene underwater, that’s right and they were wearing scuba gear, the camera follows a large amount of air bubbles heading toward the surface, then cuts to Bond and Dominio getting out of the water and Bond says, “I hope we didn’t scare the fish.” Impressive to say the least.
Fiona hits Bond with a line mocking him for how women sleep with him and become good, which is reference to the last film and Bond’s most consequential score with Pussy Galore (yes, her name in the film was Pussy Galore). Here we see the Goldfinger formula playout with a new twist. Fiona ain’t flipping sides. That’s when Bond drops a devasting, “Don’t flatter yourself. What I did tonight I did for King and country.” Ok. I don’t believe him, but once again, impressive.
The quietness during the underwater scenes is suspenseful. A little music, few sound effects, but for the most part it is quiet and it creates tension with the audience. I’m on the edge of my seat but not really noticing so.
The underwater fight scene at the end is epic. Lots of divers, lots of spearguns and knives. The fighting is hand-to-hand and intense. Great action. Must’ve been nearly impossible to film.
Quickest ending ever. The action ends, Bond and Dominio climb into a raft, and then they get picked up in a few seconds. No talking, no kissing, no Bond suave. It just ends. It’s like they hit their word limit and couldn’t finish the