Goldfinger (1964) Facts
| Director(s) | Guy Hamilton |
| Producer(s) | Harry Saltzman, Albert R. Broccoli |
| Featured Cast | Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Harold Sakata, Bernard Lee, Martin Benson |
| Total Facts | 101 |
First film to feature a title song that plays over the opening credits. From Russia with Love had a title song, but it played over the closing credits.
First opening credits sequence to show the actor playing James Bond. This is by utilizing footage from the first two James Bond films Dr. No and From Russia with Love. This technique would be repeated in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The first time an image of the actor playing James Bond would be part of the actual title sequence itself (i.e. not by way of footage edited into it) would not occur until The Spy Who Loved Me.
For a long time, this film was tied with Dr. No as the shortest James Bond movie in the EON Productions official series, with a running time of 110 minutes. Quantum of Solace is now the shortest at 106 minutes.
For the huge, Wagnerian orchestral opening to the title song, John Barry employed five trombones, four trumpets, four French horns and a tuba.
Fourth James Bond movie made and third in the EON Productions official series. Also third James Bond movie for Sean Connery playing James Bond, Bernard Lee as M and Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny whilst it was the 2nd for Desmond Llewelyn as Q.
Goldfinger wears yellow or a golden item of clothing in virtually every scene. In the one that he appears not to - in which he wears a US Army Colonel's uniform - he carries a golden revolver.
In order to simulate the sound of crumpling metal in the car compactor, sound effects editor Norman Wanstall used the sound of crumpling beer cans.
In the Ian Fleming novel, Pussy Galore is a lesbian, which is why she gives Bond the cold shoulder to start with. Her team are known as the Cement Mixers. Ian Fleming based the character of Pussy Galore on neighbor, friend and lover Blanche Blackwell. The "Pussy" name itself was derived from agent Pussy Deakin aka Livia Stela. The Pussy name is also said to have been named after Fleming's pet octopus. The octopus also inspired the title of the James Bond short story and then film Octopussy. Octopussy was also the name of a coracle given to Ian Fleming by Blanche Blackwell as a present for staying at Goldeneye.
In the original end title credits, which featured the famous "James Bond will return in..." teaser, the next film advertised was On Her Majesty's Secret Service. However, when the producers began pre-production, they were unable to secure the Swiss locations needed for the film and decided to make Thunderball instead. The end title teaser was later changed to advertise "Thunderball".
In the original James Bond novel "Goldfinger", the car driven by Bond is not an Aston Martin DB5 but an earlier model, an Aston Martin DB3. There were significantly fewer gadgets and features in this make. All James Bond had were reinforced bumper guards and a secret compartment for a Colt 45 pistol.
Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) dies of "skin suffocation" by being coated in gold, a complication that, despite popular belief, has no basis in fact. The belief depends on the incorrect supposition that respiration occurs, at least in part, through the skin, a fallacy that has been discredited in scientific circles since the Renaissance. Despite periodic debunking in the popular media (especially noteworthy is a 1978 column of the syndicated newspaper feature, "The Straight Dope", and a 2003 episode of the Discovery Channel series, MythBusters), a widespread belief in the myth of "skin suffocation" still exists. The myth was further bolstered by rumors that Shirley Eaton had actually died on set from asphyxiation due to the gold paint.
Operation GRAND SLAM was the actual codename for the Soviet overflight mission by CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers during which his Lockheed U-2C spy plane, serial number 56-6693, Article 360, was shot down by an SA-2 "Guideline" surface-to-air missile on 1 May 1960.
Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli were so determined to get Honor Blackman for the part of Pussy Galore that they had the actress's ability to perform judo written into the script.
Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include the silver birch Aston Martin DB5; Dom Perignon Champagne, particularly a Dom Perignon '53; Rolex Watches, James Bond wears a Rolex Submariner; Kentucky Fried Chicken; and Corgi Toys, the beginning of their relationship with the series.
Pussy Galore introduces herself to Bond, who replies "I must be dreaming." The original script had Bond replying "I know you are, but what's your name?" This was deemed too suggestive.
Some of Pussy Galore's all-woman Flying Circus were played by men wearing blonde wigs.
The aircraft (which has a profile similar to a Boeing 747) that transports Goldfinger and his car out of England is actually an Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair. This was a heavily modified Douglas DC-4. The 747 didn't make its first flight until 1969 but the Carvair entered service in 1962 (two years before Goldfinger). The flight number for the flight in the movie was British United Air Ferry Flight VS 400 to Geneva, Switzerland.
The budget was more than the budgets for the first two Bond films combined.
The character of Syliva Trench was originally intended to return in this movie after appearing in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. However, this was scrapped when Guy Hamilton became director.
The debut of the Aston Martin.
The exchange between Bond and his caddy about Goldfinger's golf ball ("If that's his original ball, I'm Arnold Palmer.") had the caddy standing on the ball in the novel. This is switched so Bond hid the ball for the film as Harry Saltzman thought it would give Bond a more cheeky image.
The film earned back its production costs outlay of $3 million in just two weeks.
The film's World Premiere was held on Thursday 17th September 1964 at the Odeon Theatre, Leicester Square, London. Sean Connery could not attend due to filming commitments for The Hill. A specially designed "gold finger" piece of jewelery was designed by British Designer Dipples for Honor Blackman for the premiere and the star's promotional tour for the movie. Sean Connery drove an Aston Martin DB5 down the famous Parisian promenade of the Champs-Elysees for the French Premiere of the film. For the occasion, sixty women were gilded in gold like the Shirley Eaton character of the movie. One woman mobbed Connery and got into the car. After this incident, Connery stopped attending James Bond premieres until You Only Live Twice.
The first Bond film to be shown on U.S. commercial TV, on Sunday, 17 September 1972, earning the highest Nielsen ratings for a single movie on TV up to that time. 49% of the nation's viewers tuned in that night, and ABC-TV, which showed the film, would retain the exclusive commercial U.S. TV rights to the Bond series for the next 28 years.
The Ford Motor Company happily supplied a Lincoln Continental for the car compactor scene in exchange for featuring their new model Ford Mustang in the Swiss mountain driving sequence. During the crushing of the Lincoln, the crew remained totally silent, in awe of what they were doing.
The golf scenes in the film were shot at the Stoke Poges Golf Club in England, not far from Pinewood Studios. There is now a James Bond themed bar at the golf course. The interest in golf developed by Sean Connery is said to have spawned during this filming.
The idea of the Aston Martin's revolving number plates came from director Guy Hamilton who had just been frustrated at receiving a parking ticket. The various revolving license plate numbers for James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 were 4711-EA-62 (France), LU 6789 (Switzerland) and BMT 216A (UK).
The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include 007 Against Goldfinger (Brazil & Portugal); Mission Goldfinger (Italy); 007 Versus Goldfinger (China) and Agent 007 Against Goldfinger (Spain)
The main theme was selected by the American Film Institute number 53 on the list of the top 100 from movies of the past 100 years.
The Masterton surname of Tilly Masterton and Jill Masterton in the Ian Fleming novel was changed to Masterson for the film. Ian Fleming is said to have based the Masterton name on Sir John Masterman, a leading Oxford University academic and former Mi5 agent.
The most famous of all James Bond cars which first appeared in this Bond film, the 1964 silver birch Aston Martin DB5, was never driven by Roger Moore's James Bond in a Bond movie. The DB5 was made famous by Sean Connery in this film and then in Thunderball with later models appearing in some subsequent Bond pictures. However, Moore, who played James Bond seven times, has only ever been seen on screen with this make once and that was in The Cannonball Run where he self-parodies his James Bond persona.
The movie was the fastest grossing picture in film history when it was released and even entered the Guiness Book of World Records to mark this.
The original choice for the spy car of the film was not the Aston Martin DB5 but an E-Type Jaguar, which cost half as much. The E-Type Jaguar was a car model actually driven by production designer Ken Adam. Jaguar declined and the producers went to Aston Martin's David Brown. He supplied them two production prototypes of the newly released Aston Martin DB5. One was used for straight driving and the other was for adding various gadgets and features by Ken Adam. A Jaguar-based spy car is seen in Die Another Day.
The part of Jill Masterson was initially offered to Shirley Anne Field, who turned it down.
The producers wanted Orson Welles to play Auric Goldfinger, but Welles was too expensive. Then Gert Fröbe began arguing over his salary (he wanted 10% from the movie's earnings), prompting the producers to wonder whether Welles would have been cheaper after all.
The recreation of the Fort Knox repository at Pinewood Studios was incredibly accurate considering no one involved in the film had been allowed inside the real location for security reasons. The set looked so real that a 24-hour guard was placed on the Fort Knox set at Pinewood Studios so that pilferers would not steal the gold bar props. A letter to the production from the Fort Knox Controller congratulated Ken Adam and his team on the recreation. Auric Goldfinger's 3D Model Map used for his Operation Grandslam is now housed as a permanent exhibition at the real Fort Knox.
The role of Oddjob was the first screen role for weightlifter and professional wrestler Harold Sakata. It was such a success that it started a second career in films, television and commercials. For some of these appearances, he would be billed as "Harold 'Oddjob' Sakata". He also later appeared in The Poppy Is Also a Flower which was based on an Ian Fleming story and directed by Bond director Terence Young.
The sign on Ft. Knox bears the name "Gen. Russhon". Charles Russhon was the technical advisor for the film.
The song "Goldfinger", rewritten as "Gold Label", was featured in a long-running series of cigarette commercials.
The title song is the first of three title songs sung by Shirley Bassey for Bond movies, the others being title songs for Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker. The "Goldfinger" song was the first James Bond title song to crack the Billboard Top 10, peaking at #8 in February 1965.
The vault door used in the Fort Knox scene is now located in Bank Of The West in Los Altos, California.
The villain's first name, Auric, is related to the Latin word for gold, 'aurum') and the periodic table code AU for the same. The license plate on Goldfinger's 12 cylinder 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedance de Ville reads AU 1 for the same reason
This is the only Sean Connery-era Bond film without the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld or his organization SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). In retroactive continuity, Goldfinger is linked to SPECTRE in the video-game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.
This is the only EON Sean Connery Bond film that doesn't end with Bond at sea.
This was the second most popular Bond movie with paying audiences, racking up 130 million ticket sales. The next Bond film, Thunderball, surpassed it in popularity, with 140 million paid admissions. The success of Goldfinger and Thunderball, propelled Sean Connery to the top of Quigley Publications' annual Top Ten Money Making Stars poll in 1965, the only British male star to be #1.
This won the first Academy Award for a James Bond movie. It was for Best Sound Effects and it was won by Norman Wanstall. Thunderball won a Special Visual Effects Oscar the following year and producer Albert R. Broccoli was awarded the Irving Thalberg Award in 1982. Ironically, the gilded Oscar statuette and the gilded girl in the film have such an uncanny resemblance making Goldfinger fittingly the first Bond movie to receive an Oscar.
Tilly Masterson's Ford Mustang was supposedly the first appearance by a Mustang in a major motion picture. The Mustang was introduced in April of 1964 and Goldfinger was released in December. Ford supplied many cars to the film including the CIA agents' Thunderbird, all of Goldfinger's goons cars, and the Lincoln Continental that is crushed.
Toy car manufacturer Corgi manufactured a special miniature Aston Martin DB 5 car for Prince Charles who was aged 15-16 at the time. Corgi then produced Aston Martin James Bond toy cars for decades after the release of the movie Goldfinger. A 30th Anniversary Edition Goldfinger Aston Martin DB 5 toy car was released in 1994 by Corgi.
Vehicles featured included the most famous of all the James Bond cars, the silver birch Aston Martin DB5 which would return for Thunderball; Tilly Masterson's white 1964 Ford Mustang convertible, the first appearance of this make in a movie; a yellow and black 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedance de Ville, Goldfinger's 12 cylinder made-of-gold car weighing 7000 lb; a white Hiller UH-12E4 helicopter; black Mercedes-Benz 180, 190 and 220 models which pursue 007; a Ford Country Squire station wagon; Ford military pickup (After leaving the 'canyon' it becomes a Dodge WC-51, but reverts to a pickup as it drives up to the gate); a US Army Dodge WC-54 ambulance; a Lockheed JetStar C-140 plane piloted by Pussy Galore & Sydney; a Lockheed US VC-140B plane seen at the end of the movie; Pussy Galore's Flying Circus being made up of all Piper PA-28 Cherokee planes; a blue 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible sedan and a 1964 Ford Falcon Ranchero delivery vehicle, both used by Oddjob; another Lincoln Continental and a white 1964 Ford Thunderbird ridden by Felix Leiter and his CIA partner Johnny in Kentucky. (Note: When bond refers to the Rolls-Royce as a 'Phantom Three-Thirty-Seven' he was probably referring to it by its type and year, a Phantom 3, '37 (1937). There is no Phantom '337' model, so this type/year reference can be saf
When Shirley Bassey recorded the theme song, she was singing as the opening credits were running on a screen in front of her, so that she could match the vocals. When she hit her final high note, the titles kept running, and she was forced to hold the note, until she almost passed out.