Tag: laser

Goldfinger – “No Mr. Bond I expect you to die!”

Goldfinger – “No Mr. Bond I expect you to die!”

After the car crash, and after Tilly Masterson, Jill Masterson’s sister, is killed by Oddjob, Bond now is in Goldfinger’s control.   He finds himself strapped to a metal table, as Goldfinger is about to demonstrate his laser beam.  Here in the film, the laser beam is directed at the base of the table.  It then is guided to rise-up between Bond’s legs, into his crotch and eventually kill him.   In the book by Fleming, it was a table saw.

The book was published March 23, 1959, while the laser was not invented until 1960.   The first working laser was built on May 16, 1960, by Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories based on the theoretical work of Charles Hard Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow.

Goldfinger – The LASER and “No Mr. Bond I expect you to die!”

The term laser came to be an  acronym for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.”   Again, EON Productions was clever at integrating a real-life happening, the invention of the laser, into this film which was being shot in 1963 for release in 1964.  And at the time, this was a very high-tech scene in Goldfinger!  We cannot think of another film using a laser before Goldfinger, so here is another first for EON Productions!

This scene is famous the world over for the laser, and for the dialogue: Bond: “ You expect me to talk?” Goldfinger – “No Mr. Bond I expect you to die!”

A couple of noteworthy facts:

  1. Notice that Goldfinger is again wearing something gold – the lapels of his jacket are gold!
  2. When they were filming this scene, of course, the laser was a post-production add-in – they weren’t really using a laser. Instead, to get the important visual of the metal being cut by the laser, one of the production staff was beneath the table with a blow-torch and was cutting through the metal, making Sean Connery genuinely nervous!
  3. Goldfinger reveals the three things he loves about gold: “All my life I’ve been in love with it’s color, its brilliance, its divine heaviness.”

It is another scene where Bond was to be killed by a more elaborate scheme than necessary.  But, it is burned into people’s memories (pun intended) as one of the best scenes from any Bond movie, even any spy movie.

And of course, Bond does survive this.  He convinces Goldfinger that he, Bond, is worth more alive than dead because of his potential knowledge of Operation Grand Slam.

This is another great Ken Adam set design and joins other spectacular sets in Goldfinger.

Assault on Fort Knox – Goldfinger Scene Examined

Assault on Fort Knox – The John Barry music during this entire Fort Knox assault cannot be any better.   It is suspenseful, powerful and perfectly matched to what is unfolding on the screen.   Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus unleashed the deadly gas as they fly in formation over Fort Knox.  The devastating result is instantly killing thousands of soldiers and people.

When the leader gives the signal that the “baby is asleep” then Goldfinger and his team move in.   They blow the gate, use a mobile laser to cut through the steel door, and gain access to Fort Knox.

While there were some exterior shots taken in Kentucky, the entire on-the-ground assault took place at Pinewood Studios.  So don’t try getting close to Fort Knox for a film location visit!

The Deadly Gas

As we remember in the Goldfinger map room, where he unveils the Operation Grand Slam plan to the mob bosses, he unleashes the gas on them.   This is in a closed room, it took awhile for it to take effect.  On the assault on Fort Knox, the planes fly over, release the gases in the open air, and hundreds of people are falling over in each scene instantly.

OK, maybe they used more potent gas for this attack, or we just have to have a willing suspension of disbelief once again.   Regardless, it is a classic scene, that foreshadows Blofeld’s planned unleashing of a deadly virus in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. And similarly, Drax’s pods wiping out humanity in Moonraker.   Or even the deadly virus that will be unleashed in Mission: Impossible 2.   We will see similar themes in spy movies, as one influences another.

Assault on Fort Knox – the beginning of the end

Of course, Bond has somehow gotten to Pussy Galore, and she swaps out the deadly gas canisters for harmless ones.   Thousands of lives saved!  This is unknown to the audience, of course, at the time of the assault, and unknown to the Flying Circus team – and unknown to Bond.  Felix Leiter and the CIA assault team and the army can then counter-attack Goldfinger.   This clip ends before they bring in the nuclear device.  But why would the US assault team wait for them to bring in and arm the nuclear device before attacking?   Makes no sense, but creates the dramatic build-up in this assault sequence.

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