Goldfinger – Bond versus Oddjob at Fort Knox

Bond versus Oddjob – In this clip, we see three people left inside Fort Knox with the bomb: the guy who cuffed Bond to the device, Oddjob, and Bond.   The guy who cuffed Bond, once realizing they locked him in and he is doomed, wants to disarm the bomb.   Oddjob, totally dedicated to Goldfinger even if it means his life, stops the guard.

And he throws him over the railing to a platform below.  This is the very platform that Bond is on.  So the question here is: this guard who cuffed Bond to the nuclear device knows how to disarm the bomb?   Or was he just going to try?   In a few minutes, we see Bond sweating it out trying to figure out how to disarm it.   OK, we will believe that the guard who cuffed him has special knowledge.  Maybe.

Bond versus Oddjob

The battle between Oddjob and Bond here is a spy movie classic.   This is a captivating scene, as the timer ticks down on the device (albeit very slowly) as Oddjob and Bond fight it out.   Oddjob, knowing he will die with Bond, makes no attempt to disarm the device.  Afterall, he stopped the guard who wanted to disarm it.   You have to give Oddjob props for his dedication.

Oddjob’s hat-weapon, which has served him so well, is his downfall here.   He throws it at Bond, misses, and electrical wires are severed and fall sparking and flaming to the floor.  As we see, Bond retrieves the hat, hurls it at Oddjob, misses and it sticks in-between the metal vertical bars protecting the gold.

Oddjob goes to get it, Bond slides on the floor, gets the wires that are sparking and holds them against the metal bars and Oddjob is electrocuted.   In reality, it was reported that Harold Sakata, who played Oddjob, was badly burned in real life while filming this scene, but held onto the hat through his pain until Guy Hamilton yelled CUT!  In fact, Sean Connery, it has been reported, injured his back in the Fort Knox scene as well.

OK, we can all relax.   NO!  The counter is ticking down on the nuclear device!  And Bond is trying his hardest to figure out how to open the case and disarm the bomb.  Too bad that guard is dead who cuffed him.

The Bomb Is Disarmed!

Eventually, Felix Leiter and the US team get into Fort Knox, Goldfinger escapes removing his gold overcoat to reveal an American service uniform.   Yes.   Gold buttons of course.  But he is carrying a gold gun!  While Bond fumbles to disarm the device, and there are only 007 ticks left, a CIA agent disarms it.   Supposedly, it was going to stop at 003 seconds, but the director thought 007 would be more impactful.   Bond still says “three more ticks Goldfinger would have hit the jackpot.”

Of course, they must track down Goldfinger now, but Bond was going to get an audience with the US President for saving the day.   And he boards the plane to head to Washington, D.C., thinking all is good.  But, as we have seen in many Bond movies to come, the ending is not always the ending!  Bond gets surprised at times, like by Nick Nack in The Man With the Golden Gun, or by Tee Hee in Live and Let Die and more.  And he will get surprised here.

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