“I must be dreaming”

“I must be dreaming”  Bond finds himself on the bad side of Goldfinger as he awakes aboard Goldfinger’s Lockheed Jetstar private jet.  He had been knocked out with a tranquilizer gun, and his vision is blurry as he focuses on the face of a woman.

When she is in focus, he asks, “Who are you?”  When she answers, “My name is Pussy Galore” Bond delivers one of our favorite lines: “I must be dreaming.”   Pussy Galore, played by Honor Blackman, is one of the best Bond girls in the series.   She is sexy and strong.  In the book, she is a lesbian, in the film, it comes across that she might be, as she seems disinterested in men.  She tells, Bond, “You can turn off the charm.  I’m immune.”

It is a super clip, and Pussy is dominating in this scene and is in complete control.  Honey Rider, in Dr. No, was strong too, like Pussy.  So we are seeing strong female roles early in Bond movies, and we will see more in other spy movies to come.   For one, think of the 2017 movie, “Atomic Blonde.”

This clip reinforces just how wealthy Mr. Goldfinger: The Lockheed Jetstar was produced in the early 1960s to the 1970s.  In 1972, this model was worth $2.8 million dollars.  So in 1964, it was probably worth well over $1 million dollars.   Additionally, Goldfinger has a private pilot.  Plus an attendant aboard.   And he flew ahead – we’re thinking not coach on a commercial flight!  This gold passion of his has paid off handsomely as far as we can tell.

Bond orders a martini, shaken, not stirred, and tries to get Pussy to respond to his quips about Operation Grand Slam.  She is tough and does not fall for his advances.

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.

Goldfinger Plays His Golden Harp

Goldfinger Plays Golden Harp – A little pomp and circumstance here as Leiter briefs Bond that the President of the United States wants to thank him. Bond ascends the stairway leading to the plane.  Watch as he walks right past the cockpit, which seems open.  You can see light shining in through the cockpit windows.  He turns right and boards.

Bond is now safely aboard a private jet that will take him to Washington, D.C. to meet with the President of the United States.  Of course, as he sits comfortably, and alone he reaches up and rings for assistance.  Remember Felix told Bond that he ordered liquor for three, but when Bond asks who the other two are, Felix tells him there are no other two.  All for Bond!  But when Bond calls for a drini,  who other than Goldfinger himself emerges from the rear of the plane. And with his golden gun in hand.

Bond warns him how dangerous it is to fire a gun in a pressurized aircraft, as he warned Pussy earlier in the film.  Goldfinger’s intent was to be in Cuba in a couple of hours.

Where’s Pussy?  And Goldfinger Plays Golden Harp

When Bond asks where Pussy is, Goldfinger indicates with his pistol that she is flying the plane. Bond did not notice as he boarded the plane – just a moment of relaxation perhaps.  But why didn’t Bond see Pussy when he boarded?  The cockpit door was open.  Ah well.  That’s when Bond jumps up and wrestles with Goldfinger. A shot goes off, blows out a window,  and Goldfinger, a rather portly man, goes flying through the aircraft.   As he is flying, he gets sucked out of the window (which seems very large for a smaller plane).

In the book, Oddjob gets sucked out of the window, and Goldfinger is just beaten by Bond.

They rapidly descend,  so the danger of getting sucked out the window disappears as cabin pressure stabilizes.   Then Bond makes his way to the cockpit, and they realize they cannot control the plane.  As tower controllers at the airport look on their scope they see the plane plunging.  But wait, they see another dot on the screen pop out above – they have parachuted!   The plane plunges dramatically into the sea, yet, Bond and Pussy parachute safely to land.

Rescue Bond!

Helicopters are searching for them, Pussy tries to signal, and Bond is thinking this is no time to be rescued.  And he covers them with the parachute and the fun begins.  Goldfinger is dead, Fort Knox gold is safe, Pussy now likes men too or at least Bond – his charms are getting to her, and Bond is happy,  Uh, a happy ending for all!

Note that of all the EON Production James Bond 007 films starring Sean Connery, this is the only one that ends where he and his Bond girl are on land, and not on some boat or raft in the water somewhere.

Dr. No – he is with Honey Rider on a small watercraft escaping Dr. No’s exploding complex, when Felix recuses him from another craft.  Looking at From Russia With Love, and we find that he and Tania are on a gondola on the Venice canals.

Go to Thunderball, Bond and Domino are on a small, yellow inflatable watercraft dropped from a plane as they wait for the skyhook to swoop them up.

In You Only Live Twice, Bond and Kissy Suzuki are on a small, inflatable yellow watercraft dropped by a plane.  And then they are rescued as a submarine surfaces from right below them and the watercraft rests right on the outer deck of the sub.  (As they filmed this, they filmed it in reverse – the raft was on the sub, and the sub submerged).  And lastly, Diamonds Are Forever,  Bond and Tiffany Case are aboard a ship as Kidd and Wint try one more time to get Bond.

Goldfinger is one of our favorite Bond movies ever!

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