Auric Goldfingeris a fictional character and the mainantagonistinIan Fleming's 1959 seventhJames Bondnovel,Goldfinger,andthe 1964 film it inspired(the third in theJames Bondseries). His first name, Auric, is an adjective meaning "ofgold".Fleming chose the name to commemorate the architectErnő Goldfinger,who had built his home inHampsteadnext door to Fleming's; he disliked Goldfinger's style of architecture and destruction ofVictorianterraces and decided to name a memorable villain after him.[1]According to a 1965Forbesarticle andThe New York Times,the Goldfinger persona was based on gold-mining magnateCharles W. Engelhard, Jr.[2]
| Auric Goldfinger | |
|---|---|
| James Bondcharacter | |
 | |
| First appearance | Goldfinger(1959 novel) |
| Last appearance | 007 Legends(2012 video game) |
| Created by | Ian Fleming |
| Portrayed by | Gert Fröbe |
| Voiced by |
|
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Auric Goldfinger |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation |
|
| Classification | Villain(Former; regular) |
| Henchmen | Oddjob Pussy Galore Jill Masterson Mei-Lei |
In 2003, theAmerican Film Institutedeclared Auric Goldfinger the49th-greatest villain in the past 100 years of film.In a poll onIMDb,[when?]Auric Goldfinger was voted the most sinister James Bond villain, beating (in order)Ernst Stavro Blofeld,Dr. No,Max ZorinandEmilio Largo.[3]Goldfinger's oft-quoted line "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die," (after Bond asked him while tied to a table in front of a laser, "Do you expect me to talk?" ) was voted the number-one best moment in theJames Bondfilm franchisein a 2013Sky Moviespoll.[4]
Auric Goldfinger was played by German actorGert Fröbe.Fröbe, who did not speakEnglishwell, was dubbed in the film byMichael Collins,an English actor.[4]In theGermanversion, Fröbe dubbed himself back again.
Goldfingerwas banned in Israel after it was revealed that Fröbe had been a member of theNazi Party.However, he left the party before the outbreak ofWorld War II.After several years, the ban was lifted, as it was found that Fröbe likely saved the lives of two Jews by hiding them in his basement during the war.
Novel biography
editIn the novel, Auric Goldfinger is a 42-year-old fromRiga,Latvia, whoemigratedto Britain in 1937 at the age of 20. He is five feet (1.52 m) tall, has blue eyes, red hair, and a passion for his tan.
Goldfinger's name was borrowed from Ian Fleming's neighbour in hisHampsteadhome, architectErnő Goldfinger,and his character bears some resemblance.[5]Ernő Goldfinger consulted his lawyers when the book was published, prompting Fleming to suggest renaming the character "Goldprick", but Goldfinger eventuallysettled out of courtin return for his legal costs, six copies of the novel, and an agreement that the character's first name 'Auric' would always be used. Goldfinger is typically aGerman-Jewishname,[6]and theprotagonistsof the novel know this, but neither Bond nor Mr. Du Pont think Goldfinger is Jewish. Instead, Bond thinks the red-haired, blue-eyed man to be aBalt,being proved correct when Goldfinger is revealed to be a Latvian émigré.[7]
Following naturalisation as a British citizen inNassau,inthe Bahamas,Goldfinger has become the richest man in England, although his wealth is not in English banks, nor does he pay taxes on it, as it is spread asgold bullionin many countries. Goldfinger is the treasurer of SMERSH, aSovietcounterintelligenceagency, which is Bond's nemesis. Goldfinger fancies himself an expert pistol shot who never misses, and always shoots his opponents through the right eye.[8]He tells Bond at the end of the novel he has done so with fourMafiaheads.
Goldfinger is obsessed with gold, going so far as to keep a yellow-bound copy of an erotic novel in his nightstand and have his lovers painted head to toe in gold so that he can make love to gold. (He leaves an area near the spine unpainted, but painting this area also is what killsJill Masterton,as in the film.) He is also a jeweller, ametallurgist,and a smuggler.
When Goldfinger first meets Bond inMiami,he claims that he isagoraphobic;a ploy to allow him to cheat Junius du Pont, a previous acquaintance of Bond's (fromCasino Royale), at a game of two-handedCanasta.Bond figures out how Goldfinger is managing this andblackmailshim by forcing him to admit his deception. This incident also establishes Goldfinger as boundlessly greedy, as whatever sums he can gain by this elaborate cheating are negligible compared with what he already has in his possession.
Goldfinger is also an avid golfer, but is known at his club for being a smooth cheater there, also. When Bond contrives to play against Goldfinger with $10,000 at stake, he out-cheats Goldfinger by switching the latter'sDunlop1 golf ball with a Dunlop 7 he had found while playing. Goldfinger loses the final hole and the match for playing a ball that does not belong to him.
In both the novel and film, Goldfinger is aided in his crimes by his manservantOddjob,a monstrously strong Korean who ruthlessly eliminates any threat to his employer's affairs.
Goldfinger is the owner of "Enterprises Auric A.G." in Switzerland, maker of metal furniture which is purchased by many airlines, includingAir India.Twice a year, Goldfinger drives his vintageRolls-Royce Silver Ghostcar from England to Enterprises Auric. Bond learns that Goldfinger makesdead dropsof gold bars for SMERSH along the way, and that his car's bodywork is 18-carat (75%), solid white gold under the ploy that the added weight is armour plating. Once at Enterprises Auric, the bodywork is stripped off, melted and made into airplane seats for a company that Enterprises Auric is heavily invested in. The plane(s) are then flown toIndiawhere the seats are melted down again into gold bars and sold for a much higher rate—100 to 200 per cent profit.
Operation Grand Slam
edit
In the novel, Goldfinger captures Bond and threatens to cut him in half with acircular sawas Oddjob tortures him using hispressure points.Bond offers to work for Goldfinger in exchange for his life, but Goldfinger refuses to spare him, and he blacks out.
Bond wakes to find that Goldfinger is going to take him up on his offer after all, and makes him his prisoner and secretary. While working at this job, Bond discovers that Goldfinger is plotting to rob theUnited States Bullion DepositoryatFort Knox,Kentucky,in an actioncodenamed"Operation Grand Slam".
Goldfinger plans to contaminate the water supply at Fort Knox using thenerve agentGB (also known asSarin), killing everyone at the base. Then, using anatomic bombdesigned for anMGM-5 Corporalintermediate-range ballistic missilethat he had purchased forUS$1 million in Germany, Goldfinger would blow open Fort Knox's impregnable vault, before removing roughly $15 billion in gold bullion by truck and train with the help of American criminal organizations, including the Mafia,the Purple Gang(an organization that existed in real life),the Spangled Mob(a fictional gang featured in the earlier Bond novelDiamonds Are Forever), and the Cement Mixers, an all-female gang led by lesbian and formertrapezeartistPussy Galore.They would then escape to theSoviet Unionon a cargo boat. Goldfinger bribes the syndicate leaders with $15,000 in gold apiece to secure their attendance at the meeting and promises that each group will receive at least $1 billion, while he will keep $5 billion. In addition, Goldfinger has promised Bond £1 million in gold once the theft is complete.
Bond foils Goldfinger's plan by writing a note to his American colleagueFelix Leiter,containing the details of the impending operation, and taping it to the underside of an airplane toilet seat. Once the note reaches Leiter, he arranges for help from theFBIandthe Pentagon.Leiter is able to foil the theft, but Goldfinger escapes.
Later, Goldfinger and his henchmen learn from SMERSH who Bond is and determine to take him with them in defecting to the Soviet Union. They pose as doctors to incapacitate crew and passengers (including Bond) with drugged inoculations. Then they hijack the aircraft and load Goldfinger's three-ton personal bullion hoard onto it. The hijacked airplane is piloted by three German ex-Luftwaffepilots who work for Goldfinger. Oddjob meets his end when he is sucked through an airliner window after Bond pierces it with a knife. Bond and Goldfinger engage in a brief struggle, during which Bond is seized by a violent rage for the first time in his life, strangling Goldfinger to death with his bare hands. Bond then turns to the pilots and forces the airplane to turn back from its intended flight path, causing it to ditch in the ocean after running out of fuel. The weight of Goldfinger's gold causes the airplane to sink rapidly, taking his body and his pilots down with it. Only Bond andPussy Galore,both wearing lifejackets, appear in the ocean and are soon picked up, as the only survivors.
Criticism of novel's plan and changes made in filmed version
editAfter publication of the novel, the details of "Operation Grand Slam" were questioned, with critics noting it would have taken hours, if not days, to remove $15 billion from Fort Knox, during which the U.S. Army would have inevitably intervened. The issue of getting every soldier on the base to drink the poisoned water without an alarm was also raised. A final problem was the "clean" atomic bomb, tactical or not, which in all likelihood would have annihilated the vault instead of breaking it open. The novel itself has a scene where Bond points out to Goldfinger several reasons why the plan could not possibly work, and Goldfinger responds only with a vague assurance that he has prepared solutions for these problems.
Consequently, the filmed version of the novel altered the details of the plan. Although Bond initially believes that Goldfinger intends to steal the bullion, he soon realizes that the true plan is to set off a Chinese-supplieddirty bombwithin the vault. The explosion will irradiate the gold and render it unusable for decades, crippling thegold standard–based economy and greatly increasing the value of Goldfinger's personal bullion holdings. During this conversation, Bond points out the logistical flaws in the theft as set out in the original novel.
Film biography
editIn the film, Goldfinger is a successful businessman, owning many properties throughout the world, including "Auric Enterprises, AG" in Switzerland and a stud-farm inKentuckycalled "Auric Stud". However, Goldfinger's real business is that of internationally smuggling gold, using the method of having a car (precisely, aRolls-Royce Phantom III) built with gold body castings and transporting it via airplane before having the bodywork re-smeltedonce it arrives at its destination. After Goldfinger's business affairs come under suspicion from theBank of England,Bond is sent to investigate.
In the film, Felix Leiter says that Goldfinger is "British, but he doesn't sound like it"; however, this may simply mean he possesses British citizenship, as by his accent and red-blond hair he is probably German by birth. Fröbe was chosen to play the villain because producers Saltzman and Broccoli had seen his performance in a German thriller titledEs geschah am helllichten Tag(It happened in broad daylight,1958), based on the storyDas Versprechen(The Pledge) byFriedrich Dürrenmatt.In that film, Fröbe played aserial killernamed Schrott, who kills children to vent his frustrations with his domineering wife. Broccoli and Saltzman had seen the movie and decided upon the "big bad German" for the role.
In the film, Goldfinger, an avid golfer, reveals a fascination withNazigold when Bond tempts him to bet £5,000 against a lost, historical Nazi gold bar, an incident not in the novel (the golf game is played for $10,000). Goldfinger cheats with help from Oddjob, but Bond figures out the deception and tricks him into playing the wrong ball on the last hole, costing him the match. Goldfinger is shown to takesadisticpleasure in killing his enemies, which he accomplishes in elaborate ways. This is shown when he attempts to kill a captured Bond by slowly cutting him in half with a laser (but is talked out of it by Bond) and, later, when he uses nerve gas to execute a group of gangsters he had invited to his ranch.
Initially Goldfinger makes it appear that his plan is to robFort Knox,but when Bond reveals to Goldfinger that this is impossible because it would take 2 weeks, 200 trucks and 60 men to steal the gold before the authorities find out and force him to return the gold, when Goldfinger denies planning to steal the gold, Bond begins to connect the dots and concludes that Goldfinger's real plan is to detonate a smalldirty bombwithin the gold bullion depository at Fort Knox. The explosion will render the gold radioactive and unusable for 58 years, increasing the value of his own gold and giving the Chinese an advantage resulting from the ensuing economic chaos. Bond, at this point held captive by Goldfinger, is able to smuggle the details of the operation out to hisCIAassociate Felix Leiter and, taken along on the operation by Goldfinger, ultimately thwarts the operation by defusing the atomic device.
With Fort Knox safe, Bond is invited to the White House for a meeting with the President. However, with his pilot Pussy Galore, Goldfinger hijacks the plane carrying Bond. In a struggle for Goldfinger's revolver, Bond shoots out a window, causing anexplosive decompression.Goldfinger is sucked out of the cabin through the window. With the plane out of control, Bond rescues Galore before parachuting to safety with her from the aircraft.
Appearances in other media
edit- Goldfinger is parodied in the 2002 comedy filmAustin Powers in Goldmemberas the titularDutchvillain,whose trademark was to paint his enemies'genitaliagold, for he himself lost his genitalia in an "unfortunatesmeltingincident ".
- Hanna-Barberaparodied Goldfinger numerous times, particularly with theSecret Squirrelvillain "Yellow Pinkie" and "Goldflipper".
- Los Angeles ska-punk bandGoldfingertook its name from the character.
- Goldfinger and Oddjob are referenced inThe New Traveller's Almanacthat appears in the back ofThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume IIcomic book.
- Auric Goldfinger and Oddjob are multiplayer characters in thevideo gameNightfire.They are brought back to life in the 2004Electronic Artsvideo gameGoldenEye: Rogue Agent.In the game, Goldfinger recruits the protagonist, GoldenEye, a former secret agent ousted byMI6.Goldfinger is also an ally ofFrancisco Scaramanga,the villain ofThe Man with the Golden Gunand theSPECTREorganisation. In the game, Goldfinger's scientists develop what is considered to be the deadliest weapon known to mankind: the OMEN. (Organic Mass Energy Neutraliser), and plan to use it againstDr. No'sforces. He is killed when, after having betrayed GoldenEye and Scaramanga and taken over his volcano lair, GoldenEye and Scaramanga make use of a computer virus to overload the OMEN.
- Goldfinger also makes a minor appearance as anunlockable characterin the multiplayer mode of 2005 video gameFrom Russia with Love.
- Goldfinger also appears in theanimated seriesJames Bond Junior,in which he has a teenaged daughter, Goldie, who is as greedy and ruthless as her father. He refers to specific elements of the original film, establishing continuity, though his survival is not explained.
- Auric Goldfinger came 10th place in the 2002ForbesFictional 15.
- Goldfinger also appears in the 2012 video game007 Legendsduring the Goldfinger levels, voiced byTimothy Watson.
- Goldfinger and Operation Grand Slam are referenced in the 2016Stuart GibbsnovelSpy Ski School.The villains attempt to corner the market onmolybdenumby buying or nuking all of the areas where it's mined. As a tribute to Goldfinger, their plan is named Operation Golden Fist.
- Goldfinger was voiced on BBC Radio 4's adaptation ofGoldfingerby SirIan McKellenin 2010.
References
edit- ^Macintyre, Ben (5 April 2008)."Was Ian Fleming the real 007?".The Times.London. Archived fromthe originalon 18 July 2008.Retrieved8 April2008.
- ^"Milestones".Time.15 March 1971.Retrieved11 September2020.
- ^"Movie, TV and Celebrity Polls".IMDb.
- ^abBattersby, Matilda (2 January 2013)."'No, Mr Bond, I Expect You to Die': Showdown Between Goldfinger and Sean Connery Voted Greatest James Bond Moment ".The Independent.London: Independent Print Ltd.Retrieved14 July2019.
- ^Ezard, John (3 June 2005)."How Goldfinger nearly became Goldprick".The Guardian.London, England.Retrieved6 October2009.
- ^As is often the case with GermanicAshkenazisurnames, Goldfinger is a surname that commonly occurs among both Germans and German Jews.
- ^Black, Jeremy (2005).The politics of James Bond: from Fleming's novel to the big screen.Santa Barbara, California:Praeger.ISBN978-0-8032-6240-9.Retrieved17 December2009.
- ^Rovin, Jeff (1987).The Encyclopedia of Supervillains.New York: Facts on File. pp. 12–13.ISBN0-8160-1356-X.