Synopsis - Goldfinger

Somewhere in South America: a drugs production plant is infiltrated by James Bond wearing a wet suit and a rubber duck on his head! Using a paste like explosive, he sets several barrels of nitro glycerine to explode then rushes outside and tears off the wet suit to reveal an immaculate white tuxedo. Retiring to a night-club, Bond is unperturbed as the nearby plant explodes. He briefly makes contact with another agent who warns him not to go back to his hotel.

But Bond has some "unfinished business to attend to" and returns to his hotel where a young woman, Bonita, is waiting for him in the bath. But she's set Bond up and he spots an assailant approaching reflected in her eyes. A fight breaks out culminating in Bond throwing both the assailant and an electric fire into the bath.

Miami Beach, USA: Bond is enjoying a short break when he is approached by CIA agent Felix Leiter who tells him that M has been in touch and wants him to keep an eye on one Auric Goldfinger, a bullion dealer with a personal fortune of over $20 million. Goldfinger is staying at the same hotel as Bond who is able to observe him during his daily game of cards with another guest. Realising that the man is cheating, Bond pays a visit to his room where he finds a young woman, Jill Masterson, spying on Goldfinger's opponent through a telescope and relaying details of his hand via a small ear piece that Goldfinger is wearing.

Bond simultaneously puts a stop to Goldfinger's cheating and seduces Jill. That night, Leiter contacts him and arranges to meet for breakfast. But while fetching another bottle of champagne, he is knocked unconscious by a sinister figure seen only as a bowler hatted silhouette. When he recovers, he finds Jill dead in his bed, asphyxiated by a layer of gold paint that covers her entire body. A visibly shocked Bond calls Leiter to break the news.

Bond returns to London for a briefing with M and mentions his suspicion of Goldfinger's involvement. M cautions him against letting this become personal. Bond tells his boss that he's willing to carry on a professional manner, but needs to be told more about the assignment. M tells him to meet him later at 7 o'clock in black tie. On his way out of the office, Bond indulges in his "customary by-play" with the ever-loyal Miss Moneypenny.

That night, Bond has dinner with M and Colonel Smithers, head of the treasury and Britain's man in charge of the gold reserves. He is concerned that no-one has yet figured out how Goldfinger keeps moving his considerable gold reserves overseas. The Bank of England wants to know if he is doing it deliberately and it's up to Bond to find out the truth. Smithers gives Bond a gold bar to tempt Goldfinger, part of a consignment of Nazi gold lost in a lake during the war.

Next morning, Bond visits Q Branch and collects his latest toys - magnetic homing devices and a heavily modified Aston Martin DB5, complete with machine guns, sophisticated defences and ejector seat.

Bond moves on to a golf club where he is teamed up with another member - Auric Goldfinger, whose caddie, the diminutive Korean Odd Job, wears a strangely familiar bowler hat... Goldfinger has rumbled that Bond isn't there simply to play golf and Bond drops the gold bar on the ground in front of him. Goldfinger is intrigued and wagers £5,000 on the next two holes, with Bond's gold bar as his stake. The game continues with Goldfinger trying to cheat his way out a bad shot that lands him in the rough. But Bond is too smart for him and switches his golf balls, forcing Goldfinger to forfeit the game. Goldfinger is furious and storms off.

Back at the clubhouse, Goldfinger warns Bond not to cross his path again and has Odd Job demonstrate his secret weapon - a steel rimmed bowler hat that decapitates a statue. Goldfinger drives away in his Rolls Royce Phantom 337, unaware that Bond has planted one of the homing devices in the trunk. At a safe distance, Bond follows in the Aston Martin and finds the car being loaded onto a plane bound for Geneva. Catching a flight half an hour later, Bond loses no time in catching up with Goldfinger in Switzerland.

During the long and tiresome journey, Bond is overtaken by an impatient young woman in an open top car. When he stops to observe Goldfinger and Odd Job, who are also taking a break from their journey, Bond is shot at by a mystery sniper and Odd Job and Goldfinger drive off. Bond pursues the sniper, who seems to be the woman who overtook him earlier, and manages to force her off the road using a tire shredding device which emerges from the Aston's front wheel hub.

Bond tries to charm the woman, but all she wants from him is a lift to the nearest garage. She claims to be Tilly Soames, though her luggage bears the monogram T.M. At a nearby garage., Tilly looks for help with her car, while Bond checks on Goldfinger and is puzzled to find the signal stationary and apparently behind him.

Tilly refuses any further help from Bond and he leaves her at the garage, setting off after the homing device signal. A little way down the road he discovers a huge building bearing the logo of Auric Enterprises and sneaks into the surrounding hills for a closer look. As night falls, he breaks into the base and sees a gang of technicians dismantling Goldfinger's car which turns out to made entirely of gold. Bond also sees Goldfinger giving a guided tour to Chinese agents and overhears mention of something called "Operation Grandslam."

Hearing someone approach, he sees a sniper and attacks the would-be killer who turns out to be Tilly, looking to avenge the death of her sister - her real name is Tilly Masterson. Her attack on Bond was an accident - she'd been aiming for Goldfinger. Alerted by an accidentally tripped wire, Goldfinger's Chinese security guards arrive and Bond and Tilly are forced to flee aboard the Aston martin. Bond deploys the vehicles full array of defensive devices - an oil slick sprayer, smoke screen generator, machine guns - and manages to avoid capture for a while.

But when they are forced to abandon the vehicle when they run out of road, Tilly is killed by Odd Job and his lethal bowler and Bond is captured.

Bond is forced to drive his car to a remote cottage where a little old lady is waiting for them, and tries to make a break for it, ejecting his would be captor through the roof of the DB5. But his flight is impeded by the old lady, who unexpectedly wields a mean machine gun, and the sheer number of Goldfinger's forces. Dazzled by oncoming headlights, he crashes the car, is knocked unconscious and is again captured.

When he comes round, Bond is strapped to a metal table in a laboratory. Goldfinger arrives and revels that he knows who Bond really is - he's been recognised by one of the Chinese agents. Above Bond is an industrial laser which Goldfinger activates, sending it inching closer and closer towards Bond's groin. Bond talks his way out of a particularly nasty death by mentioning Operation Grandslam, pretending to know more than he really does and suggesting that 008 also knows about it. Goldfinger realises that Bond is worth more to him alive than dead and has one of his flunkies shoot him with a tranquillising dart.

When Bond next comes round, he's aboard an aircraft, being watched over by Pussy Galore, Goldfinger's personal pilot. They're on their way to Baltimore where Goldfinger will be waiting for them. Unable to charm the "immune" Pussy, Bond tries to woo Oriental hostess Mai Lei and she lets him use the aircraft's bathroom. Bond soon realises, however, that he is being watched, but manages to conceal actions. He activates one of the homing beacons and places it in the hollowed out heel of his shoe, then gets on with having a shave and changing into his suit.

As they approach Baltimore, Pussy threatens Bond with a gun, but he calls her bluff, knowing that a gunshot in an small cabin like this will rupture the fuselage, sucking everyone out of the aircraft. Besides, he's more than happy to behave if only to see what Goldfinger is up to.

Leiter has picked up Bond's homing signal and reports Bond's whereabouts to M who cautions him against rushing in and jeopardising Bond's operation. Bond himself has arrived in Baltimore and sees a fleet of small aircraft fly over in formation. Pussy tells him that she trained them and we see posters for Pussy Galore's Flying Circus. Bond again tries to seduce Pussy but is interrupted when he sees Odd Job waiting for him.

Bond is driven off as the Flying Circus lands and Pussy meets her all-female fleet of cat-suited pilots. She tells them that they'll get their final briefing later that night. Bond, meanwhile, has arrived at a racecourse where Goldfinger is showing off his horses. Bond is locked up in a dank cell with a single uncomfortable bed while Leiter and one of his agents hang around nearby waiting for a signal to ride to the rescue.

Goldfinger addresses a meeting of America's Mob bosses which has gathered at his ranch. They've all been working for Goldfinger without their rivals knowing it - he promises them their promised $1 million, or $10 million if they will wait until tomorrow. He then shows them a huge, highly detailed scale model of Fort Knox and reveals his plans - he intends to mount an attack on Fort Knox, home of the US gold reserve.

Meanwhile, Bond has managed to trick his way out of his cell thanks to a none too bright guard and is listening in to the whole plan. The Mob has been used to transport nerve gas to Goldfinger's ranch, gas which he plans to spray over Fort Knox from Pussy Galore's Flying Circus. Using military hardware, he then plans to blow his way into the vault and make off with the goods.

One of the mobsters, Solo, objects to Goldfinger's grandiose schemes and Bond, still listening in, surprised and attacked by Pussy Galore. While Bond is returned to his cell, Goldfinger leaves the mobsters alone for a moment, then releases lethal gas, killing them all. The only one to be allowed off is Solo. Bond is brought to Goldfinger by Pussy and manages to plant both written details of Goldfinger's plans and the homing device in Solo's pocket.

Odd Job drives Solo away and executes him, unaware that he is being tailed by Leiter and his sidekick. Odd Job takes the car in a breakers yard and has it dropped in the crusher, carrying the resulting compacted cube away in a pick up truck. As a consequence, the CIA agents loose the signal and decide to return to Goldfinger's ranch. There they are spotted by Goldfinger's men and he has Bond brought out to him and has Pussy change into something "more suitable" in preparation for seducing the agent.

Bond is now being guarded by men both inside and outside his cell and is taken up to see Goldfinger. Bond tells him that Operation Grandslam won't work and that there's no way he can get that much gold out of Fort Knox before the authorities move in. Goldfinger then reveals his true plane - he intends to detonate a Chinese "atomic device... small but particularly dirty" inside the vault, irradiating the gold and making it unusable for 58 years. The Chinese are in it to see economic instability cripple the west while Goldfinger stands to benefit when his own considerable stockpile of bullion is increased in value tenfold.

Odd Job arrives with the crushed remains of the car and leaves Bond with Pussy who is now all too keen to show an interest in Bond. To the watching CIA agents, it looks as if everything is fine and that Bond "has the situation well in hand." Bond tries to persuade Pussy to switch sides and gets rough with her in the stables. But this time, he's met his match and the pair engage in semi-playful judo before Bond finally gets his wicked way with her.

Next day, Pussy sends her Flying Circus on their mission to spray the lethal nerve gas over Fort Knox. As the ground forces move in, we see that among those affected by the gas are Leiter and his colleague. Odd Job arrives at Fort Knox with the Chinese troops and with Bond as an unwilling observer. Using the laser, the troops cuts in through the Fort's main gates and soon gains access to the gold deposits.

Goldfinger arrives aboard a helicopter and has Bond escort him into the vaults with the Chinese nuclear bomb. But outside the base, it turns out that Leiter and the others supposedly killed by the gas are in fact very much alive and well, just faking it. They prepare their counterattack.

Inside the vaults, Bond is handcuffed to the bomb and lowered on an elevator to the very lowest level of the vast depository. Goldfinger's escape, however, is thwarted by the US army and he is forced to disguise himself as one of their number, turning on his own troops in an attempt to escape. In the vault, one of Goldfinger's sidekicks, trapped when the heavy doors slammed shut, tries to disarm the bomb but is killed by Odd Job. Bond is able to retrieve the keys to his handcuffs from the dead man's pocket and sets about trying to fight off Odd Job - though he's small, the Korean is more than a match for Bond and overpowering him proves impossible. Bond only gets the better of him by embedding the steel rimmed bowler in the uprights of a metal gate, then applying a voltage charge from a severed electrical cable, killing Odd Job as he tries to retrieve the hat.

As the battle rages outside, Bond races against time to defuse the bomb. He is about to rip out some wires when Leiter arrives to deactivate it just as the digital timer on the top reaches the number 007! He reveals that it was Pussy who phoned Washington and she had helped to switch the gas in the canisters.

Goldfinger has, it seems, got away. Bond is resigned to the fact and is en route to a special dinner with the President of the United States. But Goldfinger has taken the place of the pilots and holds Bond at gun point. A struggle breaks out, during which Bond fires the gun at a window, depressurising the cabin. Bond is able to brace himself, but Goldfinger is sucked out of the cabin to his death. Pussy is at the controls and, but even with Bond's help is unable to regain control of the stricken aircraft which crashes into the sea. An air sea rescue mission is mounted, but Bond and Pussy, who have parachuted to safety, are far too busy enjoying each others company not to be rescued!