007 - Goldfinger

Dramatically, Goldfinger hinges on the idea that James Bond is so charming that even his enemies can't bear to be without his company. The secret agent comes into Auric Goldfinger's orbit as a repeated annoyance - he ruins a sunburnt Miami card scam then embarrasses the criminal on his own golf course. 007 does eventually prickle a certain curiosity in his foe by doling out oblique information at key moments. That, coupled with a little bit of flattery, sees Goldfinger take a shine to James Bond. Surrounded by mute henchmen and a troop of women who do very little to hide their disgust, Bond is at least someone for Auric to talk too. The secret agent is well educated in matters of sabotage, able to guess the particulars of Operation Grand Slam to Goldfinger's clear delight. Bond even manages to fluster the portly bullion thief with a well-timed compliment. There's that charm again. Follow it up with a petty snipe to keep your blushing quarry guessing.

Bond's sexual magnetism is stressed into absurdity here too. In the first fifteen minutes of Guy Hamilton's film we see traces of four distinct seductions, each woman putty in 007's hands. Although it may not seem like it fifty years hence, this is actually a bit of a departure for the character. Dr. No's Bond was confident but brusque. One of his most significant conquests achieved through a specific kind of social hectoring - Miss Taro had to keep him in her apartment until her armed accomplices arrived so, in turn, she had to be seduced. Presumably, 007's irresistibility is built into the piece to justify Pussy Galore's abrupt allegiance switch towards the end of the film. Galore overcomes an obvious, stated, disinterest in men thanks to a spot of Judo. Bond hurls the daredevil aviator about a stable until she agrees that she's met her physical equal. The tryst is violent, the dynamic murky. Are Pussy's affections really won or does she simply relent when faced with a powerful, sexually aggressive, man? After all, she's back piloting a private jet for the enemy not twenty minutes later. Perhaps Pussy is simply a survivor who has, sadly, been conditioned to play pliant whenever men start waving their weapons about?