Release Year: 1964

Genre: Action, Adventure

Director: Guy Hamilton

Writer: Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn

Stars: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Fröbe

King Midas is a classic fairytale character who turned everything he touched into gold. We're still not sure how he went to the bathroom. Although the character Goldfinger is referred to as "the man with the Midas touch," this classic villain is more of a reverse Midas—he melts gold down and sells it for wealth.

While King Midas was allowed to run around unchecked turning everything into gold—apples, trees, his teeth (Midas popularized the gold grille)—Goldfinger must face off against that international man of mystery, James Bond, in Bond's third film, the 1964 blockbuster Goldfinger.

Based on the Ian Fleming novel of the same name, Goldfinger saw the striking Scotsman Sean Connery slip into Bond's tux for the third time. In this film, Bond chases Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) across the globe, through a variety of exotic locales, like Miami Beach, Geneva, and, um, Kentucky. Along the way, Bond gets, shall we say, distracted by a variety of bodacious bombshells, including the Bond Girl with the Bond Girliest name of them all: Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman).

Although this is Connery's third outing as Bond, the film featured a new director, Guy Hamilton, who replaced Terence Young, director of Bond's first two adventures. Hamilton had a tough mission—to keep Bond thrilling, exciting, and relevant. He did this by pushing the envelope, and by "pushing the envelope," we mean having scantily clad women push an envelope through lasers, nukes, and a car with more weapons on board than your average Mario Kart.

This deliciously weird film is topped with a musical cherry, the theme song "Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey, a grand dame who covered Pink's "Get This Party Started" at age seventy. Considering her song opens Goldfinger with a bang, she most definitely knows how to get a party started.

Hamilton's high-octane mix of sex, danger, and a killer song was a hit with audiences worldwide. When adjusted for inflation, Goldfinger is the third-highest grossing film in the franchise's 50+ year history. It set the stage for the sequel, Thunderball, also starring Connery. And although Guy Hamilton would take a break, he would later return for three more Bond flicks—Diamonds are Forever (1971), Live and Let Die (1973), and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).

Goldfinger is an over-the-top action-adventure concoction that could only have existed in the swinging sixties. Watching it is like taking a time machine to the past, when love was free, lasers were brand-new technology, and it was okay for women to be named Pussy. And with today's gadgets that Bond could never dream of—like DVDs and online streaming—you can watch it whenever you want.

With the first child, parents are often very strict. With the second child, they're often a little laxer in their parenting. By the time they have a third, they'll let their baby eat dirt and crawl around on the floor of the house with a fork in its mouth.

Goldfinger is basically the third child of the Bond franchise. Not only that, but it's the first by a new director, Guy Hamilton. That's like letting your third child be raised by the nanny, and for that nanny to basically be Mary Poppins. Where are we going with this ridiculous analogy? Basically, what little reins were on the Bond franchise in its first two films are totally let loose by this installment.

For better or worse, Goldfinger throws logic to the wind. It has plot holes you could fly Goldfinger's helicopter through sideways, but it also has deathly decapitating hats and Pussy's Flying Circus, so who cares? Goldfinger defined Bond as a visceral, not a mental, experience.

Even though this is the third Bond, it cements what the franchise would be known for over the next 50+ years: crazy villains, wild gadgets, and women with ridiculous names. Without Goldfinger, there would be no Blofeld. Without the Aston Martin, there would be no iceberg-shaped boat. (Maybe it would be better not to have that?) Without Pussy Galore, we'd have no Christmas Jones. (Hmm, maybe another good thing to do without?)

The 1960s have a reputation for being filled with free love and uncontrolled substances, but that decade was, in fact, pretty tumultuous, a time when people fought against wars and for Civil Rights. Bond gave people the opportunity to escape, and Goldfinger was the perfect escapist vehicle—a gold-plated one. So stop thinking about why you should care and just sit back and enjoy the ride.