Goldfinger

Goldfinger Quotes and Analysis

Pussy Galore: My name is Pussy Galore.

James Bond: I must be dreaming...

Pussy Galore and James Bond

When James Bond awakens on Pussy Galore's plane after being tranquilized, she introduces herself, revealing her exceedingly sexually suggestive name. Bond, a notorious Lothario, notices immediately that she is a beautiful woman, and suggests that the scenario is particularly dreamlike and ideal: being trapped on a plane with a beautiful woman named "Pussy."

"A martini. Shaken, not stirred."

James Bond

This is Bond's drink order on the plane. It has become an iconic signifier of the James Bond character because it so succinctly represents both that Bond is a man of sophistication (a martini is a highly alcoholic, very straightforward, no-nonsense drink) and also that he knows what he wants. In specifying how he wants it prepared, Bond makes his specific preferences known, and signals that he is a man who knows a good drink when he drinks it.

"Man has climbed Mount Everest. Gone to the bottom of the ocean. He has fired rockets at the Moon. Split the atom. Achieved miracles in every field of human endeavor...except crime!"

Auric Goldfinger

Goldfinger says this while speaking to the group of mobsters assembled at his stud farm. The line shows both that Goldfinger plans to enact a special, miraculous crime, while also revealing that he is a complete megalomaniac. He not only wants to become a richer man, but he wants to become famous for being an especially high level criminal. This line cements Goldfinger's status as a particularly evil villain, motivated not only by greed but a grandiose sense of self.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Goldfinger. Are you having lunch at the White House too?"

James Bond

At the end, Bond thinks he has finally rid himself of Goldfinger, and sits on the plane to the White House calmly, when suddenly Goldfinger emerges from the back of the plane wearing a U.S. army uniform as a disguise. Never one to get easily agitated, Bond delivers this mocking and sarcastic line, calling attention to what a crook Goldfinger is, and also drawing attention to his own achievement.

"Manners, Oddjob. I thought you always took your hat off to a lady."

James Bond

Bond says this sarcastically to Goldfinger's silent assistant, Oddjob, when Oddjob doesn't remove his hat in Pussy's presence. This line alludes to the fact that Oddjob doesn't see Goldfinger's accomplice as a lady, and that he doesn't care about manners. It is also Bond's way of alluding to Oddjob's deadly bowler hat, with a brim made of blades.

"Bond, James Bond."

James Bond

This line has become iconic and a shorthand for the entire James Bond franchise. The steady, assured way that James Bond introduces himself to Jill Masterson on Goldfinger's patio represents his smoothness and sense of self. Bond is a man who knows his worth, as represented by the way he orders drinks and by the way he introduces himself to a beautiful woman.

James Bond: You expect me to talk?

Auric Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!

James Bond and Goldfinger

James Bond awakens at Goldfinger's lair strapped to a table with a deadly laser pointed at the table below his crotch. Worried for his own safety, Bond asks Goldfinger if he wants him to give him information, but Goldfinger assures him that there's no need, that he just wants to kill him. This exchange reveals just how ruthless and evil Goldfinger really is; he is not simply a cheater, but a particularly sadistic murderer.

"Shocking! Positively shocking!"

James Bond

In the sequence before the credits, Bond kills a man by electrocuting him in a tub, after learning that the women with whom he was having an affair was working against him. Leaving the scene, Bond adjusts his jacket and marvels how shocking the near-death experience was, both because of the violence that he had to enact and the betrayal of the woman he was attracted to. This line clues us in to Bond's cool detachment, the fact that he is shocked, even though he doesn't seem ruffled or surprised in the slightest.

"I apologize, Goldfinger. It’s an inspired deal! They get what they want, economic chaos in the West. And the value of your gold increases many times."

James Bond

As they discuss the plans for Operation Grand Slam, James Bond discovers that Goldfinger cannot possibly be trying to steal all the gold at Fort Knox, as that would take too long. When Goldfinger tells him that he plans to detonate a nuclear bomb on-site, Bond surmises that Goldfinger's plan is actually more complicated than just theft, that he wants to actually destabilize the economy in the United States (and kill people in the process) so that his gold will be worth more.

"My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!"

James Bond

After his fling with Jill Masterson, Bond notices that the champagne they were drinking is no longer cold, and insists that he get another bottle. This line, his justification for getting another bottle, shows the viewer that Bond is a man of sophisticated and expensive taste, who appreciates the finer things and has a witty answer to almost everything.