While Dr. No made James Bond a name and From Russia With Love made him a success, it was Goldfinger that made him a sensation. James Bond became the official hero of Western Civilization; with this third installment, the mystique was cast in stone… er, gold. Along with the girls and gadgets, larger-than-life villains came with their over-the-top schemes of diabolical master genius and their peculiar henchmen, as well as the icons of Bond: the signature Aston Martin, and the notorious vodka martini (shaken, not stirred.) Theodore Bikel and Titos Vandis both read for the role of the titular villain, but in the end the role went to Gerte Fröbe, whose grasp of English was so poor that his lines had to be dubbed in by Michael Collins.

The story begins with Bond’s accidental run-in with Auric Goldfinger at a beach resort in Miami. Bond thwarts Goldfinger’s attempt to cheat at cards when he discovers his beautiful accomplice (Shirley Eaton) spying on the game from a nearby motel room. Bond seduces the woman but is afterward knocked out by an unseen assailant, only to wake up and discover that his brief love has been asphyxiated with gold paint.

Bond is then recalled to home base where he’s given a mission to find out if and how Goldfinger might be smuggling gold in and out of England. Bond contrives a way to meet Goldfinger at a golf club. Double-oh-Seven challenges the villain to a go around the greens, beating him at his own cheating game. But Goldfinger’s menace is demonstrated in return when his Korean sidekick Odd Job slices the head off a statue with a metal rimmed Frisbee bowler hat. Undeterred, Bond’s snooping doesn’t end there; he tails Goldfinger to his gold smuggling workshop where a plan called “Operation Grand Slam” is about to be put into motion. Before he can learn more, Bond is captured and nearly sliced in half with a laser beam before he convinces Goldfinger that he’s worth more alive than dead.

With that, Goldfinger whisks him away to America where Bond meets pilot and coconspirator--not to mention the naughtiest-named of the Bond girls-- Pussy Galore (Honor Blackmon). Using his trademark pluck and wit, Bond discovers that Operation Grand Slam is none other than the greatest heist in history, and one that threatens to kill thousands of people in the process.

The legacy of Goldfinger points to the Austin Powers franchise, which lambastes everything from the girls (Pussy Galore becomes Alotta Fagina) to the henchmen (Odd Job = Random Task) to the villain himself (Goldmember.) Despite the material, which is certainly rife for loving comedic homage, Goldfinger has reach far beyond parody.

Shirley Bassey’s electric rendition of the theme song claimed that Goldfinger was the man with the Midas touch. This proved prophetic as Goldfinger earned back its production costs in barely two weeks of theatrical release. Manufacturers stumbled over each other in the rush to cash in on any and every aspect of the film as its success launched the phenomena known as “spymania.” And at the center of it all was none other than Bond… James Bond.