The Single Greatest Thing In Each James Bond Movie

Goldfinger's status as perhaps the quintessential Bond movie is well-known by now, but what is it that makes this particular installment so damn good?

Arguably, it's the screenplay, which succeeds hugely on two main fronts. Firstly, aside from a somewhat underwhelming lead Bond Girl (Pussy Galore is far worse than you remember), it establishes the Bond formula to absolute perfection.

It's got outstanding action scenes, unforgettable villains, jaw-dropping gadgets, a razor-sharp sense of humor and a wonderful sense of glamour that's damn-near impossible to resist. But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the film performs a deft balancing act that ensures it never just feels like a light bit of disposable fun.

The villains are wacky yet genuinely frightening, the plot is heightened but just about believable, and the film does a particularly great job with Bond himself. Bond was never this incompetent throughout any of the other old movies, and he's constantly slipping up and getting other people killed. In fact, he spends quite a large portion of the picture in captivity, and this feeds into one of the film's greatest strengths: it's so suspenseful.

There's a constant sense of threat and palm-sweating tension, especially in the film's legendary laser scene, and this sense of peril was never quite so prevalent throughout the other pre-Craig Bond films. That's why Goldfinger is arguably the best classic Bond film.

It just goes to show, even in a crazy action flick like Goldfinger, good writing always matters.