Question: How did Bond know which room Goldfinger had at the hotel?
Answer: He deduced that Goldfinger was using a partner to spy on his opponent's hand, and to check his theory he went to the room with the best line of sight. Alternatively, he went (off-screen) to the desk and used his charm, which was utterly irresistible in the Bond films of the '60s, to find out where Goldfinger was staying.
Question: Q demonstrated the switches for the left and right front-wing machine guns - why is the "right" control on the left and vise versa?
Chosen answer: They're not. Q was just indicating to Bond that these were the wing machine guns, he wasn't stating which was which.
Question: Can someone please explain the scene where Bond says something is "As bad as listening to The Beatles without earmuffs?" Were The Beatles unpopular in 1964, or is Bond just a snob?
Chosen answer: The Beatles were wildly popular with the youngsters of the time and not so with the older generation, of which Bond is part. Obviously, Bond's comment shows the Beatles were not to everyone's taste in music, especially his. And it was a good line for comic relief.
Question: Why did Goldfinger go through the hassle of telling the other gangsters his plan, only to kill them right after?
Answer: Goldfinger wants to keep the charade going up until the end so the others suspect nothing unusual. It is also a means of exposition to explain the plot to the audience.
Answer: I believe that Goldfinger is a showman / show off and wanted to boast for the pure hell of it. Also I think that he had to string them along so they wouldn't suspect he was about to do what he ultimately did to them.
Answer: Like all Bond villains, he wants someone to appreciate his genius, even if he plans to kill that person immediately after. How many times have villains told Bond their plans, then stuck him in a deathtrap that he manages to escape? These guys got the same treatment except for that part at the end.
Question: I've always wondered: why does Goldfinger release Bond during the laser scene? I've seen the scene a few times and I still cannot understand it.
Answer: Bond bluffed his way out. He convinced Goldfinger that if he did not report back to his superiors they would send another 00 Agent to replace him. And the agent would have information that could foil Goldfinger. By sparing Bond Goldfinger could force him to make reports as his captive. Bond would be his prisoner but no other 00 agents would come for him.
Question: Why didn't Goldfinger kill Bond in the hotel room?
Chosen answer: He wanted to send a message. Bond seeing Masterson's dead body was a way to tell Bond, and MI6 to stay away. Killing Bond would have had an immediate effect, sure, but MI6 would more than likely send out another 00 agent after him anyway. Goldfinger wanted to be assured that no one would come after him. (As a little side note, Goldfinger didn't actually attack Bond. As we never see who did, It may have been Oddjob or one of his goons).
You can see the silhouette of Odd Job in the room.
Answer: Not knowing who Bond was or what organization he was involved in, Goldfinger figured a warning was in order, to keep Bond and his business away, so he had Jill painted gold to scare them off. Jill was murdered for her betrayal to Goldfinger, who "hated to lose".
Question: Why did Pussy Galore join the good side? Was she a American undercover agent?
Answer: If I understand correctly Bond and Ms. Galore had a romantic encounter and during that Bond explained the full intent of Goldfinger (killing all the innocent people at Ft. Knox)to her. Apparently willing to go along with the theft of the gold at Ft. Knox, Ms. Galore was unwilling to go along with mass murder.
Question: I swear that I remember Bond, on his way to Baltimore made love to the co-pilot, and when M says "he's well on top", that was because he was on top of the co-pilot making out...am I hallucinating?
Answer: Pussy Galore was the pilot and he doesn't make out with her at that point. You may be thinking of Moonraker, where M asks Moneypenny if Bond is back from Africa, she replies "He's on the last leg of his journey," and it cuts to Bond romancing a woman in a plane.
Question: Once when I watched this on TV the laser room scene was different. 1) Bond pulls out a mirror and reflects the beam to cut the straps holding him to the table. 2) Bond runs off to get away but gets shot by a tranquiliser gun. Has anybody else seen this version?
Answer: I have found no information about the existence of such a version and I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist. But your description does sound an awful lot like an episode of The Simpsons called 'You Only Move Twice' (S08E02). In that episode Homer gets a new boss, Hank Scorpio, who happens to be a super villain. In one scene Scorpio has capture an agent called Bont and is about to kill him with a laser like in Goldfinger. Bont escapes by using a coin to deflect the laser and cut the straps holding him. Bont isn't stopped by a tranquilizer gun though, but by Homer tackling him.
Question: How exactly did Tilly die? I know she got hit in the neck by Oddjob's razor-rimmed hat, but it doesn't make sense. Why didn't it cut her head off or at least cut her? There wasn't even a mark or blood. If it didn't even cut her, how did she die just from getting hit by it?
Chosen answer: Oddjob's hat has a metal brim that's razor sharp under the cloth. It's possible for the hat to have hit her neck in a way that she didn't get cut (I've commented elsewhere about the number of factors that have to be just right to sever a head with a single blow), but the metal object hurled with Oddjob's strength was enough to snap her neck.
Question: Why did they spend all that time using a laser to cut open the door at Fort Knox just to open the door next to it? It does not make any sense?
Answer: Why doesn't it make sense? They need both doors open to facilitate access to the depository, and since they have no key or passcode, they cut one out completely to get inside. Once they do, they can open the other one from the inside as normal, which they do. No time or effort wasted.
Question: Surely the Federal government would realise Goldfinger's involvement once he tried selling them his gold? That and what does China promise him for creating economic chaos in the West?
Answer: He wouldn't have to sell the gold. He would keep it and become the new Fort Knox. He'd become the richest man in the world, worth billions, back in the 1960's, it was unheard of.
Answer: Yes, the U.S. government would realise that Goldfinger was involved. The movie's plot is deliberately unbelievable and merely intended for entertainment, not reality. Audiences are expected to employ a "suspension of disbelief." China promised Goldfinger the nuclear bomb so that he could carry out his plan. They wanted to create economic chaos in the US while Goldfinger's own gold would become far more valuable.
Question: How did the CIA find out about the plot at Ft. Knox from the note Bond put in the "late" Mr. Solo's pocket after he was crushed inside the car and brought back to the farm to be "separated from the gold"?
Answer: This is actually addressed in the movie itself. When Felix asks James: "What made her call Washington?"
Answer: Security and guest privacy was less of a concern in this era. Often someone could merely inquire at the desk which room a guest was staying in. Another ploy often used in movies was to leave a note for the guest and then watch which numbered mailbox the concierge placed it in.
raywest ★