Chapter 12: Long Tail on a Ghostquote:Punctually at nine the next morning Bond got on to the Chief of Staff: 'James here. I've had a look at the property. Been all over it. Had dinner last night with the owner. I can say pretty well for certain that the managing director's view is right. Something definitely wrong about the property. Not enough facts to send you a surveyor's report. Owner's going abroad tomorrow, flying from Ferryfield. Wish I knew his departure time. Like to have another sight of his Rolls. Thought I'd make him a present of a portable wireless set. I'll be going over a bit later in the day. Could you get Miss Ponsonby to book me? Destination unknown for the present. I'll be keeping in touch. Anything your end?' Bond talked to headquarters and got various clearances to follow Goldfinger, who has a flight out at noon. He was given government clearance to park his Aston-Martin in a hangar and wait for Goldfinger's plane, with Customs being told he's a Scotland Yard detective investigating Goldfinger's Korean servants for smuggling. This will give them an opportunity to check the Rolls-Royce. quote:At eleven-forty-five one of the Customs men put his head round the door. He winked at Bond. 'Coming in now. Chauffeur on board. Going to ask both to board the plane before the car. Tell them it's something to do with the weight distribution. Not so phoney as it sounds. We know this old crate. She's armour-plated. Weighs about three tons. Call you when we're ready.' The TR3 was a sporty roadster produced from 1955 until 1962. It was a huge success for Triumph, produced in large numbers and commonly used for racing. The convertible top is a simple folding hood that stretches down over the low doors and removable plexiglass side curtains to approximate windows over the doors. quote:Bond went to the back of the Rolls. The Customs men had unscrewed the plate of the spare tool compartment. Bond pulled out the tray of tools and made a show of minutely examining them and the tray. He knelt down. Under cover of rummaging at the sides of the compartment, he slipped the battery and tube into the back of it. He replaced the tool tray. It fitted all right. He stood up and brushed his hands together. 'Negative,' he said to the Customs officer. Once he's off the plane, Bond encounters one major problem with 1950s radio homing beacons: you need two or more to actually triangulate the location of the beacon. With only his radio, it's basically a "getting warmer" system of listening to the beeps get louder or quieter as he gets closer or farther away. He has to ask a cyclist at an intersection in France which direction a big yellow Rolls-Royce went to avoid going in the wrong direction. quote:Bond swept along the badly cambered road. He took no chances but covered the forty-three kilometres to Abbeville in a quarter of an hour. The drone of the Homer was loud. Goldfinger couldn't be more than twenty miles ahead. But which way at the fork? On a guess Bond took the Paris road. He beat the car along. For a time there was little change in the voice of the Homer. Bond could be right or wrong. Then, imperceptibly, the drone began to fade. Blast! Turn back or press on fast and take one of the secondary roads across to Rouen and catch up with him there? Bond hated turning back. Ten kilometres short of Beauvais he turned right. For a time it was bad going but then he was on to the fast N30 and could afford to drift into Rouen, led on by the beckoning voice of his pick-up. He stopped on the outskirts of the town and listened with one ear while consulting his Michelin. By the waxing drone he could tell that he had got ahead of Goldfinger. But now there was another vital fork, not quite so easy to retrieve if Bond guessed wrong again. Either Goldfinger would take the Alençon-Le Mans-Tours route to the south, or he meant to move south-east, missing Paris, by way of Evreux, Chartres and Orleans. Bond couldn't afford to get closer to the centre of Rouen and perhaps catch a glimpse of the Rolls and of the way it would take. He would have to wait until the Homer went on the wane and then make his own guess. The long distance chase continues at high speed as the sun sets, passing by the gray Triumph TR3 that had been on the plane with the Rolls. He gets just close enough to spot the big yellow car and then pulls off to the side to let the Triumph pass. quote:Bond had never cared for Orleans. It was a priest and myth ridden town without charm or gaiety. It was content to live off Joan of Arc and give the visitor a hard, holy glare while it took his money. Bond consulted his Michelin. Goldfinger would stop at five-star hotels and eat fillets of sole and roast chicken. It would be the Arcades for him—perhaps the Moderne. Bond would have liked to stay outside the town and sleep on the banks of the Loire in the excellent Auberge de la Montespan, his belly full of quenelles de brochet. He would have to stick closer to his fox. He decided on the Hôtel de la Gare and dinner at the station buffet. The quenelles de brochet Bond wishes he could have is a mixture of creamed fish or meat with a light egg binding, sometimes breaded, and poached. What he gets are a French variant on the shirred eggs he had in Live and Let Die and a classic dish of sole (which Bond seems to prefer, as he's eaten it at MI6 before) dredged in flour, pan fried in butter, and served with the sauce from the pan, parsley, and lemon. He accompanies it with some sweet rosé wine and some cognac. quote:At six o'clock the next morning the Rolls hadn't moved. Bond paid his bill, had a café complet—with a double ration of coffee—at the station, motored down to the quais and backed his car up a side street. This time he could not afford to make a mistake. Goldfinger would either cross the river and head south to join N7 for the Riviera, or he would follow the north bank of the Loire, also perhaps for the Riviera, but also on the route for Switzerland and Italy. Bond got out of the car and lounged against the parapet of the river wall, watching between the trunks of the plane trees. At eight-thirty, two small figures came out of the Arcades. The Rolls moved off. Bond watched it follow the quais until it was out of sight, then he got behind the wheel of the Aston Martin and set off in pursuit. Café complet is what we would call a Continental breakfast: coffee with some pastries and bread. quote:Bond motored comfortably along the Loire in the early summer sunshine. This was one of his favourite corners of the world. In May, with the fruit trees burning white and the soft wide river still big with the winter rains, the valley was green and young and dressed for love. He was thinking this when, before Châteauneuf, there was a shrill scream from twin Bosch horns and the little Triumph tore past. The hood was down. There was the blur of a pretty face hidden by white motoring goggles with dark blue lenses. Although Bond only saw the edge of a profile—a slash of red mouth and the fluttering edge of black hair under a pink handkerchief with white spots, he knew she was pretty from the way she held her head. There was the authority of someone who is used to being admired, combined with the self-consciousness of a girl driving alone and passing a man in a smart car. Someone smack this guy upside the head. quote:Bond smiled at his story and at the dots that ended it. Not today. Today you're working. Today is for Goldfinger, not for love. Today the only scent you may smell is Goldfinger's expensive after-shave lotion, not ... what would she use? English girls made mistakes about scent. He hoped it would be something slight and clean. Balmain's Vent Vert perhaps, or Caron's Muguet. Bond tuned up his receiver for reassurance, then hushed it and motored on, relaxed, playing with his thoughts of the girl, filling in the details. Of course he might meet up with her again. They seemed to be keeping pretty close company. She must have spent the night in Orleans. Where? What a waste. But wait a minute! Suddenly Bond woke up from his day-dreaming. The open hood reminded him. He'd seen that Triumph before. It had been at Ferryfield, must have taken the flight after Goldfinger. It was true he hadn't seen the girl or noted the registration number, but surely it was the same. If so, for her to be still on Goldfinger's tail after three hundred miles was more than coincidence. And she had been driving with dimmed lights the night before! Here, what's going on? Bond speeds up again to catch up; the Triumph is keeping about 2 miles behind the Rolls. quote:The little convoy kept on, still following the wide black sheen of N7 that runs like a thick, dangerous nerve down through the heart of France. But at Moulins Bond nearly lost the scent. He had to double back quickly and get on to N73. Goldfinger had turned at right angles and was now making for Lyons and Italy, or for Mâcon and Geneva. Bond had to do some fast motoring and then was only just in time to avoid running into trouble. He had not worried much about the pitch of the Homer. He had counted on a sight of the Triumph to slow him down. Suddenly he realized that the drone was becoming a howl. If he hadn't braked hard down from the ninety he was doing, he would have been on top of the Rolls. As it was, he was barely creeping along when he came over a rise and saw the big yellow car stopped by the wayside a mile ahead. There was a blessed cart-track. Bond swerved into it and stopped under cover of standing corn. He took a small pair of binoculars out of the glove compartment, got out of the car and walked back. Yes, drat it! Goldfinger was sitting below a small bridge on the bank of a stream. He was wearing a white dust coat and white linen driving helmet in the style of German tourists. He was eating, having a picnic. The sight made Bond hungry. What about his own lunch? He examined the Rolls. Through the rear window he could see part of the Korean's black shape in the front seat. There was no sign of the Triumph. If the girl had still been on Goldfinger's tail she would have had no warning. She would have just kept her head down and stepped on the gas. Now she would be somewhere ahead, waiting in ambush for the Rolls to come by. Or would she? Perhaps Bond's imagination had run away with him. She was probably on her way to the Italian lakes to join an aunt, some friends, a lover. Bond watches as Goldfinger finishes his picnic, then picks up the scraps of paper wrapper and carefully wedges them under the bridge instead of disposing of them, so he waits for Goldfinger to leave and drives up. quote:It was a pretty bridge over a pretty stream. It had a survey number set in the arch—79/6—the sixth bridge from some town on N79. Easy to find. Bond got quickly out of the car and slid down the shallow bank. It was dark and cool under the arch. There were the shadows of fish in the slow, clear, pebbled water. Bond searched the edge of the masonry near the grass verge. Exactly in the centre, below the road, there was a patch of thick grass against the wall. Bond parted the grass. There was a sprinkling of freshly turned earth. Bond dug with his fingers.
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# ? May 28, 2019 15:25 |
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# ? Jun 11, 2024 08:07 |
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As a character, Sterling Archer is looking less like a parody and more like an homage.
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# ? May 28, 2019 17:00 |
Chapter 13: 'If You Touch Me There...'quote:Bond felt pleased with himself. A whole lot of people were going to get very angry with Goldfinger. You can do a lot of dirty work with twenty thousand pounds. Now plans would have to be altered, conspiracies postponed, perhaps even lives saved. And, if it ever got to an inquiry by SMERSH, which was unlikely as they were the sort of realistic people who cut their losses, it could only be assumed that some sheltering tramp had found the gold bar. Bond keeps on Goldfinger's tail, watching as the yellow Rolls turns heads as it passes through town. Goldfinger continues straight over the bridge onto the road to Switzerland, the Triumph TR3 only a few feet behind Bond. He decides to find a gentle way to stop the tail: he stops in front of a butcher shop, then abruptly reverses into the other car. quote:He walked round to the back of the car. The girl, her face tense with anger, had one beautiful silken leg on the road. There was an indiscreet glimpse of white thigh. The girl stripped off her goggles and stood, legs braced and arms akimbo. The beautiful mouth was taut with anger. One of the people in the crowd heads off to call a mechanic as Bond pulls his Aston-Martin off the front of the Triumph, dumping bits of metal on the ground. He hands the woman 100,000 francs (roughly $2500 in modern money assuming the franc's value hasn't radically changed since 1952) to cover the damages and expenses for the overnight stay she's now going to have...and she refuses. quote:'No.' The one word was cool, definite. The girl put her hands behind her back and waited. Our mystery woman was played in the film by Tania Mallet, who just died on March 30. She was a model who had previously auditioned for Tatiana Romanova; her only other acting role was a single appearance on an episode of The New Avengers in 1976. This is obviously a big security risk to Bond's mission. He knows Goldfinger is on his way to Switzerland and this girl has been following them incessantly from one side of France to the other, with no way to tell what her plan is in Geneva. So of course he agrees immediately. quote:Bond said curtly, 'I'll be glad to take you to Geneva. Now then,' he opened up the back of the Aston Martin, 'let's get your things in. While I fix up about the garage here's some money. Please buy us lunch—anything you like for yourself. For me, six inches of Lyon sausage, a loaf of bread, butter, and half a litre of Mâcon with the cork pulled.' Bond hurries, trying to make up the 50+ miles Goldfinger has on them now. He drives fast and hard through the mountain roads, which Tilly clearly seems to enjoy despite it throwing her around the car. As the Homer starts picking up in pitch he stops for them to picnic and blames the noise on the magneto. quote:She seemed satisfied with this mumbo-jumbo. She said diffidently, 'Where are you heading for? I hope I haven't taken you very far out of your way.' Bond tries to get a glimpse at her passport as they cross through customs, but she's too fast. He leaves Tilly at the Bergues hotel in Geneva and continues on, catching up to Goldfinger at Coppet. He finds that Goldfinger has a gated complex, "Entreprises Auric A.G.", and pulls his car into the forest directly above it. He sneaks through the fenced-in forest until he's close enough to spy on the collection of buildings. quote:The house was a well-proportioned square block of old red brick with a slate roof. It consisted of two storeys and an attic floor. It would probably contain four bedrooms and two principal rooms. The walls were partly covered by a very old wistaria in full bloom. It was an attractive house. In his mind's eye Bond could see the white-painted panelling inside. He smelled the sweet musty sunshiny smell of the rooms. The back door gave on to the wide paved courtyard in which stood the Rolls. The courtyard was open on Bond's side but closed on the other two sides by single-storey corrugated iron workshops. A tall zinc chimney rose from the angle of the two workshops. The chimney was topped by a zinc cowl. On top of the zinc cowl was the revolving square mouth of what looked to Bond like a Decca Navigator—the radar scanner you see on the bridges of most ships. The apparatus whirled steadily round. Bond couldn't imagine what purpose it served on the roof of this little factory among the trees. Bond heads to the local MI6 station in Geneva and hands over the gold bar he retrieved. He asks about Goldfinger's factory, but they don't know anything except that it makes metal furniture. In particular they make all the seating for Mecca, a privately owned airline that does charter flights to India. quote:A slow, grim smile spread across Bond's face. He got up and held out his hand. 'You don't know it, but you've just done a whole jigsaw puzzle in under a minute. Many thanks. Best of luck with the tractor business. Hope we'll meet again one day.'
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# ? May 29, 2019 14:30 |
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£1 million in 1959 pounds would be £22.8 million in 2018 pounds, according to the Bank of England's calculator. Goldfinger has a nice little earner going on.
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# ? May 29, 2019 15:42 |
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I forget, are the speeds in Bond books given in imperial or metric? Either this or the previous chapter mentioned him doing 90 so I'm not sure if that's dangerously fast or close to highway speed.
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# ? May 30, 2019 02:01 |
Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:I forget, are the speeds in Bond books given in imperial or metric? Either this or the previous chapter mentioned him doing 90 so I'm not sure if that's dangerously fast or close to highway speed. They're generally given in imperial unless stated otherwise, as at this point Britain was still predominately using the imperial system. It would be 1965 when the UK agreed to metrication on a wide scale. So the answer is "dangerously fast".
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# ? May 30, 2019 03:04 |
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Even today, everything about driving in the UK is still talked about in miles rather than kilometres - I don't know if that will ever convert to metric.
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# ? May 30, 2019 07:28 |
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quote:Their eyes met and exchanged a flurry of masculine/feminine master/slave signals. Just in case anyone missed this pleasant little look into the mind of James Bond.
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# ? May 30, 2019 14:15 |
Chapter 14: Things That Go Thump in the Nightquote:James booked in at the Hôtel des Bergues, took a bath and shower and changed his clothes. He weighed the Walther PPK in his hand and wondered whether he should take it or leave it behind. He decided to leave it. He had no intention of being seen when he went back to the Entreprises Auric. If, by dreadful luck, he was seen, it would spoil everything to get into a fight. He had his story, a poor one, but at least one that would not break his cover. He would have to rely on that. But Bond did choose a particular pair of shoes that were rather heavier than one could expect from their casual build. The Bavaria in Geneva is a real restaurant, which moved and changed its name in the 1970s to Le Relais de I´Entrecote. Bond is eating choucroute garnie, a traditional Alsatian dish of cabbage or sauerkraut accompanied by salted meats like sausage and bacon. quote:And what about the girl, this pretty, authoritarian joker that had suddenly been faced in the deal? What in hell was she about? What about this golf story? Bond got up and went to the telephone booth at the back of the room. He got on to the Journal de Genève and through to the sports editor. The man was helpful, but surprised at Bond's question. No. The various championships were of course played in the summer when the other national programmes were finished and it was possible to lure a good foreign entry to Switzerland. It was the same with all other European countries. They liked to bring in as many British and American players as possible. It increased the gates. 'Pas de quoi, monsieur.' Bond's dinner so far appears to be a carafe of wine, at least one glass of a different kind of wine, two double pours of liquor, a plate of choucroute garnie, bread, cheese, and coffee. He may have consumed more calories from alcohol than food here and would never pass a sobriety test if he got pulled over. Hm. Maybe that explains his decision-making skills. quote:And his own job was so nearly finished! All he needed was the evidence of his own eyes that the story he had woven round Goldfinger and the Rolls was the truth. One look into the works at Coppet—one grain of white gold dust—and he could be off to Berne that very night and be on to the duty officer over the Embassy scrambler. Then, quietly, discreetly, the Bank of England would freeze Goldfinger's accounts all over the world and perhaps, already tomorrow, the Special Branch of the Swiss police would be knocking on the door of Entreprises Auric. Extradition would follow, Goldfinger would go to Brixton, there would be a quiet, rather complicated case in one of the smuggling courts like Maidstone or Lewes. Goldfinger would get a few years, his naturalization would be revoked and his gold hoard, illegally exported, would trickle back into the vaults below the Bank of England. And SMERSH would gnash its blood-stained teeth and add another page to Bond's bulging zapiska. Bond finishes his dinner and drives out to Entreprises Auric. He turns off his headlights and sneaks the car into a clearing where he can climb through the fence and walk through the woods to the factory. quote:Now he could hear the soft heavy pant of the generator engine ... thumpah ... thumpah ... thumpah. It seemed a watchful, rather threatening noise. Bond reached the gap in the iron bars, slipped through and stood, straining his senses forward through the moon-dappled trees. Bond sneaks up behind Tilly and leaps on her, squeezing her carotid artery to knock her unconscious and taking the rifle (which still has the safety on) from her hands. She starts waking up, forcing Bond to keep her restrained. quote:Bond slid off her. He lay beside her, still holding her hands prisoned behind her back. He whispered, 'Get your breath. But tell me, were you after Goldfinger?' The murder of Jill Masterson (taking place immediately in Miami rather than offscreen) by painting her gold is one of the most iconic images in the entire James Bond canon. The filmmakers believed Fleming when he claimed it was lethal and left Shirley Eaton's stomach unpainted for her safety. Mythbusters covered this in the third pilot episode and determined that while you'd feel like crap after an hour you wouldn't actually die. quote:The girl was pulling at her finger—at the Claddagh ring, the entwined hands round the gold heart. She put her knuckle to her mouth. The ring came off. She held it up for Bond to take. The tiny gold circle, silhouetted against the trunk of the tree, glittered in the moonlight. Bond makes a very lame attempt at claiming that he and Tilly are out having a moonlit stroll, making her out to be his girlfriend brought over from England, which Oddjob isn't even slightly fooled by. He marches the two at arrowpoint to the back door of the mansion, where two more Korean servants come out with clubs to lead them inside. quote:They were herded through the open door and along a stone-flagged passage to the narrow entrance hall at the front of the house. The house smelled as Bond had imagined it would—musty and fragrant and summery. There were white-panelled doors. Oddjob knocked on one of them. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 15:38 on May 30, 2019 |
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# ? May 30, 2019 15:35 |
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Yep Bond poked the Beehive once too many.
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# ? May 30, 2019 20:08 |
I’m just going to accept as canon that Bond’s heavy drinking is the cause of all his stupid moves.
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# ? May 30, 2019 20:14 |
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Sterling Archer, barely able to stand and slurring all his words, “I’m gonna.... gonna go to his house... and steal some of the gold!”
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# ? May 30, 2019 21:03 |
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Also this whole part, just read it in the drunk voiceAn episode of Archer, maybe? posted:The Aston Martin's rear bumper was locked into the wreckage of the Triumph's lamps and radiator grille. Bond said amiably, 'If you touch me there again you'll have to marry me.'
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# ? May 30, 2019 23:13 |
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(Necks a hipflask of rum, eats a piece of toast) RIGHTO LET'S GO SECRET AGENTING
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# ? May 30, 2019 23:37 |
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'If you touch me there again you'll have to marry me.' 'Allez y la gosse! Maintenant le knock-out!' 'You bloody fool! What the hell do you think you're doing?' 'Your brakes can't be up to much.' ' My brakes! What the hell do you mean? You reversed into me.' 'Gears slipped. I didn't know you were so close.'
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# ? May 31, 2019 01:40 |
Jesus I heard it.
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# ? May 31, 2019 01:49 |
chitoryu12 posted:
Don't forget the Löwenbrau which I think is a beer that you can still get today.
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# ? May 31, 2019 07:48 |
Carillon posted:Don't forget the Löwenbrau which I think is a beer that you can still get today. You can, and it's one of the only beers Bond ever drinks. I think he has 2 or 3 beers in the entire series. The movies increase this by getting a deal with Heineken to have Daniel Craig drink them, which seems like the exact kind of beer Bond would refuse.
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# ? May 31, 2019 13:53 |
Chapter 15: The Pressure Roomquote:Bond's reaction was automatic. There was no reason behind it. He took one quick step forward and hurled himself across the desk at Goldfinger. His body, launched in a shallow dive, hit the top of the desk and ploughed through the litter of papers. There was a heavy thud as the top of his head crashed into Goldfinger's breastbone. The momentum of the blow rocked Goldfinger in his chair. Bond kicked back at the edge of the desk, got a purchase and rammed forward again. As the chair toppled backwards and the two bodies went down in the splintering woodwork, Bond's fingers got to the throat and his thumbs went into its base and downwards with every ounce of his force. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoQwKe0lggw This is another of the most famous scenes in Bond history, and the source of our thread title! At the time Fleming wrote the book, lasers were still only theoretical and a functioning one wouldn't exist until 1960. By 1964 they had become new experimental technology and Eon could spice up the scene with something fancier than a buzzsaw. The laser itself was simply a visual effect with an assistant holding a blowtorch under the table; the look of panic on Connery's face as the laser gets closer is very real, as the assistant accidentally overran his safety mark and came very close to legitimately castrating him. quote:Bond lay and stared up at the little message on the lamp bulb. Goldfinger began to speak in a relaxed conversational voice. Bond pulled the curtains tight across the ghastly peep-show of his imagination and listened. Goldfinger indifferently turns on the buzzsaw and tells Bond that he has the choice between either telling the truth and being killed quickly or staying quiet and having his death drawn out (along with Tilly, who will be fed to Oddjob). Bond resolves himself not to say anything and to stick to his flimsy story, hoping that his disappearance and death will give MI6 an excuse to put a more cautious agent on the case and kill Goldfinger. quote:Bond said, 'Don't be a fool, Goldfinger. I told my friends at Universal where I was going and why. The girl's parents know that she went with me. I made inquiries about this factory of yours before we came here. We shall be traced here very easily. Universal is powerful. You will have the police after you within days of our disappearance. I will make a deal with you. Let us go and nothing more will be heard of the matter. I will vouch for the girl. You are making a stupid mistake. We are two perfectly innocent people.' Oddjob prolongs Bond's torment with various presses and sharp blows in precise points, causing pain but no lasting damage. Bond tries to offer to work for Goldfinger, but he refuses on the obvious notion that both would immediately betray him. quote:Bond decided it was time to stop talking. It was time to start winding up the mainspring of will-power that must not run down again until he was dead. Bond said politely, 'Then you can go and —— yourself.' He expelled all the breath from his lungs and closed his eyes. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Jan 31, 2020 |
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# ? May 31, 2019 14:35 |
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I forget how Bond actually escapes from this.
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# ? May 31, 2019 14:53 |
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chitoryu12 posted:You can, and it's one of the only beers Bond ever drinks. I think he has 2 or 3 beers in the entire series. The movies increase this by getting a deal with Heineken to have Daniel Craig drink them, which seems like the exact kind of beer Bond would refuse. I expect the actual German beer is quite different, but my experience with Lowenbrau is that it's a bland, forgettable lager. You could probably put it in a taste test with Budweiser and Coors and I wouldn't be able to pick it out. I was actually surprised by that bit because it seemed like such a pedestrian choice for Bond.
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# ? May 31, 2019 18:38 |
Selachian posted:I expect the actual German beer is quite different, but my experience with Lowenbrau is that it's a bland, forgettable lager. You could probably put it in a taste test with Budweiser and Coors and I wouldn't be able to pick it out. I was actually surprised by that bit because it seemed like such a pedestrian choice for Bond. In the 1950s even in Europe it took some effort to get seriously good beer. The biggest breweries anywhere are usually the ones making something simple and easy for as many people as possible to drink, hence the American macro lagers that taste like carbonated water with a hint of corn. Lowenbrau as far as I know isn't made with rice or corn syrup to pad it out and has more noticeable hop flavor than Budweiser, Coors, PBR, etc. But as for all the crazy poo poo we have today, they were generally regional styles. I prefer Belgian beers like tripels and strong dark ales, but chances are in 1959 you'd only get your hands on a Belgian beer in Belgium (one of my favorites, Chimay Grand Reserve, was first brewed in 1948 by the monastery as a Christmas beer and unlikely to be found outside the region, whereas today you can buy gallons from grocery stores in Florida). Brits were still drinking British beer, though German-style lagers were starting to catch on. It wouldn't be until the late 1970s when Michael Jackson (no, not that one) published The World Guide to Beer and brought international interest in worldwide styles, setting the stage for the craft brewing revolution. If anything we almost have too many beers today. Bourbon barrel-aged stouts started in the 90s as a revolution. Now every brewery makes one and a lot of them taste virtually identical. I've had over 360 unique beers in the past 1.5 years and you start quickly realizing how many breweries start up by just making the same kind of beer everyone else already has.
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# ? May 31, 2019 19:06 |
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Britain didn't really start taking to lagers in a big way until as late as the 1980s. A lot of it was cultural stigma - "Yer drinkin' fuckin' lager? What are you, a fuckin' poof?" - but plain old anti-European racism was behind it as well, since that's where most of the lagers on the market (Heineken the best-known) came from. Ironically, it took the Australians mass-marketing Fosters and Castlemaine with "these are no-bullshit drinks for manly men with a sense of humour" campaigns for lager to really catch on.
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# ? May 31, 2019 23:08 |
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chitoryu12 posted:You can, and it's one of the only beers Bond ever drinks. I think he has 2 or 3 beers in the entire series. The movies increase this by getting a deal with Heineken to have Daniel Craig drink them, which seems like the exact kind of beer Bond would refuse. lowenbrau is fairly bland; better than heineken though that is a bar so low it was first sighted in Welsh coal mine
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 00:50 |
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sebmojo posted:(Necks a hipflask of rum, eats a piece of toast) e: quote:The fact had no significance for Bond. oh word
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 01:17 |
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sebmojo posted:lowenbrau is fairly bland; better than heineken though that is a bar so low it was first sighted in Welsh coal mine https://youtu.be/snhiofL2Rh4
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 02:44 |
One of the books I bought as a result of this thread is James Bond's Cuisine: 007's Every Last Meal. It covers every single food reference (even incidental or metaphorical) in every book and movie through 2014. Something it notes is that there's a distinction between red/purple and gold food and drink in the book. You see sausage, crab legs, and Mouton Rothschild vs. Lowenbrau beer, curried shrimp, and Enzian liquor. I'm not sure if it was intentional symbolism or a coincidence.
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 07:16 |
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The one time I tried Castlemaine XXXX I honestly thought it had gone off, only to be informed 'No. It's supposed to taste like that'
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 10:28 |
Chitoryu, I insist that you do a write up of the Le Carre, Len Deighton and then the Quiller books after this or else I shall be forced to. Goons deserve to see what a competent spy looks like! E: @Deptfordx, I once saw an advert that had a picture of a dunny in the outback with the legend “If you lived in a shithole like this, you wouldn’t give a XXXX what you drank either.” Beefeater1980 fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Jun 1, 2019 |
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 14:56 |
Beefeater1980 posted:Chitoryu, I insist that you do a write up of the Le Carre, Len Deighton and then the Quiller books after this or else I shall be forced to. Goons deserve to see what a competent spy looks like! I’ve never heard of those!
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 16:53 |
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Beefeater1980 posted:Chitoryu, I insist that you do a write up of the Le Carre, Len Deighton and then the Quiller books after this or else I shall be forced to. Goons deserve to see what a competent spy looks like! And what about Modesty Blaise? Peter O'Donnell wrote several novels in addition to the comic strip. She's also better at being Bond than Bond.
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 17:24 |
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chitoryu12 posted:I’ve never heard of those! Flemming, Le Carre and Deighton are generally regarded as the 3 best British authors of spy fiction of their time and probably of all time. I think Le Carre is very interesting in his contrast with Flemming in that he went through a similar experience in working for the security services and came out the other side with a completely different set of experiences and views, he worked for MI5/6 in the 1950's and 60's and indeed wrote his first books while still employed by them in West Germany. His works are a lot drabber, and much more grounded in what you would think intelligence work is really like, there really arent many, or sometimes any good guys on any side, any physical action in them is typically quite subdued, his most famous protagonist, George Smiley, being a short, overweight, aging englishman with an interest in old books and notably poor fashion sense. Deighton is very similar in that regard, in that his books adopt a very cynical tone about the intelligence services and particularly the class system therein and its influence on that, something which is pretty much crucial to address if you are going to set something in Britain in the cold war era. They are all well worth a read certainly, particularly Le Carres Spy Who Came in From the Cold (my own personal favourite spy novel) and the Karla trilogy, and Deightons Game, Set, Match trilogy, (that trilogy does go on for 6 more books but i havent read them yet) as sort of the jumping on points for those particular writers. The rest of their stuff is generally good but variable but those are regarded to be their best work.
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# ? Jun 1, 2019 18:31 |
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Len Deighton. Start with the IPCRESS Files. This novel, and then all the rest of them are the paradigm of Spy stories. Le Carre's earliest books, Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality are fantastic. You must start with them. They set the scene for his next half-dozen books. Every book of Le Carre is required reading. Quiller. by Adam West He works for a hidden Dept. of the War Office that doesn't exist. A ferret that gets directed to where others can't or won't go. He is an Executive for the firm. An anonymous hard man in a grey world. It's a very dark, cerebral world that is described in these stories. Do your self a favor, if secret agenting is your focus, This dude is it. The Berlin Memorandum was the first of the series. 5 stars. As luck would have it, I've got IPCRESS and Berlin Memorandum on pdf is anyone wishes to tackle them. Don't make me do it! Oh Oh Oh! While I'm here. When Bond is speeding around he mentions a "racing Shift". He's double-clutching down a gear. With no synchromesh gears, it was considered a bit of a skill, hence the "racing". Annnnnnd, from what I understand, the torture scene in Casino Royale was copied right out of Page One of the Gestapo Torture handbook. Part of Flemings job was to de-brief agents as the came out of the cold, and this was apparently a popular activity once the Hoods in the Nice black suits pinched you. Nucken Futz fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Jun 3, 2019 |
# ? Jun 3, 2019 05:31 |
Adam West’s Quiller books are probably the closest in tone to Fleming’s Bond. They are a big jump forward in time though. Len Deighton’s are the most accessible. Le Carre is good but a bit self satisfied. I never realised there were actual Modesty Blaine books!
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# ? Jun 3, 2019 08:18 |
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Beefeater1980 posted:I never realised there were actual Modesty Blaine books! Yeah, O'Donnell started writing them after a couple of years doing the comic strip. They can be a bit more ... explicit in tone than the comics, although they're not all that much different.
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# ? Jun 3, 2019 12:15 |
Chapter 16: The Last and the Biggestquote:The wings of a dove, the heavenly choir, Hark the Herald Angels Sing—what else ought he to remember about Paradise? It was all so exactly like what he had been told in the nursery—this sensation of flying, the darkness, the drone of a million harps. He really must try and remember the dope about the place. Let's see now, one got to the Pearly Gates... Bond's really got his priorities straight here. quote:The next thing he knew was a gentle sensation of swaying. He opened his eyes. The sun blinded them. He closed them again. A voice above and behind his head said, 'Watch it, bud. That ramp's steeper than it looks.' Almost immediately there was a heavy jolt. A surly voice in front said, 'Cheesus, you're telling me. Why in hell can't they put down rubber.' Bond looks around, seeing himself in the white-paneled health department of Idlewild Airport. He's lying on a stretcher on the floor, as is the still unconscious Tilly. Suddenly Goldfinger and Oddjob cheerily walk in. quote:Feet gathered round his stretcher. Goldfinger said breezily, 'Well, they certainly look in good shape, eh, Doctor? That's one of the blessings of having enough money. When one's friends or one's staff are ill one can get them the very best medical attention. Nervous breakdowns, both of them. And in the same week! Would you believe it? But I blame myself for working them both too hard. Now it's my duty to get them back on their feet again. Dr Foch—he's the best man in Geneva, by the way—was quite definite. He said, "They need rest, Mr Goldfinger. Rest, rest and again rest." He gave them sedatives and now they're on their way to the Harkness Pavilion at the Presbyterian.' Goldfinger chuckled fatly. 'Sow and you shall reap, eh, Doctor? When I gave the Harkness a million dollars' worth of X-ray equipment, I certainly never expected anything back. But now? I only had to put through a call and they've got two fine rooms waiting for them. Now then—' there was a rustle of notes—'thank you for all your help with Immigration. Fortunately they both had valid visas and I think Immigration was satisfied that Mr Auric Goldfinger was a sufficient guarantee that neither of them wants to overthrow the United States Government by force, what?' The doctor, of course, immediately believes the rich old man who's donated so much to the medical world. He simply sedates Bond again. quote:Now it was a grey painted box of a room. There were no windows. Light came from a single bowl lamp inset in the centre of the ceiling. Round the lamp were concentric slits in the plaster and there was the neutral smell and faint hum of air-conditioning. Bond found he could sit up. He did so. He felt drowsy but well. He suddenly realized that he was ravenously hungry and thirsty. When had he last had a meal? Two, three days ago? He put his feet down on the floor. He was naked. He examined his body. Oddjob had been careful. There was no sign of damage save for the group of needle-marks on his right forearm. He got up, conquering dizziness, and took a few steps in the room. He had been lying on a ship's type bunk with drawers under it. The only other furniture in the room was a plain deal table and an upright wooden chair. Everything was clean, functional, Spartan. Bond knelt to the drawers under the bunk and opened them. They contained all the contents of his suitcase except his watch and the gun. Even the rather heavy shoes he had been wearing on his expedition to Entreprises Auric were there. He twisted one of the heels and pulled. The broad double-sided knife slid smoothly out of its scabbard in the sole. With the fingers wrapped round the locked heel it made a workmanlike stabbing dagger. Bond verified that the other shoe held its knife and clicked the heels back into position. He pulled out some clothes and put them on. He found his cigarette case and lighter and lit a cigarette. There were two doors of which one had a handle. He opened this one. It led into a small, well-appointed bathroom and lavatory. His washing and shaving things were neatly laid out. There were a girl's things beside them. Bond softly opened the other door into the bathroom. It was a similar room to his own. Tilly Masterton's black hair showed on the pillow of the bunk. Bond tiptoed over and looked down. She was sleeping peacefully, a half-smile on the beautiful mouth. Bond went back into the bathroom, softly closed the door and went to the mirror over the basin and looked at himself. The black stubble looked more like three days than two. He set to work to clean himself up. Yes, Oddjob. Don't be such an inscrutable Oriental. quote:The encounter put Bond in good humour. For some reason Goldfinger had decided against killing them. He wanted them alive. Soon Bond would know why he wanted them alive but, so long as he did, Bond intended to stay alive on his own terms. Those terms included putting Oddjob and any other Korean firmly in his place, which, in Bond's estimation, was rather lower than apes in the mammalian hierarchy. I can think of someone lower. quote:By the time an excellent meal together with everything else, including his watch, Bond had asked for, had been brought by one of the Korean servants, Bond had learned nothing more about his circumstances except that his room was close to water and not far from a railway bridge. Assuming his room was in New York, it was either on the Hudson or the East River. The railway was electric and sounded like a subway, but Bond's New York geography was not good enough to place it. His watch had stopped. When he asked the time he got no answer. Turns out Goldfinger actually reconsidered Bond's offer to make him and Tilly work for him. Goldfinger has a particular task that he's working toward that he thinks they can be put towards, so he had them sedated and kidnapped rather than killed. Goldfinger sent a telegram to Universal Exports claiming that Bond had been offered employment in Canada and was taking Tilly as his secretary (which Bond realizes will very likely cause immediate suspicion and an investigation by MI6) and has taken them to the Hi-Speed Trucking Corporation warehouse that he's set up as his secret headquarters. quote:'And what will our work consist of?' Goldfinger explains that he takes any opportunity to increase his gold stock, from smuggling to investing to cutting penicillin with inert binders to sell at a greater profit. He compares his next task to the greatest masterpiece ever seen on the world stage, merely waiting for its actors. quote:Now a dull fire burned in Goldfinger's big pale eyes and there was a touch of extra colour in his red-brown cheeks. But he was still calm, relaxed, profoundly convinced. There's no trace here, reflected Bond, of the madman, the visionary. Goldfinger had some fantastic exploit in mind, but he had gauged the odds and knew they were right. Bond said, 'Well, come on. What is it, and what do we have to do about it?'
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# ? Jun 3, 2019 14:06 |
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Uh, Chitoryu, whose wheatios did you piss in?! (Also wow, Fleming really hated Koreans huh?)
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# ? Jun 3, 2019 14:53 |
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The_White_Crane posted:Uh, Chitoryu, whose wheatios did you piss in?! WWII/Korean War combo.
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# ? Jun 3, 2019 15:06 |
The_White_Crane posted:Uh, Chitoryu, whose wheatios did you piss in?! Made the mistake of suggesting that people were being conspiracy theorists about Jussie Smollett.
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# ? Jun 3, 2019 15:21 |
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# ? Jun 11, 2024 08:07 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Made the mistake of suggesting that people were being conspiracy theorists about Jussie Smollett. I mean, if people actually believed CPD, I'd agree they were conspiracy theorists. What's the problem?
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# ? Jun 3, 2019 15:55 |