From the pre-title sequence, Bond emerges from the water in a diving suit (with a duck on the top), takes the suit off — and reveals a perfect tux underneath.
Even more awesome now that MythBusters proved it can be done for real.
Q: "I never joke about my work, 007."
Goldfinger (the person, not the movie) was awesome for the simple reason that he was smarter than most Bond villains. To wit:
Bond: Do you expect me to talk? Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!
And then Goldfinger stays there to watch Bond die. No assuming it will go as planned and that the hero is dead for good old Auric. He's going to be sure Bond's dead.
Bond only survives by bluffing Goldfinger about "Operation Grand Slam".
Even Goldfinger's decision to spare Bond at the last second ends up being a CMOA for him; he keeps Bond alive to fool Bond's allies into thinking Bond's doing a better job than he is. And it works.
A cross-example: Bond handily escapes his cell, snoops on Goldfinger's explanation of his plan, finally given the info he's been bluffing he knows. When confronted, he smugly notes, "Operation Grand Slam... I did enjoy the briefing." Goldfinger look annoyed for the briefest of moments before he simply smirks and says, "So did I" and calmly walks away, leaving Bond with a bewildered look on his face. Bond might have pulled a fast one but Auric's still got the upper hand.
Goldfinger's spectacular air attack against Fort Knox definitely qualifies. It even comes with a villainous Theme Music Power-Up!
Bond gives Goldfinger a quick rundown of the logistical problems of removing the gold, ending with an amusing prediction that when reinforcements show up within a couple of hours, they'll make Goldfinger put everything back. Goldfinger's response: "Whoever mentioned anything aboutremovingit?" Followed by a very subtle Oh, Crap! moment from Sean Connery as a hoary movie cliche is neatly avoided as Bond figures out the actual, genuinely brilliant plan, which Goldfinger confirms. He then implicitly threatens to nuke an even more significant American asset (Cape Kennedy, The White House, etc.) should the authorities try to locate his atomic device before it reaches Fort Knox.
Just the fact that Goldfinger's plan is both audacious and yet simple: set off a dirty bomb in Fort Knox, render the main gold supply of the United States radioactive and thus unusable for almost sixty years, which means Goldfinger's personal gold supply skyrockets in value. Basically, it's an insider trading scam taken to the tenth power with the Chinese aiding as the economic chaos resulting from this plays into their best interests. Rather than be disdainful as with other villains, Bond has to give Goldfinger props for this, sounding honestly impressed by his daring.
Bond: My apologies, Goldfinger. It's an inspired deal.
In one part Bond escapes by tricking the lone guard, but is recaptured later. Next scene shows Bond sitting on his bed in the cell. The camera pans to show the same guard now armed and sitting in a chair a few feet away, and then the camera pans some more to show another six or so guards in the cell with him. For once, Bond survives because of his intelligence, not the villain's stupidity.
Oddjob showing off his razor-rimmed hat is pretty awesome, too. If busted by Mythbusters.
Even better when Oddjob drives past Felix and his CIA partner, who don't even realize that they just passed the car with Bond's message.
Bond using his wits to defeat Oddjob, rather than brute force. What really makes it so awesome is that Connery's Bond is clearly scared shitless by Oddjob's apparent invulnerability, every blow proceeding through fists to wooden clubs to freakin' bars of solid gold doing nothing. It's rare to see Bond scared, and almost always awesome when he is. Plus, a villain who can be that scary without even saying a word is quite awesome.
Also a real one for Harold Sakata, who was badly burned by the pyrotechnics but still held on until he heard the director yell "Cut!" to end the take.
The Novel
At the climax, Bond stabs through a plane window. Plane windows are normally extremely thick, and attempting to break one would give anyone very sore hands. But Bond manages to shatter one completely with the knife hidden in his shoe. Oh, and it finally takes out Oddjob.
Then, he pulls a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Goldfinger before hijacking the plane back and making it crash-land into the ocean, taking Goldfinger's wealth with it.
Leiter's Big Damn Heroes moment at the height of the Battle of Fort Knox, charging in with his squad of Marines to save James while dodging crossfire from both sides, while the US Army garrison starts a firefight with Goldfinger's gangster army.
This is followed up by Bond blasting Goldfinger's train with a bazooka. It fails to get Oddjob or Goldfinger, but it does its job well enough to slow them down.
The golf match between Bond and Goldfinger is probably the best example of Fleming's beloved "Bond plays a supposedly friendly game with the villain" after baccarat with Le Chiffre and bridge with Hugo Drax. Tense and thrilling even for non-golfers, and Bond and Hawker's cooperation to bring down the dirty cheat Goldfinger is heartwarming.
Bond's epic car chase with Goldfinger, tracking his car across France.
