Goldfinger (1964)

Yeah... I'm solidly in the "From Russia With Love is the greatest Bond Movie" camp. And if there was ever a point of contest in the Bond franchise, it's not really who the best Bond was (Roger or Sean) it's which is the best Bond film, From Russia with Love or Goldfinger.
Goldfinger isn't the best... It's the SECOND BEST. What it is is the most unique. And it's the most fun.
Bond sort of Pooches it in this one and still manages to Forrest Gump his way to victory, and you haven't seen that in any 007 movie since. This is the movie about a mission that SHOULD have been in the lose category. At the time of this release, by the end of the movie Bond's record should have been 2 and 1... only he still manages to claim victory.
And he kind of does it through no fault of his own. Sure, the final battle he comes out on top, but all the events that come before it go horribly wrong, he should have died, Goldfinger should have won, and the only reason he didn't was because of the cunning of other people who are NOT James Bond.
I know, it sounds like I'm ripping into it, but really, seriously, I'm not. All of that is what makes it such a loveable and memorable and unique Bond film, one like you have never seen before and probably never will again.
The only other one that comes remotely close to it is Skyfall, and even then Bond isn't as bumbling as he is in Goldfinger... and of course it's Sean Connery, so he's still dapper, still suave as he sort of stumbles to victory.
It is all probably why this is so hotly contested as the Best 007 film among die hard 007 fans, the pure uniqueness of this particular outing, the fact that you will never see Bond in such a light again. The fact that ONLY Connery can pull off a suave and confident almost failure in a way that makes you think he's anything BUT a failure despite nothing going his way.
And then, of course, it is absolutely fun. It is absolutely entertaining. And those are two reasons why people watch movies.

This has got to be my favourite "007" outing. Shirley Bassey gets the ball rolling as our secret agent enters the murky world of bullion smuggling. It's end-to-end stuff with Sean Connery crossing swords with the best Bond baddie of all - "Auric Goldfinger" stylishly portrayed by Gert Fröbe. Honor Blackman has got to be the best Bond girl, she has oodles of sex appeal and panache, but is also much more sophisticated than the pretty "bimbo" character usually associated with this role. Harold Sakata must have done wonders for the sale of bowler hats and I'm sure we all wanted an Aston Martin (ideally with a passenger ejector seat) by the end of this cracking adventure film.