Sean Connery was a straight talker, sometimes to a fault. He didn't hold back when laying out his low opinion of the literary James Bond. He never restrained himself when discussing how the role that made his career was somewhat of a double-edged sword, at one point claiming that he "always hated that damn James Bond" and that he'd "like to kill him." Plus, as "Goldfinger" director Guy Hamilton revealed on the banned James Bond commentary tracks, Connery didn't stop himself from providing opinions on individual story beats, at one point calling the moment where Oddjob (Harold Sakata) crushes a golf ball with his bare hands "ridiculous" and claiming it would never make the final cut. (It did.)

That last example points to Connery's ongoing distaste for the more fanciful elements of James Bond. Despite "Goldfinger" being responsible for some of the more outlandish Bond trademarks, such as the high-tech...