Felix Leiter calls M during Goldfinger
h/t Delmo Walters Jr.
Goldfinger (1964) was one of the most important films in the James Bond series. The gentleman agent's popularity exploded globally.
It also has a peculiar geography in scenes set in the U.S. (which were mostly filmed in U.K.). Examples:
Felix's office: CIA agent Felix Leiter (Cec Linder) contacts M (Bernard Lee), the head of British Intelligence. He informs M that Bond (Sean Connery) is aboard a plane whose eventual destination is Blue Grass Field, Kentucky.
The window behind Leiter indicates he is calling from a Washington, D.C., office that is near the White House.
Problem: The CIA moved to Langley, Virginia, beginning in late 1961, according to the agency's website.
Goldfinger's Kentucky setup: In 1964, Blue Grass Field was the name of the Lexington, Kentucky, airport. (It's now called Blue Grass Airport.) Lexington is the heart of the state's horse country. So far, so good.
But Goldfinger's stud farm is in Louisville, Kentucky, about 80 miles away, according to the lettering on the door of a vehicle in the movie. After Bond arrives at the airport, he is driven to the stud farm. In real life, that would not be a short drive.
Meanwhile, Louisville is about 40 miles from Fort Knox, where Goldfinger intends to detonate an atomic bomb. That will ruin the U.S. gold supply and make Goldfinger's own gold more valuable.
So, Goldfinger (who has been planning this caper for 15 years), has come up with the following.
--Pussy Galore's Flying Circus will fly from Lexington to Fort Knox to spray nerve gas, killing the soldiers of Fort Knox (and many other people). Flying distance is about 80 miles, according to the TravelMath website.
--Goldfinger's will send a convoy of trucks from near his stud farm to Fort Knox. The trucks don't appear to be going that fast so the trip might take close to an hour.
Of course, this is only a movie. TV shows and films fudge geography all the time. The vast majority of the Goldfinger audience either didn't know or care about the geography involved.
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