Goldfinger's use of Odd Job's hat trick - is it possible?

Leading scientists and engineers have studied stunts in James Bond films.

Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) warns Bond (Sean Connery) not to meddle in his affairs by instructing Odd Job (Harold Sakata) to throw his metal-brimmed bowler hat at a stone statue a few metres away.

The hat flies through the air like a Frisbee, decapitating the statue with a single clean cut.

Metin Tolan, professor of experimental physics at the Technical University of Dortmund says that it is possible to do this, but the hat would need to be very heavy and thrown very fast.

'There is a contradiction here as it is not easy to throw something that heavy, that quickly,' he says.

'You would need the strength of Odd Job for this. It would be beyond an ordinary person.'

He adds that to take the statue's head off, the density of the metal in the hat rim would have to be higher than that of the stone. Also, the pressure at the point the brim of the hat hits the statue must be high.

Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq LLC

Professor Tolan explains: 'Pressure is force divided by area. When the hat strikes, the area that hits the stone statue is very small, so the pressure very high. If you just throw a stone, the area striking the statue is much larger and therefore the pressure is much smaller.'

Source: James Bond 007: 7 Bond stunts - E & T Magazine

Goldfinger's use of Odd Job's hat trick: POSSIBLE