Thunderball (1965)

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

Kevin McClory (story) and
Jack Whittingham (story) ...

Release Date:

29 December 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Look Up! Look Down! Look Out! Here Comes The Biggest Bond Of All! ["Look" is formed from the 007 logo]

Plot:

James Bond heads to The Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme.

Plot Keywords:

Fireplace Poker | Spy Gang | Airplane | Ocean | Underwater Fight

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Sean Connery	...	James Bond
Claudine Auger	...	Dominique 'Domino' Derval
Adolfo Celi	...	Emilio Largo, SPECTRE #2
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Fiona Volpe
Rik Van Nutter	...	Felix Leiter
Guy Doleman	...	Count Lippe
Molly Peters	...	Patricia Fearing
Martine Beswick	...	Paula Caplan
Bernard Lee	...	M
Desmond Llewelyn	...	Q
Lois Maxwell	...	Miss Moneypenny
Roland Culver	...	Foreign Secretary
Earl Cameron	...	Pinder
Paul Stassino	...	Major Francois Derval / Angelo Palazzi
Rose Alba	...	Madame Boitier

Also Known As:

Ian Fleming's Thunderball (UK) (complete title)
James Bond, Secret Agent (International: English title) (original script title)
Longitude 78 West (UK) (original script title)

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | West Germany:16 (nf) | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Singapore:PG | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1987) | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:GP (re-rating) (1970) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1994) | UK:A (original rating) (cut)

Filming Locations:

Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France

Company:

Danjaq

Trivia:

Reginald Beckwith, who plays the minor part of Kenniston, died while filming for this movie was still going on. His scenes were already shot, but it was to be his last part and he never saw the result of it.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious fast-forwarding used in a number of scenes in the movie. Some examples include the car careering off of the road following the motorcycle attack, and the crash of the Disco Volante at the end of the film.

Quotes:

[first lines]
French Woman: The coffin, it has your initials, J.B.
Bond: At the moment, rather him than me.
French Woman: At least you've been saved the effort of removing him. Colonel Bouvar passed away in his sleep, so they tell me.
Bond: Mm...
French Woman: You sound disappointed you did not kill him yourself.
Bond: I am. Jacques Bouvar murdered two of my colleagues.

Movie Connections:

References Another Time, Another Place (1958)

Soundtrack:

Thunderball

A Real Mixed Bag Of Good & Bad

A typical early James Bond movie, filled with beautiful women, a sexist and suave spy can who can do little wrong (Sean Connery as Bond), a few gadgets and a lot of action scenes. The gadgets, which are always fun, were fewer in number than usual, I am sorry to say. The action scenes, although interesting, had absolutely no credibility. Of course, that isn't anything new but they are particularly ludicrous here. Our hero eliminates almost everyone while no one hits him! Also, there are a number of scenes in which Bond escapes from impossible situations and they never show how he did them. All of a sudden, he's pictured somewhere else.

In addition, with so many foreign accents, it was difficult to understand the dialog, at least on tape when I last viewed this. Perhaps the DVD has English subtitles, which would help immensely.

Otherwise, the filmmakers keep this lively story moving fast most of the time and if you are a male who likes ogle pretty women, you have a lot to choose from here beginning with Claudine Auger.

Aftter a good start, the second hour of this film was disappointing. Overall, I'd have to say the same thing after watching the previous Bond class, "Goldfinger."