I watched this on Thanksgiving day (during the TNN marathon), and I'll say that I'm thankful I watched this. Thunderball, which was the most successful James Bond movie in terms of ticket sales, is an exciting ride. Two NATO bombs have been stolen, and MI6's agents only have a week to find them before they are set off. Bond investigates the operations of Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), who is agent number 2 of the criminal organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Largo was a pretty good villain and is a classic. Bond's girl this time is the beautiful Domino Derval, who, in my opinion, fits better into a bathing suit more than any other Bond girl. Thunderball's settings are also cool as well, and Connery reaches another all time high in his career as Bond (I especially loved his "Do you mind if my partner sits this one out? She's just dead." line.) Another great part is, of course, the underwater fight. But I think it would have been cooler if Domino had been in that battle. Rik Van Nutter's portrayal of Felix Leiter is also good as well (The other contender for best Leiter is David Hedison). It's probably not as good as Goldfinger or From Russia With Love, but it's still a well made film that's one of the better ones in the series. Overall Thunderball's a pretty cool film that's worth checking out. My rating: 3 and a half out of 5.
Review of Thunderball
