If there was a perfect setting for a Bond movie, the Bahamas was it. We get to see beautiful women strut around in very little, the ladies got to see Sean Connery strut around in very little, and the seaside locations opened up vast possibilities when it comes to action scenes that are thrilling and seem fresh, even though they are basically the same chase sequences we've seen in the previous three Bond films. They say Thunderball is Connery's favorite of the Bond films he starred in, and it may because Bond carries most of the action throughout the film. Unlike Goldfinger, where Bond is captured and does most of his work through dialog, Thunderball features a Bond swimming, running, jumping, shooting, running some more, and swimming in a shark infested pool. Thunderball also features Largo (Adolfo Celi), SPECTRE's #2 man (notice the eye patch Largo wears and the one Robert Wagner wears in Austin Powers, coincidence?????), and Largo is almost as enjoyable as a villain as Goldfinger was, almost as suave as Bond, a cunning villain who soaks up the scenes he's in. The crowning achievement of Thunderball are the tricky underwater action sequences where most of Largo's plan takes place. As I said about Goldfinger, the plot doesn't matter, just sitting back and watch Bond do what he does in the manner that he does it is why we watch. Tom Jones is the principal singer for the movie's soundtrack, adding an added sexual energy to the movie. Must be something about the tropical setting, but this movie is dripping with sexual tension, with the biggest laugh of the movie coming from Bond's response to a woman in bathtub asking for something to wear. The man certainly can think on his feet.
Review of Thunderball
