Thunderball (1965)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

Richard Maibaum (screenplay) and
John Hopkins (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 December 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Look Out! Here Comes The Biggest Bond Of All! (British quad poster)

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:

British | Extortion | Bahamas | Island | North Atlantic

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Sean Connery	...	James Bond
Claudine Auger	...	Domino
Adolfo Celi	...	Largo
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Fiona
Rik Van Nutter	...	Felix Leiter
Guy Doleman	...	Count Lippe
Molly Peters	...	Patricia
Martine Beswick	...	Paula
Bernard Lee	...	'M'
Desmond Llewelyn	...	'Q'
Lois Maxwell	...	Moneypenny
Roland Culver	...	Foreign Secretary
Earl Cameron	...	Pinder
Paul Stassino	...	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

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:12 | Singapore:PG | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | West Germany:16 (nf) | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:PG (video rating) | 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) (passed with cuts)

Filming Locations:

Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France

Company:

Eon Productions

Trivia:

The dictionary definition of the word "thunderball" is that it was a military term used by US soldiers to describe the mushroom cloud seen during the testing of atomic bombs. Hence its use as a title because this would be result of SPECTRE detonating the stolen atomic bombs. In a case of life imitating art, the codename for the 1976 Israeli operation to rescue hostages held in Uganda was called "Thunderball" and named after this movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: Bond has long sleeves only in the close-up shots of him removing the wraps from Major Derval's body in the health spa.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ken Adam: Designing Bond (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Thunderball

excellent Bond adventure - Connery on form again

Sean Connery (Indiana Jones) reprises his role as the cool clever 007 as he uses his charm and skill to full effect on a mission to recover stolen bombs from evil villains.

Connery has always been my favourite Bond and I personally believe this is one of his best performances as the agent. Whenever I see him on screen in this role I instantly smile as he is such a well placed actor, always suited to this particular role.

Connery has always been my favourite Bond character.

Connery I believe carries this film and is well juxtaposed with the Bond stereotyped women and gadgets again but that's what we expect and love from Bond films, that and tons of cool cars, action, fighting and adventure, which Thunderball delivers throughout.

This gripping slightly less action based plot is always entertaining through a snappy quickly written plot with many action scenes to sustain audience interest. There are less action scenes, gun fights etc then the more recent Bond films such as Tomorrow never dies and The World is not enough but in my opinion having less is probably best as it gives a more accurate portrayal of the agency, not an idealist world which more people nowadays may hope for.

However there are many action scenes which play a great part in this film, such as a shark pool, a car chase, corpses and boats. It's a thrill ride throughout, maintaining an interesting dialogue from the very beginning.

The setting out at sea was great. A large proportion of the film is set out at sea with its many creatures and wonderful scenery and captures a great essence of beauty, even with what's taking place when it appears.

Compared to other Bond films I think this is one of my favourite as it is mysterious, action packed, beautifully directed, has great characters (even though confused at times wondering who was who) and the narrative is consistent and energetic, one of the best Bond films.

as with all other Connery Bond films, this is worth watching a few times for sheer enjoyment