Thunderball
Thunderball
The thrills never let up as James Bond dives into this riveting adventure filled with explosive confrontations and amazing underwater action sequences! Sean Connery brings his characteristic style, humor and magnetism to Agent 007 as he travels to NassauJames Bond’s fourth adventure takes him to the Bahamas, where a NATO warplane with a nuclear payload has disappeared into the sea. Bond (Sean Connery) travels from a tiny health spa (where he tangles with a mechanized masseuse run amuck) to the casinos of Nassau and soon picks up the trail of SPECTRE’s number-two man, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), and his beautiful mistress, Domino (Claudine Auger), whom Bond soon seduces to his side. Equipped with more gadgets than ever, courtesy of the resou
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This is what Bond is all about! Clearly the best Bond film in the franchise!,
I noted that this is the only Bond film of the entire series that, to date, has not received a single 1-star review here on Amazon. That’s pretty dang good!
Director Terrence Young had introduced us to Bond in DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Guy Hamilton then took us down the GOLDFINGER road, and while his attention to action made that the first SMASH Bond film, he also seemed to lose alot of the more down-to-earth flavor that made the first two Bonds so much better.
But, Terrence Young returned for his final Bond film, and somehow managed to provide the perfect mesh of the realistic Bond from the first two films, and the more action-oriented Bond of GOLDFINGER. The result is a very happy marriage indeed – it’s just too bad there were very few legitimate children born of it!
THUNDERBALL contains all the great locales, villains, and Bond coolness that we love, without getting into the ridiculous, gadget-filled territory of the later films. It introduces us to our first true Bond femme fatale, and also gives us the first really interesting Bond girl in Claudine Auger’s Domino character.
The music in the movie by John Barry is very nice, high-lighting the slower pace of much of the film. This movie is longer than the previous three by almost 20 minutes, and it is a nice extra cushion to really build the tension. In fact, Bond is largely absent from the first 45 minutes of the movie, and we finally see more of the villians plans – what they are and how they are being accomplished – in almost meticulous detail. Somehow, this makes the threat more real. Speaking of the threat, the plot being about terrorists stealing nukes and demanding ransom to prevent blowing up an undesignated city, is as fresh as today’s headlines!
The only real gripe that can be levied at the film is that Connery does indeed seem a little less interested in the role than he had been. I think he’s still mostly on track here, but he’s missing the total devotion that he showed in the first three films.
That aside, THUNDERBALL is simply the best Bond – offering everything that makes Bond great, and eliminating all the over-the-top sillieness that made the later films so excruciating to sit through!
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|Thunderball Rocks!,
THUNDERBALL (1965) the fourth of the James Bond 007 series is among the best of the films. As a follow-up to the phenomenally successful and definitive GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL is just a shade less satisfying. In terms of tone and composition the two films are of an era in the James Bond mythology.
Sean Connery returns as the inimitable British Secret Agent, this time set against SPECTRE Agent Number Two, Largo (Adolfo Celi). SPECTRE has stolen an atomic bomb and is holding the world hostage.
Largo is a worthy adversary. Strongly-built, silver-haired, wearing an eyepatch, and more physically intimidating than Gert Frobe’s plump Goldfinger, Celi’s Largo lacks the faintly tongue-in-cheek air which animated Goldfinger’s behavior. In fact, the entire film lacks the decidedly humorous undertone of GOLDFINGER. The villains are more vicious, and Connery’s Bond, his wit more honed than ever, is playing for keeps.
The theme song (with Tom Jones singing), plot and story are at least on a par with the predecessor film; however, the action, based in the Caribbean, takes place largely around, and under, water, and the film drags deplorably during most of the underwater sequences despite the fact that one of these is the climactic fight scene. The change in tempo between land and undersea action is jarring and detracts from the movie in a manner that its innate excellence in other respects cannot compensate.
Of course, Bond successfully seduces just about every woman on the set (except for Miss Moneypenny, the Penelope of the series). While he is able to win an ally in Domino (Claudine Auger), he is less successful with others, though as he admits, after all, it is “all for King and Country.” What a sense of selfless sacrifice the man has!
THUNDERBALL was later remade as NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN in which Connery, still trim, fit, and feisty (but with toupee) returned to the James Bond role after more than a decade’s hiatus. The remake is great to watch as a counterpoint to the original.
While THUNDERBALL is not as much fun as GOLDFINGER, if all subsequent Bond films could have been as good as THUNDERBALL, even Timothy Dalton would have been a tolerable 007. Let’s give this one FOUR AND A HALF STARS.
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|The Thunderball Phenomenon: Skip the Special Edition for the 2-Disc Ultimate Edition,
In the wake of the enormous success of GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL became one of the most anticipated films in cinema history. “Bondmania” was at a fever pitch in the 1960s and that lended a certain air of confidence to the cast and crew. By Bond’s fourth adventure, everyone was assured of success and everything was done on the largest scale possible. THUNDERBALL is often regarded, along with GOLDFINGER, as one of the better Bond films. It contains all of the elements of a good Bond flick at a time when Bond was not tired or clichéd. Bond’s fourth adventure finds him taking to the sea, culminating in some of the most spectacular underwater fight footage ever recorded. And with Terence Young once again taking the director’s chair after his temporary hiatus, the audience and the film is in good hands.
After the opening “gun barrel” sequence, re-shot for the first time in widescreen format with Sean Connery playing the part, we are greeted with the opening pre-credits “teaser.” Audiences loved GOLDFINGER’s teaser and the producers knew that they would have to arise to the occasion. We find Bond in France discreetly attending the funeral of Colonel Jacques Bouvar, SPECTRE’s Number Six, who we learn is personally responsible for the death of two of Bond’s colleagues. Thanks to Bond’s sharp eyes, he determines that the Colonel has faked his own death and Bond makes it a priority to finish the job personally. After a brutal fight sequence, Bond strangles Bouvar and escapes using a jet pack. The Bell Rocket Belt used was a functioning jet pack, capable of a flight time of twenty one seconds. The scene is spectacular, all the more so because of the real jet pack. Bond makes his way to his waiting Aston Martin DB5 (first seen in GOLDFINGER) and prevents his enemies from reaching him with the use of rear-firing water canons–a new feature of the DB5. The water rushes over the screen and seamlessly morphs into the opening credits. Maurice Binder serves up a great title sequence featuring the naked silhouettes of female swimmers being chased by armed scuba divers. The colors are rich and vibrant and maintain the visual themes of the previous title sequences. Tom Jones belts out the title track, containing some awkward lyrics about our protagonist. I suppose it’s hard to work Thunderball into song lyrics, leaving us only with “He strikes…like Thunderball.”
The plot of the film is, once again, larger than life and would end up being a frequently copied and parodied theme. SPECTRE, this time represented by one-eyed Number Two, Monsieur Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), has managed to penetrate NATO forces and hijack two nuclear missiles. SPECTRE threatens to destroy two cities if NATO does not agree to cough up 280 million. It is described as SPECTRE’s most ambitious project to date. Blofeld makes his second appearance, though once again we cannot see his face, in a secret French lair. The set is wonderful, containing a long table with all of SPECTRE’s top officials present. Here we meet Numbers Seven, Ten, Five (obviously, they have replaced the previous Number Five of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE), Nine, and Eleven. We also get a sense of the range of SPECTRE’s activities (blackmail, assassination, crime consultation, and narcotics) and also the brutal efficiency of Number One, who kills Number Nine on suspicion of embezzlement. It is a sign to all those present of what the consequences of failure are. Number Two must not fail in his NATO plans!
The first part of the film is filled with wonderful espionage as we learn how SPECTRE has penetrated NATO security. The actual hijacking of the missiles is spectacular. After SPECTRE has transmitted its demands to Britain, MI6 is called into action to find those missiles at all costs. All of the 00 agents are called in on this one and sent to different parts of the world to try and discover the hiding place before it is too late. Bond asks to be reassigned to Nassau because he believes he has a lead on the case, stemming from his experiences early on in the film. Of course, his instincts are correct and soon Bond finds himself playing a game of cat and mouse with Emilio Largo, who is all to aware of who Bond is and what he intends to do. What follows is a terrific storyline in which Bond inches his way closer to Largo’s operation to discover the villain’s secrets, with all of the destruction, love-making, and mayhem that entails.
Many have complained that THUNDERBALL is too long (at 130 minutes) and that the last half hour of the film is incredibly slow. Shot entirely underwater, the last bit of the film can seem long due to the slow movement of underwater action. But I do not think its pace suffers at all. I can remember seeing the film on television and thinking that it was a bit dull. But with the enhanced sound of the score pushing the beautifully restored images of the Ultimate Edition, I believe these…
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