ReBONDing: Thunderball
Reevaluating the Sean Connery Era (1962 - 1971, 1983)
THUNDERBALL (1965)
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Richard Maibaum, John Hopkins
Based On An Original Screenplay by Jack Whittingham
Story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming (novel)
Running Time: 130 minutes
Original Verdict:
A rather enjoyable film as Connery comfortably fills the shoes of Bond once more. However, you might not like me after stating this, but I preferred the remake Never Say Never Again released by Warner back in 1983.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
THE REEVALUATION
The Cold Open: At the funeral of Colonel Jacques Bouvar, James Bond discovers that Number 6 of SPECTRE is still alive disguised as his grieving widow. Bond follows him to a château where he and Number 6 proceed to have a relatively brutal fight to the death. Bond then flees to the rooftop where he straps on a conveniently placed jet pack and narrowly escapes his pursuers. While fun, it is completely and absolutely ridiculous.
The Story: While surprisingly absent from the previous film, SPECTRE is front and center once again here in Thunderball. This time two nuclear warheads have gone missing. Stolen by Emilio Largo, (aka Number 2), his plan is to hold NATO for two million dollars ransom. Bond is assigned to the case (Code Name: Thunderball) to search for the atomic bombs, which he presumes are located somewhere off the coast of the Bahamas.
The Villain: The eye-patch-wearing Emilio Largo, head of Extortion operations. Proprietor of the Disco Volante, and a dedicated member of SPECTRE, Largo is an adequate villain at best. Playing second fiddle to Blofeld, who is really pulling the strings in this operation, his eye-patch and white hair have more personality than his character. Largo did, however, start the increasingly popular trend of disposing of incompetent henchmen with death by shark.
The Heavy: Fiona, the buxom and beautiful femme fatale played by Luciana Paluzzi. While she wasn't the first female henchmen, she was the first Bond girl that was also cast as an antagonist. She's a SPECTRE operative, working with Largo to assist with his mission in any way needed. She's a refreshing change of pace for the franchise and she's one of the best things going on in this film.
The Girls: Since this is Bond's fourth film, he has four women. It's a tad excessive, but the producers weren't cutting any corners with Thunderball after the monumental success of Goldfinger. In order of importance, we'll go down the list: 1. Domino, played by Claudine Auger. She's Largo's mistress and sister of the NATO pilot who was killed by Largo. In personal ranking, she falls in the middle third of Bond girls but has slowly grown on me over the years. Unfortunately, there's very little chemistry between Domino and Bond and it's glaringly obvious. 2. Fiona (see above). 3. Paula, the MI6 operative and Bahama native assisting Bond while in Nassau. 4. Patricia, the physiotherapist at the Shrublands. They're all wonderful, but it feels like overkill.
The Gadgets: The outrageous jetpack (Bell Rocket Belt), a Geiger counting watch, an Infrared Camera with Geiger counter, a radioactive homing pill, and the Rebreather (providing Bond with 4 minutes of oxygen underwater). Even the Astin Martin DB5 makes an appearance. This ladies and gentlemen is a gadget-heavy film. However, my favorite gadget is spinal traction machine at the Shrublands sanatorium.
What Doesn't Work? I have minor problems with this film, but when you add them all up, it seriously deteriorates the overall quality and rewatch-ability of this film. (1) We have our 3rd actor cast as Felix Leiter in our 4th Bond film. This inconsistency is rather irritating, and with each new iteration, they become less helpful to Bond than the last. (2) Thunderball teeters on gadget overkill, quickly inching its way over to the absurd. (3) James Bond is constantly playing catch-up throughout most of this film and that's just poor storytelling because it makes your protagonist completely reactionary. (4) While some loathe the underwater battle scenes, I enjoy them. Even if it destroys the pacing of the film. (5) What I didn't enjoy was the old-fashioned editing tricks crammed into the finale, where there's jump-cuts, sped-up film, and terrible rear projection, all trying (but failing) to increase tension for the viewers.
Final Thoughts: Thunderball is where James Bond, "Master Spy" in the novels begins to shift to "Super Agent" in the films and never looks back. You can see the transformation start here, rolling down the hill and not even Sean Connery can stop it. This film accomplished some wonderful technical achievements, specifically in regards to underwater filmmaking, but it clearly falls flat in the end.
This was the fourth film in four years, and it feels as if the producers were struggling to cobble together a tangible story around specific scenes and a choreographed underwater battle sequence. The structure of the film suffers because of these problems. Outside of a handful of iconic moments, along with another top-notch score by John Barry, the film as a whole still feels like a bit of a dud, which truly amazes me considering that at the time of its release, Thunderball was playing in theaters 24 hours a day and is the second highest grossing film of the franchise behind Skyfall when adjusted for inflation.
I was unable to recall the last time I sat down and watched Thunderball. The DVD had sat dormant on my shelf for years collecting dust until just a few weeks ago. Because of that reason alone, I believe I may have been a little too generous with my original rating, forgetting how much this film drags at times. Thunderball isn't my favorite Bond film, not by a long shot and I still struggle to understand those who love this film so much and rank it so high. It is a solid entry, but nothing more than that.
Reevaluation Score: 3 out of 5.
James Bond Will Return...
THUNDERBALL (1965)
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Richard Maibaum, John Hopkins
Based On An Original Screenplay by Jack Whittingham
Story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming (novel)
Running Time: 130 minutes
Original Verdict:
A rather enjoyable film as Connery comfortably fills the shoes of Bond once more. However, you might not like me after stating this, but I preferred the remake Never Say Never Again released by Warner back in 1983.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
THE REEVALUATION
The Cold Open: At the funeral of Colonel Jacques Bouvar, James Bond discovers that Number 6 of SPECTRE is still alive disguised as his grieving widow. Bond follows him to a château where he and Number 6 proceed to have a relatively brutal fight to the death. Bond then flees to the rooftop where he straps on a conveniently placed jet pack and narrowly escapes his pursuers. While fun, it is completely and absolutely ridiculous.
- Bonus Bond Gun Barrel Trivia: This sequence was created by Maurice Binder for Dr. No, who was responsible for every opening title sequence all the way through License to Kill (excluding From Russia with Love and Goldfinger). The first three films featured stunt man Bob Simmons. To the untrained eye, you probably never knew it wasn't Sean Connery. However, when Eon Productions decided they wanted to release Thunderball in glorious Panavision anamorphic widescreen format, they had to re-shoot the sequence, this time with Connery. Since 1965 it has featured the actor who is portraying James Bond at the time of release. Roger Moore had to film an additional sequence when they changed film formats again for The Spy Who Loved Me.
 |
| Bob Simmons |
 |
| Sean Connery |
The Story: While surprisingly absent from the previous film, SPECTRE is front and center once again here in Thunderball. This time two nuclear warheads have gone missing. Stolen by Emilio Largo, (aka Number 2), his plan is to hold NATO for two million dollars ransom. Bond is assigned to the case (Code Name: Thunderball) to search for the atomic bombs, which he presumes are located somewhere off the coast of the Bahamas.
The Villain: The eye-patch-wearing Emilio Largo, head of Extortion operations. Proprietor of the Disco Volante, and a dedicated member of SPECTRE, Largo is an adequate villain at best. Playing second fiddle to Blofeld, who is really pulling the strings in this operation, his eye-patch and white hair have more personality than his character. Largo did, however, start the increasingly popular trend of disposing of incompetent henchmen with death by shark.
The Heavy: Fiona, the buxom and beautiful femme fatale played by Luciana Paluzzi. While she wasn't the first female henchmen, she was the first Bond girl that was also cast as an antagonist. She's a SPECTRE operative, working with Largo to assist with his mission in any way needed. She's a refreshing change of pace for the franchise and she's one of the best things going on in this film.
The Girls: Since this is Bond's fourth film, he has four women. It's a tad excessive, but the producers weren't cutting any corners with Thunderball after the monumental success of Goldfinger. In order of importance, we'll go down the list: 1. Domino, played by Claudine Auger. She's Largo's mistress and sister of the NATO pilot who was killed by Largo. In personal ranking, she falls in the middle third of Bond girls but has slowly grown on me over the years. Unfortunately, there's very little chemistry between Domino and Bond and it's glaringly obvious. 2. Fiona (see above). 3. Paula, the MI6 operative and Bahama native assisting Bond while in Nassau. 4. Patricia, the physiotherapist at the Shrublands. They're all wonderful, but it feels like overkill.
The Gadgets: The outrageous jetpack (Bell Rocket Belt), a Geiger counting watch, an Infrared Camera with Geiger counter, a radioactive homing pill, and the Rebreather (providing Bond with 4 minutes of oxygen underwater). Even the Astin Martin DB5 makes an appearance. This ladies and gentlemen is a gadget-heavy film. However, my favorite gadget is spinal traction machine at the Shrublands sanatorium.
 |
| "Here at Shrublands we only use the best sex stretch death machines." |
What Doesn't Work? I have minor problems with this film, but when you add them all up, it seriously deteriorates the overall quality and rewatch-ability of this film. (1) We have our 3rd actor cast as Felix Leiter in our 4th Bond film. This inconsistency is rather irritating, and with each new iteration, they become less helpful to Bond than the last. (2) Thunderball teeters on gadget overkill, quickly inching its way over to the absurd. (3) James Bond is constantly playing catch-up throughout most of this film and that's just poor storytelling because it makes your protagonist completely reactionary. (4) While some loathe the underwater battle scenes, I enjoy them. Even if it destroys the pacing of the film. (5) What I didn't enjoy was the old-fashioned editing tricks crammed into the finale, where there's jump-cuts, sped-up film, and terrible rear projection, all trying (but failing) to increase tension for the viewers.
 |
| "I think he got the point." |
Final Thoughts: Thunderball is where James Bond, "Master Spy" in the novels begins to shift to "Super Agent" in the films and never looks back. You can see the transformation start here, rolling down the hill and not even Sean Connery can stop it. This film accomplished some wonderful technical achievements, specifically in regards to underwater filmmaking, but it clearly falls flat in the end.
This was the fourth film in four years, and it feels as if the producers were struggling to cobble together a tangible story around specific scenes and a choreographed underwater battle sequence. The structure of the film suffers because of these problems. Outside of a handful of iconic moments, along with another top-notch score by John Barry, the film as a whole still feels like a bit of a dud, which truly amazes me considering that at the time of its release, Thunderball was playing in theaters 24 hours a day and is the second highest grossing film of the franchise behind Skyfall when adjusted for inflation.
I was unable to recall the last time I sat down and watched Thunderball. The DVD had sat dormant on my shelf for years collecting dust until just a few weeks ago. Because of that reason alone, I believe I may have been a little too generous with my original rating, forgetting how much this film drags at times. Thunderball isn't my favorite Bond film, not by a long shot and I still struggle to understand those who love this film so much and rank it so high. It is a solid entry, but nothing more than that.
Reevaluation Score: 3 out of 5.
James Bond Will Return...
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