Thunderball (1965)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

Kevin McClory (story) and
Jack Whittingham (story) ...

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:

James Bond | British | Extortion | Bahamas | Island

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Sean Connery	...	James Bond
Claudine Auger	...	Dominique 'Domino' Derval
Adolfo Celi	...	Emilio Largo - SPECTRE #2
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Fiona Volpe
Rik Van Nutter	...	Felix Leiter
Guy Doleman	...	Count Lippe
Molly Peters	...	Patricia Fearing
Martine Beswick	...	Paula Caplan
Bernard Lee	...	M
Desmond Llewelyn	...	Q
Lois Maxwell	...	Miss Moneypenny
Roland Culver	...	Foreign Secretary
Earl Cameron	...	Pinder
Paul Stassino	...	Major Francois Derval / Angelo 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

Color:

Color (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 | 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) (cut)

Filming Locations:

Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France

Company:

Danjaq

Trivia:

This is the first James Bond film to be shot in a widescreen process, Panavision.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: With the velocity that Bond opens the basement door (and doesn't stop it from falling after seeing his assistant dead), there should have been a loud slam. But there was no noise.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Men Behind the Mayhem: The Special Effects of James Bond (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Thunderball

Thunderball 1965

This James Bond film was fantastic. The characters in the film were really interesting and every single actress/actress plays his/her part with professionalism.

This film involved a lot of scenes involving water, but I'm not complaining, because it was really fascinating to see that instead of the usual dry land scenes. One interesting note was the scene in which Fiona Volpe fires the rocket at the car chasing 007, Bob Simmons the stunt driver was almost killed in the spectacular scene. Simmons also played the man dressed up as a women in the beginning of the film. Sadly Bob Simmons died in 1988.

Rik Van Nutter (yeah, yeah even I laughed when I seen his last name!) played Felix Leiter in a fantastic fashion. He was cool and when a situation arose he was calm about it. Van Nutter who is now 75 years old was not asked to play the part again, for reasons which are unknown but he will always be remembered for being one of the more memorable actors to play Leiter along with Jack Lord (Dr No, 1962) and David Hedison (Live and Let Die, 1973 and Licence To Kill, 1989).

The man they called Ernst Stavro Blofeld oh yes! was played by actor Anthony Dawson who played Professor Dent in Dr No. Although we don't see Dawson's face in the film his voice was dubbed so it could be more frightening and entertaining. Just seeing Dawson sitting in that chair behind the screen with that little white cat (isn't that cat a legend?!) sends the chills down your spine. Anthony Dawson sadly passed away in 1992 from cancer.

Finally the villain who was wonderfully played by Adolfo Celi - Largo was a fascinating character. Even this SPECTRE agent had his love for a particular animal that being Golden Grotto sharks. As suspected Celi had his voice dubbed for the final version of the film. Unfortunately Celi passed away in 1986 from a heart attack.

This film ranks up there with the best along with From Russia with Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964) and if you like James Bond you'll like this! Overall Grade - A*