Bond Revisited

Thunderball (1965)
Bond 4

In a bold and deadly scheme, the evil SPECTRE organization hijacks a NATO plane and seizes two atomic warheads, each capable of killing millions of innocent people. As the world is held hostage by the threat of a nuclear nightmare, Bond jumps into action, racing against the clock as the trail leads him to tropical Nassau. There he meets Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), a high-ranking agent of SPECTRE, and the stunning Domino (Claudine Auger), with whom he shares an irresistible attraction. The confrontation builds to an epic battle on the ocean floor, as Bond and his allies fight to avert a catastrophe of immense proportions. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: This is the first James Bond film to be shot in a widescreen process, Panavision. For the first time, Sean Connery performs the gunbarrel opening sequence. In the first three Bond films, the job was done with stuntman Bob Simmons (actually it was the same footage shown all three times, he didn't do it three times). The budget for this Bond film was more than the combined budgets of the first three Bond films. This film was Sean Connery's own favorite performance as 007.

In the underwater scenes where Bond encounters sharks, Sean Connery was supposed to be protected by clear plastic panels shielding him from sharks in close-ups. However, the panels only extended about three feet in height and sharks could swim over them; as a result in some scenes (notably during the pool fight at Largo's mansion) Connery got much closer to real sharks than he wanted - director Terence Young said in an interview that scenes used in the film where Bond reacts in fright at the approach of a shark were miscues in which Connery was reacting with genuine terror as a shark approached unobstructed by plastic shielding.

The Characters:

• James Bond - Sean Connery again plays the dashing British agent, his four time.
• Emilio Largo, SPECTRE #2 - Adolfo Celi, the evil behind the plot.
• Fiona Volpe - Luciana Paluzzi, Volpe is the first really bad Bond girl, (Tatiana Romanova from From Russia With Love, was tricked to work against Bond but eventually fell in love, Pussy Galore worked for Goldfinger, but is the one who changed the gas canisters and saved the soldiers) Volpe is out to kill Bond and is eventually killed (some say Bond purposefully used her as a shield)
• Dominique 'Domino' Derval - Claudine Auger, Bond's love interest.

The Theme Song

The original title credit theme to Thunderball was entitled "Mr. Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang", which was written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. The title was taken from an Italian journalist who in 1962 dubbed agent 007 as Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. The song was originally recorded by Shirley Bassey, but was later rerecorded by Dionne Warwick, whose version was not released until the 1990s. The song was removed from the title credits after producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were worried that a theme song to a James Bond movie would not work well if the song did not have the title of the film in its lyrics. John Barry teamed up with lyricist Don Black and wrote "Thunderball". "Thunderball" was sung by Tom Jones who, according to Bond production legend, fainted in the recording booth when singing the song's final, high note. Jones said of the final note, "I closed my eyes and I held the note for so long when I opened my eyes the room was spinning."

Vehicles & Gadgets:

• The famous Aston Martin DB5 makes its second appearance. For this film a surprise modification of rear water cannons were used in the opening pre-title sequence, although the vehicle itself has a noticeably weathered appearance that goes unexplained (perhaps suggesting other, unseen adventures).
• Also used in the pre-title sequence was the "Bell Rocket Belt" developed by Bell Aircraft Corporation. The rocket belt, which was used by Bond to escape from a building, actually works and was used numerous times before and afterwards for entertainment and amusement purposes; most notably Super Bowl I and at a regularly scheduled show at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.
• A homer pill that when swallowed emits a signal that helps headquarters trace his whereabouts.
• A waterproof watch that doubles as a Geiger counter and a camera that doubles as a Geiger counter.
• Bond was also outfitted with an underwater jet pack that was armed with a spear gun. It was used by Bond to maneuver through the water faster than anyone else.
• Lastly, Bond was given a very small scuba set that can be carried unnoticed and, when used, provided a few minutes of air in underwater emergency. It was called a rebreather in the movie, but it was actually open-circuit: two very small air cylinders end-to-end joined by a demand valve. After the film's release there was some confusion as to whether a "rebreather" of this size actually existed and worked, since most of Bond's gadgets (at the time), while possibly implausible, were somewhat based on real gadgets. In the real world a rebreather could not be that small, as it would not have room for a breathing bag; but this "rebreather" appeared again in later Bond films, most notably Die Another Day, and would also possibly be the inspiration for other similar devices found in other movies such as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. [Source]

The Thunderball Controversy:

When plans for a James Bond film were scrapped in the late 1950s, a story treatment entitled Thunderball, written by Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham, was adapted as Fleming's ninth Bond novel. Initially the book was only credited to Fleming. McClory filed a lawsuit that would eventually award him the film rights to the title in 1963. Afterwards, he made a deal with EON Productions to produce a film adaptation starring Sean Connery. The deal specifically stated that McClory couldn't produce another adaptation until a set period of time had elapsed, and he did so in 1983 with Never Say Never Again, which featured Sean Connery for a seventh time as 007. Since it was not made by Broccoli's production company, EON Productions, it is therefore not considered a part of the official film series. A second attempt by McClory to remake Thunderball in the 1990s with Sony Pictures was halted by legal action which resulted in the studio abandoning its aspirations for a rival James Bond series. To this day, McClory claims to own the film rights to Thunderball, though MGM and EON assert they have expired. [Source]

The Pretitle Sequence:

The film begins with James Bond attending the funeral of Jacques Boitier, a SPECTRE agent who had murdered two British agents. As it would turn out, a woman who Bond notices open a car door for herself at the funeral is Boitier in disguise. Bond comes to this realization and ambushes Boitier at his chateau where he kills him. Afterwards, Bond escapes using a jetpack to fly to his car parked outside the chateau where he has a brief battle with his pursuers, during which Bond uses water cannons on the Aston Martin DB5. (As I watch these movies again with a more critical eye, I am more and more impressed with the Austin Powers movies. This pretitle sequence is the origin of Austin's "She's a man, baby!" line in The Spy Who Shagged Me. Austin suddenly hits an obviously woman character and seconds later pulls the wig off an obviously man character. Bond does the same when he sees this obviously woman character open her own car door, he instantly knows something is up and reallizes that she is a man, baby! So he hits her and suddenly she is obviously a man in women's clothing fighting back.)

The Review:

Bond at his best. This movie is as good as Goldfinger, though I would still say Goldfinger is the quintessential Bond, Thunderball is probably a close second (so far). Thunderball was released at the height of the spy film craze started after the success of the first three movies. 20 new spy films had been announced to be either in preproduction or production in 1965 and numerous successful television shows featuring similar spy elements and secret agents were just beginning, such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, The Wild Wild West, and Get Smart. (By the way, nobody answered me quick trivia question on Goldfinger about which Bond film sold the most tickets. It was Thunderball with 166 million, 33 million more then Goldfinger)

Up Next: Casino Royale, An Unoffical Bond (not produced by EON Productions)