Thunderball (1965) Director: Terence Young
“My dear girl, don’t flatter yourself. What I did this evening was for King and country. You don’t think it gave me any pleasure, do you?”
★★★☆☆
At the height of Bond-mania, following the smash success of the prior year’s Goldfinger, Terence Young was brought back to direct the fourth James Bond film, Thunderball –a rollicking water-based spectacle thriller. Apparently, previous director Guy Hamilton found himself “creatively drained” after filming Goldfinger so he rejected the chance to direct another Bond film right away. Based on Ian Fleming’s 1957 novel of the same name (the ninth Fleming Bond novel), the idea for the novel was borne out of a failed movie project between Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory, but when the movie concept fell apart Ian Fleming decided to convert the script into his next novel anyway. McClory later sued, leading to a lengthy legal battle, and as part of the settlement, he was eventually given sole producer credit on the film Thunderball with the contingency that he not produce a separate James Bond movie for a period of ten years (Eon assumed the franchise would conclude in ten years), but of course the series continued unabated and McClory released his own Bond spin-off Never Say Never Again (1983) starring Sean Connery. It was a four-decade dispute over the rights to Thunderball that was only resolved after McClory’s death. Notably, the legal dispute also gave McClory the rights to 007 concepts first introduced in the novel, such as SPECTRE and Ernst Stavro Blofeld, both of which were prevented from bing featured in future Bond films after Diamonds Are Forever (1971) until the arrival of Spectre (2015).
Previously in Goldfinger, there was only a brief allusion to the fact that Auric Goldfinger seemed to work for a larger criminal group, an infamous international organization called SPECTRE, which was an ever-present threat in the earlier films Dr. No and From Russia With Love, but in Thunderball we are given more of the story. At the outset, we begin with a prologue sequence: James Bond attends a funeral at a French chateau. At first, the initials “JB” appear on a coffin leading us to believe James Bond has been killed! This happy little gag appears from time to time throughout the series. However, this turns out to merely be a funeral for a SPECTRE agent known as “No. 6” named Colonel Jacques Bouvar (played by stunt double Bob Simmons) whom Bond quickly realizes is still alive and posing in all-black garb as the ‘widow’ of Colonel Bouvar. Bond then confronts and kills him –in a slightly hilarious fight sequence which sees Sean Connery ironically battling his own stunt-double Bob Simmons dressed in elderly drag– ultimately breaking his neck with a fire poker and tossing some flowers over his corpse. Bond then escapes the castle in a jetpack and hops into his famous gadget-riddled DB5, using water cannons to attack incoming assailants (a bit of foreshadowing for all the many underwater sequences in Thunderball).
The plot for Thunderball concerns SPECTRE capturing two American nuclear warheads by sending out an eye-patch wearing villain named Emilio Largo (or SPECTRE’s “Number 2” played by Italian actor Adolfo Celi, dubbed over throughout the movie due to his mildly thick Italian accent) and the help of an agent who undergoes plastic surgery in order to match the visage of a French-NATO pilot named François Derval (Paul Stassino) carrying the nuclear warheads. In the book, the pilot’s name is Giuseppe Petacchi. We are uniquely given a glimpse inside a secret meeting of the notorious SPECTRE leaders, helmed by “No. 1” Ernest Stavro Blofeld who is carefully elevated and whose face concealed behind a covering (he is played by Anthony Dawson and voiced by Eric Pohlmann). As the board reports out around the room on recent criminal activities, Blofeld famously presses a button, killing one of the men via electric shock for failing to secure the funds as expected (cue the Austin Powers jokes). The man’s lifeless body disappears beneath the table as his empty chair slowly rises. Next, SPECTRE discusses a major heist involving Angelo Palazzi who posed as the French-NATO pilot, François Derval, to hijack a NATO airplane (using poison gas rather than a flu virus as was used in the book) carrying two nuclear weapons before hiding the plane in a remote location underwater. Once the plane is safely parked at the bottom of the ocean, Emilio Largo dives down and kills the imposter pilot Angelo Palazzi while the warheads are safely transported to another secret location.
Meanwhile, Bond attends a health retreat at Shrublands where he begins encountering strange and treacherous activity (in the book, Bond has been sent to Shrublands at the behest of M following a poor health report). While there, Bond aggressively molests and then somehow seduces an employee named Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters whose voice is dubbed by Barbara Jefford). She appears in several seductive scenes, including a very brief but controversial nude scene behind a glass shower door (in general, Thunderball is a remarkably seductive Bond movie). Bond spots a strange tattoo on another patient’s wrist, Count Lippe (Guy Doleman), who is secretly “No. 4” of SPECTRE, but this discovery leads Bond into a dangerous predicament –he is stretched on a device called “the rack” before being rescued– and Bond retaliates against Count Lippe by causing severe burns to his body while he is enclosed in a steam bath. When Bond is summoned away from Shrublands, he is trailed by Count Lippe who fires at Bond’s DB5, but a mysterious SPECTRE agent suddenly arrives and destroys Count Lippe’s car instead (in the book this sequence occurs as Bond is leaving the MI6 HQ).
Bond is then summoned to MI6 along with all other 00-agents to address the nuclear crisis. He is sent to Nassau in the Caribbean (at his request) where he deliberately becomes acquainted with a woman named Domino, the “kept woman” of Emilio Largo, while they are ocean diving (note: Domino is played by Claudine Auger who just passed away four days ago as of the time I am writing this). This is all a ploy to get closer to Largo. In the book, Bond and Domino are first acquainted as Bond flirtatiously mentions his recent efforts to give up smoking. Meanwhile, Fiona Volpe enters the scene (Luciana Paluzzi), a female assailant sent by Largo who previously posed as Francois Derval’s mistress. She is a wholly new invention separate from the book who was created in order to add a femme fatale character in the movie. Fiona eventually ensnares Bond and they dance at a club together but when an assassin attempts to shoot Bond, he throws her in front of the bullet, instantly killing her (there is some debate among Bond fans as to whether or not Bond deliberately pushes Fiona in front of the shot or not, since in the books Bond was strongly against the act of wanton unnecessary murder).
Bond teams up with CIA agent Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter) along with a fellow CIA agent Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick), though she quickly dies after being cornered and forced to use her cyanide capsule. Note: Martine Beswick also had a minor role as “Zora” in From Russia with Love, giving her the rare distinction of playing a “Bond Girl” in two separate James Bond films. At any rate, after uncovering further evidence, Bond reveals to Domino that Emilio Largo is the man who killed her brother, François Derval, so she joins forces with Bond. Using her information to covertly join Largo’s crew, Bond dives underwater in scuba gear to confiscate the nuclear weapons (amusingly, the nuclear weapons have a warning label on them that reads: “handle like eggs”). Bond now knows the location of the weapons, however at the last minute, Largo traps Bond underwater with some of his sharks (this scene apparently shocked Sean Connery who was not aware that live sharks were being released right next to him into the tank). Bond narrowly escapes this situation and a huge underwater fight ensues between the forces of NATO and SPECTRE. Bond chases down Largo and fights him, but Domino appears and suddenly shoots Largo in the back with a harpoon gun. Bond and Domino are then retrieved from the water via airplane and the film ends.
The most financially successful James Bond film until Skyfall, Thunderball is another fun Bond adventure film –it seems almost larger-than-life. And while the film clearly sacrifices any semblance of a serious espionage plot in lieu of a large-scale spectacle, it is filled with an incredible number of personality-less-but-beautiful-women. Often critiqued for its molasses pace, clumsy vocal dubbing, and extensive yawning underwater battle sequences, I still found myself enjoying this adventure. Thunderball is not the best Bond movie –not by a long shot– but it is certainly not the worst in my book. For me, Ted Moore’s cinematography shines in this one. And the “Bond Girls” absolutely steal the show: Claudine Auger as Domino, Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe, and Molly Peters as Patricia Fearing. And once again in the Bond series, Thunderball is significantly elevated by John Barry’s transcendent score. Somewhat amazingly, Thunderball has proven to be one of the more polarizing films in the James Bond fan community –viewers either love it or hate it. Personally, I am a bit middling about this fun adventure. The over-arching plot has all the beats of classic Bond, but the editing, dubbing, and execution was clearly bungled at various points.
Click here to return to my survey of the James Bond saga.
Book Review: Thunderball (1961) by Ian Fleming
Click here to read my review of Kevin McClory’s Never Say Never Again (1983).
- James Bond actor: Sean Connery
- Director: Terence Young
- Producers: Kevin McClory was given sole producer credit as part of his lawsuit against Ian Fleming for the film rights to Thunderball, he makes a brief cameo in the film at the start of the casino scene in Nassau (Executive Producers are: Harry Saltzman and Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli)
- Screenplay: Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, based on an original screenplay by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming
- Cinematography: Ted Moore
- Editor: Peter Hunt, Ernest Hosler
- Gun Barrel Sequence: completed by Sean Connery as Thunderball was shot in anamorphic widescreen format which required a reshoot of Bob Simmon’s original gun barrel sequence as featured in Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger. Unfortunately, this gun barrel is a bit stilted and stumbling in my view.
- Villain(s): Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi), Count Lippe (Guy Doleman), Vargas (Philip Locke), Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Anthony Dawson)
- Bond Girl(s): Dominique “Domino” Derval (Claudine Auger), Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters)
- MI6: M (Bernard Lee), Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), and Q (Desmond Llewelyn)
- Bond Gadgets: Bell Textron Jet Pack, Aston Martin DB5 with many gadgets built-in, Bond’s watch with Geiger counter (which was stolen during filming and later turned up at a garage sale in London in 2014), Waterjet, underwater Rebreather device, Camera Geiger counter, Homer Pill/Locater device
- Allies: Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter), Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick), Pinder (Earl Cameron)
- Score: John Barry
- Theme Song: Tom Jones’s “Thunderball” (by John Barry, lyrics by Don Black). Tom Jones held the final note of the song for so long during recording that he fainted. Originally, the theme song was going to be “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse and sung by Shirley Bassey, but there was pressure from United Artists to incorporate the film’s title into the song. This led to a lawsuit by Shirley Bassey. Interestingly enough, Johnny Cash also submitted a theme song but it was hardly fitting for a James Bond film.
- Locales: Paris (France), London (England), Nassau (Bahamas)