Thunderball (1965)

Directed by: Terence Young | 130 minutes | action, thriller, adventure | Actors: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Rik Van Nutter, Guy Doleman, Molly Peters, Martine Beswick, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell, Roland Culver, Earl Cameron, Paul Stassino, Rose Alba, Philip Locke George Pravda, Michael Brennan, Leonard Sachs, Edward Underdown, Reginald Beckwith, Harold Sanderson

Thunderball, the fourth James Bond film, was released in 1965 and sparked a complicated battle for the rights to the story. It was supposed to be the first James Bond movie. Former associates of Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham had filed a lawsuit against the writer because they believed the book published in 1961 had too many similarities with the previously written script by the three of them, which was never used for a film. That’s why ‘Thunderball’ is also the only film where Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and Harry Saltzman are not named as producers, credit goes to Kevin McClory. This was the best solution, because the alternative was less attractive: James Bond had become such a box office success that the risk was too great if a rival secret agent film was released by McClory.

The budget for ‘Thunderball’ was more than that for all three previous three Bond films (‘Dr. No’, ‘From Russia With Love’ and ‘Goldfinger’) and it shows. The shooting locations (mainly the Bahamas) are beautiful, exotic and the special effects are very progressive. The gadgets that James Bond uses will not look out of place even in contemporary action films. When James flies into the air with his jetpack in the beginning of the film, that is very surprising, for example.

Sean Connery is assisted by a pair of skilled actors. The former Miss France, Claudine Auger plays the part of Dominique ‘Domino’ Derval and – although she is the only one who does not – at least literally – end up in bed with 007, she is the Bond girl of the film. As the oppressed and abused mistress of James’ nemesis, Emilio Largo (played by Adolfo Celi), she is certainly the most interesting of the ladies in this film. Her grief for her brother, who was murdered at the behest of Largo, is her motivation to help James and she ultimately plays a key role in the film’s denouement.

Largo is the No. 2 agent for SPECTRE, a wealthy playboy who lives in a ridiculously large house, where his sharks even have their own swimming pool. Because he also has a yacht, the Disco Volante, many scenes take place on, on and under the water. Especially the underwater scenes slow down the film. There’s a scene in it where James and his cronies go up against Largo’s men. This scene is excruciatingly slow, although there are some funny bits in it – intentionally or not. This is one of the major drawbacks of the film, by today’s standards it’s a moment to leave the room, or press the fast forward button on your remote.

The other Bond ladies making an appearance in ‘Thunderball’ are Paula Caplan (played by Martine Beswick), James’ colleague, whom we don’t really get to know much about (too bad!) and Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters), the sexy blonde physiotherapist with whom James has in the first half hour of the film, among other things, a very provocative scene in a steam room for that time. As a ‘bad girl’ we see Luciana Paluzzi in the role of Fiona Volpe, a ruthless killer, who seduces Bond and visibly enjoys it. The makers were well aware that Paluzzi was much better suited for the role of Fiona than Domino, for which she was actually auditioning.

Actually, ‘Thunderball’ is a very special Bond film, you hardly see 007 in the outfit in which you normally draw it. Instead, you’re treated to a young Connery (35 when the movie came out!) in swimming trunks and tight wetsuits. It’s also the first truly epic storytelling, and this coupled with the special effects (for which the film won another Oscar), and the fact that ‘Thunderball’ was one of the biggest box-office hits of the 1960s, should be reason enough. to watch the movie at least once. The wrinkly old wives’ fingers that the cast suffered from soaking for hours during the shooting of the water scenes may have been replaced by real wrinkles, and some actors are not even alive anymore, ‘Thunderball’ itself has withstood the test of time, but can also be a be called a classic.