Thunderball - A Review

Sweepy the Cat

One of the few Bond movies to follow the book very closely. But that may be part of it's downfall. Parts of the book that come off very well look pretty silly in the movie. Last night I watched the DVD of "Thunderball". Even though I have seen this movie for an innumerable times this was actually the very first time I saw the widescreen version of this classic Bond movie. It made an annoyingly familiar film look much more interesting after all these years.

After the evil terrorist organization SPECTRE hijacks an aircraft containing two atomic bombs, they hold them for a ransom valuing one hundred million pounds. Who can save the day? Of course, James Bond (Sean Connery), who goes to Nassau where he soon suspects Largo (Adolfo Celi), a man with his own collection of vicious sharks. Bond is correct, but receives danger in the form of his number one weakness, a woman, this one named Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi). However, Bond is also assisted by Largo's mistress, Domino (Claudine Auger), who blames him for her brother's death.

I wouldn't dare say that this is the best James Bond film in the series, but there are definitely some good things to be seen in this film. You can tell that due to the success of the previous three films, a lot more attention was given to the action, story, characters, cast, props, and just about everything. These days the idea of a criminal-super-power holding the world ransom with atomic weapons is not a very original idea, although back in the 1960's, when this was made, this was probably a rather unique and original idea. Sean Connery returns to his role of James Bond, pulling off another fantastic job. Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn and Lois Maxwell also return to their roles, pulling off excellent performances as well. I thought the story was very good and quite entertaining.

All in all, I thought this was a very good fourth installment to the series. I'm not sure it's necessary, but I would probably recommend seeing the previous three films before checking this one out. Not a bad Bond movie by any stretch, but it sure drags at times.

6.8/10

Willie Garvin

I'm sure you're aware,Sweepy,that Ian Fleming lost all of the film rights to Thunderball--which includes not only James Bond,but also Blofeld and SPECTRE--because he based his Thunderball novel on some screen treatments he wrote with two partners(Jack Whittingham and Kevin McClory)in the late 1950s for a possible 007 movie(this was long before EON ever came into existence).After this project came to a halt,Fleming turned the story he and his erstwhile partners had come up with as the basis for his own work--the novel Thunderball--but without even crediting them for their contributions.Apparently Fleming didn't think Whittingham and McClory would do anything about that.Fleming was wrong--they took him to court and were awarded the complete movie rights to this particular 007 novel.

I know you don't mean any harm when you post other people's comments as if they're your own,but it's always wise to give proper attribution whenever using information taken from other sources.After all,plagiarism is wrong--just look at what happened to Ian Fleming.

What do you really think of this movie,Sweepy...in your own words?

Napoleon Plural

Sweepy the Cat wrote:

All in all, I thought this was a very good fourth installment to the series. I'm not sure it's necessary, but I would probably recommend seeing the previous three films before checking this one out.

Which films are those, Sweeps? ?:) I'm new to this James Bond lark.

Sweepy the Cat

DN, FRWL and GF

Sir Hillary Bray

Kids...god bless 'em.

heartbroken_mr_drax

A good review as I usually find with TB that it gets very boring during the vulcan scenes, bomb transport and final underwater battle.

But there are parts of TB that are some of the best in the whole series like the casino scene, everything with the girls, the sharks etc.

After Fiona dies I usually turn it off. Sean Connery not wanting to be there and not putting a great effort into it really ****es me off. So yea 6/10 would be right for me too.

Hardyboy

heartbroken_mr_drax wrote:

A good review. . .

For the last two paragraphs, at least, the person you should compliment is Chris, aka "LebowskiT1000," whose review is on page six of IMDb's Thunderball reviews. Let's not give credit to Sweepy the Plagiarist.

heartbroken_mr_drax

Hardyboy wrote:

heartbroken_mr_drax wrote:

A good review. . .

For the last two paragraphs, at least, the person you should compliment is Chris, aka "LebowskiT1000," whose review is on page six of IMDb's Thunderball reviews. Let's not give credit to Sweepy the Plagiarist.

Oh dear, alright a retraction is in the mist.

DrMaybe

Well, at least Plager-gate took my Moonraker thread gaffe out of the limelight. )