Hmmm? You say that and now I'm wondering if the niggle I've had for years is justified??? All I do know is its not possible to lock a boats throttle or gear lever! I know the hapless henchman fell forward and that's why the boat speeds up! I feel a thunderball night coming on.
Anything is possible in the movies, I sometimes think too deep about things, when I lived on my boat everything I walked past the bridge and looked at my throttles I thought of Sean connery and lago manically trying to steer that boat and thought why not just put it in neutral or pull the throttle back??? They're just there for Gods sake.....
TB suffers from TomJonesitus. Bond film title songs of that era need to be sung by a woman. Colour me sexist.... )
I like Thunderball, and I think Tom Jones did a great job singing it. But I think Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was better, and I would have preferred either version of it.
I think it depends on the song- Shirley Bassey was obviously the right choice for GF and DAF, no question, but who would want to hear anyone but Louis Armstrong singing "We Have All The Time In The World" for instance? John Barry himself likened choosing the right singer for a title song to casting the right actor for a part- whether they're male or female depends on how they suit the song, and I'd say Jones was the right person to sing "Thunderball".
John Barry himself likened choosing the right singer for a title song to casting the right actor for a part- whether they're male or female depends on how they suit the song, and I'd say Jones was the right person to sing "Thunderball".
Okay.... he did good.... I'm just a raging flaming heterosexual I guess... )
I'm a flaming heterosexual too, but the 'Thunderball' song is a better title song than 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' would have been. KKBB does work well as a source for instrumental cues in the soundtrack, though.
The irony of Tom Jones' alpha male performance of 'Thunderball' is that the lyrics are actually from the perspective of one guy following around another red-blooded guy, idolizing him and singing about what a great guy he is... not a little homoerotic?
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
One musical pro:
the alluring, cool nightclub music as the hunted Bond spots and enters Club Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and tends to his wound... modern and atmospheric... fitting the overall score of the film but also, at this point, heard within the world of the movie itself.
One musical con:
the use with a slow underwater skirmish of the same fast 'wah-wah-wah-wah-wah' action cue which was used earlier (and to better effect) with the frantic fight between Bond and Colonel Jacques Boivard... I seem to remember John Barry commenting later that he learned a lesson from scoring the TB underwater sequences, not to slow down action by setting it against inappropriately fast music...
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Watched Calvin Dyson's review (which is excellent) and have re-read this entire thread. As someone has already said, this maybe one of the most polarising films.
I really like TB. To me it just screams sex, freedom, jazz, money, partying and a never-ending holiday - that somehow has an atomic bomb and blackmail caper attached to it. Whenever I watch it, I just feel as if I am transported to the Bahamas. I'm enchanted by all the people around me and am just having a great time.
Look at the ending, Domino and Bond end up in a raft and get swept up into a plane and that's their journey home. Whisked in for a great time and whisked out. It's all like some sort of Playboy dream.
I find TB like Goldfinger turned up to 11. While Goldfinger is a much tighter film (because it was far better executed)...Thunderball is a more tantalising and lush watch.
As opposed to the god-awful Miami beach hotel set in GF - TB is actually on boats going to a casino, swimming in the ocean with very sexy people all around, at hotel pools and a real house on the beach. People in this thread have mentioned Terrance Young's shots of Connery just walking into a room like a panther. It's one big fashion, sex and hedonists show. Bond and Largo even have this mutual admiration for each other. Largo is the villain, but he's not menacing, he's just a cool guy.
This being said. With all this attractive galavanting going on - the plot and the logic all come second. I can see why this invokes criticism, in some respects - it feels like Skyfall. Beautiful to watch - but on the whole shallow. Even though I'd admit that TB makes me feel much better
I don't watch TB for the plot, or the climax, or the quality of the editing. I watch TB because it makes me feel as if I am on a classy holiday with all these beautiful people -{
It sets a mood and completely creates what I think is 1960s dreamland, dreamed-up or real - who cares. I want to be Bond in the Bahamas.
Watched Calvin Dyson's review (which is excellent) and have re-read this entire thread. As someone has already said, this maybe one of the most polarising films.
I really like TB. To me it just screams sex, freedom, jazz, money, partying and a never-ending holiday - that somehow has an atomic bomb and blackmail caper attached to it. Whenever I watch it, I just feel as if I am transported to the Bahamas. I'm enchanted by all the people around me and am just having a great time.
Look at the ending, Domino and Bond end up in a raft and get swept up into a plane and that's their journey home. Whisked in for a great time and whisked out. It's all like some sort of Playboy dream.
I find TB like Goldfinger turned up to 11. While Goldfinger is a much tighter film (because it was far better executed)...Thunderball is a more tantalising and lush watch.
As opposed to the god-awful Miami beach hotel set in GF - TB is actually on boats going to a casino, swimming in the ocean with very sexy people all around, at hotel pools and a real house on the beach. People in this thread have mentioned Terrance Young's shots of Connery just walking into a room like a panther. It's one big fashion, sex and hedonists show. Bond and Largo even have this mutual admiration for each other. Largo is the villain, but he's not menacing, he's just a cool guy.
This being said. With all this attractive galavanting going on - the plot and the logic all come second. I can see why this invokes criticism, in some respects - it feels like Skyfall. Beautiful to watch - but on the whole shallow. Even though I'd admit that TB makes me feel much better
I don't watch TB for the plot, or the climax, or the quality of the editing. I watch TB because it makes me feel as if I am on a classy holiday with all these beautiful people -{
It sets a mood and completely creates what I think is 1960s dreamland, dreamed-up or real - who cares. I want to be Bond in the Bahamas.
Exceedingly well said, sir {[]
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Just finished watching this again and I have to say, I love Thunderball. It just screams classic Bond to me and It's always been one of my favourites. Of all the 60s Bond films this is one that seems to have received the most backlash after long being considered an undisputed classic, and whilst I get the criticisms of the film, such as the pacing and the dated back projection of the boat climax, for me these are minor flaws on an otherwise great Bond outing. All 6 of the 60s Bond films are classics and this is no exception. This is the height of the 60s, the height of Bonds popularity, and the height of Connery's fame and his brilliance in the role. By You Only Live Twice he had obviously tired of the role but in this he is still full of vigour and charisma and it's such a thrill to watch him in his prime. The plot is simple and direct yet larger than life, Domino and Fiona are two of the best Bond girls, Largo is a strong villian, the Bahamas location is glamorous and intriguing, Ken Adam's design work is bombastic and brilliant, and John Barry's score is of course magnificent. The film is probably a shade too long, however I love all the wonderful underwater camerawork, and unlike some, I actually quite enjoy seeing how SPECTRE execute their plan and stow away the bombs, and I think the underwater climax is great. My favourite scene is probably when Bond infiltrates Largo's home and sneaks in to try and find Paula, and then has the fight in the shark pool. But there are so many countless moments in this one, It is definitely one of my favourites in the series and always will be. A genuine Bond classic -{ )
'
- The hottest Bond girls in the series
- Great locations
- Great gadgets
- Connery in finest form
- Excellent and exciting plot
- Faithful to the novel. Which is excellent
- Fional Volpe and Largo where awesome villains
- the sets from Ken Adam were top notch
Con's
- Drags on at the end with the underwater scenes
- the underwater scene stealing the missiles was too long also
- The editing in the end at the boat was pretty poor
all inall: a great, classic Bond movie. Everything looked great: the actors, the costumes, the locations. Even now it still looks tropical.
Ok I've just watched Thunderball as I work through the 24 films in sequence. Once again I was just reminded why I fell in love with the series. Even though I'm past middle age now I was transported back to a family holiday in Bournemouth cica 1966 where my eldest brother took me to watch the double header Goldfinger and Thunderball.
I think the film has aged well although it does scream 1960's at you. Some of the continuity errors are amusing blue mask/black mask/blue mask. The speeded up car and Disco Volante sequences are comical and a bit annoying now if I'm honest.
Re watching the film as someone who made a living out of being a Commercial Diver, I do funnily still enjoy the whole underwater battle theme, however it's filmed in no more than 10/15 feet of water and at some stages if the actor was to stand up his head would break the surface.
They try to disguise the depth by clever camera angles but as every pro and maybe amateur diver knows, the underwater World becomes mostly black and white in relatively shallow water 55 feet.
At the end when Bond is rescued I've always thought to myself there is no way he can keep hold of the girl at that speed, and how the hell does he get back on "Terra Firma" without being killed. Well I suppose he is james Bond afterall.
All in all a classic Bond film which I thoroughly enjoyed watching again after a 5 year gap.
Made at the height of Bondmania, TB could not have been more successful from a financial point of view and the marketing of Bond-related items reached a peak.
Artistically, it can easily be argued that there are flaws in the film (continuity, editing, etc) and that the character of Bond himself began to take a back seat to the spectacle and gadgets- though the seeds had been sown in GF- plus, of course, that the numerous underwater sequences crucial to the plot made the film slower than ideal.
To which I respond- yeah, fair enough. There ARE flaws in the continuity (Felix's trousers for example), the editing (exactly how fast is the Disco Volante supposed to be travelling at the end?), and the underwater scenes could be seen as slowing the pace.
However, this is re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. It's one of the several Bond films which were designed to be seen on the big screen (eg YOLT, TSWLM) and can't be fully appreciated at home. The photography is beautiful and sometimes jaw-dropping. The various leading ladies are stunning (my pick would be Fiona, but Domino, Patricia and Paula are all superb), and Adolfo Celi is a colourful villain. Granted, he does not beat Gert Frobe's Goldfinger (though I don't think that was the intention) but there are few who do.
John Barry tops his excellent work on GF with one of his best scores, deliberately going OTT with the title song (deliciously used instrumentally during the film) as well as the superlative "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and making possibly his best use of "007" during the Junkanoo and the underwater battle.
Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, and of course Desmond Llewelyn were never better. I love Bond and Q's patter here.
Above all, Sean Connery dominates the proceedings with his totally confident yet relaxed performance as 007. He and Terence Young both know exactly what they are doing here. Have you ever noticed how much of TB consists of simply Connery walking across a room? Young and Connery have nailed this easily overlooked point which tells the audience so much about Bond's character without words and hasn't been topped since (the closest is Gilbert and Moore). Here, they are quite literally following in the footsteps of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart (who did the same thing with "The Maltese Falcon").
So, I have to say that I love TB. It may not be the best Bond film (IMHO there's no such thing) but it's at or near the top.
I pretty much agree with you. I was lucky to see it on the big screen, and if Bond fans did miss out I would strongly urge them to try and catch a screening if they can, it may alter their perception of it. On a personal level maybe this film decided what career path I would take in later life.
Fiona is perhaps the hottest and most dangerous babe in the entire series. I love when she's talking to Largo and says like, "You want to kill him because he makes love to your woman?" and flicks her cigarette mid-sentence for dramatic effect!
Iconic Blofeld/Spectre meeting that would later be parodied in Austin Powers.
Classic casino scene with Bond and the "spectre of defeat"
Enjoyable Bond trademark of meeting socially with the villain. I love the bit where they are skeet-shooting. In fact, there are many classic/iconic 007 scenes in Thunderball where I find myself smiling a lot.
The bit where Bond listens to the tape recorder and re-traces the footsteps across the room. An inspired bit of filmmaking.
Q wearing shorts.
Some great moments from Connery like stealing a grape and "wait til you get to my teeth."
Cons:
PTS is clunky. A fight with a person in drag and a dodgy jetpack scene.
Cloning Domino's brother instead of like bribing/blackmailing him is ridiculous. They should have stuck to the novel.
Speaking of blackmail…Connery was at his absolute worst behavior at the health clinic with Patricia.
They did not spend a minute making it clear why Bond was sent to the health clinic, yet spent what seemed like eternity camouflaging the Vulcan wreckage.
No submarines used in the film like in the novel.
Group of sidekicks was very poor…the prime example being Felix. Also, Pinder's "Okay" reaction to Paula's death was also like what?!
Too much underwater scenes.
Sped up boat chase is embarrassing.
B-17 ending defies all plausibility and ends the film on a bad note.
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Comments
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
It's not unusual.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
"Better make that two."
I like Thunderball, and I think Tom Jones did a great job singing it. But I think Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was better, and I would have preferred either version of it.
Bold and bombastic -{ a real " Statement" piece. :x
Seconded. It's one of the best. {[]
I agree. I also have a strong preference for female singers.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
The irony of Tom Jones' alpha male performance of 'Thunderball' is that the lyrics are actually from the perspective of one guy following around another red-blooded guy, idolizing him and singing about what a great guy he is... not a little homoerotic?
the alluring, cool nightclub music as the hunted Bond spots and enters Club Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and tends to his wound... modern and atmospheric... fitting the overall score of the film but also, at this point, heard within the world of the movie itself.
One musical con:
the use with a slow underwater skirmish of the same fast 'wah-wah-wah-wah-wah' action cue which was used earlier (and to better effect) with the frantic fight between Bond and Colonel Jacques Boivard... I seem to remember John Barry commenting later that he learned a lesson from scoring the TB underwater sequences, not to slow down action by setting it against inappropriately fast music...
If only Auger would do a con -{
I really like TB. To me it just screams sex, freedom, jazz, money, partying and a never-ending holiday - that somehow has an atomic bomb and blackmail caper attached to it. Whenever I watch it, I just feel as if I am transported to the Bahamas. I'm enchanted by all the people around me and am just having a great time.
Look at the ending, Domino and Bond end up in a raft and get swept up into a plane and that's their journey home. Whisked in for a great time and whisked out. It's all like some sort of Playboy dream.
I find TB like Goldfinger turned up to 11. While Goldfinger is a much tighter film (because it was far better executed)...Thunderball is a more tantalising and lush watch.
As opposed to the god-awful Miami beach hotel set in GF - TB is actually on boats going to a casino, swimming in the ocean with very sexy people all around, at hotel pools and a real house on the beach. People in this thread have mentioned Terrance Young's shots of Connery just walking into a room like a panther. It's one big fashion, sex and hedonists show. Bond and Largo even have this mutual admiration for each other. Largo is the villain, but he's not menacing, he's just a cool guy.
This being said. With all this attractive galavanting going on - the plot and the logic all come second. I can see why this invokes criticism, in some respects - it feels like Skyfall. Beautiful to watch - but on the whole shallow. Even though I'd admit that TB makes me feel much better
I don't watch TB for the plot, or the climax, or the quality of the editing. I watch TB because it makes me feel as if I am on a classy holiday with all these beautiful people -{
It sets a mood and completely creates what I think is 1960s dreamland, dreamed-up or real - who cares. I want to be Bond in the Bahamas.
"Better make that two."
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Exceedingly well said, sir {[]
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
'
Just got it linen backed , pretty cool B-)
- The hottest Bond girls in the series
- Great locations
- Great gadgets
- Connery in finest form
- Excellent and exciting plot
- Faithful to the novel. Which is excellent
- Fional Volpe and Largo where awesome villains
- the sets from Ken Adam were top notch
Con's
- Drags on at the end with the underwater scenes
- the underwater scene stealing the missiles was too long also
- The editing in the end at the boat was pretty poor
all inall: a great, classic Bond movie. Everything looked great: the actors, the costumes, the locations. Even now it still looks tropical.
1. Connery 2. Craig 3. Brosnan 4. Dalton 5. Lazenby 6. Moore
I think the film has aged well although it does scream 1960's at you. Some of the continuity errors are amusing blue mask/black mask/blue mask. The speeded up car and Disco Volante sequences are comical and a bit annoying now if I'm honest.
Re watching the film as someone who made a living out of being a Commercial Diver, I do funnily still enjoy the whole underwater battle theme, however it's filmed in no more than 10/15 feet of water and at some stages if the actor was to stand up his head would break the surface.
They try to disguise the depth by clever camera angles but as every pro and maybe amateur diver knows, the underwater World becomes mostly black and white in relatively shallow water 55 feet.
At the end when Bond is rescued I've always thought to myself there is no way he can keep hold of the girl at that speed, and how the hell does he get back on "Terra Firma" without being killed. Well I suppose he is james Bond afterall.
All in all a classic Bond film which I thoroughly enjoyed watching again after a 5 year gap.
"Do you expect me to talk? "No Mister Bond I expect you to die"
I pretty much agree with you. I was lucky to see it on the big screen, and if Bond fans did miss out I would strongly urge them to try and catch a screening if they can, it may alter their perception of it. On a personal level maybe this film decided what career path I would take in later life.
"Do you expect me to talk? "No Mister Bond I expect you to die"
(It played a strong part in getting me into music, which is my career)
Fiona is perhaps the hottest and most dangerous babe in the entire series. I love when she's talking to Largo and says like, "You want to kill him because he makes love to your woman?" and flicks her cigarette mid-sentence for dramatic effect!
Iconic Blofeld/Spectre meeting that would later be parodied in Austin Powers.
Classic casino scene with Bond and the "spectre of defeat"
Enjoyable Bond trademark of meeting socially with the villain. I love the bit where they are skeet-shooting. In fact, there are many classic/iconic 007 scenes in Thunderball where I find myself smiling a lot.
The bit where Bond listens to the tape recorder and re-traces the footsteps across the room. An inspired bit of filmmaking.
Q wearing shorts.
Some great moments from Connery like stealing a grape and "wait til you get to my teeth."
Cons:
PTS is clunky. A fight with a person in drag and a dodgy jetpack scene.
Cloning Domino's brother instead of like bribing/blackmailing him is ridiculous. They should have stuck to the novel.
Speaking of blackmail…Connery was at his absolute worst behavior at the health clinic with Patricia.
They did not spend a minute making it clear why Bond was sent to the health clinic, yet spent what seemed like eternity camouflaging the Vulcan wreckage.
No submarines used in the film like in the novel.
Group of sidekicks was very poor…the prime example being Felix. Also, Pinder's "Okay" reaction to Paula's death was also like what?!
Too much underwater scenes.
Sped up boat chase is embarrassing.
B-17 ending defies all plausibility and ends the film on a bad note.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Yes! This was completely unnecessary.