Appreciating "Thunderball"
nobody
Posts: 110MI6 Agent
I re-watched "Thunderball" in it's entirety recently, then last night caught the middle act of it again. It had never been my favorite, but my is it a good looking film, and it has gone closer to the top of my list. First of all Connery is at his absolute best, which is, simply put, Bond at his best. The scenes when he is shirtless show him at his fittest, and while not as muscular, he gives Craig a run for his money. His Bahaman tan means he looks the best he ever looked as Bond. (Points off for his toupee- not the most natural looking he has worn.)
His wardrobe is also notably dapper- my favorite being the grey suit, light blue shirt, and navy tie combo.
The Bond girls are maybe the most beautiful of any supporting cast, and the main villain Largo is equal parts suave and menacing.
I was not too high on Rik Van Nutter's Felix Leiter, he was very poorly written (especially when first coming to Bond's room and loudly (almost) blurts out his code number"007", then again when frantically waving to Bond to come down from the balcony to inform him that his fellow CIA agent, Paula is dead, "what should we do?")
All in all, though I really like this flick, and just wanted to express it to some fellow Bond fans.
Ciao
His wardrobe is also notably dapper- my favorite being the grey suit, light blue shirt, and navy tie combo.
The Bond girls are maybe the most beautiful of any supporting cast, and the main villain Largo is equal parts suave and menacing.
I was not too high on Rik Van Nutter's Felix Leiter, he was very poorly written (especially when first coming to Bond's room and loudly (almost) blurts out his code number"007", then again when frantically waving to Bond to come down from the balcony to inform him that his fellow CIA agent, Paula is dead, "what should we do?")
All in all, though I really like this flick, and just wanted to express it to some fellow Bond fans.
Ciao
Comments
The only slight negative imo is the underwater battle which is slightly too long.
I agree that TB has the best girls!
And THE most beautiful, Claudine Auger! :x
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
I still enjoy watching it and would love to see it in cinema some day. Because I think this is one of those movies that would be sooo much better on the silver screen.
Over the years I've become annoyed at the seemingly slapdash aspects of the film (poor action cuts, dialogue not even coming close to what the actors are mouthing) but that's probably because I've seen it so many times I can recount every frame. That stuff didn't bother me when I first saw it (early '80s on VHS), and I imagine very few people who watched in the 1960s noticed at all.
Bond beating up the "grieving widow" in the pts is a favourite of mine, probably because Connery looks to be really enjoying the fight.
I too had my first experience of OO7 watching TB on television in the '70s. Unbelievably, my bedtime was 9.30pm and I wasn't allowed to stay up and watch the climax - I stayed down as long as I could but was forced upstairs and missed the last 15 minutes. Oh, the indignities I suffered at school the next day!
Anyway, I agree with lots of what has been said, TB is in no way a perfect film, it has some horrible continuity errors and from almost the very beginning the script fails to explain anything adequately.
What it does have - and I echo all above - is lashings of glamour, superb underwater photography, violence a plenty, gorgeous girls - yes, the VERY VERY BEST Bond-girl ensemble - depreciating humour, a smooth suave at-ease Sean Connery, a magnificent music score, a barnstorming OTT song, stand out credits which Maurice Binder spent 20 years trying to replicate, a bravura opening PTS with one of the most vicious fight scenes in the series, Oscar winning special effects, a still relevant plot, oh goodness... I could go on and on and on.
If you can, go and see it in the cinema, that Panavision ratio and the soundtrack absolutely blows you away. It's a fantastic experience, difficult to beat, despite the implausibility's and the rather dull underwater battle - of all the editing errors the biggest one is why the frogmen battle wasn't shorn by about 75%.
Chiefly, because it moves so fast and rarely pauses for breath, TB sits comfortably in my top 10 Bond movies.
Agreed - the film certainly has its flaws, but Binder never managed to match the simple, stylish elegance of the TB credits sequence. Later attempts seem parodic (and, dare I say it, increasingly cheesy) by comparison. And Barry's '60s Bond scores just kept getting better and better.
I write this because on my last trip to the UK I picked up a box that I had left with my daughter when I emigrated out here and in it was my diary from 1966 - I quote from the entry for Friday 7th January;
At last we went to see Thunderball it has seemed forever since I saw the trailer each week in the cinema. Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic! The best ever! So much action! The harpoon gun was great and everyone roared with laughter at I think he got the point! I want to see it again please Dad please can we go!!!
50 odd years on and TB is still up there - not as good as FRWL but still top notch Bond.
That's a lovely little insight