Main | Other Bond Films| Pics & Clips | Community Member Reviews | Fast Facts

Thunderball Trailer

Synopsis:

• A NATO Vulcan bomber carrying two atomic bombs has crashed in the Caribbean. To make a serious situation even more critical, SPECTRE then informs the British government that it has hijacked the plane's cargo. Unless a ransom of 100,000,000 British Pounds is paid in seven days, a major city in England or the US will be laid to waste by the atomic bombs. MI6 calls in all its top agents, but only one has a lead; James Bond, 007. With only four days to complete his mission, 007 flies to the Bahamas where a femme fatale (as usual), a beautiful avenger (typical), and a shark in human form called Emilio Largo awaits him.

Release Date:

• December 9, 1965

Rating:

• PG (US)
• PG (UK)
  

Box Office Results:

• $141.2 million

Awards/Nominations:

• 1966: Academy Awards- Best FX/Special Visual FX (won)
• 1966: BAFTA Awards- Best Brit Art Direction (nominated)
• 1966: E.A. Poe Awards- Best Foreign Film (nominated)
• 1966: Laurel Awards- Action Drama (won)
• 1966: Satellite Awards- Best Classic DVD Release (nominated)
  

Issued Sidearm:

• Walther PPK

Running Time:

• 2 hours, 10 minutes

Gadgets:

• Bell Textron Jetpack
• Underwater Breather
• Camera Geiger Counter
• Underwater Jetpack
• Modified Rolex Submariner/ Geiger Counter

Director:

• Terence Young

Screenplay:

• Richard Maibaum
• John Hopkins
• Based on the original story by Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham

Starring:

• Sean Connery as James Bond

Villains:

• Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo
• Anthony Dawson as Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Henchmen:

• Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe
• Philip Locke as Vargas
• Guy Doleman as Count Lippe
• Bob Simmons as Colonel Jacques Boitier
• George Pravda as Ladislav Kutze
• Bill Cummings as Quist
• Paul Stassino as Angelo Palazzi

Bond Girls:

• Claudine Auger as Domino Derval
• Molly Peters as Patricia Fearing

Supporting Cast:

• Bernard Lee as M
• Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny
• Desmond Llewelyn as Q
• Paul Stassino as Francois Derval
• Rik Van Nutter as Felix Leiter
• Martine Beswick as Paula Caplan

Filming Locations:

• Paris, France;
• Shrublands, South of England, UK;
• MI6 HQ, London, UK;
• Nassau, Bahamas;
• Miami, USA

Thunderball Soundtrack:

• Released by United Artists Records in 1965
• Composed and Performed by John Barry
• The Original Soundtrack LP only featured 12 Tracks
• The Soundtrack was re-released on CD in 2003 with Seven Extra Tracks not included on the Original Release (see link above for explanation)
• The Theme Song 'Thunderball' sung by Tom Jones was written by John Barry and Don Black
  

Best Quotes:

• Bond: "That looks like a women's gun."
  Largo: "Do you know a lot about guns, Mr. Bond?"
  Bond: "No, but I know a little about women."
  
  
• Bond (after taking off the jet pack):"No well dressed man should be without one."
  
  
• Bond (after killing Vargas with a spear): I think he got the point."
  
  
• Bond (after leaving the "Irrigation Station" at Shrublands): "See you later....irrigator."

Mistakes:

• Bond's jet pack doesn't fit inside the trunk of his Aston Martin.
• The boat captain's hat is knocked off 2 times during the fight scene.
• The Panamanian flag on the Disco Volante is upside down throughout the film.
• Domino steps on a spine with her right foot. Bond removes it from her left foot.
  

Distinguishing Features:

• It is the only film in which all the Double-O'sin Europe are seen together.
• The first film to use the actor playing bond in the gun barrel.
• Debut of Maurice Binder's title sequences that have become iconic of the Bond series.
  
• Terence Young's third and final shot in the director's chair.
  
• This was originally planned to be made as the first James Bond movie, but the budget at the time did not allow for a shoot of such proportions. They were able to make it as the fourth film in 1965.
  

Around The World With 007:

• Thunderball was shot primarily in the Bahamas, where producer Kevin McClory resided. Consequently, McClory was able to suggest locations for many key sequences of the film. The home of a local millionaire couple, the sullivans, served as Largo's estate, Palmyra and the SPECTRE underwater assault begins in the grounds of another millionaires' home. The pre-credits sequence was filmed at the Chateau d'Anet near Paris, while interiors were shot at Pinewood.

Bond Statistics:

• Conquests: 2
  
• Martinis: 0
  
• Kills: 22
  
• "Bond, James Bond": 0

Title References:

• The codename for MI6's operation (Thunderball) shares it's name with the title of the movie.

Detailed Synopsis:

A man with the initials "JB" lays dead in a chateau in France. But the corpse isn't "James Bond", it's "Col. Jacque Boitier", whom Bond (alongside French agent La Porte) is paying last respects to. But Boitier isn't as dead as he seems, posing as his own widow and striking Bond after his own funeral! Bond takes him down (and paying his last respects once again) before escaping from other spies both by way of jetpack and by water streams from his Aston Martin.

Meanwhile in Paris, respectable businessman Emilio Largo attends a meeting being held by his true employer SPECTRE, where his leader Blofeld takes care of some "old business" of money launderers before Largo goes into his new daring plan: the complex abducting of two atomic bombs from a British naval bomber on test flight. The first part of the plan, as organized by Count Lippe, involved the transformation of agent Angelo Palazzi into NATO pilot Major Derval by way of a British health clinic in Shrublands. Unknown to SPECTRE, Bond was asked by MI6 to recooperate at the same health clinic after his previous mission, where he heals while likewise seducing nurse Patricia Fearing into taking a "steam bath" with him. Bond and Lippe face off against one another in the clinic: Lippe sabotaging a massage machine to tenderize Bond, Bond sabotaging a steamer to cook Lippe.

At the same time, Major Derval is under the seductive entracement of Fiona Volpe, who sleeps with him and keeps him close unknowing of the plot against him. When Palazzi appears at his door with Derval's face, the original is dealt with while Volpe gets the necessary paperwork to allow him to perfectly match the original with ease. At the site of the NATO test, everything goes easily as according to plan: the bomber with two atomic bombs loaded begins it's training mission, Palazzi poisons the oxygen when finally in the cockpit and takes control of the plane, flying it near a designated area around the Bahamas. Largo, awaiting the plane onboard his ship the Disco Vilante, guides Palazzi to a specific underwater landing strip where the atomic bombs are loaded onto Largo's ship. Palazzi is then killed for wanting to extort money from his backer.

As news reaches England regarding the abduction of the NATO plane and the bombs onboard, Bond is forced to cut his health getaway short and head back to MI6. On his way back, Count Lippe tries to deal with Bond himself, but is assassinated by a missile-equipped motorcycle driven by Volpe. Back at headquarters, Bond is forced to immediately go to a special conference being held including M, a representative of the Prime Minister and every 00 Agent of the force! The conference involves a ransom by Blofeld for the atomic bombs, which location is unknown to anyone and with the threat to use on a specifically chosen target anywhere in the United States or England. Looking through a package set up by his superiors regarding "Operation Thunderball", Bond discovers a particular clue: a picture of Major Derval with his sister, Dominique taken in Nassau in the Bahamas. Before being shipped to Canada for the operation, Bond tells his particular lead to M and gets his permission to persue it, even at the chance that it may be a wild goose chase.

(Further information coming soon)

Trivia:

• Out of all 22 Bond films Thunderball is the most remembered by people, due to fact that the directors and producers of this film used a new technique for that time to film the underwater scenes. It was those scenes and that technology that made this film a huge hit throughout the world.

Preceded by:

• Goldfinger

Followed by:

• You Only Live Twice