Thunderball

Look Up. Look Down. Look Out! James Bond returns yet again in perhaps the biggest movie in the series up to that point. SPECTRE is back as well, in full force as they launch their most daunting and destructive assignment ever: stealing two atomic bombs from NATO with the threat to destroy an important city unless their high ransom demands are met. With the countdown clock ticking down, 007 has to take on high-ranking SPECTRE member Emilio Largo and locate the bombs before it is too late.

Pat Fearing: Funny-looking bruise. A fall?
Bond: A poker, in the hands of a widow.
Pat Fearing: Really? I’d have thought you were just the type for a widow.
Bond: Oh, not this one. He didn’t like me at all.

From the beautiful beaches of Nassau to the bottom of the ocean, meeting alluring damsels in distress and seductive femme fatales, thwarting evil SPECTRE masterminds and saving the world, 007 must do it all...

The film opens with a shot of a coffin with the initials... JB. It is then shown that James Bond is attending the funeral of SPECTRE #6, Colonel Jacques Boiter. However things are not all that they seem, when Bond later confronts thw widow of Boiter to discover it is Boiter himself. After a vicious fight between the two, 007 makes an escape with the help of a propulsion pack and gets away in his Aston Martin DB5.

Bond: Seems more fitting for a woman.
Largo: Oh, do you know a lot about guns?
Bond: No, but I know a little bit about women.

Meanwhile as Bond is at a health center called Shrublands, SPECTRE memners meet together and discuss their most daunting plan under the planning of Emilio Largo: to steal two atomic bombs for ransom. Bond later finds out things are not all well when he suspects danger at Shrublands, which it is in SPECTRE assassin Count Lippe. Lippe is later killed by Fiona Volpe for bungling up his mission and Bond is debriefed at headquarters on the theft of the two atomic warheads.

He goes to Nassau and later meets up with Domino Derval, the ‘kept woman’ of Emilio Largo. After card games, dealings with Golden Grotto sharks as well as SPECTRE assasins, Bond locates the hidden plane the warheads were on with the assistance of CIA man Felix Leiter. Unfortunately, the bombs are not aboard. Bond later divulges the information regarding the case to Domino, where she learns her brother was killed by Largo as part of the horrific scheme. She thus vows to help Bond in what ways she can.

Fiona: Aren’t you in the wrong room, Mr. Bond?
Bond: Not from where I’m standing.

Largo later takes the bombs aboard his boat, the Disco Volante and sets off for their first target: Miami. The travel is thwarted however as Bond has secretly boarded the boat and gives the destination information to Leiter and his men. A colossal battle then takes place between the two sides underwater. The SPECTRE men are eventually stopped, but Largo gets away to his boat and speeds off with his remaining crew members. It is then revealed Bond is also on board and the battle between the two men begins as control of the boat is lost and it speeds through the water - nearly running into several rocks in the water.

Domino saves the day as she kills Largo just as he was about to shoot Bond. The two then jump off the boat safely, along with Ladislav Kutze, who freed Domino earlier, just as the Disco Volante flies into a rock formation and explodes. Bond and Domino are then picked up via a cable cord attached to a balloon wire and plane.

• James Bond - Sean Connery

• Domino Derval - Claudine Auger

• Emilio Largo - Adolfo Celi

• Fiona Volpe - Luciana Paluzzi

• Paula Caplan - Martine Beswick

• Patricia Fearing - Molly Peters

• Vargas - Philip Locke

• Angelo Palazzi - Paul Stassino

• Felix Leiter - Rik Van Nutter

• Count Lippe - Guy Doleman

• M - Bernard Lee

• Miss Moneypenny - Lois Maxwell

• Q - Desmond Llewelyn

• Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Anthony Dawson and Eric Pohlmann

• Jacques Boitier - Rose Alba & Bob Simmons

• Ladislav Kutze - George Pravda

• Quist - Bill Cummings

• Pinder - Earl Cameron

• Madame LaPorte - Maryse Guy Mitsouko

• Full Thunderball Cast List Here

• Director - Terence Young

• Producer - Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman and Kevin McClory

• Screenplay - John Hopkins and Richard Maibaum

• Production Designer - Ken Adam

• Editor - Ernest Hosler

• Main Title Designer - Maurice Binder

• Costume Designer - Anthony Mendleson

• Music - John Barry

• Title Song - “Thunderball” lyrics by Don Black, Sung by Tom Jones

• Cinematography - Ted Moore

• Special Effects Supervisor - John Stears

• Art Direction - Peter Murton

• Full Thunderball Crew List Here

• World Premiere: 9 December 1965
• UK Television Premiere: 26 February 1977 (ITV)
• US Television Premiere: 22 September 1974 (ABC)
• Total Running Time: 130 minutes
• Poster Tagline: Look Up! Look Down! Look Out! Here Comes The Biggest Bond Of All!
• Locations: France; Shrublands; London, UK; Nassau, Bahamas
• Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects - John Stears (Win)
• Film Title: Spoken by M as the name of the operation
• James Bond Will Return In: You Only Live Twice

You can read all about the gadgets of Thunderball here.

• Walther PPK
• Homer Capsule
• Underwater Breather
• Infra-Red Camera
• Gamma Gas Cartridge
• Geiger Counter
• Bell-Textron Jet Pack
• Underwater Propulsion Unit

Moneypenny: James, how else will you recognize her?
Bond: Can’t miss. She has a mole on her left thigh.

You can read more quotes here from Thunderball.

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• IMDb.com
• 007Forever
• The Art Of James Bond
• ‘James Bond: The Legacy’ by John Cork and Bruce Scivally
• ‘The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia’ by Steven Jay Rubin
• ‘James Bond Movie Posters’ by Tony Nourmand
• ‘The Bond Files’ by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson