Thunderball: Review By slysnide

Originally intended as the first, then third Bond film, "Thunderball" had been plagued by rights related law suits which were still going on as of 2008. They related to the fact that screenwriter Jack Whittingham and filmmaker Kevin McClory had teamed with Ian Fleming to make a film based on a memorandum by Ernest Cuneo. Screenwriter Ivar Bryce wrote the first draft which Fleming, McClory, and Whittingham rewrote many times. It was meant to be produced by Xandau Productions and directed by McClory as the first Bond film. When that plan fell through due to McClory's recent box office bomb, the prospects of the trio launching "Thunderball" as the first installment of the Bond franchise faded, and Fleming took the screenplay and expanded it for his ninth Bond novel which was published on 27 March 1961. However, McClory & Whittingham received no credit for their significant contributions to the story. Not long after, Fleming warned McClory at his Goldeneye estate that he intended to sell the film rights to MCA, and that McClory should sell his rights to the property if MCA refused the project as long as he was tied to it--for McClory hadn't yet recovered his reputation from his box office bomb. As an alternative, Fleming offered that McClory & Whittingham could file a lawsuit against him, and that's exactly what they did when Fleming instead sold the rights to Broccoli & Saltzman without consulting his writing partners, nor informing the two producers of the dilemma surrounding "Thunderball."

Ultimately, Whittingham allowed his script rights to be handled by McClory, and at the behest of Ivar Bryce, Fleming settled with the two out of court in December 1961 at the expense of the film rights which McClory retained. But when McClory failed to find funding for the project, he approached Broccoli & Saltzman with an offer to be allowed to produce the film as the fourth 007 film, with Broccoli & Saltzman stepping back as executive producers. Because of Cubby's fondness for the story, the duo agreed and "Thunderball" finally got on track with a production start date of 16 February 1965 under director Terrance Young from the first two Bond films, as Guy Hamilton was too creatively exhausted after "Goldfinger" (1964) to tackle another one so quickly. Filming went off with few problems and wrapped sometime in May 1965.

In his fourth adventure, James Bond (Sean Connery) must recover two stolen atomic bombs which SPECTRE is ransoming to NATO for a hundred million in diamonds. If they don't oblige--or even if they do--the United States & United Kingdom will be bombed. His trek will take him from an english clinic with deadly patients to the tropical Bahamas in Nassau where he must infiltrate the inner circle of SPECTRE's #2 agent, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi--voice dubbed by Robert Rietty) whom is spearheading the operation on behalf of SPECTRE's leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Anthony Dawson--voiced by Joseph Wiseman).

To do this, Bond of course intends to seduce the female side of Largo's luxurious estate. His primary target for seduction is Largo's mistress Domino Derval (Claudine Auger--voiced by Nikkia van der zyl) who's of the class of the easily swayed girlfriends. He also must evade SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe (Luiciana Paluzzi) if his taste for women will let him. So yeah, the women are pretty forgetful in this film. Though CIA Agent Felix Leiter (Rick Van Nutter) is far more interesting, and that's not saying much. So of all the female characters, and Felix, then I'd say Largo's pool of man eating sharks wins out as the most interesting 'characters' in the film. Emilio even wears an eyepatch with a strong Italian accent, but always sports a white tux and seems to be pretending to be some super villain rather than being a Bond villain. Everything he does in the film is on behalf of #1, whereas Auric Goldfinger was a class all his own, and Rosa Klebb still managed to be really entertaining despite taking orders also. Largo seemed more like just some rich white guy enjoying retirement in the Bahamas--which may have been the point, to appear undercover--despite being only forty-three years old. Seriously, he looks to be in his late fifties. And there are no classic henchman to be seen here.

To make up for this are the MI6 regulars M (Bernard Lee), Moneypenney (Lois Maxwell), and Q (Desmond Llewelyn) showcasing many aquatic toys like state of the art breathing apparatuses--which the Royal Corps of Engineers actually inquired about, only to find out were totally fake--a flare gun, geiger counter, an aquatic infrared camera, and a distress beacon. The Aston Martin DB-5 returns for another chase scene, this one filmed on the Silverstone racing circuit in Britain. But no new badass vehicles this time, sorry. Or at least not from Q. The greatest vehicle which kicks off another seldom used staple is the villain's massive vehicle of death (or whatever you want to call it). This time, it's Emilio Largo's yacht 'Disco Volante.' Apart from having a badass name, it can reach breakneck speeds and is actually a hydrofoil. The real ship used for long shots is still around under the new name 'Kingdom 5KR.'

The underwater effects by John Stears would go on to earn the film an Oscar, and not to mention an explosion which shattered windows thirty miles away on Bay Street in Nassau. You read it right. Stears ignored instructions and doused the object to be decimated with excessive amounts of rocket fuel provided by Cubby's friend Lieutenant Colonel Charles Russhon. As if ignoring instructions could be no funner, John Stears bought a supposedly dead shark carcass to drag around Largo's pool when some poor bastard met their end there, only to discover that the shark was still alive. And what's better, production designer Ken Adam's plexiglass which separated Connery from the sharks was installed improperly and caused a legitimate moment of panic which can be clearly seen in Connery's eyes when he narrowly dodges an oncoming shark, and leaps out of the pool faster than anyone thought possible.

A millionaire's estate in Nassau served as Largo's estate. Art Director Peter Lamont officially began his legendary work on the Bond franchise here, having served as an uncredited draftsman on "Goldfinger." Ken Adam also returned as production designer. And ironically, this would be director Terrance Young's final Bond film. Ironic because in the beginning he wanted only to direct this, "Dr. No" (1962), and "From Russia With Love" (1963). He directed all three. He's convinced that had plans gone accordingly, and "Thunderball" been made first on the approved $1,000,000 budget that it would've been a disaster. Given the innovative underwater effects utilized to maintain image clarity at depths of 50' in low Bahamian tide, then it's a good thing this was the fourth film produced with a budget of $9,000,000, which exceeded the predecessor's budget by six million dollars. It boded well here. Though despite all the on location work, it didn't appear as beautiful as the Jamaican jungles in "Dr. No," or the Swiss Alps in "Goldfinger." As far as style goes, Young made sure to mimic the whole suave high life aspect throughout much of the Nassau sequences as Bond has to blend in with that community. I'd attribute this showcase of classic Connery Bond to a significant portion of the film's overall success.

When the film finally opened on 21 December 1965, it recaptured the same phenomenon which the predecessor did. Once again, everything from toys, accessories, records, and memorabilia sold like wildfire in an obsession referred to as the "Thunderball Phenomenon." It ultimately resulted in the film making $141,200,000 which is the modern equivalent of $950,000,000 to put it in perspective. The dispute over which recording of the title song to use resulted with Cubby feeling the film's title needed to be in it, and so Shirley Bassey's take titled "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" from an Italian journalist's take on Bond from the first film was thrown out. Even a submission titled "Thunderball" by Johnny Cash was not chosen. Ultimately, songwriter Don Black stepped in and wrote the final song which was sung by Tom Jones, who held the final note so long in the recording booth that he fainted. So overall, the film was received very well by fans and critics. Though to me, it took a while to get going, didn't come close to "Goldfinger," and was about as good as "From Russia With Love." Not nearly as exciting as my father recalled when his father took him to see it opening weekend when he was around eleven years old. I was about the same age when I saw it, so there's a sign of the times as to what's exhilarating nowadays.