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We now have 50 days until Spectre. Full steam ahead!

Released at the tail-end of 1965, Thunderball was the fourth Eon Productions Bond film, and was only able to (finally) happen after the settling of a long legal case. I’m glad it did though, because it’s probably my favorite one so far, but more on why in a bit, first we have to get to…

The Story:

In Thunderball, the criminal league of criminals SPECTRE is at it again (ooh those scoundrels). This time they steal two atomic bombs from a NATO training flight (because sure, put two armable atomic bombs on a goddamn training flight), and hold them for ransom, threatening to blow up an unidentified American or British city. MI6 gathers all 00-agents in order to thwart SPECTRE’s plot, including our hero, Agent 007 James Bond, played for the fourth time by none other than Sean Connery.

Bond convinces M, played (also for the fourth time) by Bernard Lee, to send him to Nassau, where the sister of one of the NATO pilots currently lives. This sister is our main Bond girl for this film: Domino, portrayed by French actress Claudine Auger (though her voice was dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl, the same actress that dubbed Honey Ryder’s lines in Dr. No). Bond meets with Domino while scuba diving, who then leads him to the mastermind of the plot, and our main villain: Emilio Largo, or SPECTRE’s Number 2, played by italian actor Adolfo Celi (who later also had his voice dubbed by another actor, because apparently Bond Girls and villains don’t speak english real good.)

After a failed investigation of Largo’s yacht, and a run-in with his deadly henchwoman Fiona (equipped with huge…talents), Bond and his old CIA buddy Felix Leiter, played this time around by Rik Van Nutter, find the lost NATO plane in the water, as well as the body of what seems to be Domino’s brother (Well, of a person doubling as the brother. I would’ve gone into all that but this synopsis is long enough. The point is, her brother’s dead). Using this information, Bond turns Domino to his side (after a nice scuba bang, of course), and finds out that Largo is targeting Miami. With help from Domino and the CIA, and after a prolonged underwater fight scene with Largo and his men (possibly a little too prolonged…I’ll get to that), Bond foils the plot, Domino kills Largo with a harpoon, and they both escape the yacht before it explodes. They get a airlifted out of the water, where I’m going to assume they bang because shit, they did it underwater earlier so I guess anything’s possible. ROLL CREDITS.

And now for the story behind the story…

The Curious (Legal) Case of Thunderball:

The story of how Thunderball came to be goes back to 1958, pre-Eon, when Bond author Ian Fleming and Irish filmmaker Kevin McClory being collaborating on an original Bond story for the big screen. Fleming’s interest in the project waned in 1959, and McClory brought on screenwriter Jack Whittingham to help in Fleming’s absence.

After multiple failed attempts by McClory to sell the script, titled “Thunderball,” Fleming decided to flesh it out into his ninth Bond novel in 1960. This prompted McClory and Whittingham to sue Fleming for plagiarism in a case that would eventually be settled out of court in 1963. McClory was given literary and film rights for the story, while an ailing Fleming kept the rights to the novelization. Fleming passed away only nine months after the settlement.

Let’s (Finally) Make a Movie!:

Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli had wanted to adapt Thunderball since they first formed Eon, however the aforementioned legal case prevented it. Now that the case was settled, and fearing a rival Bond film, they approached McClory about adapting the story. They came to an agreement that though all three would be acting as producers, McClory would receive the sole “Producer” credit, while Saltzman and Broccoli would take on “Executive Producer” titles.

Director Guy Hamilton was invited back, but turned it down citing exhaustion from Goldfinger. So, previous Bond director Terence Young stepped back behind the camera for what would be his last Bond feature. Richard Maibaum returned once again to write the film along with John Hopkins, though the screenplay was also credited with “based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham,” which was in turn “based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming.” So, it was a screenplay adaption of a novel of a screenplay adaptation of the Bond character. Get all that? No? Eh, don’t worry about it. The point is the damn thing got made finally. Though the final release was still delayed due to a request for more editing time.

And finally, on to what I thought.

My Reaction:

I just want to say, before I get too deep into this, that I’m really enjoying these movies. I honestly had no idea what to expect, and definitely didn’t expect these early films to be so entertaining to me. Sure, some parts come across dated and…not-very-PC for today, but they’ve managed to overcome that barrier for me and be fun, interesting stories that I’ve been legitimately excited to watch each time. The only thing is, I know the streak is going to end. I know it’s going to get bad at some point, and I’m a little scared. I don’t want my legitimate enjoyment to end yet. I guess we’ll see.

Anyway, on to Thunderball itself. With the budget of Goldfinger and the pacing of Dr. No, this may have been my favorite Bond film so far. The increased budget of $9 million allowed for more complex sets and sequences, namely the many underwater sections of the film, though some were done a little better than others. Which is also the one point where the pacing gets iffy. I’ll get to that.

I was very pleased to see that both SPECTRE and MI6 got further development in this film, to the point where they paralleled each other in how it was presented. First we see a SPECTRE meeting with its various agents, or “numbers,” gathered around a table while the mysterious Number 1 leads the meeting, getting updates on the agent’s various nefarious deeds around the globe. Shortly after we see a similar MI6 meeting, with every 00-agent gathered in a small semi-circle while M leads the meeting, updating them all on SPECTRE’s latest evil schemes and how to thwart them.

Both scenes show the true depth of their respective agencies, that they truly are world-spanning organizations with more going on than just what we see in each film alone. This, as well as returning characters such as Felix Leiter and Miss Moneypenny, played once again by Lois Maxwell, makes the Bond “universe” feel much more cohesive throughout these films so far.

The gadgets in this film were once again more on the subtle side, being more mission-relevant and necessary; such as a small rebreather, a portable geiger counter, and scuba gear. Though I enjoyed the short return of Goldfinger’s tricked-out Aston Martin in the pre-credit sequence, as well as the goddamn JETPACK that Bond uses to escape his pursuers in the same sequence. I don’t mind the more subtle approach though, as I feel it lets Bond show off more of his general spy skills, which I find far more interesting.

Speaking of gadgets, the Q character is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The conversation between him and Bond in this film was probably one of my favorite moments. Q has no time for Bond’s shit, and he lets Bond know it, leading to some wonderful back-and-forth. It gives was a wonderful idea of their relationship, and I love it. I hope it continues.

Another Bond film, another Bond girl, though like Goldfinger this one technically has multiple. There’s Domino, the sister of the missing NATO pilot, and Fiona, Largo’s personal femme fatale. Honestly, I thought they were both great characters. Both contributed to the overall plot in interesting ways, and neither were portrayed as totally helpless or incompetent. I also very much enjoyed Fiona’s excellent lampshade hanging on Bond’s innate ability to sex a woman over to his side, a bit of a nudge at how he turned Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. Fiona was also the first enemy I’ve seen successfully make Bond bleed so far. Though I enjoyed both characters, I think Pussy is still my favorite (No. That review already happened. The joke is done. Go away.)

The list of things I disliked is actually rather short this time. While I was glad to see Felix return so soon, I was bummed that he was relegated to a smaller role once again. Though he was granted more screentime than in Dr. No, his importance to the overall plot is pretty much the same. He mainly shows up to quickly assist Bond, or give him a heads up, and then it’s back to the sidelines. But hey, at least he showed up right?

My other major dislike is coupled with a thing I actually enjoyed, and that’s the underwater sequences throughout the film. They added an interesting setting, and for the most part were pretty well done. The editing was clear, and it was easy to tell who was doing what, and where. Though it did get messy at times. During the big underwater brawl at the end it got a little tough at times to tell just what the course of the fight was and who was winning. It was also probably a little longer than it really needed to be, and I spotted several instances of a Bond reaction shot being reused throughout it. This was probably the one point in the film where the pacing really suffered, which is a shame because the rest of it seemed to be firing on all cylinders until this point.

These are ultimately small gripes however, and I managed to really enjoy the film in spite of them. I’m actually glad that it took so long for Thunderball to be made, because I can’t imagine them being able to do it as much justice if they only had a Dr. No sized budget.

The End! For now.

Thunderball was yet another success for Eon Productions, winning another Academy Award for the Bond series and earning back more than the previous three films. Thunderball would become the highest grossing Bond film until 1973’s Live and Let Die, and when adjusted for inflation is still the second most financially successful Bond film behind 2012’s Skyfall.

That’s four good ones in a row, but as I said earlier, I’m starting to get nervous. Hopefully it doesn’t get too bad too quick.

Okay. 19 left. I’m out of the 20s now!

Russtrospectives will return with: You Only Live Twice!