Thunderball
by Terence Young
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DVD details
Actor: Adolfo Celi, Claudine Auger, Luciana Paluzzi, Rik Van Nutter, Sean ConneryDirector: Terence Young
Producer: Albert R. Broccoli
Producer: Harry Saltzman
Writer: Ian Fleming
Writer: Jack Whittingham
Writer: John Hopkins
Writer: Kevin McClory
Writer: Richard Maibaum
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 130 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-10-19
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Thunderball
DVD Review: Great Bond History
Summary: 4 Stars
I wanted to watch the original early films of Bond, beginning with Dr. No. It's great to see Sean Connery evolve from film to film to become, I feel, the best Bond there ever was. I'm progressing in order from Dr. No, to From Russia with love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You only live twice, Diamonds are forever, and the later semi-Bond "Never say Never again". I know many fans of Bond dislike the last film Connery did, but perhaps they were expecting too much from a then, pretty weathered, franchise. I still have to watch the final two Connery films and am not expecting too much from "Diamonds" and even less from "Never". But that doesn't take away from the talent and artistry of Sean Connery and I'm more into those last films to simply watch how he slowly bows out of the James Bond role forever. It's sad film history to watch sometimes, but I'd rather watch these first Bond films again and again than to tolerate the works of Roger Moore and the others. Daniel Craig is a fresh approach to the role, but he lacks the warmth and humor that Connery brought to the role. I'd love to see one final film where Sean Connery has taken over the position of "M" and guides newer agents along, making them the best they could be. Sort of like an episode of "NCIS", I know, but it would be entertaining to see, none-the-less.DVD Review: Thunderball two disc edition
Summary: 5 Stars
Thunderball is one of our favoite James Bond movies, and this "ultimate edition" gives us a lot to look at. Thanks to the CD format, we now have all of the Bond movies, and we enjoy watching them again and againDVD Review: A favorite Bond movie. Don't miss it!
Summary: 5 Stars
Thunderball
This is the fourth film in a series that offers the best action / adventure plots. The James Bond movies surfaced a world of espionage, gadgets, secret weapons, beautiful women and amazing cars. As with the first three, the success of Sean Connery continued to enchant audiences the world over, creating an image so powerful that still to today, it is debated that he offered the best Bond character.
By now, we were riveted on the Bond films from the very start. The introduction was becoming one of the best parts of the movie, offering gorgeous female silhouettes as Bond walked across stage demonstrating his marksmanship.
For those of us who are fans of Tom Jones, this became the best film for the theme song is performed by him. Back in 1965, Tom Jones offered great appeal as the star with a powerful voice who wore tight pants, billowing shirts with wide collars and who was considered a sex symbol by admirers.
The song written by Don Black was a tremendous hit and the lyrics reaffirmed our perception of James Bond as the Secret Service Agent who ran while others walked, acted while others talked, wanted it all... so he stroke like Thunderball! Yes, for us Bond knew the meaning of success, calling him the winner who takes all, breaking any heart without regret while his fight goes on and on because he thinks the fight is worth it all!
The movie starts with James Bond at a funeral of SPECTRE agent No. 6. Bond follows his widow and we are soon shocked to find out that it is a man disguised as the widow, who in actuality is No. 6, Jacques Bouvar attempting to cover his identity to get away with killing two British agents.
Thunderball brings us a Bond on a mission to find two NATO nuclear bombs that were taken away by members of SPECTRE. The nuclear bombs are on a plane and SPECTRE has hired a man who has an operation to look identical to the real pilot, who is killed and replaced by the impersonator. The plane is on a training flight but the impersonator pilot gasses the rest of the crew then flying the plane to the Bahamas where he submerges the plane to be camouflaged to prevent detection.
The pilot had been engaged and promised a certain payment for his services but he reconsiders and asks for a lot more because of the pain and suffering he has undergone to look, speak, and act like the original pilot. Because of his attempt to extort more from the organization, it is now his turn to get killed by Emilio Largo, superbly played by Adolfo Celi, who is none other than Agent #2 at SPECTRE [Special Executive for Counter Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion].
Largo and his men take possession of the atomic bombs under water and these scenes are magnificent for they offer something audiences the world over had not yet seen, underwater opening hatches, scuba divers and underwater weapons, machinery and tools that inspired many to take on new hobbies and see an underworld filled with possibilities.
Bond is sent to the Bahamas where he partners with Largo's mistress, Domino, beautifully played by Claudine Anger, who is the original pilot's sister and wants revenge for her brother's death.
When Bond and Largo finally meet, they sense in each other a dangerous enemy and the fun begins for these two initiate a psychological game to draw each other out.
Another SPECTRE agent, Fiona Volve, played by Luciana Paluzzi, is after Bond. The magic and fun of the Bahamas is introduced as Bond tries to escape from Volpe and we become part of the famous street parade known as Junkanoo or local carnival celebration. During Junkanoo, thousands of men and women unite under the banner of differing groups to produce beautiful costumes, music and dance, so it becomes easy for Bond to mingle in the crowd but because he was shot and is bleeding, the blood hounds after him are able to closely follow.
Bond and Felix Leiter, this time played by Rik Van Nutter continue to search for the plane by helicopter because Bond needs to understand if the weapons are still on board or if they have been taken and after days of searching the waters they find the Vulcan and Bond finds the crew corpses and the pilot's. Bond takes the personal items belonging to the impersonating pilot to later give these to Domino to let her know of her brother's death.
Much action ensues and the underwater battle between Bond, a unit of the United States Coast Guard and Largo's men is simply filming at its best. As usual, Bond saves the day and like Thunderball we are now forever fans of Bond, James Bond! Thunderball is and shall remain one of the best Bond films, don't miss it!
DVD Review: Great but somewhat overrated
Summary: 4 Stars
As much as I loved this film, I must say this movie was not the best Connery Bond. It's an excellent movie no doubt, I much prefer You Only Live Twice, but this is still great.
This one takes place in the hot Nassau in the Bahamas. Two warheads have been stolen from by SPECTRE Agent Dominic Largo. Bond heads to the Bahamas to solve this. While on the way, he meets the sexy Domino, and finds out that he may be the only one to take the world out of its hostage state which leads to a spectacular showdown on the Disco Volante.
Thunderball is a great movie and maybe one of the best (but not the best). The only thing that makes this a 4 star only is that it's quite slow, and at 130 minutes (there's a typo on the back saying 125), the movie feels longer than it really is due to the fact that there's not a lot of plot twists.
Overall I loved it, but it's not the best Connery one IMO. Still reccomended, and the two-disc ultimate edition is excellent as well.
DVD Review: Was my father's favorite as kid
Summary: 5 Stars
The fourth film in this infamous series of espionage features Sean Connery returning to the role that brought him international fame. Of course it would be insane to imagine anyone else in this role at this point in time for the fledgling series that would go on to be the longest running series in the history of cinema.
The film begins with Bond still stuck in the ongoing war between himself and the conning SPECTRE organization and has acquired special attention from their mysterious faceless, cat-stroking mastermind who has now decided that James Bond, Agent 007, must be taken out of the picture before he further meddles with the affairs of SPECTRE. But who in their right mind would want to take on the British super-agent? SPECTRE's Number 2, Emilio Largo seems up to the task shortly after the death of Number 6 at the hands of 007 in the beginning of the film.
Largo's plan centers on the hijacking of two nuclear warheads which would cause enough fuss to attract any super-spy to the area, and he intends on it. Of course, why bother with a fully equipped agent if you can take Bond out when he's still recovering after his previous mission? Well, it turns out that even in relaxation James Bond isn't entirely defenseless and manages to leave the Spa unharmed...of course he doesn't leave without some invaluable information regarding Largo's plan.
Off to the Bahamas goes Bond, where he finally lets his womanizing go too far, nearly leading to his death, but once again he sweet talks, and dances his way out of danger (Literally!). Of course an Agent's job doesn't only center on sex and alcohol. It's actually serious business, as he discovers Largo's fortified estate (complete with a pool of sharks) and yacht are the center of this nuclear weapon plot. So you'd think this sounds easy enough for our dear agent 007, right? Wrong. You forget that Number between one and five in the SPECTRE organization is going to have a countless number of faceless henchmen ripe for the killing (So many hired hands...What do they pay all these scuba troopers?).
The entire thing leads up to one of the most interesting, violent fight sequences in the entire Bond franchise as a giant underwater battle erupts between SPECTRE and a group of Scuba commandos (joined of course by Bond) as they attempt to prevent Largo from detonating the bombs off the coast of Miami. Excitement and bloodshed erupts and the title of "Most Violent Connery Bond Film" is one by the end.
Sean Connery as usual proves that he IS James Bond and delivers his lines perfectly. At this point Connery obviously has the character down to near perfection. He can fight, shoot, smoke, gamble, drive nice cars, and seduce women and make it come across as convincing. This is definitive proof that he was born for this role and that the series wouldn't have gone very far without his leaving such a great impact upon his initial run as the character.
Adolfo Auger also makes for a good villain. Cold, heartless, and delivers his lines with the vicious nature of a shark. He is a driven villain, seeming to only desire to further impress his superior in SPECTRE, yet he never stoops to the rank of simple henchmen. So he works for himself, but also to impress his leader, but at the same time it feels he tries to detach himself as far away from the central SPECTRE organization as possible. Maybe he intends to prove himself and break away and form his own organization? He obviously has the money and resources to do so (unless ALL of that comes from SPECTRE).
This was my father's favorite Bond film growing up and I agree that it is a classic that is a worthwhile movie, though the one complaint I have is that it has several slow parts that seem to drag endlessly, but these are rare.
Also, the remastered picture quality on the latest DVDs is great, and if you don't already own the 007 editions from earlier this decade I'd highly recommend the Ultimate Edition of Thunderball, because it has quite a few extra features for you Bond fans (but not so many that it entirely outweighs the 007 edition; so if you have that release there is no need to buy again).
Description of Thunderball
James Bond's fourth adventure takes him to the Bahamas, where a NATO warplane with a nuclear payload has disappeared into the sea. Bond (Sean Connery) travels from a tony health spa (where he tangles with a mechanized masseuse run amuck) to the casinos of Nassau and soon picks up the trail of SPECTRE's number-two man, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), and his beautiful mistress, Domino (Claudine Auger), whom Bond soon seduces to his side. Equipped with more gadgets than ever, courtesy of the resourceful "Q" (Desmond Llewelyn), agent 007 escapes an ambush with a personal-size jet pack and takes to the water as he searches for the undersea plane, battles Largo's pet sharks, and finally leads the battle against Largo's scuba-equipped henchmen in a spectacular underwater climax. This thrilling Bond entry became Connery's most successful outing in the series and was remade in 1983 as Never Say Never Again, with Connery returning to the role after a 12-year hiatus. Tom Jones belts out the bold theme song to another classic Maurice Binder title sequence. --Sean AxmakerGeneral DVDs
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