Day 117: Thunderball

Thunderball
Director: Terence Young
Starring: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger & Adolfo Celi
Rated:
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Trailer

IMDB.com Synopsis:
When two colleagues of James Bond are murdered, James follows the widow of a double agent who has been killed – and a confrontation ensues. The double agent is part of SPECTRE, and the organization’s meeting in a secret lair in Paris regrets the agent’s passing as it deals with new criminal business. Emilio Largo, a ruthless and flamboyant one-eyed enforcer, has hatched a scheme against the North Atlantic Treaty powers that begins at a rehabilitation clinic near an RAF airbase. Scheduled to pilot an RAF Vulcan strategic bomber on a normal “fail-safe” flight is Francois Derval, who is having a passionate affair with the magnificently endowed beauty Fiona Volpe – an affair that SPECTRE exploits. Soon, the Vulcan and its warload of two nuclear bombs has been hijacked, the bombs seized by Largo, for use in SPECTRE’s most audacious extortion scheme yet. James Bond, however, finds a key clue in the sister of Francois Derval, Dominique “Domino” Derval, a beautiful young woman who is a passionate scuba-diver living in Nassau. When James investigates Domino, he comes into contact with a SPECTRE operation on the island, and he gets help from HMSS’ man in Nassau, Pinder, and in old CIA chum Felix Leiter. But when James and Felix find out what SPECTRE is up to, it may be to late to save a major US coastal city from nuclear annihilation.

My Thoughts:
After taking a short break from clashing with S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in the last film Goldfinger, Bond is back at odds with this seemingly large and powerful organization in Thunderball. Believe it or not, there is a bit of controversy surrounding this particular film due to some “creative difference” which resulted in a 1983 remake called Never Say Never Again. I will be reviewing that one eventually as part of this Bond marathon. So, stay tuned for that.

Below is the Wikipedia explanation of the legal battle over this film:

“Originally meant as the first James Bond film, Thunderball was the center of legal disputes that began in 1961 and, as of 2008, continue. Former Ian Fleming collaborators Kevin McCloryand Jack Whittingham sued Fleming shortly after the 1961 publication of the Thunderball novel, claiming he based it upon the screenplay the trio had earlier written in a failed cinematic translation of James Bond.^[2] The lawsuit was settled out of court; McClory retained certain screen rights to the novel’s story, plot, and characters. By then, James Bond was a box office success, and series producers Broccoli and Saltzman feared a rival McClory film beyond their control; they agreed to McClory’s producer’s credit of a cinematic Thunderball, with them as executive producers.^[11]

The sources for Thunderball are controversial among film aficionados. In 1961, Ian Fleming published his novel based upon a television screenplay that he, and others developed into the film screenplay; the efforts were unproductive, and Fleming expanded the script into his ninth James Bond novel. Consequently, one of his collaborators, Kevin McClory, sued him for plagiarism; they settled out of court in 1963.^[12] The book The Battle for Bond, by Robert Sellers, details this as part of the Thunderball mythos.

Later, in 1964, EON producers Broccoli and Saltzman agreed with McClory to cinematically adapt the novel; it was promoted as “Ian Fleming’s Thunderball”. Yet, along with the official credits to screenwriters Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, the screenplay is also identified as based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham and as based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming.^[11] To date, the novel has twice been adapted cinematically; the 1983, McClory-produced Never Say Never Again, features Sean Connery as James Bond, but is not an official EON production.”

So, Thunderball…the fourth Bond film. Not exactly my favorite. It wasn’t horrible, but not exactly a memorable Bond film either. It’s a lot of underwater stuff. The final “shoot out” as it were, is all underwater. That must have been insane to coordinate, I’m sure. However, it just didn’t have the same punch as most other Bond films.

To be honest, this one came up short for me. Not a very memorable villain, or gadgets, or action sequences. It was just “okay” really. Funny how “highly successful” books often make bad movies. Go figure. This one is getting 3 stars out of 5.

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