Simply A Masterpiece

Fantastic!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

For those keeping track, James Bond gets it on with 4 women in this movie. Or maybe only 3, it's a little vague, but I totally got to believe he's doing his hot Asian assistant, so I'm going with 4. Anyway that puts his total bed post notches for the first 4 movies at 14. Hope this guy is using protection.

Thunderball is the fourth in the 'James Bond' series and the final of those directed by Terence Young. It was actually the most successful Bond of its time, yet it seems to have a mixed reputation. When I watched it as a little kid, I used to think this too, finding it less engaging than the other Bond movies of its era, however, having seen it a couple of times in recent times I now find I to be among the best of the series. In this one a member of the nefarious espionage organisation SPECTRE, the criminal mastermind Emilio Largo, concocts a plan to steal nuclear warheads from NATO and to then threaten to detonate them unless a huge ransom is received. As per usual, the plot-line is merely a means to an end, simply a way of allowing us access to all of the usual Bond ingredients we know and love.Sean Connery is very much at the height of his powers here and gives another witty performance full of sarcasm and one-liners, while fully convincing as an action hero. His nemesis here Largo is played by Italian actor Aldolfo Celi who appeared in many notable movies and he is suitably memorable here as the eye-patch sporting evil genius who even has a pool of sharks at his villa where those who displease him are forced to take a swim. Blofeld himself gets in on the act too by disposing of a traitorous associate by eliminating him via a trap door to a fiery demise, only to be replaced with a smoking chair. There is even a Bond Girl villainess in the assassin Fiona Volpe played with some gusto by Luciana Paluzzi. A more traditional Bond Girl comes in the form of the utterly gorgeous Domino, played by the very sexy Claudine Auger. She is a bikini wearing babe in the same general mould as Honey Ryder from Dr. No (1962), which quite frankly can never be a bad thing.This could be thought of as the underwater Bond film. The beautiful stylish opening credit sequence plays on this with silhouettes of slinky ladies swimming to the terrific Tom Jones title song. The setting of the Bahamas is a chance for the series to return to the same general vicinity as that used in Dr. No and which had the added advantage of being a part of the world which was both associated with the real major Cold War incident the Cuban Missile Crisis, while at the same time being sun-kissed, exotic and a place for pure escapism, i.e. a perfect location for a glamourized spy film. A few people seem to find the copious amounts of underwater action as being excessive and a bit tedious but I actually really appreciated all of it. I thought that it gave the film a flavour all of its own, while the elaborate battle was expertly executed and really showcased the high production values. What took all of this stuff up to another level was the really rather excellent soundtrack from John Barry, the incidental music here is some of his best individual Bond scoring work and really accentuated the underwater feel I thought. If I had to add one bit of criticism it would probably have to be the speeded-up boat finale does seem a little ropey nowadays. But, overall I found revisiting this one to be another very pleasant experience and it goes down as yet another out-and-out classic Bond film from the 60's era. In 1983 Connery returned to the Bond role after a long absence in the film Never Say Never Again, which was a remake of Thunderball. It was a sadly very poor film indeed and showed that the magic of great cinema is not so easy to reproduce, but what it did indicate was just how much better Thunderball was by direct comparison.

When I first watched THUNDERBALL, I found it a big comedown after the excellent GOLDFINGER. I didn't care for the underwater sequences and found it overlong. This is, however, a strong Bond film for the female characters, with no less than three important women popping up during the film's course. The first is sexy assassin Luciana Paluzzi, the second the pneumatic femme fatale Claudine Auger whose red-headed fieriness is one of the film's highlights. The third female is the beautiful Martine Beswick, only a couple of years away from her Hammer debut and looking fine as usual. Adolfo Celi is a passable villain who feeds the odd enemy to his pet sharks (!); the rest of the cast is packed with familiar and welcome faces, so there's no fault there.Of course, it's as well made as usual, with good effects, gorgeous scenery in the Caribbean setting, cool music and fine acting from Connery and co. On my second viewing, I realised that the stylish underwater sequences (shot by Ricou Browning, no less) actually make THUNDERBALL stand out from the crowd by offering something new. The ending manages to feel fresh and exciting and with an increased level of violence, with all manner of bloody stabbings and impalings that wouldn't be allowed were the action taking place above ground. Sure, the sped-up action is a little cheesy, but then that's all part of the fun.

This is my favorite bond. The sequence were you get see members of Spectre. The sequence were bond is at the funeral and kills the colonel. The jet pack is fun also. I like this because even it has some light spots there are serious overtones. The bad guy is classic bond. You also have two of the most attractive bond girls ever. The underwater sequence is really top notch. The gadgets are held to a minimum. This film moves along well. There are no lag time.I wish the Aston Martin was in the film more. I think it is only in the opening. When I want to watch a bond this is the one I watch. I either pop popcorn or order a pizza. This film has my favorite ending of all the bonds. Where he hooks a line to his wet suit and they yanked up by the plane. I don't think it has never been topped.