Customer Reviews

Thunderball

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thunderball is a feast eye. Visually stunnig with advanced and ingenious twist and ideas.
The presence of Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo and one of the most beautiful Bond's girls - Claudine Auger , are winners components.
The unforgettable submarine fight deserved for this film won Best special effects . And from its release became in a classic sequence.
Funny and plenty of chases , sharks and arresting locations.
After Goldfinger , this could be the most clever and kinetic movie of Bond series.

This movie is Awesome. The story is the best and score is fantastic. Sean Connery gives one of his best performances as James Bond along with everyone else in the film. This is truly one of my favourite movies ever and I've only become a mega fan this past year. Make your life better and get this along with every other James Bond film!

this is the pivotal bond film because it has enough of the same qualitites that rank it nearly alongside dr no, from russia with love and goldfinger.
but, it also has enough hints of the rot that is you only live twice and diamonds are forever that follows.
the first three bond films can actually be considered good films period and not necessarily 'franchise films'.
thunderball truly is the beginning of the franchise that will become furmulaic popcorn with the next one and that was too bad,
and connery, wisely, knew this himself.

Sean Connery hit full stride in Thunderball, far and away the most appealing episode in the legendary Bond series. The action focuses principally in the Carribean, giving this movie one of the most exotic feels from the series. Claudine Auger is positively stunning as Domino, quite possibly the most fetching Bond woman of them all. The action is brisk but not forced. Connery never loses stride. The underwater scenes are very realistic as Largo has a fighter jet hijacked and sunk in a nearby reef, keeping the missiles for later use. While all Bond films exist in the realm of fantasy, this one stayed relatively close to home and has a much more visceral than the others. The locations, settings and silver Aston Martin all capture the feel of the mid 60's. This is James Bond at his best!

The 4th James Bond movie. Several of the most intense and most challenging productions in film history involved filming on or under water, as demonstrated from such later films as JAWS, THE ABYSS, TITANIC, and many others. THUNDERBALL goes way beyond all of that with its' magnificent underwater gadgetry, innovative use of camera techniques, and beautifully choreographed action sequences. This is a characteristic example of just one James Bond film that set the stage for later classic themes to follow. Perhaps never to be perfected since that time. There is, of course, the obligatory element of beautiful women with Claudine Auger as slinky Domino, and Molly Peters as randy nurse Patricia.

THE ASSIGNMENT: Despite many recent crime excursions, SPECTRE is going broke, and SPECTRE #2 Emilio Largo has a solution: hijacking a Vulcan bomber while on a NATO exercise by substituting for the real pilot a SPECTRE agent who has undergone plastic surgery. The Vulcan is equipped with two atomic bombs, and they plan to use them against the British as a ransom for 100 million pounds of uncut diamonds against the threat of detonating the bombs in one of the major cities of the Western world. If the British accept, they are to arrange for Big Ben to strike seven times. Having been given two days to decide, every double-O agent is brought together to confer to avoid this from happening. Bond has only one lead; unknown to SPECTRE he was undergoing physical treatment and had encountered the agent undergoing surgery while there. Bond begins investigation in Nassau - and the excitement begins.

THE VILLAINS: Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo, Guy Doleman as Count Lippe, Paul Stassino as Maj. Derval (and Angelo Palazzi), Luciana Paluzzi as female assassin Fiona Volpe, George Pravda as scientist Ladislav Kutze, Philip Locke as silent killer Vargas, and Michael Brennan as sadistic Janni.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! BUY IT!

Advertised as "The Biggest Bond of All" when released in time for Christmas 1965 (one year after "Goldfinger"), "Thunderball" lived up to its tagline by dominating the box-office throughout the holiday season and into the early months of 1966, quickly claiming a position on the list of the all-time top 10 box-office champs, an impressive feat indeed at a time when the chart was still overcrowded with "roadshow" attractions like "Gone With the Wind" and "The Ten Commandments" that had the benefit of several reissues. When inflation is taken into account, this fourth 007 adventure remains the most successful chapter in the series. It also remains one of the best.

More than its three predecessors, "Thunderball" finds the 007 formula smoothly blended and firmly in place. Exotic locales, extravagent special-effects, and women, women, and more women, all beautiful and a few scantily dressed, combined with witty, mildly risque dialogue, opening credits designed by Maurice Binder that were worth the price of admission on their own, and a John Barry score that was exciting yet somehow haunting enough to make you think that this was all pretty serious stuff.

The title song, performed by Tom Jones, may sound like "Goldfinger" sung sideways, and the emphasis on underwater battles sometimes slow things down, but this is the definitive James Bond film with Sean Connery's best performance in the series. (In comparison, the 1983 remake, "Never Say Never Again," made outside the official series, is a B movie.)

I hated this movie. I hated this movie. Did I mention I hated this movie. Sean Connery looked half-asleep in this absolutly no action very graphic ending movie. Even for the 1960s the special effects stunck. The ending sequence where Largo has a harpoon in his back the boat looks like it's going about 500 mph. The only cool parts were where the Disco Vilante blows up by hittig a rock and, where the motorcycle fires a missle at the blue ford w/ Bond's DB5 nearby. I hated this movie.

Rank 13 of 23. Loosely based on what I thought was the best of the fleming novels, it borrowed the coral dragging scene that actually appeared in the Dr No book. What was stunning was that the underwater photography was so enthralling that, that words were not necessary. This lack of dialog was so totally unique in an action film. But the hit show "sea Hunt" was successful doing the same thing. This plot was done again, re-written slightly in Never Say Never Again.

I found this movie to be essentially perfect Bond. By Thunderball, the producers had made the Bond Formula.

One of the ingredients in this formula was the Pre-Credits Sequence. In Thunderball, it was one of the best. A perfect blend of action (the fight) and gadgets (Rocket Pack).

Then, we fly in to the first Maurice Binder titles. It complements perfectly with the music and the underwater theme. Then we are treated to 2 hours of perfection.

The plot has some great action without going way over the top and becoming cartoonish like some of the more recent bonds. It starts when SPECTRE has a plan to hijack a warplane carrying two atomic bombs and hold NATO for ransom. Bond is assigned to Nassau and quickly gets drawn into the world of SPECTRE. With the help of Domino, a beautiful girl whose brother was killed as a result of SPECTRE's misdoings, Bond gets the villain cornered on a boat... You'll have to see it to find out!

The girls, for one, Claudine Auger as Domino Derval was perfectly cast. She had the essence of a Bond Beauty, and she was very memorable. But the best girl was Luciana Palluzzi as Fiona Volpe. This sexy and dangerous Redhead is my favourite Bond girl. I loved the scene in the hotel when Bond is captured. She was imitatated in the next Bond, You Only Live Twice, but was never matched.

One of the great Bond villains, Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo, better known as Number Two. He was threatening and cool, a great combination.

The locales were nothing short of stunning. From Shrublands to France, from Florida to Nassau, this Bond delivers! And Sean Connery at his best. Even he says this was his best performance! And I agree. The action is perfectly balanced in this movie, allowing strong character and plot development.

This is the best Bond.

This is one of the most entertaining of the series, boasting a fantastic villain, gripping fight scenes, and a great performance by Connery. SPECTRE has launched its latest gambit in achieving global extortion and mass murder by hijacking two atom bombs. They will be both detonated in the US and England, unless both governments pay ransom. To see that doesn't happen, Bond traces the bombs to Nassau. Before long it becomes apparent that the sadistic Emilio Largo (SPECTRE's No. 2 man) is heading this devious plot. The acting is excellent in this film, and the villain is more intimidating than Goldfinger. This is without a doubt Bond at his best, so don't miss it!