Thunderball (film)

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Thunderball
Thunderball film poster
James Bond	Sean Connery
Also starring	Claudine Auger Adolfo Celi Luciana Paluzzi
Directed by	Terence Young
Produced by	Kevin McClory
Novel/Story by	Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham
Screenplay	Richard Maibaum, John Hopkins
Cinematography by	{{{cinematography}}}
Music by	John Barry
Main theme
Composer	John Barry Don Black
Performer	Tom Jones
Distributed by	United Artists (1965-1981) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1982-present)
Released	December 21, 1965 (USA) December 29, 1965 (UK)
Running time	125 min.
Budget	$11,000,000
Worldwide gross	$141,200,000
Admissions (world)	139.8 million
Preceded by	Goldfinger
Followed by	You Only Live Twice
IMDb profile

Thunderball is the fourth film in the EON Productions James Bond series, and also the fourth film to star Sean Connery as British Secret Service agent, Commander James Bond 007. Released in 1965, it was the third 007 film to be directed by Terence Young.

The source material to the film has long been a subject of debate and controversy within James Bond fandom. The original novel Thunderball, written by Ian Fleming, was based on a screenplay that was created with the intention of being turned into a TV show; The screen play was written by Ian Fleming, later, several screenwriters and producers were attached to help flesh out a story, although nothing came of this and Fleming novelised it for the ninth book in his series. Consequently, Fleming was sued for plagiarism, for which he settled out of court in 1963. EON producer's Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman made a deal in 1964 to film an adaptation of the novel. Like a good number of James Bond films, it was promoted as 'Ian Fleming's Thunderball'; however, the screenplay is officially credited to Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, but was written as being 'based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham', and also was credited as being 'based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming'.

Thunderball has, to date, been adapted twice for the cinema, although there had been plans for further adaptations that have resulted in lawsuits. In 1983, McClory produced an unofficial remake (i.e. outside of the EON Productions canon) called Never Say Never Again, which again starred Sean Connery as James Bond.

Thunderball was originally scheduled to have been the first James Bond film, in 1962, but this was later changed to Dr. No, due to a lawsuit brought about by McClory.

Contents 1 Background 2 Plot summary 3 Cast & characters 4 Crew 5 Soundtrack 6 Vehicles & gadgets 7 Locations 7.1 Film locations 7.2 Shooting locations 8 Trivia 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

[edit] Background

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Originally intended to be the first James Bond film, Thunderball became the centre of complicated legal battles extending from the early 1960s to the present. Former Ian Fleming collaborators Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham had sued the author following the 1961 publication of Thunderball, claiming Fleming had based the novel on elements of screenplay the trio had created years before in an unsuccessful attempt to bring 007 to the big screen. Eventually, the lawsuit was settled out of court and McClory retained certain screen rights to the novel. By now, James Bond was a box-office sensation, and Broccoli and Saltzman did not envy the thought of McClory making a rival production over which they had no control. Thus, an agreement was made in which McClory would receive producer's credit for a screen version of Thunderball, and Broccoli and Saltzman would act as executive producers. Thunderball was granted a $5.6 million budget by United Artists, the same studio which originally was reluctant to spend $1 million on Dr. No. Times had changed, however, and Bond was the leading pop culture icon. By early 1965, when principal photography began, the 007 films had already spawned legions of imitators both on television and on the big screen. The producers knew they had to demonstrate that a genuine Bond movie had scope and spectacle which could never be replicated by their impersonators. With Thunderball, the Bond films became truly epic. The film is somewhat controversial among Bond enthusiasts. Some feel it is too long and even director Terence Young complained that the abundance of underwater sequences slowed the pace. For most fans, however, Thunderball is top-flight entertainment filled with eye-popping locales, exotic women and exceptional photography, music and special effects. If there is a negative element in the film, it is the increasing reliance on hardware and technology. Sean Connery was correct in noting that Bond was becoming less interesting as a character and falling victim to the emphasis on gadgets and stunts. He complained that he was tiring of the Bond mania and looked forward to leaving the series to stretch his acting skills in other types of films. Nevertheless, Thunderball emerged as one of the top-grossing films of all time. Although critics were starting to take a dim view of the emphasis on hi-tech hardware, even the normally staid New York Times found the film's merits so impressive that it chose Thunderball as one of the year's ten best movies.

[edit] Plot summary

Like most of the earlier James Bond films, Thunderball is a loose adaptation of the Ian Fleming novel with changes mostly for the pre-title credits, the inclusion of gadgets, and an update of technology.

The film begins with James Bond attending the funeral of Colonel Jacques Bouvar, a leading member of SPECTRE who had murdered two British agents. Bond notices the Colonel's widow open a car door for herself (something which any well-established woman should know better than to do). She is in fact Bouvar in disguise. Bond confronts Bouvar at his château where he kills him. He then escapes using a jetpack to fly to his car parked outside the château where he fends off Bouvard's men using the water cannons on the Aston Martin DB5.

A major difference between the novel and film versions of Thunderball is that, in the film continuity, Bond was first introduced to SPECTRE in Dr. No and the events of From Russia with Love are also masterminded by the organization. The plot of Thunderball deals with SPECTRE attempting to hold the world hostage by hijacking two nuclear bombs.

Prior to this event, Bond is ordered by M to attend a health farm in order to improve his physical condition. While enjoying a massage from an attractive masseuse, Bond meets Count Lippe, a shifty individual who becomes distrustful of Bond when 007 notices a gangland tattoo on the Count's arm. Bond even searches Lippe's room and is seen leaving by Lippe's neighbour who is covered with bandages as a result of plastic surgery.

Lippe subsequently attempts to murder Bond on a traction machine, but Bond is rescued by Pat .Bond then has his revenge by trapping Lippe in a steam bath, although the count survives. Things become stranger when Bond finds a dead man wrapped in bandages, and survives yet another attempt on his life.

The dead man is in fact a French pilot called Derval who was due to be part of the crew flying an Avro Vulcan carrying two nuclear bombs. His place is taken by a SPECTRE henchman named Angelo who has had plastic surgery in order to look like him. Angelo passes security without any suspicion. Once the plane is airborne he releases poison gas into the air supply in order to kill the other members of the crew. He then lands it in the middle of the ocean near the Bahamas where Emilio Largo (known as "Number Two" in SPECTRE) and his men retrieve the warheads and conceal the plane from any sort of overhead reconnaissance by covering it with a camouflage net. The bomb retrieval begins after Largo has killed Angelo because he demanded more money prior to the hijacking.

Due to the SPECTRE crisis, Bond is summoned to Whitehall. On the way he is chased by Count Lippe who fires a gun at him from his own car. Bond is about to activate his car's own weapons when a motorcyclist fires a missile which kills Lippe. SPECTRE's "Number One" ordered the death of Lippe because the Count did not foresee Angelo's demand for extra money.

Bond attends an emergency conference where all of MI6's 00-agents are briefed and given assignments (although only the face of 008 is clearly seen, this is the first time 00-agents other than Bond have been seen on-screen). Initially M assigns Bond to Canada, but Bond recognizes a photo of the NATO observer as the dead man he saw at the health club. Since the NATO observer's sister is in Nassau, M allows Bond to journey there to investigate. The sister, Domino, played by Claudine Auger, is Largo's mistress. Bond exploits this connection to get close to Largo after meeting Domino while scuba diving.

An additional character in the film is Fiona Volpe, who is not in the novel. A member of SPECTRE, she was responsible for the substitution of the NATO observer and the subsequent killing of Lippe. She also attempts to kill Bond after rendezvousing with Largo in Nassau. She is later shot in the back by a bullet intended for Bond while dancing at a nightclub with him during local Junkanoo celebrations. Bond leaves her body at a table, saying: "Do you mind if my friend sits this one out? She's just dead."

Amongst Bond fans it is controversial as to whether or not Bond intentionally moves her into the path of the bullet, Fleming's Bond being against killing anyone in cold blood.

In Nassau, Bond teams up with Felix Leiter and the two set out to find the hijacked plane, which they eventually find along with the corpse of the phoney NATO observer. Afterwards Bond informs Domino that her brother was killed by Largo and pleads for her to aid him in finding the nuclear warheads. She gives Bond information that allows for him to take the place of a SPECTRE agent on a mission with Largo, who is retrieving the nuclear warheads from their underwater hiding place, in order to plant one at its target just off the coast of Florida.

After an underwater battle that Bond barely escapes from, he is rescued by Leiter from the underwater cave where the bombs were concealed. Bond informs Leiter of the location of the bomb and he orders a platoon of United States Navy SEALs to parachute into the area where a massive underwater battle takes place. Bond joins in, eliminating numerous SPECTRE frogmen by utilizing various high tech devices as well as his bare hands. The sudden appearance of a shark forces both sides to join forces in order to fend it off. The remaining SPECTRE divers then surrender.

As the battle ends, Largo escapes to the Disco Volante which still has one of the two warheads aboard, and Bond follows, sneaking onto the vessel. Bond encounters Largo, who is attempting to escape by using the Disco Volante's hydrofoil to speed away. The two have a fierce hand-to-hand fight; however, just as Largo gains the upper hand he is shot in the back with a spear gun by Domino. Bond and Domino jump overboard as the out of control hydrofoil runs aground and explodes. Bond and Domino are picked up from the sea via a sky hook-equipped plane

[edit] Cast & characters

• James Bond - Sean Connery
• Dominique 'Domino' Derval - Claudine Auger
• M - Bernard Lee
• Miss Moneypenny - Lois Maxwell
• Q - Desmond Llewelyn
• Felix Leiter - Rik Van Nutter
• Emilio Largo, aka 'Number 2' - Adolfo Celi — dubbed by Robert Rietty
• Fiona Volpe - Luciana Paluzzi
• Count Lippe - Guy Doleman
• Francois Derval/Angelo Palazzi - Paul Stassino
• Vargas - Philip Locke
• Ladislav Kutze - George Pravda
• Paula Caplan - Martine Beswick
• Patricia Fearing - Molly Peters, a masseuse
• Mademoiselle La Porte - Maryse Guy Mitsouko (uncredited)
• Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Anthony Dawson — voiced by Eric Pohlmann (both uncredited)

[edit] Crew

• Directed by: Terence Young
• Produced by: Kevin McClory
• Written by: Kevin McClory, Ian Fleming, Jack Whittingham
• Screenplay by: Richard Maibaum, John Hopkins
• Music composed by: John Barry
• Cinematography by: Ted Moore
• Supervising editor: Peter R. Hunt
• Production design by Ken Adam

[edit] Soundtrack

• Main article: Thunderball (soundtrack)

[edit] Vehicles & gadgets

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets

In Thunderball, the famous Aston Martin DB5 makes its second appearance, previously in Goldfinger. For this film a surprise modification of rear water cannons were used in the opening pre-title sequence, although viewers mistakenly believe the vehicle has a noticeably weathered appearance - it is actually dust and dirt kicked up from Bond's moments earlier jet-pack landing. Also used in the pre-title sequence was the "Bell Rocket Belt" developed by Bell Aircraft Corporation. The rocket belt, which was used by Bond to escape from a building, actually works and was used numerous times before and afterwards for entertainment and amusement purposes; most notably Super Bowl I and at a regularly scheduled show at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair ^[1]. The very popular rocket belt made a cameo appearance in 2002's Die Another Day.

Q branch provides Bond with a number of other gadgets throughout the film, which were given to Bond while in the field, a first in the Bond films. Included was a homer pill that when swallowed emits a signal that helps headquarters trace his whereabouts, a waterproof watch that doubles as a Geiger counter and a camera that doubles as a Geiger counter. Bond was also outfitted with an underwater jet pack that was armed with a spear gun. It was used by Bond to manoeuvre through the water faster than anyone else.

Lastly, Bond was given a very small scuba set that can be carried unnoticed and, when used, provided a few minutes of air in underwater emergency. It was called a rebreather in the movie, but it was actually open-circuit: two very small air cylinders end-to-end joined by a demand valve. After the film's release there was some confusion as to whether a "rebreather" of this size actually existed and worked, since most of Bond's gadgets (at the time), while possibly implausible, were somewhat based on real gadgets. In the real world a rebreather could not be that small, as it would not have room for a breathing bag; but this "rebreather" appeared again in later Bond films, most notably Die Another Day. A similar device would also frequently appear in Batman's utility belt.

[edit] Locations

[edit] Film locations

• Paris, France
• Shrublands Health Farm (somewhere in United Kingdom)
• London, United Kingdom
• Nassau, The Bahamas

[edit] Shooting locations

Filmed in Caribbean locales, Thunderball is remarkable for its underwater scenes, which contributed greatly to the popularisation of scuba diving as recreation. While in Nassau during one of the final days of shooting, John Stears, the special effects supervisor, was supplied experimental rocket fuel to use to blow up Largo's ship, the Disco Volante. Not knowing how volatile the fuel was, Stears doused the entire ship with the fuel and took cover from a safe distance of the ship. When the ship was detonated, the resulting explosion was massive; so massive in fact that it shattered windows along Bay Street in Nassau roughly thirty miles away.

• Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire,
• Château d'Anet, near Dreux, France - fight in pre-credit sequence
• Paris, France - exterior of SPECTRE headquarters
• Silverstone racing circuit - chase involving Count Lippe, Fiona Volpe and James Bond's Aston Martin DB5
• Nassau, Paradise Island, The Bahamas

[edit] Trivia

• At the last minute, a reference to the then-recent Great British Train Robbery was inserted into the SPECTRE briefing near the beginning of the film.
• In the conference room, Agent 007 sits in the 7th chair. This meeting also marks the first time the viewer is introduced to other 00 Agents, although the face of only one of them (sitting to 007's left and presumably 008) is clearly visible. This is the last time that Bond shares the screen with any other 00 until the teaser sequence in "The Living Daylights", in 1987.
• Throughout the entire film, James Bond never introduces himself as "Bond, James Bond". However, Fiona does address him during their lovemaking as "Mr. Bond James Bond."
• The name of Emilio Largo's yacht, the Disco Volante, means "Flying Saucer" in Italian and Spanish. In the 1983 remake Never Say Never Again, Largo's ship is named the Flying Saucer.
• Some prints of this film are lacking the trademark "James Bond will return" message at the end, while others include it.
• Minor continuity errors in the sequence where Bond and Felix Leiter are searching for the missing Vulcan in the helicopter include Leiter (Rik Van Nutter) apparently changing clothes between shots, and one point at which the voice of Pinder is heard, even though he's not in the scene. These errors were corrected for the 1999 DVD release.
• The sequence beginning with Bond returning to his hotel to find Felix Leiter at his door and Largo's man, Quist, hiding in the shower, all the way through to Quist being thrown into Largo's shark pool, is out of sequence. 007 is wearing the same clothes he had on at the end of the poolside scene with Domino in Coral Harbour. The night sequence at the Casino, which follows the poolside scenes in the final cut, should actually not be seen until after Quist is dead.
• Thunderball was delayed from an October 1965 release to December 1965. Peter Hunt stated this was due to the film running long; Variety reported the runtime to be four and half hours.
• On November 20, 2005, many surviving members of the cast and crew gathered in London for a special 40th Anniversary screening.
• This and From Russia With Love are the only James Bond films that use "wipe"s to denote the transition from one scene to another.
• Casino Royale, the 2006 film, features the girl from the Kiss Kiss club that Bond dances with. In the former film, she played a girl at the Ocean Club facing Bond in a poker game.
• When Bond leaves the basement interrogation room at Palmyra, after discovering that Paula is dead, the door that he opens makes no sound when it slams against the retaining wall. Noise has been added for the 2006 Ultimate DVD version.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Casino Royale history for further information on the James Bond legal battles between Sony and MGM.
• Chapman, James (1999). Licence To Thrill: A Cultural History Of The James Bond Films. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-387-6. 

[edit] External links

• Thunderball (1965) at the Internet Movie Database
• Official James Bond website
• MGM's official site for Thunderball
• Universal Export's entry on Thunderball
• Thunderball Overview on The Ultimate James Bond Community
• Production notes for Thunderball — MI6.co.uk
• Thunderball — The Bond Film Informant
• "McClory, Sony and Bond: A History Lesson — Universal Exports
• Thunderball obsessional; a website devoted to all things, Thunderball

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