Thunderball

Name: Thunderball
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Released: December 22, 1965
Duration: 130 min
Rating: 64
Cast: Claudine Auger, Sean Connery

1965

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Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 81 Ratings

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6.8

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6.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 81 Ratings

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Thunderball

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Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: December 22, 1965 | GP

Starring: Claudine Auger, Sean Connery

Summary: James Bond heads to The Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme.

Director: Terence Young

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: GP

Runtime: 130 min

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Critic Reviews

Time Out London Staff (Not Credited)

Sleek and quite fun all the same, with SPECTRE holding the world to ransom after stealing a couple of nuclear bombs, Bond almost getting his in the villain's shark-infested swimming pool, and a cleverly choreographed underwater battle to provide the icing on the mix. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Terence Young takes advantage of every situation in his direction to maintain action at fever-pitch. Read full review

Bosley Crowther

[Bond] also has a much better sense of humor than he has shown in his previous films. And this is the secret ingredient that makes Thunderball the best of the lot. Read full review

James Berardinelli

The underwater sequences, which are choreographed and directed with great skill, are Thunderball's standout feature... Thunderball is classic 007 -- not the best picture in the long-running series, to be sure, but a more-than-worthwhile diversion for the action-loving escapist in us all. Read full review

Empire Kim Newman

Connery [is] cruising by this point and the movie doesn't quite match the swagger of Goldfinger, but still effortlessly plies the glory Bond years, concluding with a stunning underwater battle. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The action is reasonably well-staged, but the film is overlong and occasionally draggy. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Slightly bloated Bond, with too much technology and a climactic slaughter that's a little too mindless to be much fun. Still, Adolfo Celi—with his “heat and cold, applied scientifically”—makes a most memorable villain. Read full review

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User Reviews

freeridearts

Mar 4, 2021

James Bond is awesome!James Bond is awesome!James Bond is awesome!James Bond is awesome!James Bond is awesome!

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FilipeNeto

Feb 17, 2018

Directed by Terence Young, produced by Kevin McClory, Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli and with a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, this is the fourth film in the franchise 007. In this film, the franchise reaches the maturity after the consecration with "Goldfinger". TheDirected by Terence Young, produced by Kevin McClory, Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli and with a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, this is the fourth film in the franchise 007. In this film, the franchise reaches the maturity after the consecration with "Goldfinger". The participation of McClory seems strange but, in fact, it's the result of a legal conflict, prior to the production.

In this film, the British secret agent is admitted to a nursing home when he finds out, by sheer luck, a conspiracy to rob a French jet with two nuclear bombs. Not having been able to prevent it, Bond is sent to the Bahamas in order to contact the sister of the late pilot of the missing plane and obtain more information. It turns out that the girl is also the lover of Emilio Largo, the responsible for the disappearance. Bond escapes all assassination attempts and find the missing plane, as well as the enemy's plans and his connection to the terrorist organization SPECTRE, the same that Bond had already been fighting since the previous films.

In this film, Sean Connery got a perfect interpretation of his James Bond. Rude, a little hard with the opposite sex but always seductive, he marked for decades the idea of the public on how Bond should be. In addition to the idyllic scenery of the Caribbean, the film brings us some curious machines, continuing a tradition which was closely associated to the 007 imaginary. It is the case of the jet-bag used in the opening scenes, the armored-boat used by the villain in the final chase or the respiratory device used by Bond in some of the underwater scenes that made this movie famous. However, in my opinion, one of the reasons why this movie has reached excellence is the relevance of its central subject, a subject that, at that time, was very present in society: the danger of a nuclear attack. We must have in mind that the missile crisis in Cuba happened a few years before the film was released and the whole society, both in the US and in Europe, lived under the imminent danger of a missile war.

James Bond and the characters M, Q and Monneypenny were embodied by the same actors from the previous films. To these artists joined Claudine Auger (in the role of bond-turned, Domino), Luciana Paluzzi (in the role of assassin Fiona Volpe) and Adolfo Celi (in the role of villain, Largo).… Expand

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tonto

Oct 17, 2021

Thunderball is the fourth installment of the James Bond franchise starring Sean Connery as the titular character. It's a fun movie, with the plot being that the insidious SPECTRE organization headed by Number One, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, steals two NATO atomic bombs and holds the world forThunderball is the fourth installment of the James Bond franchise starring Sean Connery as the titular character. It's a fun movie, with the plot being that the insidious SPECTRE organization headed by Number One, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, steals two NATO atomic bombs and holds the world for ransom of £100 million in diamonds under its threat to destroy an unspecified metropolis in either the United Kingdom or the United States (later revealed to be Miami). Bond searches for the bombs in the Bahamas, where he encounters Emilio Largo, the card-playing, eye patch-wearing SPECTRE Number Two. Backed by CIA agent Felix Leiter and Largo's mistress, Domino Derval, Bond's search culminates in an underwater battle with Largo's henchmen. The underwater fight scenes are exciting but a little too lengthy. There are some good action scenes, and Bond uses some classic gadgets like a jetpack. Number One or Ernst Stavro Blofeld's face is never shown, and he strokes a white Persian cat which is a trope parodied in mainstream culture. He wears a Mao suit and kills subordinates with a control switch that drops them from their chairs at the desk to a pit of fire. Emilio Largo, or Number Two, kills subordinates in a similar fashion, by feeding them to sharks. These are classic Bond tropes I enjoyed seeing in the movie.… Expand

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Compi24

Jul 30, 2018

Its first half may be overencumbered with exposition, buildup, and the occasional head scratcher of a scene/moment/line/etc, but as soon as we arrive in the Bahamas, "Thunderball" immediately becomes a more fun and dramatically ironic spy actioner filled with some of the more recognizableIts first half may be overencumbered with exposition, buildup, and the occasional head scratcher of a scene/moment/line/etc, but as soon as we arrive in the Bahamas, "Thunderball" immediately becomes a more fun and dramatically ironic spy actioner filled with some of the more recognizable elements that we all know Bond films for. It still has nothing on "Dr. No" and "Goldfinger," but it's also nowhere near bad or even overrated.… Expand

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511andahalf

Feb 5, 2021

By no means a bad film, but it's a step down compared to the greatness of FRWL and Goldfinger. The theme song is definitely one of the best of the series, and Connery gives a great performance as always, but the cracks with boredom are starting to show a little at times. Largo and Domino areBy no means a bad film, but it's a step down compared to the greatness of FRWL and Goldfinger. The theme song is definitely one of the best of the series, and Connery gives a great performance as always, but the cracks with boredom are starting to show a little at times. Largo and Domino are decent characters, I wish they got more characterization. The underwater scenes are what really kill this film, they're long, boring, and confusing to follow, had they been fixed, I think this would have been a better film.… Expand

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Kai82

Dec 10, 2020

The fourth James Bond movie. While it is by no standard a bad movie in the franchise I find it a bit underwhelming especially after Golfinger raised the bar for James Bond movies. Maybe it is the curse of being the follow up movie to one of the best and most acclaimed entry in theThe fourth James Bond movie. While it is by no standard a bad movie in the franchise I find it a bit underwhelming especially after Golfinger raised the bar for James Bond movies. Maybe it is the curse of being the follow up movie to one of the best and most acclaimed entry in the franchise.
The story is enjoyable as SPECTRE sets up their biggest coup (Wont go into details as it pretty much spoils half of the movie). It is however also nothing special or original enough to raise my rating while I admit that it has its moments. I always return to comparing it with other James Bond movies and it lacks an interesting villain like Goldfinger, Scaramanga, Jaws or Blofeld (More screentime / main villain as he is in the movie). Later I learned that this was planned as episode of a TV series and expanded to a movie. This explained a lot. Other than the story we get some cool gadgets from Q and some solid action. For the actors there are no missteps. Sean Connery is good as always, Claudia Auger does a good performance and while I don't have Emilio Largo on my top villains list I think he did a good job. I think I finish my review here with my conclusion. It is an enjoyable James Bond movie but nothing in it will be remembered well or land on a top 10 list easily. Worth watching but fast forgotten. It was the curse of being in the middle of 2 better James Bond movies.… Expand

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VidyaBum

Oct 21, 2021

Having recently seen all Bond movies + Never say never again, I made a list of the movies from best to worst.

Thunderball is at the bottom. This is hands down the worst Bond movie. It's also the only movie of the franchise that literally angered me beyond any desire to even talk about it.Having recently seen all Bond movies + Never say never again, I made a list of the movies from best to worst.

Thunderball is at the bottom. This is hands down the worst Bond movie.

It's also the only movie of the franchise that literally angered me beyond any desire to even talk about it.

Plot:
Bond's in a spa(no particular reason). Someone tries to kill him with a back stretcher(ditto). He then decides to act upon it by banging the hot nurse. Coming out of bed after that, he coincidentally finds a corpse. Several people try to kill him. He decides to then not call the police, or MI6, and goes back to bed.

He then comes home to MI6, and nuclear bombs have been stolen. In the dossier for the mission to retrieve them, codename Thunderball, he coincidentally finds a picture of the guy he saw dead at the spa, and a coincidental hot girl. He says he's going after the hot girl.

The hot girl is coincidentally the mistress of the big villain of the movie. When Bond finds the villain, he says "I thought I saw a Spectre on your shoulder".

The villain says yes.

Now if you think that randomly finding a corpse in a spa and getting attempted twice, then by pure luck the corpse is that of a pilot of bombs that are being coincidentally stolen that very night, then he coincidentally gets a picture of some random girl, who coincidentally happens to be with the villain, who freely admits to being the villain, if you thought that was poor writing, you're not wrong, but you're barely touching the surface yet.

The movie then follows a pattern of incomprehensibly terrible writing and plot points. Villain sends two assassinations on Bond, and then his second in command tells him "we can't kill Bond, or MI6 will know something's up". He says "I KNOW" angrily. He then sends two more assassination crews.

The villain and Bond's interactions are some of the most egregiously terrible stuff I've ever seen in the franchise. When Bond literally visits him, in his home, surrounded by dozens of henchmen, and nobody but Bond knows he's there, the villain just offers him a drink, right after Bond pretty much said he was interested in his mistress. This is AFTER trying to kill him several times, and right before sending more people to kill him.

If only the general plot and dialogue were absurdly terrible and nonsensical, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. But it's also some of the worst direction I've ever seen. Some scenes are soooooooo long, like the plane landing to indicate Bond has arrived takes 3 times longer than it should. The final battle is an extended 5 minute underwater fight where 25 goons in full suit (no visible faces) fight another 25 goons in full suit. It's a painfully long and pointless mess with realistic sounds, so all you hear is the sound of water. And to top it all, to make Bond recognisable, they put him in a big orange dive suit...

Direction, dialogue, logic, plot, speed, are all so absurdly bad that I can't believe this movie followed the brilliant Goldfinger. I watched all these movies with a friend, and at the end, all I could say to this one was "fu**, I don't even want to talk about this, what an absolute s**t". It crosses beyond incompetent and goes into outright infuriatingly bad.… Expand

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