Thunderball
Thunderball (1965) is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series Dr. No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964), and the fourth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham. It was directed by Terence Young with screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins.
The film follows Bond's mission to find two NATO nuclear bombs stolen by SPECTRE, who holds the world to ransom for £100 million in diamonds, in exchange for not destroying an unspecified major city in either England or the United States (later revealed to be Miami). The search leads Bond to the Bahamas, where he encounters Emilio Largo, the card-playing, eye-patch wearing SPECTRE Number Two. Backed by the CIA and Largo's mistress, Bond's search culminates into an underwater battle with Largo's henchmen.
Thunderball was associated with a legal dispute in 1961 when former Ian Fleming collaborators Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham sued him 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. The lawsuit was settled out of court and Broccoli and Saltzman fearing a rival McClory film allowed him to retain certain screen rights to the novel's story, plot, and characters.[1] The film had a complex production, with four different units and about a quarter of the film consisting of underwater scenes.[2]
The film was a success, earning a total of $141.2 million worldwide,[3] exceeding the earnings of the three previous Bond films and breaking box office records on the first weekend of opening in France and Italy. The film won an Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Visual Effects awarded to John Stears in 1966 and Ken Adam the production designer was also nominated for a BAFTA award.[4][5] Thunderball is to date, the most financially successful movie of the series and adjusting for inflation made the equivalent of $966.4 million in 2008 currency. Although a commercial success, Thunderball received mixed reviews from critics. Some critics and viewers showered praise on the film and branded it as a welcome addition to the series, while others complained of the repeatitively monotonous aquatic action and prolonged show duration.
Cast
Sean Connery as James Bond (007): An MI6 agent assigned to retrieve two stolen nuclear weapons.- Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo (voice dubbed by Robert Rietty)[7]: SPECTRE's Number Two, he creates a scheme to steal two nuclear warheads.
- Claudine Auger as Dominique 'Domino' Derval (voice dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl)[8]: Largo's mistress. In early drafts of the screenplay Domino's name was Dominetta Palazzi. When Claudine Auger was cast as Domino the name was changed to Derval to reflect her nationality.[9]
- Earl Cameron as Pinder, Bond and Felix Leiter's assistant in The Bahamas.
- Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe: SPECTRE agent, who becomes François Derval's mistress and kills Count Lippe before being sent to Nassau.
- Paul Stassino as François Derval and Angelo Palazzi: a NATO pilot, who is also Domino's brother. He is killed by SPECTRE agent Angelo Palazzi who impersonates him.
- Rik Van Nutter as Felix Leiter: CIA agent who helps Bond.
- Guy Doleman as Count Lippe: SPECTRE agent that tries to kill Bond in the health clinic.
- Molly Peters as Patricia Fearing: a physiotherapist at the clinic Bond is sent to.[10]
- Martine Beswick as Paula Caplan: Bond's ally in Nassau.
- Bernard Lee as M: The strict head of MI6.
- Desmond Llewelyn as Q: MI6's "quartermaster" who supplies Bond with multi-purpose vehicles and gadgets useful for the latter's missions.
- Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny: M's secretary.
- Philip Locke as Vargas: Largo's personal assistant and henchman who according to Largo abstains from alcohol, smoking and sexual intercourse emphasising his devotion as a killer. He is killed by Bond with a speargun on the beach.
- Anthony Dawson as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, voiced by Eric Pohlmann (both uncredited): The head of SPECTRE.
