Thunderball

(1965)
Hard to believe I havent seen this movie in the fifteen or so years Ive been scribing reviews; or maybe I was just too lazy to get to it before. By this point everyone has an opinion on Bond, and most people have seen the vast majority of the movies, but Ive been slacking off on movie reviews lately and wanted to write something about this movie. Most of the Connery Bond films are at least enjoyable (Diamonds Are Forever excepted), and Thunderball, his fourth, falls about in the middle. Its better than Dr. No, but not quite as entertaining as From Russia With Love and its certainly no Goldfinger, which is certainly the quintessential Bond film and might be the best one theyve ever done (my favorite is GoldenEye, but Goldfinger comes a very close second). Thunderball is the result of a complicated history and has been remade several times, because its the one movie that the Broccoli family has to share the rights with (which explains why Never Say Never Again feels so familiar). The gist here is that Bond is aware of Spectre and is eager to for the opportunity to start messing with their operatives. One named Largo (Adolfo Celi) gives him the opportunity; Largos sleek super-yacht, amusingly named Disco Volente, actually hides a couple of stolen nukes, but we spend a lot of the film trying to find that out. Largo wants to use them to raise money, and Bond employs his usual tricks to get closer to Number Two, as Largo is known in the Spectre agency he sleeps with all the female operatives and beats up all the male ones. The objects of his affections this go around are Domino, Largos kept woman (an astonishingly beautiful Claudine Auger, although when you read they wanted Raquel Welch, oi, her and James Bond? Just thinking about it) and slightly psycho assassin chick Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) one of my favorite Bond Girl names (its not quite up there with Pussy Galore, but come on, thats a tough one to top). Theres the usual fisticuffs and double-crosses, and as usual some of Bonds henchmen bite it; but the ride is enjoyable enough, even if the movie drags a bit in spots. Its a good deal like Goldfinger, though thats hardly a bad thing. Connery seems quite comfortable here, and theres more of an international feel than the previous films had, both in casting and in locations. Largos a lot like Goldfinger not particularly physically menacing, more of a schemer than a fighter but what really makes Thunderball stand out now is just how much Austin Powers borrows from it. A scene in the Spectre lair where one of the henchmen is electrocuted in his chair evokes laughter simply because Myers spoofed it so effectively; its a little hard to take such theatrical villainy seriously nowadays anyway, but still, several times in Thunderball I was reminded of Powers, testament to Myers skill in parody; I can watch most of the other Connery films and not think of Oh behave!, but Thunderball was mined particularly well Largo even keeps a pool of sharks on his Caribbean compound.

Thunderball is a solid installment in the Connery canon; its a little long at two hours and ten minutes, and its not going to win over anyone who isnt inclined toward the Bond movies. But its leagues better than any of the Roger Moore films, and its a pleasant reminder of the days when James Bond was James Bond and not a pale imitation of Jason Bourne, which is what Daniel Craigs Bond has become. December 7, 2013