Ry's Reviews: Thunderball

I know a guy who is a bit of a loser and who informed me that he stopped watching the Bond movies with Thunderball because that's when they stopped being like the books (Obviously he's considerably older than me). Obviously he's got his head up his bottom because he doesn't actually seem to realise the back story of Thunderball (which is extraordinarily interesting and complicated), but the point here being that Thunderball was written as a movie screenplay and then turned into a novel. The only novel that was. As a result, although there are a few small changes, Thunderball, like it's predecessors, is pretty close to the novel that spawned it.

It's hard to know where to begin with Thunderball because there's so much to say about it. Perhaps the most important thing to start with is the return of director Terence Young, who takes over from Hamilton who declined to return. Apparently (and ironically) Young originally stated he would love to direct Dr No, From Russia, With Love and Thunderball, and, of course, here he was actually getting his wish. Because of Young's return, there are a lot of the older elements of the first two movies coming back into play. Bond and "M" have the relationship they had in Young's movies, with Bond losing the smugness around his boss, and "M" regaining the power, but not seeming to tolerate his best agent; indeed he is Bond's strongest supporter, accepting him going to Nassau when it may initially seem he is just after a quick shag, and later defending Bond to the Home Secretary. Equally, there is a scene between Bond, Moneypenny and then "M" which is absolutely priceless, and shows "M"'s complete control over his service. There are other Young touches in the movie such as the opening where it appears Bond is dead (very FRWL) and as Bond collects his hotel key he is checked out by the receptionist (a la Dr No). Throughout, though, Young's direction is absolutely superb, and arguably better than the movies he directed previously. Aside from the very tight fight scenes (particularly between Bond and Largo at the end of the movie in the boat), the underwater sex scene is handled extremely well.

However, the movies have started to pick up a momentum that Young can't stop and as such there are things that occur that presumably come in because they seemed to work well previously. The most obvious example of this is the Bond/"Q" scene where it is definitely the Goldfinger "Q" that impatiently gives a bored Bond the equipment he will need for his adventure. Notably, though, Young seems to have the gadgets scaled back. Bond's Aston Martin appears in the pretitle sequence where it does little except stop bullets and spray water, while Bond's gadgets are limited to geiger counters and underwater breathers.

This is the first Bond movie shot in the 2.33:1 ratio, and as such we see a new version of the gunbarrel logo, this time with Sean Connery actually in it, doing the shot itself. It's filmed much better than the original, and looks really good. Maurice Binder, who created the original logo, shot the new one, and also filmed the title sequence which is worlds ahead of what Robert Brownjohn was producing. An amazing title sequence sees naked females (in silhouette) swimming around and shooting harpoon guns to Tom Jones' title song. Obviously the sung title song looks like it will be a fixture of the movies. The film gets off to an uneven start, following the action packed and mostly pointless pre-title sequence. The opening act has so much that makes no sense at all it's hard to believe. Quite why Bond becomes fascinated with Lippe's tattoo is never really explained, and why on Earth does Shrublands have a traction machine with a fatal setting? Why does a training flight use real atomic bombs? Happily, once Bond gets onto the mission, and to Nassau, the story finds its feet a little better and makes more sense.

The casting for this movie is, as usual, brilliant. Both Young and Hamilton seem to know exactly who should play what role and in this movie the cast are all standouts. Adolfo Celi is a real presence in the film as the mafiosa-ish SPECTRE No 2, Emilio Largo (the SPECTRE numbering is quite interesting - we've had Blofeld as #1, Largo as #2, Klebb as #3 and Kronsteen as #5. Was Dr No #4? Is Fiona Volpe numbered? She seems to work for the execution department, so maybe not...), while the various Bond girls are all beautiful, but it is Claudine Auger as Domino who stands out, playing a character that is very gentle and lovable, but also very believable. Any complaints about the movie being sexist are ludicrous as Domino is the one who saves Bond's life by killing the man who killed her brother. She is no damsel in distress. Interestingly, at one point Bond grabs a woman to dance with who then complains, when Fiona Volpe interrupts, "I didn't know your wife was here." Not concerned about cheating, just by her presence. Fiona Volpe, the villainous SPECTRE assassin, has some wonderful moments, but entertainingly, the best is when she mocks "Goldfinger" by suggesting that every woman who sleeps with Bond will become good, as Pussy Galore did. Largo's henchman, Vargas, is more in the mould of Donald Grant having no strangeness like Oddjob, but
this is not really Young's choice as it's there in the book. Strange coincidence.

Felix Leiter returns, played by Rik Van Nutter this time, and he is infinitely better than Cec Linder was. Van Nutter plays it cool like Jack Lord, but has a very young quality to him as well (which is odd as his hair is grey!). The relationship that his Felix has to Connery's Bond is far more like the relationship that is portrayed in the novels. Of course Lee, Maxwell and Llewellyn (cementing his position as "Q") all return as well. Curiously the dude from the Pink Panther movies who plays Sergeant Chevalier has a part in as a SPECTRE agent at the beginning of the film.

However, this is Sean Connery's finest movie so far. He plays Bond as a ruthless, cold-blooded killer, who will happily
murder a man in revenge; a man who is extremely sexist, who forces himself on a nurse in return for not having her fired; a smooth, suave gentleman who has time to snap off a grape when being followed, or throw lillies on the man he has just killed. Connery has the part mastered, and has all the best lines in the film: in response to some men don't like to be driven - "Some men don't like to be taken for a ride". In response to what sharp little eyes you have - "Wait til you get to my teeth." This is the best Connery has ever been in the series so far.

I need to make a mention of the stuntwork in the film as it lends itself to some quite gruesome deaths that occur - Vargas getting harpooned in the chest, a man being eaten by sharks (indeed Connery's quick exit from the shark pool as one goes for him shows he was living on the edge), and the amazing car explosion that kills Count Lippe. Given it was all done live, you can completely understand why the stunts on Bond are so prized, and why this film won an Oscar for its special effects.

On the music side, there have been criticisms levelled at the film for the music slowing down the underwater sequences. There is no problem in the opening parts of the movie with the music at all (and you can hear the 007 theme Barry wrote for FRWL make a return in this film), but by the end, although the fight sequence is a little slow, it's hard to tell whether it's the music or simply the fact they are underwater. Truth to tell it's a little of both, probably. Of note is the fact that originally the theme for this movie was going to be a song called Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, of which both Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick did versions, but ultimately a new song - Thunderball - was composed for the movie, sung by Jones. Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (named for what the Japanese nicknamed Bond) makes a musical version at the Kiss, Kiss club.

Towards the end of the film, some strange things start happening again. Despite being beaten and involved in a fight, some chap comes up at the end of the film carrying a tray for champagne...

Now, I don't intend to talk about future films in the series in these reviews, but I will make mention of Austin Powers. Some say that Goldfinger is the archetypal Bond film, but for me Thunderball is the movie from where all the little jokes that appear in Austin Powers come from: Villains identified as numbers; the villain and Bond know who each other really is, but after attempting to kill Bond, he still welcomes him to his house for lunch; the Bond girl in her swimsuit says she needs to change - and changes into a bikini; the villain has a shark pool; although his henchman could shoot Bond, Largo stops him - "I have a better idea...". It's all in this film and it's all been copied so many times since it seems a jokey cliche, but it really is quite fabulous.

"A+"