Monday, October 29, 2012

Thunderball Review









Thunderball


Release Date: 23rd December 1965 - Australia


Production Companies
Eon Productions


Genre: Action

Rating: PG

Runtime: 130 minutes


Budget: $9,000,000

Box Office Gross: $141,200,000 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
When Emilio Largo, SPECTRE's unscrupulous number two, hatches a sinister plot to hijack a Royal Air Force strategic bomber carrying two nuclear payloads, MI6 calls all its 00 agents to foil his scheme. British secret agent James Bond travels to sun-drenched Nassau, Bahamas, to investigate a fragmentary
trail of clues as a terrorist
organisation holds NATO
and the world under
international ransom.
However, a chance
meeting between the
beautiful Domino and
Largo brings a dangerous
secret into play. In the
shark-infested waters of
Nassau, what sunken
secrets lie hidden? In the
name of profit, can Bond
retrieve the warheads and
prevent a nuclear holocaust?


Cast
Sean Connery - James Bond
Adolfo Celi - Emilio Largo
Claudine Auger - Dominque 
"Domino" Derval
Luciana Paluzzi - Fiona Volpe
Rik Van Nutter - Felix Leiter
Bernard Lee - M
Guy Doleman - Count Lippe
Martine Beswick - Paula Caplan
Molly Peters - Patricia Fearing
Desmond Llewelyn - Q 
Lois Maxwell - Miss
Moneypenny
Phillip Locke - Vargas
Earl Cameron - Pinder
Paul Stassino - Palazzi
Rose Alba - Madame Boiter
Roland Culver - Foreign Secretary
George Pravda - Kutze
Michael Brennan - Janni
Reginald Beckwith - Kenniston
Anthony Dawson - Ernest Stavro Blofeld
(Body) (Uncredited)
Eric Pohlmann - Ernest Stavro Blofeld
(Voice) (Uncredited) 

Crew
Director - Terence Young
Based on the Novel "Thunderball" (Uncredited)/
Original Story - Ian Fleming
Based on an Original Story/Producer -
Kevin McClory
Based on an Original Story/Screenplay -
Jack Whittingham
Screenplay - Richard Maibaum
and John Hopkins
Associate Producer - Stanley Sopel (Uncredited)
Executive Producers - Albert R. Broccoli
and Harry Saltzman (Uncredited)
Production Designer - Ken Adam
Art Director - Peter Murton
Assistant Art Director - Michael White
Set Decorator/Chief Draughtsman - Peter Lamont
(Uncredited)
Director of Photography - Ted Moore
Production Supervisor - David Middlemas
Location Manager - Frank Ernst
Assistant Director - Gus Agosti
Second Unit Director (Uncredited)/Supervising
Editor - Peter R. Hunt
Underwater Director: Underwater Sequences -
Ricou Browning
Underwater Engineer: Underwater Sequences -
Jordan Klein Sr.
Action Sequences - Bob Simmons
Special Effects - John Stears
Optical Effects Supervisor - Cliff Culley (Uncredited)
Film Editor - Ernest Hosler
Dubbing Editors - Harry Miller and
Norman Wanstall
Sound Recordists - Maurice Askew
and Bert Ross
Main Title Designer - Maurice Binder
Composer: James Bond Theme - Monty Norman
Lyrics: "Thunderball" - Don Black
Singer: "Thunderball" - Tom Jones
Music - John Barry


Awards

1966 Academy Awards
Best Special Visual Effects - John Stears (Won)


Review
Not quite as perfect as the third Bond film, Goldfinger, THUNDERBALL is another exciting feature from the ongoing James Bond franchise. While it has some great moments, the things that made this movie worthwhile, besides Connery, include the evil female character Fiona Volpe, the theme song by Tom Jones, the underwater setting and the well-choreographed action scenes. The only problem is that these sequences get too long, which drags the film to an excessive length.

It takes a lot of steps to get this spy picture done. THUNDERBALL is a good impression of the world of Bond but also nearly as good as the previous instalment.

Star rating: (4/5) Good Movie

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