1965
Sean Connery as James Bond
Claudine Auger as Domino
Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo
Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe
Screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins; original screenplay by Jack Whittingham; original story by Jack Whittingham, Kevin McClory, and Ian Fleming
Directed by Terence Young
Look Here!* For the Biggest Bond of All
I mean, sure. It’s pretty rad. Not gonna lie.
James gets to hang out in the Caribbean again, looking to take down SPECTRE again. This time Largo (Celi, Von Ryan’s Express; spoofed in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery by Robert Wagner), SPECTRE’s #2 to Blofeld, is running an op with nuclear warheads hijacked from a British plane. He snatches the warheads and then the organization holds the world hostage for several hundred million dollars. Except that Bond, along with several other 00 agents and the CIA, is on the case.
MAN this is a good one. I forgot about it for a while, then found it in my DVD book when I made my list of Bond films. It’s a rare film that holds up after 54 years, but this one does. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that it won an Oscar® for Best Visual Special Effects. The ‘60s are known for speeding up fight scenes to the point of being comical, and that takes place here, but there is SO MUCH that goes on that really makes the hurried fights fade into memory. Such as:
- The underwater scenes—the scuba machines, the concealing of the plane. The fighting. The sharks. It’s SO. COOL. The music during these scenes is pretty awesome too.
- Speaking of music: Tom freaking Jones sings the title song. So much vibrato.
- Fiona Volpe (Paluzzi) is amazing. I don’t know what her SPECTRE rating is, but she’s an awesome villain. She’s pretty hot, too.
Thunderball was a sleeper for me, because I just didn’t remember how excellent it really is. Thank god for DVDs so you can rewatch this magic—it catapults into the #8 slot on my list.
Bond rating: 006. I think there’s just too much seduction for me here. Meh. He really pours it on thick.
Baddie rating: 007. Don’t try to extort the extortionists. You’ll die. This is a really great SPECTRE team film. They are all really nasty.
Bond girl rating: 004. Domino is the weak spot here, I think. Well, Pat is pretty sappy too—she’s really only around for the sex and to tell us super obvious stuff we’ve already figured out. Fiona saves everybody’s butt here.
Photo credit: © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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