Thunderball (film)

For the spy novel of the same name, see Operation Thunder (new).

Thunderball (Spanish title: Operación Trueno), is a 1965 British spy film directed by Terence Young and starring by Sean Connery as James Bond, a fictional MI6 agent, and co-starring Adolfo Celi, Claudine Auger, Luciana Paluzzi, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn and Lois Maxwell in the lead roles. It is the fourth installment of the series dedicated to the British secret agent James Bond and the third directed by Terence Young. The script is based on the novel Thunderball, written by British author Ian Fleming in 1961, and is also an original story between Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Fleming. The original script was written by Jack Whittingham, with a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins. The film was awarded the Oscar for best visual effects. The film would have been the first in the Bond series were it not for legal disputes over copyright.

The film follows Bond's mission to find two NATO atomic bombs stolen by SPECTER, which is holding the world for a ransom of £100 million in diamonds under its threat to destroy an unspecified metropolis in the UK or in the United States (later revealed to be Miami). The search leads Bond to the Bahamas, where he meets Emilio Largo, the card-playing, eyepatch-wearing #2 of SPECTER. Backed by CIA agent Felix Leiter and Largo's mistress Domino Derval (Domino Vitali in the novel), Bond's quest culminates in an underwater battle with Largo's henchmen. The complex production of the film comprised four units and approximately a quarter of the film was made up of underwater scenes. Thunderball was the first Bond film shot on the Panavision widescreen and the first to have a duration of more than two hours.

Thunderball was associated with a legal dispute in 1961 when Ian Fleming's former collaborators McClory and Whittingham sued shortly after the novel's publication in 1961, alleging that it was based on in the script the trio had written for a failed film adaptation of James Bond. The lawsuit was settled out of court and the producers of the Bond film series Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, fearing a rival film to McClory, allowed him to retain certain screen rights to the story, plot and characters of the film. novel, and McClory would receive sole producer credit for this film; Broccoli and Saltzman instead served as executive producers.

The film was exceptionally successful: its worldwide box office receipts of $141.2 million surpassed not only that of each of its predecessors, but that of each of the five Bond films that followed. they followed. "Thunderball" it is the most financially successful film in the series in North America when adjusted for ticket price inflation. In 1966, John Stears won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and BAFTA-nominated production designer Ken Adam for an award. Some critics and viewers praised the film as a welcome addition to the series, while others found the film's repetitive aquatic action and excessive length. It is the most successful film, after Skyfall, in the saga with an estimated box office of £616 million in 2012. In 1983, Warner Bros. released a second film adaptation of the novel under the title Never Say Never Again, with McClory serving as executive producer.

Plot

In the pre-credits sequence James Bond (Sean Connery) and his companion Madame LaPorte (Maryse Mitsouko) attend the funeral of Colonel Jacques Bouvar (Bob Simmons), #6 of the SPECTER Organization and responsible for the deaths of several British agents. Bond watches the widow Boitier (Rose Alba) of the deceased, but sees that when going to her car it is she who opens the door and not her driver, he follows her to her residence. Bond unmasks the widow by revealing that he is Colonel Bouvar himself. After a fight, Bond finally kills Bouvar by strangling him and flees the residence, first in his Jet Pack and then in his Aston Martin car, using pressure hoses against Bouvar's henchmen who were chasing him.

Bond is injured from his fight with Bouvar and is sent to a hospital to recover. There he will spend good times, especially with his therapist Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters), as well as investigate some strange events that have happened inside the clinic. Bond is introduced to Count Lippe (Guy Doleman) and attends plastic surgery performed on Angelo Palazzi (Paul Stassino). Both are, according to Bond's investigation, SPECTER agents. Lippe (#4 of SPECTER and former member of the Tong crime syndicate) tries to kill Bond in a spinal traction machine, Bond being saved by Fearing who is subsequently seduced by Bond, later he locks Lippe in a toilet machine of steam as retaliation. Meanwhile, Fiona Violpe (Luciana Paluzzi), an assassin in the service of SPECTER, kills Major François Derval (Paul Stassino again), of the NATO Air Force. Angelo will be in charge of impersonating the Major, after the cosmetic surgery that had been performed on him. Bond notices strange movements and discovers the real Derval wrapped in bandages and after neutralizing a SPECTER agent, he sounds the fire alarm so that the police arrive at the scene.

On this occasion, the sinister organization SPECTER (Service for Evasion, Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), under the command of its number two agent, the villainous Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), captures two atomic bombs and threatens to the British prime minister to detonate them in some city of Great Britain or the United States, demanding that the governments of the world pay one million pounds sterling. After checking the progress of SPECTER causing chaos worldwide, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, # 1 of the Organization, brutally murders # 9 to intimidate # 10, after verifying that he was stealing money in the opium trade. Largo's plan is carried out as Largo tells his plan to the other SPECTER members, with the fake Major Derval guiding the Royal Air Force plane with the two bombs, which are stolen by Largo and his yacht crew. The Flying Disc. Angelo (the fake Derval) is murdered for wanting to blackmail Blofeld to raise his fee, and the plane is hidden among aquatic plants and starfish in an area full of sharks. The bombs are hidden on the yacht and Largo tells Blofeld, who starts the extortion phase. Bond has not fully recovered, but given the seriousness of the situation, he receives an urgent notice from his bosses to attend a meeting of all double zero agents. Bond goes to the meeting, being chased by Lippe, but he is killed by Violpe from his motorcycle on Blofeld's orders for being guilty of hiring Angelo and almost compromising Largo's plan.

Bond arrives at the meeting with the 00 agents, where they are alerted to the situation and sent to various locations near the original route of the Vulcan plane carrying the bombs. M (Bernard Lee), the head of MI6 (British Intelligence Service) sends Bond to Florida, United States, but Bond requests to question Major Derval's sister (after recognizing him in a photograph) and asks to go to Nassau, but M refuses and Bond cunningly gets Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) to make him go to the Bahamas. Bond arrives in Nassau accompanied by Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick), an MI6 agent who will accompany him on the mission, and locates Dominique Domino Derval (Claudine Auger), Major Derval's sister. Domino takes Bond to Coral Bay, being secretly watched by Quist (Bill Cummings) a SPECTER agent who in Domino's words works for her guardian. When she has lunch with Bond, Domino decides to leave when she sees Largo's yacht, avoiding the agent's charms.

That night, Bond heads to the casino, where he meets Largo, who hints to him about his relationship with SPECTER and beats Largo in a game of Baccarat, then invites Domino to dinner, who tells him about her relationship with Largo and his relationship to Major Derval. Largo invites Bond to dinner as a way of accepting his defeat in the game. Bond returns to his hotel, where he discovers that Paula is absent and in a small recording he discovers at that moment that someone is in the room, and he meets his friend and colleague Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter) and neutralizes Quist, who had entered the room to ambush him. Bond takes his gun from her and asks her to tell his superiors about her failure to kill him. The next morning the agent arrives at Palmyra , Largo's house, where Largo, knowing of his failure, orders him to be thrown into a pool containing two sharks.

After a while Bond and Leiter meet up with Paula, and accompanied by Pinder (Earl Cameron), a CIA agent, they arrive at a small fish market. They find Q (Desmond Llewelyn) who gives them their respective gadgets: a watch with a built-in Geiger counter, an underwater camera with infrared rays and the ability to take 8 instant photos, a flare gun, a mini-respirator that allows you to submerge for five minutes, and a radioactive pill to give his location to the CIA. Bond and Leiter establish their base on a catamaran, while in London they prepare the money that SPECTER demands in exchange for not detonating the stolen atomic bombs.

Bond and Leiter receive a call from London and Bond dives to investigate the Flying Disc, being intercepted by Largo's men. Bond has an underwater fight in which he kills a Largo hit man, before leaving the scene pretending to have been killed by a boat operated by the hit men. Bond arrives at a beach, where he gets into a car driven by the deadly agent Violpe, who takes Bond back to Nassau, speeding up the vehicle and scaring the agent a bit. Bond shows the next day the photos taken of the yacht, where it is seen that it had underwater doors where the bombs were hidden.

Leiter and Bond continue to keep an eye on the Flying Disc containing the second leader of SPECTER. On the yacht, Largo and Violpe discuss who will kill Bond and Violpe guarantees that Largo will kill the agent. After keeping watch, Bond accepts Largo's invitation and Largo introduces him with his escorts Vargas (Philip Locke) and Janni (Michael Brennan), Largo tests Bond, who denies knowing Vargas after what happened the night before. Largo and Bond practice shooting by shooting clay pigeons with a shotgun and Largo shows him his sharks, a rare wild species and his yacht El Disco Volante that reaches more than 15 knots. Largo asks Domino to accompany Bond at night to the carnival in town. Meanwhile, at the hotel, Paula is kidnapped by Violpe and his hitmen on Largo's orders and also obtaining the photos that Bond had taken of the Flying Disc . At night, Bond and Domino witness the Junkanoo, Leiter tells Bond that Paula has disappeared.

Bond infiltrates Largo's house, where he knows Paula is being held, and Pinder cuts power to the island. Bond manages to get into a cellar, where he overhears a conversation between Vargas and Janni, from which he discovers that Paula would have committed suicide by ingesting cyanide to avoid betraying Bond or Leiter. Bond sounds the alarm, drawing the attention of the hitmen and Largo himself. Bond fights a hitman in the shark pool, from which he escapes after killing the man and evading the sharks.

Bond returns to the hotel, where he discovers Violpe bathing and further discovers his membership with SPECTRE. They both have relationships and Bond also asks him to go to the Junkanoo. As they are about to leave, Bond is caught by Largo's hitmen and forced to go with Violpe to Largo's house. During the carnival, Bond makes a drunk passerby spill his bottle inside the car in order to set the car on fire and escape in the middle of the carnival. Bond tries to hide from Largo and his henchmen and, getting into a sidecar, manages to temporarily lose sight of them and hide in the crowd. Bond enters a bar with a leg wounded by a shot, he realizes that Largo's hitmen are in the same place, to hide it he invites a girl to dance, but unfortunately he meets Violpe who encourages him to dance and, as the hitmen prepare to shoot Bond backstage, Bond uses Violpe as a human shield to save himself.

Leiter and Bond continue to watch the yacht Disco Volante on which the leader of SPECTER is. Meanwhile, at NATO headquarters in London, they prepare to pay the ransom and M asks for a little more time for Bond to rescue the bombs. Bond and Leiter arrive at the Golden Grotto, a place full of sharks in the middle of the sea. Suspecting that the sunken plane is at the scene, Leiter kills a shark to distract the others and allow Bond to submerge to investigate. Once in the water he discovers the plane, covered in a net containing seaweed and Angelo's corpse in Major Derval's place. He removes the military plates from it and his watch, and later tells Leiter of his discovery, suspecting that the bombs were still on Largo's yacht Disco Volante .

Bond meets Domino and she asks him to leave, but Bond shows her the watch and NATO plates belonging to her murdered brother and asks Domino to help her defeat Largo, she agrees to help Bond using the underwater camera to look for the bombs that SPECTER prepares. Vargas keeps an eye on both, but Bond manages to finish him off by shooting him with a harpoon. Domino mentions a building near Largo's house. Once in it, Bond alerts the CIA by taking the radioactive pill. Largo and his henchmen prepare to remove the bombs while Leiter and the CIA receive the signal from Bond, who infiltrates Largo's henchmen and discovers the location of the bombs in a secret underwater grotto. The bombs are planted on a small submarine, Bond is discovered and fights a diver in Largo's employ to death.

Bond continues to track down the bombs, while Largo discovers that Domino is helping Bond and tortures her for it. Ladislav Kutze (George Pravda), a nuclear scientist in Largo's service, asks Largo to prepare the bombs. Meanwhile, Leiter and the marines rescue Bond from a small islet, where Bond warns them that the first bomb will be dropped on Miami. To thwart Largo's plans, several Marines are launched to prevent the transport of the bomb and a battle ensues between the Marines and SPECTER's hitmen. Bond submerges using Q's underwater propulsion unit and fights off Largo's men, who are eventually defeated. Bond chases the few survivors of SPECTER, while the submarine containing the bombs is rescued by the marines. The Flying Disc tries to flee by undocking its stern, but Bond manages to get onto the yacht's bridge, where he accidentally speeds up the boat and engages in a battle with Largo, while Kutze frees Domino. After a fight with Largo, he manages to take a gun and prepares to kill Bond but Domino kills Largo by shooting him with a harpoon, thus avenging the death of his brother. Faced with an imminent collision, Bond and Domino jump off the yacht along with Kutze (using the latter a life preserver) and the Disco Volante crashes, exploding with the corpse of Largo, Janni and a few hitmen who were with him..

The film ends with Bond and Domino being rescued by a plane, using the "sky hook" or sky hook.

Cast

Sean Connery during a break on the shoot.

• Sean Connery - James Bond: A MI6 agent assigned to recover two stolen nuclear weapons.
• Claudine Auger - Dominique "Domino" Derval (voice bent by Nikki van der Zyl): Dominique "Domino" Derval (Vitali in the novel) is Largo's lover. In the first drafts of the script, the name of Domino was Dominetta Palazzi. When Claudine Auger was chosen as Domino, the name was changed to Derval to reflect his nationality. The costume of the character reflects his name, as he usually dresses in white and/or black.
• Adolfo Celi - Emilio Largo (voice bent by Robert Rietty): Number 2 of SPECTRE, creates a plan to steal two atomic bombs and ask for ransom for them.
• Luciana Paluzzi - Fiona Volpe: Killer at the service of SPECTRE who becomes the lover of Francois Derval to kill him and replace him with his double and then help with the Largo plot in Nassau.
• Rik Van Nutter - Felix Leiter: Collector and Friend of CIA Bond.
• Guy Doleman - Conde Lippe: Agent SPECTRE (Number 4) in charge of the Derval replacement operation by Angelo.
• Molly Peters (voice folded by Barbara Jefford) - Patricia Fearing: A physical therapist at the health clinic.
• Martine Beswick - Paula Caplan: Bond's Alloy in the CIA in Nassau which is kidnapped by Vargas and Janni and then committed suicide.
• Bernard Lee - "M": Director of MI6.
• Desmond Llewelyn - "Q": MI6 Intendent provides Bond with useful polyvalent vehicles and devices for the missions of the latter.
• Lois Maxwell - Moneypenny: M Secretary.
• Roland Culver - Minister of the Interior: British Minister who informs the "00" agents of Operation Thunder and has doubts about Bond's effectiveness.
• Earl Cameron - Pinder: CIA agent in the Bahamas serving as Bond and Leiter contact in Nassau.
• Paul Stassino - François Derval/Angelo Palazzi (credit only for Palazzi): François Derval is a French Air Force pilot assigned to NATO staff and Domino's brother. Angelo kills him, who happens to him. Angelo hijacks the plane, but Largo orders his murder for trying to extort him for more money.
• Rose Alba - Madame Boitier, allegedly the widow of Colonel Jacques Bouvar, while in fact "she" is Bouvar disguised.
• Philip Locke - Vargas: Personal assistant and main henchman of Largo.
• George Pravda - Ladislav Kutze: A nuclear physicist helps Largo with the bombs captured, but when Largo ignores the authorities who shoot them, he compassionates and rescues Domino.
• Michael Brennan - Janni: one of Largo's minions, usually paired with Vargas
• Leonard Sachs - Captain Prichard: Bond link to the RAF during Operation Thunder.
• Edward Underdown - Vice Admiral, a senior RAF officer informing agents 00 about the scope of the missing Vulcan and its disappearance.
• Reginald Beckwith - Kenniston, Assistant Minister of the Interior.
• Harold Sanderson - Hidroala Captain.

Uncredited cast:

• Maryse Guy Mitsouko - Madame LaPorte, a French Secret Service agent (not accredited)
• Bob Simmons - Colonel Jacques Bouvar, Number 6 of SPECTRE, murdered by Bond in the pre-credit sequence (not accredited)
• Anthony Dawson - Ernst Stavro Blofeld (voice bent by Eric Pohlmann): SPECTRE leader (both unaccredited)
• Bill Cummings - Quist: one of Largo's minions, Bond saves him after capturing him, but throws him to the sharks by order of Largo. (not accredited)
• Murray Kash - Number 11 of SPECTRE, an American SPECTRE member reporting on a joint drug trafficking mission led by him and Number 9.
• André Maranne - Number 10 of SPECTRE, a senior French member of SPECTRE who reports on the murder of a French defector in the USSR. (not accredited)
• Clive Cazes - Pierre Borraud, Number 9 of SPECTRE, a high-level French member of SPECTRE who is killed by electrocution by Blofeld for embezzlement of SPECTRE's money.
• Michael Smith - Number 8 SPECTRE, SPECTRE High-level Member. (not accredited)
• Cecil Cheng - Number 7 of SPECTRE, a Japanese high-level SPECTRE member reporting on a blackmail mission. (not accredited)
• Philip Stone - Number 5 of SPECTRE, a high-level English member of SPECTRE who reports on how to help plan the theft of the Train. (not accredited)
• Victor Beaumont - Number 3 of SPECTRE, another high-level member of SPECTRE. (not accredited)
• Ronald Livens - Land Triple (not accredited)

Production

Legal disputes

Originally intended as the first James Bond film, Thunderball was at the center of legal disputes that began in 1961 and lasted until 2006. In 1961, Ian Fleming published his novel based on a screenplay of television that he and others developed into the film script; the efforts were unsuccessful, and Fleming expanded on the script in his ninth James Bond novel. Consequently, one of his collaborators, Kevin McClory, sued him for plagiarism; they settled out of court in 1963. Former associates of Ian Fleming; Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham sued Fleming shortly after the 1961 publication of the novel Thunderball, claiming it was based on a script the trio had previously written. an unsuccessful film adaptation of James Bond. The lawsuit was settled out of court; McClory retained certain screen rights to the novel's story, plot, and characters. By then, Bond was a box office success, and series producers Broccoli and Saltzman feared a rival McClory film outside of their control; they accepted McClory's producing credit on the film, with them serving as executive producers.

Later, in 1964, Eon's producers, Broccoli and Saltzman, agreed with McClory to adapt the novel for a film; it was promoted as "Ian Fleming's Thunderball". However, along with the official credits to writers Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, the script is also identified as 'based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham and as based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming'. To date, the novel has been adapted for film twice; Never Say Never Again, produced by Jack Schwartzman in 1983, starring Sean Connery as James Bond, but not an official Eon production.

Casting

Broccoli's original choice for the role of Domino Derval was Julie Christie, curiously nominated to play Honey Rider in Dr. No, following her performance in the film Billy Liar in 1963. However, upon meeting her in person, he was disappointed and turned his attention to Raquel Welch after seeing her on the cover of the issue of October 1964 issue of Life magazine. Welch, however, was hired by 20th Century Fox's Richard Zanuck on her behalf to work on the film Fantastic Voyage that same year. Faye Dunaway was also considered for the role and nearly got it. Saltzman and Broccoli auditioned an extensive list of relatively unknown European actresses and models, including former Miss Italy Maria Grazia Buccella, Yvonne Monlaur from the horror films Hammer, and Gloria Paul. Ultimately, former Miss France Claudine Auger was cast and the script was rewritten so that her character was French instead of Italian, though her lines were dubbed in the final cut by Nikki van der Zyl, who had voiced several previous Bond girls. However, director Young cast her once more in her next film, Triple Cross (1966). One of the actresses who auditioned for Domino, Luciana Paluzzi, later accepted the role of the red-headed femme fatalle assassin Fiona Kelly, who was originally intended by Maibaum to be Irish. Her last name was changed to Volpe in coordination with Paluzzi's nationality.

Shooting

Guy Hamilton was invited to direct, but was considered exhausted and "creatively drained" after the production of Goldfinger. Terence Young, director of the first two installments, returned to the franchise. Coincidentally, when Saltzman invited Young to direct Dr. No, Young expressed interest in directing adaptations of Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Operación Trueno. Years later, Young said that Opera Trueno was filmed "at the right time," considering that if it were the first film in the series, the low budget (Dr. cost only $1 million) would not have done well.Thunderball was the last Bond film directed by Young. Given the great success of the first three episodes, which had managed to succeed even in the difficult US market, and due to the increasing demand from the advertising market, eager to support their campaigns with the image of 007, the producers decided, according to with United Artists, raising the production budget to the figure, very remarkable for the time, of $5,500,000.

Filming began on February 16, 1965, with principal photography of the opening scene in Paris. Filming then moved to Château d'Anet, near Dreux, France, for the pre-credit fight sequence. Much of the film was shot in the Bahamas; the film is widely known for its extensive underwater action scenes that take place for much of the second half of the film. The remainder of the film was shot at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, at Silverstone Circuit for the chase involving Count Lippe, Fiona Volpe's RPG-armed BSA Lightning motorcycle and James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 before going to Nassau., and Paradise Island in the Bahamas (where most of the footage was filmed), and Miami. Huntington Hartford gave permission to shoot footage on Paradise Island and is thanked at the end of the film.

House used as Largi residence in the movie

Arriving in Nassau, McClory scouted locations to film many of the film's key sequences, using the home of a local millionaire couple, the Sullivans, for the Largo, Palmyra estate. Part of the SPECTER underwater assault also it was filmed on the beachfront grounds of another millionaire's home on the island. Many of the underwater scenes were shot at low tide due to the presence of sharks.

After reading the script, Connery realized the risk of Largo's pool shark sequence and insisted that production designer Ken Adam build a Plexiglas partition inside the pool. The barrier was not a fixed structure, so when one of the sharks managed to break through it, Connery fled the pool, seconds after the attack. Ken Adam told the British newspaper The Guardian ,

We had to use special effects, but unlike today's special effects, they were real. The jet pack we used in Operation Thunder It was real, it was invented for the U.S. Army. Damn dangerous, and it only lasted a couple of minutes. Aston Martin's ejector seat was real and Emilio Largo's boat, the "Volante Disc," was real. You had motorboats at the time, but there were no good size yachts that could travel to 40 or 50 knots, so it was a big problem. But by combining a hydroala, which we bought in Puerto Rico for $10,000, and a catamaran, at least seemed like a big yacht. We combine the two helmets with an inch slider and when they split it worked like a dream. We use a lot of sharks for this movie. I rented a villa in the Bahamas with a saltwater pool that filled with sharks and used to film underwater. The smell was awful. This is where Sean Connery was about to be bitten. We had a plexiglas corridor to protect him, but I didn't have enough plexiglas and one of the sharks passed. He never got out of a pool faster in his life: he walked over the water.

When special effects coordinator John Stears provided a supposedly dead shark to be towed around the pool, the shark, which was still alive, was revived at one point. Due to the dangers on the set, stuntman Bill Cummings demanded an additional fee of £250 to double it for Largo's partner Quist when he was thrown into the pack of sharks.

The climactic underwater battle was filmed at Clifton Pier and choreographed by a Hollywood pundit named Ricou Browning, who had worked on Creature From the Black Lagoon in 1954 and other films. He was responsible for the staging of the cave sequence and the battle scenes under "Disco Volante"; and called his specialized team of divers who interpreted those involved in the attack; SPECTER marines and hitmen. Voit provided much of the underwater equipment in exchange for placement advertising and tie-in movie merchandise. Lamar Boren, an underwater photographer, was hired to film all the sequences. Filming culminated in May 1965, and the final scene filmed was the physical fight on the "Disco Volante" bridge.

While in Nassau during the final days of filming, special effects supervisor John Stears was supplied with experimental rocket fuel to use in the explosion of Largo's yacht. Ignoring the true power of the volatile liquid, Stears doused the entire yacht with it, took cover, and then detonated the ship. The resulting massive explosion smashed windows along Bay Street in Nassau, approximately 30 miles away.Stears won an Oscar for his work in Thunderball.

As filming drew to a close, Connery had become increasingly agitated by the intrusion of the press and was distracted by difficulties in his 32-month marriage to the actress. Diane Cilento. Connery refused to speak to the journalists and photographers who followed him in Nassau, expressing his frustration at the harassment that came with the role; “I find that fame tends to turn one from an actor and a human being into a commodity, a public institution. Well, I don't intend to go through that metamorphosis.” In the end, he gave just one interview, to Playboy, when filming wrapped, and even turned down a substantial fee to appear in a promotional television special made by Wolper. Productions for NBC, titled The Incredible World of James Bond. According to editor Peter R. Hunt, 'The release of 'Thunderball' it was pushed back three months, from September to December 1965, after he had met David Picker of United Artists and convinced him that it would be impossible to edit the film to a high enough level without the extra time.

Locations

Film locations

• Anet Castle, France, where the pre-credit sequence takes place.
• Paris, France:
• Shrublands Clinic
• London, United Kingdom.
• Nassau, Bahamas.

Action scene locations

Filmed in the Caribbean Sea, Operación Trueno contributed greatly to the popularization of underwater scenes and the practice of diving as a recreational activity. When the film crew was in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas archipelago, during one of the final days of filming the underwater fight, John Stears, special effects supervisor, had prepared a fuel-filled rocket that would be used to fly Largo's yacht, the Disco Volante. Said rocket cost half a million dollars at the time. Not anticipating the volatility of the fuel, Stears filled the entire yacht with it and steered a fair distance away from it. When the yacht's shell was detonated, the explosion was so powerful that windows on Bay Street were shattered within a thirty-mile radius.

• Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire.
• Chateau d'Anet, near Dreux, France - Fight between Bond and Bouvar.
• Paris, France - Exterior of SPECTRE barracks.
• Silverstone Race Circuit - Incident between Count Lippe, Fiona Volpe and the Aston Martin DB5 of Bond.
• Café Martinique, Isla Paraíso, Nassau, Bahamas.

Special effects

Jet Pack used in the movie.

Thanks to special effects manager John Stears, the preview of the Thunderball pre-credits sequence, the Aston Martin DB5 (introduced in Goldfinger ), reappears armed with rear shots from a water cannon, appearing noticeably weathered, just dust and dirt, kicked up moments before by Bond's landing with the Jet Pack (developed by Bell Aircraft Corporation). The Jet Pack that Bond uses to escape from the castle worked and was used many times, before and after, for entertainment, most notably at Super Bowl I and in scheduled performances at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. he appeared briefly in the film Die Another Day and also in the video game From Russia with Love.

Bond is given an underwater scuba kit armed with a harpoon gun (which allows the frogman to outmaneuver other frogmen). Designed by Jordan Klein, the green tint was intended to be used by Bond as a smoke screen to escape pursuers. Instead, Ricou Browning, the film's underwater director, used it to make Bond's arrival more dramatic.

Aquatic SPECTRE unit used in the film.

The skyhook used to rescue Bond at the end of the film was a rescue system used by the United States military at the time. In the film, Q provides Bond with other artifacts during the film, which are given to Bond on the battlefield. These included: a pill that, once swallowed, gave off a signal that helped headquarters track the agent; a diving watch that functioned as a Geiger counter; and a camera that took eight photos in infrared light at the push of a button and also functioned as a Geiger counter. Finally, Bond is given a small respirator that can be worn unnoticed, and, when used, provides a few minutes of air in an underwater emergency (4 minutes, according to the film). At the release of Operación Trueno, there was confusion as to whether a respirator like the one featured in the film existed; most of Bond's gadgets, while implausible, are often based on real technology. In the real world, a respirator couldn't be that small, as it has no room for the breathing bag, while alternative open-circuit scuba releases exhalation bubbles, which the film device does not. It was made from two glued and painted CO₂ bottles, with a small mouthpiece attached. For this reason, when the Royal Corps of Engineers asked Peter Lamont how long a man could use the device under the water, the answer was "As long as you can hold your breath". #34;respirator" it was real. This served as the inspiration for the Star Wars movie, The Phantom Menace.

On June 26, 2013, Christie's auction house sold Breitling S.A. used in the film by Connery for over £100,000; given to Bond by Q, it was also a Geiger counter in the plot.

Soundtrack

"Thunderball" It was the third James Bond soundtrack to be composed by John Barry, after From Russia with Love and Goldfinger. Originally, the song that would appear in the Thunderball pre-credit sequence would be called "Mr. Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang", which was written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. The title was taken from an Italian journalist who in 1962 nicknamed James Bond as Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. The title track was written by Barry and Leslie Bricusse; the song originally recorded by Shirley Bassey, but by the end of the day she realized the track was too short for the necessary titles. As Bassey was unavailable, it was later re-recorded by Dionne Warwick with a longer instrumental introduction. Their version was not released until the 1990s. The song was removed from the title credits after producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were concerned that the theme song for a James Bond film would not work well if the song was released. song did not have the film's title in its lyrics. John Barry teamed up with Don Black and they wrote "Thunderball". "Thunderball" it was sung by Tom Jones, who, according to the producers, fainted on set while he was singing the final note of the song. Jones said of the final note: "I closed my eyes and held the note for so long that when I opened my eyes the set was in a daze." In 1996, Weird Al Yankovic parodied the famous ending in the spy comedy Spy Hard, however, instead of the voice augmentation that Jones did, Yankovic's head exploded at the end of the title track.

Country musician Johnny Cash also submitted a song to Eon Productions also titled "Thunderball", but it was not used.

The rest of the Operación Trueno soundtrack was composed by John Barry; this was his third soundtrack for the series. The soundtrack was unfinished prior to the film's release and when the soundtrack album hit stores. The original soundtrack had twelve songs, covering the first half of the film; the last seven songs were first released when the soundtrack came out on CD in the early 2000s.

Songs

• 1. Thunderball - Tom Jones.
• 2. Chateau Flight.
• 3. The Spa.
• 4. Switching the Body.
• 5. The Bomb.
• 6. Café Martinique.
• 7. Thunderball.
• 8. Death of Fiona.
• 9. Bond Below Flying Disc.
• 10. Search for the Vulcan.
• 11. 007.
• 12. Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
• 13. Gunbarrel/Traction Table / Gassing the Plane / Car Chase.
• 14. Bond Meets Domino / Shark Tank / Lights out for Paula / For King and Country.
• 15. Street Chase.
• 16. Finding the Plane / Underwater Ballet / Bond with SPECTRE Frogmen / Leiter to the Rescue / Bond Joins Underwater Battle.
• 17. Underwater Mayhem / Death of Largo / End Titles.
• 18. Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Mono) - Dionne Warwick.

Premiere and reception

The film opened on December 9, 1965 at the Hibiya Theater in Tokyo, and was released on December 29, 1965 in the United Kingdom. It was a huge box office success with record earnings. Opening in Tokyo in a theater, it grossed a Japanese record opening day of $13,091 and the following day set a record one-day gross of $16,121. It grossed $63.6 million in the United States, equaling approximately 58.1 million admissions, and became the third highest-grossing film of 1965, behind only The Sound of Music and Doctor Zhivago. In total, the film has grossed $141.2 million worldwide, surpassing the earnings of the previous three films in the series, easily recouping its $9 million budget, and remained the highest-grossing Bond film. until Live and Let Die (1973) took over the record. After adjusting its earnings for 2011 prices, it has earned around $1 billion, making it the second film to Bond most financially successful after Skyfall.

Awards and nominations

The film won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects to John Stears in 1966. Ken Adam, the producing director, was also nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Production Design. The film won the Golden Award. Screen in Germany and the Golden Laurel Action Drama Award at the 1966 Laurel Awards. The film was also nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Foreign Film at the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.

Contemporary Reviews

Upon its release, the film received generally positive reviews. Dilys Powell of The Sunday Times commented after seeing the film that "The cinema was a duller place before 007". David Robinson of Financial Times , criticized Connery's appearance and his effectiveness in playing Bond in the film, noting: "It's not just that Sean Connery looks much happier and less heroic than he did two or three years ago, but there's a lot less effort to establish you as a knowledgeable playboy. Aside from Beluga's nonchalant command, there's little of that comical display of bon viveur-manship that was one of the charms of Connery's almost-gentleman 007".

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times found the film funnier than his previous installments and felt that Thunderball is also pretty, and is full of underwater action that would delight Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau". Furthermore, she concluded her review with praise for the lead actors, writing: "The color is beautiful." The landscape in the Bahamas is an irresistible draw. Even violence is fun. That's about the best I can say for a Bond film. important". Philip K. Scheuer, commenting for the Los Angeles Times, was less impressed with the film's writing: "It's the same as its predecessors, only more: too much of everything, from sudden desire to sudden desire". In addition, he wrote: "The underwater sequences are as pretty as Technicolor can get, with in addition to fish and finned bipeds, all sorts of awesome diving bells and motorized sea sleds, not to mention an arsenal of firearms." lethal. If they could have barely known more than half the time what, precisely, they were doing, the effect might have been even prettier'. Time magazine applauded the film's underwater photography, but felt that "the script doesnt have an iota of genuine wit, but Bond fans, who are preconditioned to roll down the aisles when their hero simply asks a waiter to bring him some beluga caviar and Dom Pérignon '55, You will probably never realize it. They are lit by a legend that plays directly to the senses, and their colors are primary."

Thoughtful Reviews

According to Danny Peary, Thunderball "takes forever to start and has too many long underwater sequences where it's impossible to tell what's going on. It is, however, a nice entry in the Bond series. Sean Connery is particularly attractive as Bond. I think he projects more confidence than in other movies in the series. The film doesn't have a great scene, but it's entertaining as long as the actors stay afloat".

Critics including James Berardinelli praised the performance of Connery, the "femme fatale" of Fiona Volpe and the underwater action sequences, noting that they were well choreographed and clearly filmed. However, he criticized the length of the scenes, stating that they needed editing, particularly during the film's climax.On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a "Certified Fresh" rating; from 86% based on 48 reviews with an average rating of 6.81 / 10. The website consensus reads: "Generously rendered settings and Sean Connerys enduring charm make Thunderball a great and fun adventure, even if it doesn't live up to the series' previous heights. In 2014, Time Out magazine polled several film critics, directors, actors and stuntmen. risk to list their best action films; the film was listed at number 73.