Thunderball (film)

Thunderball is a 1965 spy film and the fourth in the

James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, Thunderball
starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James
Bond. It is an adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same
name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an
original screenplay by Jack Whittingham devised from
a story conceived by Kevin McClory, Whittingham,
and Fleming. It was the third and final Bond film to be
directed by Terence Young, with its screenplay by
Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins.
Theatrical release poster by Robert McGinnis
The film follows Bond's mission to find two NATO and Frank McCarthy
atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE, which holds the Directed by Terence Young
world ransom to the tune of £100 million in diamonds Screenplay by Richard Maibaum
under threat of destroying an unspecified metropolis in John Hopkins
either the United Kingdom or the United States (later
Original screenplay Jack Whittingham
revealed to be Miami). The search leads Bond to the
by
Bahamas, where he encounters Emilio Largo, the card-
Story by Kevin McClory
playing, eyepatch-wearing SPECTRE Number Two.
Jack Whittingham
Backed by CIA agent Felix Leiter and Largo's mistress,
Ian Fleming
Domino Derval, Bond's search culminates in an
underwater battle with Largo's henchmen. The film's Based on Thunderball
complex production comprised four different units, and by Ian Fleming
about a quarter of the film comprises underwater Produced by Kevin McClory
scenes.[5] Thunderball was the first Bond film shot in Starring Sean Connery
widescreen Panavision and the first to have a running
Claudine Auger
time of over two hours.
Adolfo Celi
Although planned by Bond film series producers Luciana Paluzzi
Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman as the first Rik Van Nutter
entry in the franchise, Thunderball was associated with
Guy Doleman
a legal dispute in 1961 when former Fleming
collaborators McClory and Whittingham sued him Cinematography Ted Moore
shortly after the 1961 publication of the novel, Edited by Peter Hunt
claiming he based it upon the screenplay the trio had Ernest Hosler
written for a cinematic translation of James Bond. The Music by John Barry
lawsuit was settled out of court and Broccoli and
Production Eon Productions
Saltzman, fearing a rival McClory film, allowed him to company
retain certain screen rights to the novel's plot and
Distributed by United Artists
characters,[6] and for McClory to receive sole producer Release dates 9 December 1965
credit on this film; Broccoli and Saltzman instead (Tokyo, premiere)
served as executive producers.[7] 22 December 1965
(United States)
The film was exceptionally successful: its worldwide
29 December 1965
box-office receipts of $141.2 million (equivalent to
$1,365,200,000 in 2023) exceeded not only that of (United Kingdom)

each of its predecessors but that of every one of the Running time 130 minutes
next five Bond films that followed it. Thunderball Countries United Kingdom[1][2][3]
remains the most financially successful film of the United States[4]
series in North America when adjusted for ticket price
Language English
inflation.[8] In 1966, John Stears won the Academy
Budget $9 million
Award for Best Visual Effects[9] and BAFTA
nominated production designer Ken Adam for an Box office $141.2 million
award.[10] Some critics and viewers praised the film
and branded it a welcome addition to the series, while others found the aquatic action repetitious. The
movie was followed by 1967's You Only Live Twice. In 1983, Warner Bros. released a second film
adaptation of the Thunderball novel under the title Never Say Never Again, with McClory as executive
producer.

Plot
SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo devises a plan to hold NATO to ransom by hijacking two atomic
bombs from a RAF Avro Vulcan bomber during a training exercise. While staying at the Shrublands
health resort, SPECTRE operative Count Lippe has French Air Force pilot François Derval murdered and
replaced by Angelo Palazzi, whose face has been surgically altered to match Derval's. At the last minute,
Palazzi demands more money, to which SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe acquiesces, to have him continue
with their operation. Palazzi hijacks the bomber, killing its crew, and lands it in shallow waters within the
Bahamas. While the bombs are recovered by his men, Largo kills Palazzi.

British secret agent James Bond, recuperating at Shrublands after killing SPECTRE assassin Jacques
Bouvar, notices Lippe and keeps him under observation, discovering Derval's body. Upon returning to
London, Bond finds himself targeted by Lippe. Volpe kills Lippe, whose recruitment of Angelo
jeopardised Largo's scheme. All 00 agents are put on high alert after SPECTRE threatens that a major city
in the United States or United Kingdom will be destroyed unless they are paid £100 million within seven
days. Bond requests of M that he be assigned to Nassau, Bahamas, to contact Derval's sister Domino,
after recognising Derval as the body he found at the resort.

Bond meets with Domino, whom he learns is Largo's mistress when he visits a local casino. Bond and
Largo engage in a cat-and-mouse game while feigning ignorance of each other's true identities. Bond
meets with his friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter, fellow agent Paula Caplan, and MI6 quartermaster Q, to
receive equipment, including an underwater infrared camera and miniature underwater breathing
apparatus. Investigating Largo's ship, the Disco Volante, he notices an underwater hatch. He visits Largo
at his estate during the night, only to find that Paula has been abducted, and has committed suicide rather
than talk. Bond evades Largo's men during a Junkanoo celebration. Volpe catches up with Bond, but is
killed when he puts her between himself and a henchman aiming for Bond.
Bond and Leiter find the Vulcan camouflaged underwater, along with the bodies of Palazzi and the crew.
Bond reveals to Domino that her brother was killed by Largo, and she helps search the Disco Volante.
Largo captures her. Bond replaces one of Largo's men as SPECTRE prepares to move the bombs, and
learns where one of them is being moved to before being discovered and left behind. He and Leiter get
the US Coast Guard and US Navy to battle the Disco Volante crew, and recover one of the bombs in an
underwater battle. Bond pursues Largo and grabs hold of the Disco Volante as it sheds its rear half to
become a hydrofoil to attempt escape. Bond gets on deck and sends the Disco Volante out of control
while he defeats Largo's men and fights Largo. Largo gains the upper hand and is about to shoot Bond
when Domino kills him with a speargun in revenge after his hired nuclear physicist Ladislav Kutze frees
her. The three escape the Disco Volante seconds before it crashes into rocks and explodes. Bond and
Domino are retrieved by a plane using a sky hook.

Cast
Sean Connery as James Bond: An MI6 agent assigned to retrieve two stolen nuclear
weapons
Claudine Auger as Domino (voice dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl):[11] Dominique "Domino"
Derval is Largo's mistress. In early drafts of the screenplay, Domino's name was Dominetta
Palazzi. When Claudine Auger was cast as Domino, the name was changed to Derval to
reflect her nationality.[12] The character's wardrobe reflects her name, as she is usually
dressed in black and/or white.
Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo (voice dubbed by Robert Rietty):[13] SPECTRE's Number Two,
he devises a scheme to steal two atomic bombs
Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe: SPECTRE assassin who becomes Francois Derval's
mistress to kill and replace him with his double, and later helps with Largo's plot in Nassau
Rik Van Nutter as Felix Leiter: CIA agent who helps Bond
Guy Doleman as Count Lippe: the SPECTRE agent (ranked Number Four) in charge of the
operation of replacing Derval with Angelo
Molly Peters (voice dubbed by Barbara Jefford) as Patricia Fearing: A physiotherapist at the
health clinic
Martine Beswick as Paula Caplan: Bond's CIA ally in Nassau. Beswick has the distinction of
appearing as a 'Bond Girl' twice - firstly in From Russia With Love and then here.
Bernard Lee as "M": Head of MI6
Desmond Llewelyn as "Q": MI6's quartermaster, he supplies Bond with multi-purpose
vehicles and gadgets useful for the latter's missions.
Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny: M's secretary
Roland Culver as the Home Secretary: British Minister who briefs the "00" agents for
Operation Thunderball and has doubts about Bond's efficiency
Earl Cameron as Pinder: Bahaman intelligence operative who serves as Bond and Leiter's
contact in Nassau
Paul Stassino as François Derval / Angelo Palazzi (credited for Palazzi): François Derval is
a French Air Force pilot assigned to the NATO staff and also Domino's brother. He is killed
by Angelo, who impersonates him.
Rose Alba as Madame Boitier, purportedly the widow of Colonel Jacques Bouvar, while in
reality 'she' is Bouvar in disguise
Philip Locke as Vargas: Largo's personal assistant and primary henchman
 George Pravda as Ladislav Kutze: A nuclear physicist, he aids Largo with the captured
bombs, but when Largo disregards the authorities firing on them, he pities and rescues
Domino. A director's note says Kutze is later rescued off screen after the film closes.
Michael Brennan as Janni: one of Largo's henchmen, usually paired with Vargas
Leonard Sachs as Group Captain Prichard, Bond's RAF liaison during Operation
Thunderball
Edward Underdown as Air Vice Marshal, a senior RAF officer who briefs the 00 agents on
the range of the missing Vulcan and its disappearance
Reginald Beckwith as Kenniston, the Home Secretary's assistant
Uncredited:

Maryse Guy Mitsouko as Madame LaPorte, a French secret service agent

Bob Simmons as Colonel Jacques Bouvar, SPECTRE Number Six, who is killed by Bond in
the pre-title scene
Anthony Dawson as Ernst Stavro Blofeld (voiced by Eric Pohlmann): The head of
SPECTRE, Number One (neither actor is credited)
Bill Cummings as Quist: one of Largo's henchmen
Murray Kash as SPECTRE Number Eleven, an American senior member of SPECTRE who
reports on a drug dealing mission jointly led by him and Number Nine
André Maranne as SPECTRE Number Ten, a French senior member of SPECTRE who
reports on assassinating a French defector to the USSR
Clive Cazes as SPECTRE Number Nine, a French senior member of SPECTRE
Michael Smith as SPECTRE Number Eight, a senior member of SPECTRE
Cecil Cheng as SPECTRE Number Seven, a Japanese senior member of SPECTRE who
reports on a blackmail mission
Philip Stone as SPECTRE Number Five, an English senior member of SPECTRE who
reports on helping to plan the Great Train Robbery
Victor Beaumont as SPECTRE Number Three, a senior member of SPECTRE
Gábor Baraker as SPECTRE Number Thirteen, a senior member of SPECTRE

Production

Legal disputes
Originally meant as the first James Bond film, Thunderball was the centre of legal disputes that began in
1961 and ran until 2006.[14] Former Ian Fleming collaborators Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham
sued Fleming shortly after the 1961 publication of the Thunderball novel, claiming he based it upon the
screenplay the trio had earlier written in a failed cinematic translation of James Bond.[15][6] The lawsuit
was settled out of court, with McClory retaining 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 beyond their control; they agreed to McClory's producer's credit of a cinematic
Thunderball, with them as executive producers.[16]

Later, in 1964, Eon producers Broccoli and Saltzman agreed with McClory to cinematically adapt the
novel; it was promoted as "Ian Fleming's Thunderball". Yet, along with the official credits to
screenwriters Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, the screenplay 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'.[16] To date, the novel has twice been adapted cinematically, as the 1983
Jack Schwartzman-produced Never Say Never Again features Sean Connery as James Bond, but is not an
Eon production.

Casting
Broccoli's original choice for the role of Domino Derval was Julie Christie following her performance in
Billy Liar in 1963. Upon meeting her personally, he was disappointed and turned his attentions towards
Raquel Welch after seeing her on the cover of the October 1964 issue of Life. Welch was hired by Richard
Zanuck of 20th Century Fox to appear in the film Fantastic Voyage the same year, instead. Faye
Dunaway was also considered for the role and came close to signing for the part.[17] Saltzman and
Broccoli auditioned an extensive list of relatively unknown European actresses and models, including
former Miss Italy Maria Grazia Buccella, Yvonne Monlaur of the Hammer horror films, and Gloria Paul.
Eventually, former Miss France Claudine Auger was cast, and the script was rewritten to make her
character French rather than Italian, although her lines were dubbed in the final cut by Nikki van der Zyl,
who had voiced several previous Bond girls. Nevertheless, director Young cast her once again in his next
film, Triple Cross (1966). One of the actresses who tried for Domino, Luciana Paluzzi, later accepted the
role as the redheaded femme fatale assassin Fiona Kelly, who originally was intended by Maibaum to be
Irish. The surname was changed to Volpe in co-ordination with Paluzzi's nationality.[17]

Filming
Guy Hamilton was invited to direct, but considered himself worn out and "creatively drained" after the
production of Goldfinger.[5] Terence Young, director of the first two Bond films, returned to the series.
Coincidentally, when Saltzman invited him to direct Dr. No, Young expressed interest in directing
adaptations of Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball. Years later, Young said Thunderball was
filmed "at the right time",[18] considering that if it was the first film in the series, the low budget (Dr. No
cost only $1 million) would not have yielded good results.[18] Thunderball was the final James Bond film
directed by Young.

Filming commenced on 16 February 1965, with principal photography of the opening scene in Paris.
Filming then moved to the Château d'Anet, near Dreux, France, for the fight in the precredit sequence.
Much of the film was shot in the Bahamas, as Thunderball is widely known for its extensive underwater
action scenes which are played out through much of the latter half of the film. The rest of the film was
shot at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, Silverstone racing circuit for the chase involving Count
Lippe, Fiona Volpe's RPG-armed BSA Lightning motorcycle and James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 before
moving to Nassau, and Paradise Island in the Bahamas (where most of the footage was shot), and
Miami.[19] Huntington Hartford gave permission to shoot footage on his Paradise Island and is thanked at
the end of the film.

On arriving in Nassau, McClory searched for locations to shoot many of the key sequences of the film
and used the home of a local millionaire couple, the Sullivans, for Largo's estate, Palmyra.[20] Part of the
SPECTRE underwater assault was also shot on the coastal grounds of another millionaire's home on the
island.[5] Most of the underwater scenes had to be done at lower tides due to the sharks on the Bahamian
coast.[21]
After he read the script, Connery realised the risk of the sequence
with the sharks in Largo's pool 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 pass through it, Connery fled the pool, seconds away
from attack.[19] Ken Adam later told UK daily newspaper The
Guardian,

The home used as Largo's estate in

We had to use special effects, but unlike special
the film
effects today, they were real. The jet pack we used in
Thunderball was real – it was invented for the United
States Army. Bloody dangerous, and it only lasted a
couple of minutes. The ejector seat in the Aston
Martin was real and Emilio Largo's boat, the Disco
Volante, was real. You had power boats at that time,
but there were no good-sized yachts that were able to
travel at 40 to 50 knots, so it was quite a problem. But
by combining a hydrofoil, which we bought in Puerto
Rico for $10,000, and a catamaran, it at least looked
like a big yacht. We combined the two hulls with a
one-inch slip bolt and when they split it worked like a
dream. We used lots of sharks for this movie. I'd
rented a villa in the Bahamas with a saltwater pool
which we filled with sharks and used for underwater
filming. The smell was horrendous. This was where
Sean Connery came close to being bitten. We had a
plexiglass corridor to protect him, but I didn't have
quite enough plexiglass and one of the sharks got
through. He never got out of a pool faster in his life –
he was walking on water.[22]

When special-effects coordinator John Stears provided a supposedly dead shark to be towed around the
pool, the shark, which was still alive, revived at one point. Due to the dangers on the set, stuntman Bill
Cummings demanded an extra fee of £250 to double for Largo's sidekick Quist as he was dropped into
the pool of sharks.[17]

The climactic underwater battle was shot at Clifton Pier and was choreographed by Hollywood expert
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 beneath Disco Volante and called in
his specialist team of divers who posed as those engaged in the onslaught. Voit provided much of the
underwater gear, including the Aqua-Lungs, in exchange for product placement and film tie-in
merchandise. The ability to breathe underwater for extended periods of time was a new product that had
previously been used by underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau and using it in a movie was a new
approach. Lamar Boren, an underwater photographer, was hired to shoot all of the sequences.[17] Filming
ceased in May 1965, and the final scene shot was the physical fight on the bridge of Disco Volante.[5]
While in Nassau, during the final shooting days, special-effects supervisor John Stears was supplied
experimental rocket fuel to use in exploding Largo's yacht. Ignoring the true power of the volatile liquid,
Stears doused the entire yacht with it, took cover, and then detonated the boat. The resultant massive
explosion shattered windows along Bay Street in Nassau roughly 30 miles away.[5] Stears went on to win
an Academy Award for his work on Thunderball.

As the filming neared its conclusion, Connery had become increasingly agitated with press intrusion and
was distracted with difficulties in his marriage of 32 months to actress Diane Cilento. Connery refused to
speak to journalists and photographers who followed him in Nassau, stating his frustration with the
harassment that came with the role: "I find that fame tends to turn one from an actor and a human being
into a piece of merchandise, a public institution. Well, I don't intend to undergo that metamorphosis."[23]
In the end, he gave only a single interview, to Playboy, as filming was wrapped up, and even turned down
a substantial fee to appear in a promotional TV special made by Wolper Productions for NBC, The
Incredible World of James Bond.[17] According to editor Peter R. Hunt, Thunderball's release was delayed
for three months, from September until December 1965, after he met David Picker of United Artists, and
convinced him it would be impossible to edit the film to a high enough standard without the extra
time.[24]

Effects
Thanks to special-effects man John Stears, Thunderball's pretitle teaser, the Aston Martin DB5
(introduced in Goldfinger), reappears armed with rear-firing water cannon, seeming noticeably weathered
—just dust and dirt, raised moments earlier by Bond's landing with the Bell Rocket Belt (developed by
Bell Aircraft Corporation). The rocket belt Bond uses to escape the château actually worked, and was
used many times, before and after, for entertainment, most notably at Super Bowl I and at scheduled
performances at the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair.[25]

Bond receives a spear gun-armed underwater jet pack scuba (allowing the frogman to manoeuvre faster
than other frogmen). Designed by Jordan Klein, green dye was meant to be used by Bond as a smoke
screen to escape pursuers.[26] Instead Ricou Browning, the film's underwater director, used it to make
Bond's arrival more dramatic.[27]

The sky hook used to rescue Bond at the end of the film was a rescue system used by the United States
military at the time. At Thunderball's release, there was confusion as to whether a rebreather such as the
one that appears in the film existed; most Bond gadgets, while implausible, often are based upon real
technology. In the real world, a rebreather could not be so small, as it has no room for the breathing bag,
while the alternative open-circuit scuba releases exhalation bubbles, which the film device does not. It
was made with two CO2 bottles glued together and painted, with a small mouthpiece attached.[27] For this
reason, when the Royal Corps of Engineers asked Peter Lamont how long a man could use the device
underwater, the answer was "As long as you can hold your breath."[28]

On 26 June 2013, Christie's auction house sold the Breitling SA Top Time watch worn in the film by
Connery for over £100,000; given to Bond by Q, it was also a Geiger counter in the plot.[29]

Music
Thunderball was the third James Bond score composed by John Barry, after From Russia with Love and
Goldfinger. The original title song was entitled "Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", taken from an Italian
journalist who in 1962 dubbed agent 007 as Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.[30] The title theme was written by
Barry and Leslie Bricusse; the song was originally recorded by Shirley Bassey, but it was realised late in
the day that the track was too short for the needed titles. As Bassey was unavailable, it was later
rerecorded by Dionne Warwick with a longer instrumental introduction. Her version was not released
until the 1990s. The song was removed from the title credits after producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry
Saltzman were worried that a theme song to a James Bond film would not work well if the song did not
have the title of the film in its lyrics.[5] Barry then teamed up with lyricist Don Black and wrote
"Thunderball", which was sung by Tom Jones, who according to Bond production legend, fainted in the
recording booth when singing the song's final note. Jones said of it, "I closed my eyes and I held the note
for so long when I opened my eyes the room was spinning."[31]

Country musician Johnny Cash also submitted a song to Eon productions titled "Thunderball", but it went
unused.[32]

Release and reception

The film premiered on 9 December 1965 at the Hibiya Theatre in Tokyo and opened on 29 December
1965 in the UK. It was a major success at the box office with record-breaking earnings. In its opening in
Tokyo in one theatre, it grossed a Japanese record opening day of $13,091, and the following day it set a
record one-day gross of $16,121.[33] It grossed $63.6 million in the United States, equating to roughly
58.1 million admissions,[34] and became the third-highest grossing film of 1965, only behind The Sound
of Music and Dr. Zhivago. In total, the film has earned $141.2 million worldwide, surpassing the earnings
of the three preceding films in the series—easily recouping its $9 million budget—and remained the
highest-grossing Bond film until Live and Let Die (1973) assumed the record.[35] After adjusting its
earnings to 2011 prices, it has made around $1 billion worldwide, making it the second-most financially
successful Bond film after Skyfall.[36]

Thunderball won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects awarded to John Stears in 1966.[9] Ken
Adam, the production director, was also nominated for a Best Production Design BAFTA award.[10] The
film won the Golden Screen Award in Germany and the Golden Laurel Action Drama award at the 1966
Laurel Awards. The film was also nominated for an Edgar Best Foreign Film award at the Edgar Allan
Poe Awards.[37]

Contemporary reviews
The film received generally positive reviews. Dilys Powell of The Sunday Times remarked that "The
cinema was a duller place before 007."[38] David Robinson of the Financial Times criticised the
appearance of Connery and his effectiveness to play Bond in the film, remarking: "It's not just that Sean
Connery looks a lot more haggard and less heroic than he did two or three years ago, but there is much
less effort to establish him as connoisseur playboy. Apart from the off-handed order for Beluga, there is
little of that comic display of bon viveur-manship that was one of the charms of Connery's almost-a-
gentleman 007."[39]
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times found the film to be more humorous than its previous
instalments and felt "Thunderball is pretty, too, and it is filled with such underwater action as would
delight Capt. Jacques-Yves Cousteau." He further praised the principal actors and wrote "[t]he color is
handsome. The scenery in the Bahamas is an irresistible lure. Even the violence is funny. That's the best I
can say for a Bond film."[40] Variety felt Thunderball was a "tight, exciting melodrama in which novelty
of action figures importantly".[41] Philip K. Scheuer, reviewing for the Los Angeles Times, was less
impressed, writing: "It is the same as its predecessors, only more–too much of everything, from sudden
desire to sudden desire." Additionally, he wrote: "The submarine sequences are as pretty as can be in
Technicolor, featuring besides fish and flippered bipeds, all sorts of awesome diving bells and powered
sea sleds – not to mention an arsenal of lethal spear guns. If I could have just known more than half the
time what, precisely, they were doing, the effect could have been prettier yet."[42]

Time magazine applauded the film's underwater photography, but felt the "script hasn't a morsel of
genuine wit, but Bond fans, who are preconditioned to roll in the aisles when their hero merely asks a
waiter to bring some beluga caviar and Dom Pérignon '55, will probably never notice. They are switched
on by a legend that plays straight to the senses, and its colors are primary."[43] Clifford Terry of the
Chicago Tribune felt the dialogue was "so bad, it's great" and highlighted Auger as "probably the most
genteel of all the Bond babies to date". Overall, he felt the film belonged to Connery, writing he "throws
out those incredible lines without so much as batting a steely-cold eye".[44]

Retrospective reviews
According to Danny Peary, Thunderball "takes forever to get started and has too many long underwater
sequences during which it's impossible to tell what's going on. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable entry in the
Bond series. Sean Connery is particularly appealing as Bond – I think he projects more confidence than in
other films in the series. Film has no great scene, but it's entertaining as long as the actors stay above
water."[45]

James Berardinelli praised Connery's performance, the femme fatale character of Fiona Volpe, and the
underwater action sequences, remarking that they were well choreographed and clearly shot. He criticised
the length of the scenes, stating they were in need of editing, particularly during the film's climax.[46]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 87% rating based on 52 reviews with an average rating of 6.70/10.
The website's consensus reads: "Lavishly rendered set pieces and Sean Connery's enduring charm make
Thunderball a big, fun adventure, even if it doesn't quite measure up to the series' previous heights."[47]
On Metacritic the film has a score of 64 out of 100 based on reviews from nine critics.[48] In 2014, Time
Out polled several film critics, directors, actors, and stunt actors to list their top action films;[49]
Thunderball was listed at number 73.[50]

See also

Film portal

Outline of James Bond

Casino Royale history for further information on the James Bond legal disputes between
Sony and MGM.
References
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Further reading
Chapman, James (1999). Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films. I.B.
Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-387-6.

External links
Official website (https://www.007.com/the-films/thunderball/)
Thunderball (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059800/) at IMDb
Thunderball (http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/520479/) at the BFI's Screenonline
Thunderball (https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v49850) at AllMovie
Thunderball (https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/24268/enwp) at the TCM Movie Database
Thunderball (https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=thunderball.htm) at Box Office
Mojo
James Bond film Thunderball nearly given X-rating by censors (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/
culture/film/jamesbond/9864054/James-Bond-film-Thunderball-nearly-given-X-rating-by-cen
sors.html)

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