Thunderball

Rating:
Summary: Great,but.........
Review: the underwater scenes do not really work.However,the rest does.Connery,Dawson,Celi,Paluzzi are all great.Some wonderful venues and a great theme song.You can sit for hours spotting faults in this film!

Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC!
Review: One of the best bonds ever. For those who think that us from the "MTV generation" wouldn't appreciate this film, you're wrong! I'm 20 years old and have been a Bond fan since I was a kid. I was thrilled with the DVD versions of the films---especially this one. The documentaries and behind-the-scenes features make the film even more enjoyable to watch again and again. If you enjoy any of the current Pierce Brosnan films, then I highly recommend "Thunderball", regardless of your age!

Rating:
Summary: Better Than Average Bond
Review: Thunderball has two things going for it: 1) an interesting underwater battle at the film's climax, and 2) Claudine Auger as Domino Derval. She wins my vote as theeeeeee most attractive of the Bond girls. Largo was also a better than average villain. What Thunderball lacks is an interesting henchman for the villain like Oddjob in Goldfinger or Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. There aren't many interesting gadgets either. Otherwise the film is faithful to the Bond formula and is worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: This was a little dissapointing because the movie dragged and dragged on after the Warheads were captured. Then it started to pick up when we got to the Bahamas. The actions scenes were pretty good except when Bond breaks into Largos home. The underwater battle was awsome. And the end fight between Largo and Bond was cool too. If you like smart action adventure movies, buy or rent Thunderball.

Rating:
Summary: Thunderball - Wonderful DVD Redering of a classic Bond film
Review: If you are a die hard Bond fan, as I've been for many years, you'll be very pleased by the DVD rendering of the original film (haven't seen this so intact or clean for many years)! The transfer is nearly flawless, with very rich Technicolor, very true to the original release. Spying eyes will notice an unusually low contrast cut in the opening (post teaser) credits by Maurice Binder, which are not so totally sillouetted. This film was widely recieved in the US and Europe during the 60's (very much a product of the Cold War), and I suppose not as flowing from a narrative perspective as "Goldfinger" or "From Russia With Love", however, is none the less important (it fueled the Bond Franchise). The DVD version has wonderful production values as well as valuable historical info from some of the actors and production crew. It is one of the best in my opinion... just the right balance of action, intrigue, sensuality and political timeliness (Nuclear hijacking, etc...). Amazingly, it still holds up after nearly 35 years. MTV Generation, don't bother, you may be bored.

Rating:
Summary: Water-Logged Action
Review: This is the fourth movie in the James Bond 007 series from 1965. The VCR jacket's promotional copy does a concise job of explaining the plot: "In a bold and deadly scheme, the evil SPECTRE organization hijacks a NATO plane and seizes two atomic warheads, each capable of killing millions of innocent people. As the world is held hostage by the threat of a nuclear nightmare, Bond jumps into action, racing against the clock as the trail leads him to tropical Nassau."

Bond's nemesis in this film is Emilio Largo, the #2 man in SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion). The part is played by Adolfo Celi; he does a fair acting job, as far as Bond adversaries go. One of my favorite scenes is when Largo tries to impress Bond with his marksmanship by shooting a clay pigeon. Bond one-ups him by shooting the next clay pigeon while holding the rifle at his side and not even aiming it using the sight. The major love interest for Bond is Domino, who also happens to be Largo's mistress. That part is played by Claudine Auger, a former Miss France. The part of CIA man Felix Leiter is played by Rik Van Nutter; it is a rather forgettable performance when compared to that of Jack Lord in "Dr. No" (1962).

Tom Jones does a decent enough job singing on the title track, but Dionne Warwick really stinks it up on "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." It's not the fault of her voice, so much as it is just bad songwriting.

This movie has one of the better pre-credit sequences, with Bond killing SPECTRE's #6 man, and then escaping by flying off with a jet pack. At the time, this was a new weapon for battlefield use and only 2 men were even qualified to fly it ("Behind-the-Scenes with 'Goldfinger' and 'Thunderball,'" MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc, 1995).

The problem with this film is that the action shots are disappointing. There are some great shots of the NATO plane flying in the air, but the water landing is very fake. Some of the stunt work was done in the water with live sharks swimming around, but the danger doesn't really come across. There were also big, underwater fight scenes, but the action is too slow moving. The final fight scene between Bond and Largo is a disappointment, and it looks very unrealistic. On paper, it seems like this should be a great movie. But with one quarter of the film being filmed under water, the action is too water logged. For a great Bond film, I recommend "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969).

Rating:
Summary: DVD Special Editions Worth the Price
Review: In truth, "Thunderball" never impressed me as much as the Bonds that preceded it, but this DVD release has certainly increased my respect for it. In fact, if I had to rate this film before the DVD release, I would have probably only given the film 3 stars. But it deserves 5 in this format, because the wealth of extra goodies really manage to put you back in the sixties so that you can appreciate the film for what it was at the time. I never knew, for example, that it had the biggest gross of any of the Bonds, and, if measured in 1997 dollars, made more money (and certainly a bigger profit) than "Titanic"--and that was when movies were under a buck a head.

Also, this DVD goes a long way to explaining the legal "battle over Bond" between Kevin McClory and Cubby Broccoli which even today threatens to allow McClory to make a second, rival series to MGM's.

But perhaps most impressive is the participation of the Ian Fleming Society in preparing the two alternative sound tracks, which allow many, many members of the cast and crew to explain their involvement with the picture. All the while, the president of the Ian Fleming Society provides background information which neatly ties together the narrative given by the film participants. It's a truly novel approach to secondary audio tracks I've not seen elsewhere in DVD-land.

For anyone weighing the choice between getting this on VHS or DVD, or between getting the regular DVD or special edition, there really is no choice. Buy "Thunderball: Special Edition DVD".

Rating:
Summary: Thunderball Rocks!
Review: THUNDERBALL (1965) the fourth of the James Bond 007 series is among the best of the films. As a follow-up to the phenomenally successful and definitive GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL is just a shade less satisfying. In terms of tone and composition the two films are of an era in the James Bond mythology.

Sean Connery returns as the inimitable British Secret Agent, this time set against SPECTRE Agent Number Two, Largo (Adolfo Celi). SPECTRE has stolen an atomic bomb and is holding the world hostage.

Largo is a worthy adversary. Strongly-built, silver-haired, wearing an eyepatch, and more physically intimidating than Gert Frobe's plump Goldfinger, Celi's Largo lacks the faintly tongue-in-cheek air which animated Goldfinger's behavior. In fact, the entire film lacks the decidedly humorous undertone of GOLDFINGER. The villains are more vicious, and Connery's Bond, his wit more honed than ever, is playing for keeps.

The theme song (with Tom Jones singing), plot and story are at least on a par with the predecessor film; however, the action, based in the Caribbean, takes place largely around, and under, water, and the film drags deplorably during most of the underwater sequences despite the fact that one of these is the climactic fight scene. The change in tempo between land and undersea action is jarring and detracts from the movie in a manner that its innate excellence in other respects cannot compensate.

Of course, Bond successfully seduces just about every woman on the set (except for Miss Moneypenny, the Penelope of the series). While he is able to win an ally in Domino (Claudine Auger), he is less successful with others, though as he admits, after all, it is "all for King and Country." What a sense of selfless sacrifice the man has!

THUNDERBALL was later remade as NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN in which Connery, still trim, fit, and feisty (but with toupee) returned to the James Bond role after more than a decade's hiatus. The remake is great to watch as a counterpoint to the original.

While THUNDERBALL is not as much fun as GOLDFINGER, if all subsequent Bond films could have been as good as THUNDERBALL, even Timothy Dalton would have been a tolerable 007. Let's give this one FOUR AND A HALF STARS.

Rating:
Summary: Rather slow, too long, but has plenty of great Bond stuff!
Review: I found the villain uninteresting and the women not that great, but some of those trusty old gadgets and great underwater sequences make up for some of the slower parts of the movie. For sure!

Rating:
Summary: You seen the rest now see the best Bond ever in Thunderball
Review: "Thunderball" is the fourth Bond movie in the franchise and after viewing its release on DVD with its restored and remastered print, it can safely be proclaimed that this motion picture is the definitive James Bond flick. Ironically, Ian Fleming had originally wrote "Thunderball" as screenplay and it would have been the introduction of James Bond to the big screen but circumstances forced him to rewrite as a novel and "Dr No" would gain that distinction. It is just as well. When "Thunderball" finally went into production, actor Sean Connery, director Terance Young and the producers were comfortable with the world of James Bond, enabling them to "Thunderball" into a classic film, something that almost certainly would not have happened a few years earlier.

This film included all the important elements such as seeing SPECTRE in action, an excellent villain in the evil Largo as portrayed by Adolfo Celi, and perhaps the best female villain ever, Fiona Volpe as played by Luciana Paluzzi. There were certainly plenty of the beautiful Bond women and the exotic locations in the Bahamas to offset the plot where Bond tries to foil an attempt by SPECTRE to use hijacked nuclear weapons for blackmail. These elements plus the special effects and the extensive use of underwater photography combine to create a fine motion picture.

If there is one Bond movie that should never, never be seen in a standard televsion format, it is this one. It is like comparing night and day. Many scenes were shot at the huge sound stage at Pinewood and uses the full screen to effect, and the underwater scenes where people are swimming horizontally use the entire frame. This widescreen version on DVD is worth its price on this count alone. If you like "Thunderball" and have never seen a widescreen version, get one and you'll agree that you'll never want to watch any other way.

As to the other features on the DVD, the movie trailers, and the TV and radio spots come off as annoying and repetitive. The three documentaries are good but I wish they were a little longer and informative. There are two commentary tracks but neither seem to blend well with the movie.

In this reviewer's humble opinion, if one was had to pick just one movie to introduce someone to the James Bond genre, "Thunderball" would be the best choice. Make sure this DVD gets into your library.