ROTTEN TOMATOES: Bonding with Bond, Day 4: Thunderball

Bonding with Bond, Day 4: Thunderball

Community Manager Ryan Fujitani is watching all of the James Bond films in order.

by Ryan Fujitani | October 24, 2008

Today is Day 4 of my journey, and I'll be talking about Thunderball and some of the things I've noticed about the franchise in general.

Thunderball

I have to say, I've really liked the opening credit sequences thus far. They're thematic, yet consistent in style, and they establish a trademark of sorts on the franchise. Dr. No started it all with the credits colorfully projected across the bodies of dancing women, and each successive movie has customized the concept; Goldfinger's women were appropriately slathered in gold paint, for example, and now with Thunderball, the credits are displayed amidst a backdrop of women tumbling underwater. Great execution of a novel idea.

So now, having watched 4 Bond movies, I've made some general observations I'd like to share, even if they're not entirely specific to Thunderball -- be warned, spoilers may follow. First, it's apparent that the opening scenes, which are mostly irrelevant to the rest of the film, exist simply to remind us how awesome 007 is. In Thunderball, he attends the funeral of a colonel who's killed two of his colleagues and faked his death, choking the life out of the colonel, escaping via jet pack (yes, jet pack), and speeding away in his Aston Martin. A Totally irrelevant, but blissfully testosterone-packed 5 minutes.

Secondly, Bond is a sex addict and a bit of a misogynist. He's hot, he knows he's hot, and he milks it down to the last homogenized drop. Maybe this was a given for others, and I probably acknowledged the probability of this on some level, but not to the extent that I've witnessed in these films so far. I had always pictured him more to be a suave, seductive womanizer, and while he's certainly that, he takes it to another level. He will lay any woman he can get his hands on, including the mistresses and operatives of his enemies, often manhandling the misbehavers. In fact, if he knows a woman is out to get him, he'll get her into bed just because he knows they've been told to do whatever it takes to get close to him... and then he kills them or has them arrested.

The films seem to justify this behavior by conveniently having every single one of them fall in love with him. When he practically rapes Pussy Galore, for example, does she turn right around and fire one off into his swimsuit area? No, and in fact, she ends up betraying Goldfinger and helping Bond defeat him! The Bond girl in Thunderball, exotic Dominique "Domino" Derval, whose initials are appropriately DD, is the mistress of the film's main villain, Emilio Largo. As Bond swaggers his way into her life, she falls for him, and next thing you know, she's planting a harpoon in Largo's back. Which leads me to another observation I made while watching Thunderball: Bond's lovin' is so righteous, it turns bad girls good.

Thirdly, I see the brilliance in the concept of SPECTRE. By allowing glimpses of Blofeld and populating his rogue's gallery with a gaggle of peons with generic names, the writers (perhaps Ian Fleming himself, in the books?) have set themselves up with unlimited sequel fodder. I can imagine audiences returning to the theaters for each installment in hopes of seeing the ultimate showdown between Bond and the mysterious cat-stroker. What, Largo wants to blow up countries with nukes? That's wicked, but look, there's this other guy behind the scenes pulling the strings!

Thunderball was enjoyable, though the plot is a bit simple ("Give me money or I'm gonna blow you and your people to smithereens!"), and the climactic underwater battle is somewhat uninspiring. Bond remains uflinchingly cool; he could suffer a subdural hematoma, and he'd continue right on solving mysteries and snacking on pecans. I think that these first four I've seen will have given me sufficient perspective on the franchise to get a lot out of tonight's viewing, the "original" Casino Royale, one of the unofficial James Bond movies and a spoof on the agent.

My favorite line: "I think he got the point," after nailing a would-be assassin to a tree with a spear gun.

My favorite moment: The scene in the clinic when Bond is almost killed by some antiquated physical therapy machine. The hot nurse he's been flirting with comes in, afraid she'll get in trouble for allowing it to happen, and Bond tells her he can be convinced not to tattle if she goes to bed with him. I'm sorry, but that's like something straight out of amateur porn. In other words, incredible.

Other Articles:

Day 1: Dr. No (1962)
Day 2: From Russia With Love (1963)
Day 3: Goldfinger (1964)
Day 4: Thunderball (1965)
Day 5: Casino Royale (1967)
Day 6: You Only Live Twice (1967)
Day 7: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Day 8: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Day 9: Live and Let Die (1973)
Day 10: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Day 11: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Day 12: Moonraker (1979)
Day 13: For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Day 14: Octopussy (1983)
Day 15: Never Say Never Again (1983)
Day 16: A View to a Kill (1985)
Day 17: The Living Daylights (1987)
Day 18: Licence to Kill (1989)
Day 19: GoldenEye (1995)
Day 20: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Day 21: The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Day 22: Die Another Day (2002)
Day 23: Casino Royale (2006)
Day 24: Quantum of Solace (2008)

(1-20 of 27 posts) | Reply

ledawg1138 writes:
on Oct 24 2008 06:37 PM

It's Stephen Colbert who said "James Bond dosen't have emotions. Just Thunderballs!... Guys don't feel." Not the best but a solid Bond film.

(Reply to this)

Boyo writes:
on Oct 24 2008 06:45 PM

Hey! One other thing for you to be conscious of when watching the movies is the music. Every time I do this marathon I'm always amazed at how the music is still totally Bond, while changing to match the era it's released. John Barry is the best! (and as a Welshman myself, I do have to have a soft spot for the theme you've just watched - Thunderball by Tom Jones!) Actually, come to think of it, we Welsh have done the series proud in the music department, what with the aforementioned Jones, and who can forget Shirley Bassey, with three great tunes - Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker, surely the epitome of the Bond song!

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RT-Ryan writes:
on Oct 24 2008 07:03 PM

Actually, Boyo, I did have a bit in my original draft of the writeup talking about the Bond songs, which have now been featured in the last three that I've seen. Unfortunately, it lengthened the article too much, so I cut it out. I may make reference to it in the next one however.

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ledawg1138 writes:
on Oct 24 2008 07:57 PM

(to the tune of "Goldfinger")

Thuuunderrrballs!...

It dosen't work.

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aconline writes:
on Oct 24 2008 08:02 PM

I think that it is great that you are watching the unofficial Bond films as well. They help give better appreciation for the franchise of official ones. If you are watching the original spoof Casino Royale, the DVD features the original ORIGINAL Casino Royale from 1954 which was a tv movie and worth the watch. It has Bond as a US agent and Leiter is the British spy. Plus, Peter Lorre plays Le Chiffre. I look forward to your article every day now. One thing to mention about Thunderball that you didn't, is my favorite line of dialogue. Fiona asks for something to wear, and James hands her a pair of shoes. CLASSIC!

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Shawndorman writes:
on Oct 24 2008 08:05 PM

With the popularity of Goldfinger, the producers realized EXACTLY what their audiences wanted: more explosions! More gadgets! More babes! More quips!! That's exactly what they got in Thunderball, though it's not quite up to par with Goldfinger. The underwater sequences are a bit long and boring, but what was really revolutionary about them was that they hadn't been done so extensively in a feature film before. It was practically the tag line of the movie: COME SEE IT! IT'S GOT BOND AND THIS TIME HE'S FIGHTING UNDERWATER!!!!! Good luck with the original Casino Royale. I haven't seen it but I've heard dreadful things. Get back to the originals son!

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RT-Ryan writes:
on Oct 24 2008 08:08 PM

ledawg,
Funny you should make that comment, because as I was watching Goldfinger, I kept hearing "Moon River" whenever the first three notes of the theme song were sung.

aconline,
I'm probably going to be catching the old Casino Royale on Netflix Instant Watching, since I've seen it available there, so I probably won't get a chance to see the original as you mentioned. Also, I thought that was a great moment as well, and part of me almost wanted her to take him up on that offer and walk around only in a pair of shoes for the rest of the movie.

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ledawg1138 writes:
on Oct 24 2008 09:02 PM

Moooon Riivverr, Goooldfingerr,... yeah I can see it.

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indiefilmfan2 writes:
on Oct 24 2008 09:29 PM

Domino maybe the hottest Bond girl of them all.

Even when quality of the films declined in the 70's, you could always count on some great theme songs. I can't speak the same about the 80's though.

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Zombies happen. writes:
on Oct 24 2008 09:58 PM

In reply to this comment (#2093482)
You can dance that comment into the fire. ;)

(Reply to this)

Shawndorman writes:
on Oct 24 2008 10:55 PM

In reply to this comment (#2093504)
AHAHAH, amen to that. One fatal kiss is all you'll need.

(Reply to this)

Comment writes:
on Oct 24 2008 11:14 PM

I got a good laugh out of this film when the UKSS (United Kingdom Scuba Sqaud) rocked up out of the blue towards the end.

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buckeyes1186 writes:
on Oct 25 2008 01:37 AM

I wasn't a big fan of Thunderball when I first saw it, but it has grown on me. I'll take it over Goldfinger any day of the week, but it's definitely Terence Young's weakest Bond film.

Thunderball's big accomplishments are mostly technical. The underwater sequences are absolutely incredible, even if they are about twice as long as they should be. Terence Young was such an incredibly innovative filmmaker.

From a narrative/character standpoint, Fiona Volpe is the true star of the film. I struggle to remember anything noteworthy about Domino, but Fiona is just incredible. Luciana Paluzzi set the standard for all of the future Bond femme fatales and in my opinion, she's still the very best.

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sunsaz writes:
on Oct 25 2008 05:43 AM

Yet another awesome film. The Bond franchise is the only series I can think of in which its first four movies were awesome.

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IndianaSchwartz writes:
on Oct 25 2008 09:40 AM

I have to say, I am really loving this Bonding with Bond, and you're very funny about it. I have only seen a few Bond movies and you've inspired me to go out and do the same thing you are. Thanks for this very entertaining piece.

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ledawg1138 writes:
on Oct 25 2008 10:45 AM

I agree, at least on other Bond films. I never gave Thunderball a watch til recently.

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Tiffany T. writes:
on Oct 25 2008 11:42 AM

This is a great series. And high time you're watching all the films!

My mom refused to watch any Bond films for years after Thunderball, because the underwater sequence put her to sleep. When I'd suggest watching Bond, she'd say, "No, they always have those long scenes in the ocean, and they're so boring..." I finally convinced her to give a newer film a try, and she's enjoyed the Bond movies ever since. (I'm with her, though -- although I don't go to sleep during the underwater parts, they are VERY dull.)

I haven't been able to enjoy Goldfinger as much since I watched it last year and noticed that Goldfinger brings in all the gangster leaders, explains his entire plot to them, and then -- for no apparent reason -- kills them. Why bother with the monologue? The whole scene doesn't make sense, and it bothers me. It's also different from the book; but none of the movies bear more than a superficial resemblance to the books that share their names, so I can't really complain about that. (Ian Fleming must have told the studio to show him the money and in return told them they could do anything they wanted.)

I can't wait for you to get to Live and Let Die -- it isn't as campy as, say, Moonraker, but it's completely over the top, fun to watch, and often just plain funny.

I've never shared the general enthusiasm for Connery as Bond, perhaps because I find his Bond films dated and slow. Roger Moore's films are fun, although he frequently takes his misoggyny to a point that I consider really offensive (bat her around and then take her to bed, etc.). I enjoyed Pierce Brosnan very much as Bond, and didn't think anyone could be better ... but then came Daniel Craig. My, my, my. I absolutely loved Casino Royale, and my entire family is counting the days until Quantum of Solace!

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bawiseconsulting writes:
on Oct 25 2008 11:57 AM

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ledawg1138 writes:
on Oct 25 2008 04:25 PM

Yes?

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markbart0305 writes:
on Oct 25 2008 04:47 PM

I absolutely loved Thunderball. I think it features the best dialogue of any Bond film, and Sean Connery's cocky persona is in full force here.

Also keep in mind that Thunderball is one of the highest grossing movies of all time when adjusted for inflation. It's #26 in fact, one above The Dark Knight.

(Reply to this)

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