Thunderball
Dir: Terence Young
1965
****
Thunderball is the ninth book in Ian Flemming's 007 series and the fourth movie adaptation of the franchise. It was no easy feat getting it onto the big screen. Thunderball was originally a screenplay co-written by Flemming, his friend Ivar Bryce, Bryce's friend Ernest Cuneo and a young writer called Kevin McClory, that was to be the first James Bond film released under their newly founded production company Xanadu. It's fair to say that Flemming, McClory and Jack Whittingham (whom McClory invited to the project after Flemming lost interest) wrote the bulk of the script. The original title was going to be either SPECTRE or James Bond of the Secret Service but the process never got that far. Flemming lost interest and McClory and Whittingham went away and wrote a reworked screenplay that they titled Longitude 78 West. Flemming liked it and became more proactive in the project and suggested they approach MCA and that McClory should produce. The truth is, Flemming went off to his house in Jamaica (called Goldeneye) and wrote the novel Thunderball based on McClory and Whittingham's reworked script. Flemming was promptly taken to court, he won the rights to the novel but McClory and Whittingham won the rights to the film although he was given the right to appeal. Flemming became increasingly ill after suffering a heart attack during the case and the case was agreed out of court. Nine months after the court case Flemming died of a heart attack, a year later Thunderball was in cinemas with McClory as producer and it wouldn't be the last Bond film he'd be attached to (see Never Say Never Again). Considering how ridiculous the story could be at times, Thunderball is pretty great. The start of the film sees Bond chase off a SPECTRE operative, who is dressed as his own widow, at his own funeral. He then escapes using a Jetpack. It sounds like a spoof but it isn't, although it has influenced quiet a few, beginning with 1967's Casino Royale. Sean Connery by this point is bond and can do no wrong. Claudine Auger's Domino is a fan favorite and I've always thought Adolfo Celi's Emilio Largo is an underrated Bond baddie. There is no denying though that Thunderball lacks a certain something compared to its predecessors. The underwater scenes are a little over done and the run time is pretty long. It was nice to see Terence Young back on directional duties but the character and series had moved on in a big way during his one film absence although I've always loved the shark in a swimming pool scene.