Is Thunderball Overrated?

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  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,830
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    the speed at which the yacht is traveling really throws me off while Bond and Largo have their fight.
    And when Largo turns around with the spear in him, it's so painfully obvious that there's a wood plank holding it in place underneath his wet suit. I don't even want to get the Blu Ray...
    [-X
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,011
    @chrisisall, those underwater sequences on blu-ray are incredibly beautiful, though. I love them.
  • I think there was a tight schedule in finishing TB, so there was a loss of quality control. Same with QoS - the director complained he didn't have enough time to oversee the editing and perfect it to his liking.

    I would rather see the finale with Barry's This Never Happened to the Other Fellow score, also used for the bob sleigh finale, as the music is far more sophisticated imo.
  • Posts: 15,229
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    the speed at which the yacht is traveling really throws me off while Bond and Largo have their fight.
    And when Largo turns around with the spear in him, it's so painfully obvious that there's a wood plank holding it in place underneath his wet suit. I don't even want to get the Blu Ray...
    [-X

    And Joseph Wiseman does not really have metal hands.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,830
    Ludovico wrote: »
    And Joseph Wiseman does not really have metal hands.

    Go ahead, destroy the fantasy.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,344
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    And Joseph Wiseman does not really have metal hands.

    Go ahead, destroy the fantasy.

    Next they'll be telling us Santa isn't real! ;)
  • As someone who believes Connery is overrated (the horror lol), TB is his best turn as Bond. Now, I can't argue logically with someone who feels that FRWL is the best Connery performance, but I feel TB is the "slightly" better movie for the following reasons; Domino is Smoking, SPECTRE's Evil plot, I like Largo and feel he would have fed Goldfinger to the sharks at the "Golden Grotto of course lol), another haunting Barry score (the motif that plays when e.g. Bond goes snooping & the 007 theme during the underwater battle), I even like the sped up finale-the frenetic pace, for me, accentuates the stakes of Bond needing to win this fight to stop this psychopath-BTW as I am watching these again in order, this is the 2nd time a "girl" has prevented Bond from being toast. TB-easily top 5 Bond!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    An epic Bond film, a little slow in the middle but one of the greats.
  • As someone who believes Connery is overrated (the horror lol), TB is his best turn as Bond. Now, I can't argue logically with someone who feels that FRWL is the best Connery performance, but I feel TB is the "slightly" better movie for the following reasons; Domino is Smoking, SPECTRE's Evil plot, I like Largo and feel he would have fed Goldfinger to the sharks at the "Golden Grotto of course lol), another haunting Barry score (the motif that plays when e.g. Bond goes snooping & the 007 theme during the underwater battle), I even like the sped up finale-the frenetic pace, for me, accentuates the stakes of Bond needing to win this fight to stop this psychopath-BTW as I am watching these again in order, this is the 2nd time a "girl" has prevented Bond from being toast. TB-easily top 5 Bond!

    You consider Largo more menacing than Auric Goldfinger and Connery overrated? Wow!
  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    Posts: 1,731
    To the orginal posters question - probably, yes.

    But it's still Bond (Connery) at his absolute slickest and has a great script. Those two elements are rare in a Bondfilm t.b.h and that puts TB firmly in my top 5.
  • Posts: 15,229
    Largo is more menacing that Goldfinger imo. He may not put Bond in as tight a spot, personally, but his men and Volpe do. He is a far more capable fighter than the obese Goldfinger, does not shy away from getting his hands dirty, literally, and the torture of Domino as well as the way he looks after are simply chilling.
  • Ludovico wrote: »
    Largo is more menacing that Goldfinger imo. He may not put Bond in as tight a spot, personally, but his men and Volpe do. He is a far more capable fighter than the obese Goldfinger, does not shy away from getting his hands dirty, literally, and the torture of Domino as well as the way he looks after are simply chilling.

    Funny how different things are perceived. To the best of my knowledge not even the producers considered him dangerous enough. Hell, they even had him wear the eyepatch just to have him look a little more sinister. Sure he gets his hands dirty,but that doesn't equal a menacing aura. To me Gerd Frobes performance had not been equaled until Philip Seymour Hoffman starred in MI 3.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Funny that the brother from Everybody Loves Raymond looks exactly the same 50 years later.
  • Posts: 15,229
    The eyepatch is a trope to identify him as a villain. It does give him a bit more menace. But even his aquiline nose gives him a predatory look far.more menacing imo than Frobe.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I also think Celi is very close to how Fleming described Largo in the book.
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    Posts: 4,589
    TB is not overrated. If anything, it tends to be underrated.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,830
    TripAces wrote: »
    TB is not overrated. If anything, it tends to be underrated.
    If the ending had been as in the novel I would agree with you, as is I think it gets a relatively fair shake in the end.
  • Posts: 1,146
    THis is simply one of the best films in the series.
    Lots of fun and a huge scope that was contained by a good story, not like later on when the story was so big it got away from the filmmakers. The underwater stuff still impresses me to this day. Bond was rarely better.
  • w2bondw2bond is indeed a very rare breed
    Posts: 2,252
    If the pacing was better (cut down the underwater stuff) this would easily be top 5, but unfortunately I have to judge the film as a whole. Everything else is just superb, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", I'd say the best script in the series and Connery just acts so cool in this film. In TB he looks like he's having fun, whereas in DN and FRWL he's more a classy and sophisticated kind of cool
  • Posts: 15,229
    I actually love the underwater sequences and think they need to be long.
  • Posts: 1,146
    Ludovico wrote: »
    I actually love the underwater sequences and think they need to be long.

    Not only do I agree with that, I would state that at the time it was a pretty amazing achievement to depict so much of the story underwater.
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    Posts: 4,589
    The film crackles with wit.

    "That gun looks more fitting for a woman."/"Do you know much about guns, Mr. Bond?"/"No, I know a little about women."

    "Some men don't like to be driven."/"No, some men just don't like to be taken for a ride."
    :))
  • Posts: 1,146
    The 'know a little bit about women' line might be my favorite in the whole series.
    Still makes me chuckle.
  • Posts: 1,098
    Is TB over rated?.............no i don't think so.

    It does have some slow scenes, such as the camourflaging of the Vulcan bomber (there really wasn't a need to show every peg being hammered into the seabed.

    BUT..........overall it was fantastic film, and you have to put the film into context of where the world was at, during the mid-sixties.
    The film makers obviously after the success of GF, could only go in one direction, and that was to make the next film even more spectacular..............and the public were craving for this.............you only have to look at the admission figures, particularly in North America, which totally dwarf those attained by more recent Bond films (inc. SF), to realise, what a phenomenem this film was.

    TB during its theatrical run in 1966...........having Sean Connery at his Bond best, and a great underwater fight scene, must of been quite special to of seen, all those years ago.
  • No matter how many times I try to watch it, I still can't warm up to it.
  • Posts: 1,098
    No matter how many times I try to watch it, I still can't warm up to it.

    WHY ?

  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    Posts: 4,589
    The 'know a little bit about women' line might be my favorite in the whole series.
    Still makes me chuckle.

    =D>
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,830
    TB was the last hint of Fleming we got from Connery... YOLT was fun, but it starred spectacle, not Bond. DAF was Flint-time, mostly.
  • Posts: 533
    I enjoyed it very much, despite the underwater sequences.
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