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tbh it's one of the things I like in his portrayal in TB the most. He's got a sense of urgency, duty and efficiency here, whilst still enjoying the setting. For me this is the most Bondian Connery possible.
The sense of urgency never really came through for me.
Despite being 'on the clock' with Spectre's demands, Bond is moving at a fairly leisurely pace. The sense of immediacy and peril was better demonstrated in YOLT.
This is really my main issue with the actual plot of TB - Bond arrives in Nassau and spends an hour just meandering around the island and mildly provoking Largo. We know Largo has the bombs but it takes Bond ages to catch-up. Instead of trying to throw Bond off - Largo just gives him more impetus to query him. A momentum that Bond doesn't really capitalise on till late in the picture.
Do we agree with any of the criticisms raised in this video? I kinda hate these videos, but they do occasionally make a valid point.
Pat Fearing is one of the elements of TB that doesn't receive enough praise. She's a minor Bond girl of course but that's partially why I love her so much. Somebody foreign and oblivious to Bond's world. And she's a naughty nurse as well!
Really?
for me the whole Scrublands part of the film is hideously cringeworthy. It really ruins a lot of the momentum. Plus, Bond is at his creepiest during that whole segment with the nurse. The south of England just isn't that exciting a locale as well. The hazing with Count Lippe is monotonous and dull.
The only reason it's in the film is to establish the death of Francoise Derval.
Personally, I think NSNA made much smarter choices when incorporating the health clinic into the film. There was a much more subversive and clever idea at work there.
TB feels terribly dated with those scenes - otherwise, I genuinely feel the movie could go head to head with any major blockbuster today in regards to spectacle.
In a film that runs for 130 minutes, it’s somewhat appalling that it takes 45 minutes till the actual plot mechanisms come into well.
Schrublands is a pleasant excursion but it’s wholly unessesary and slows it down. The fact the film adds stupid elements like the naughty nurse and the rack table just a adds more inconsequential time to the plot.
It’s just bad screenwriting in a thriller to have such a slow and uninvolving element.
Though, it may be worth it just to see how good Connery looks and dresses in some of those scenes:
I'm more unforgiving about the later section of the film after Bond kills Vargas. That's where I sort of lose interest, during all those underwater sequences without any talking. I think NSNA does a far better job during the finale.
I think both TB and YOLT do an admittedly better job with the race against the clock to save the world than later entries such as TSWLM or MR do.
But YOLT also takes its good old time with superfluous scenes such as training as a ninja and getting married, which Tiger insists on even after Bond stresses "Tiger, we must get to that island," only to be told "just two more days training." Of course, if they went immediately to the island then there wouldn't be that last second blowing up of the SPECTRE space capsule and all that.
The YOLT villains make as many if not more mistakes thank Largo such as Osato trying to kill Bond after meeting with him. Nothing like piling on the suspicion.
Blofeld also made a very dumb decision by having his helicopter goons attack Bond in Little Nellie. Bond reports in that there's nothing there but volcanoes and is about to return to base when he's attacked. Blofeld didn't exactly order his execution for that.
Bond's dalliance with Kissy while climbing the volcano also didn't aid in his investigation. The clock is ticking and he's making out.
Also, what good did Bond's going undercover as Fisher to visit Osato do to further the investigation? He's a fake businessman wanting to get a license to manufacture. When you also consider how in the world Tiger could set up such an appointment with this top executive seemingly overnight and it is even more puzzling.
I could probably fill a book with things in YOLT that don't make sense or just happen that we're supposed to just accept probably more so than in any other Bond movie.
Adds to the suspense.
Also some wonderful one-liners in there as well.
The best cast of women in the series, easily.
All of them are stunning.
I must now rank:
1) The staggering and dangerous Paluzzi. Her introduction is like an atom bomb going off, pardon the pun.
2) Auger is a very close two, number one on some days.
3) Beswick, who is no slouch and would carry most films on her own.
4) Molly Peters in the mink scene is just amazing.
Totally agree....its the sexiest in the series for sure and sits at #5 in my rankings and i'm sure when I next watch it,it will jump to 4th over QOS.
I went back and watched a few parts from TB again last night - and feel I may have been a little nitpicky and overly critical in my review on the other page. It's a hugely enjoyable and entertaining movie. It requires very little from the audience aside from hoping they are thoroughly entertained and leave with a grin on their faces.
It's heaps of fun. I really enjoyed it. Sure, it's lightweight froth - but it's an expertly executed and charming film.
Also, a few additional thoughts. I was surprised to see that Philip Stone has a very small role as the Spectre agent in the opening meeting in Paris. This was a shock as I recently watched The Shining and he rather iconically played the role of Grady in that film.
I'd also like to point out how indelibly cool this photo of Bond and Paula on the speedboat is. For me it perfectly encapsulates the tone of TB - it's chic, glamorous, aspirational, whilst oozing luxury and sex-appeal.
Also, could someone confirm me if TB is the only Bond film that doesn't have a 'JAMES BOND WILL RETURN...' at the end.
It's everything Bond should be.
If you ask the average person whether they prefer Goldfinger or Thunderball they will usually say the former due to it's iconography, but to me the latter has and always will be the superior film. Everything from the title sequence to the finale are mesmerising. Sean Connery is at the peak of his powers in this film and his swagger, masculinity and animal-magnetism are undeniable. The dialogue throughout the film is fantastic, but then again who's surprised when you've got Young behind the lens. The duo of Connery and Young is as scintillating as that of Lazenby and Hunt. Young understood what makes a great Bond film as evident in Dr. No and this is no exception. The dialogue is brilliant and Connery delivers one-liner after one-liner in such a way that doesn't feel camp, but rather classic. The cinematography in Thunderball is equivocally some of the best in the series and the underwater scenes were groundbreaking at the time and still hold up today. Bond's style in this film is also one of the best in the series with Connery wearing classic Bondesque pieces such as Wayfarer's and navy polos. John Barry's score is his best behind On Her Majesty's Secret Service and particularly during the underwater scenes are breathtaking. The supporting cast is brilliant with characters such as Fiona Volpe or Domino Derval. The relationship between Bond and Largo is superior to that of Bond and Golfinger and the repartee between the two is some of the best in the franchise. The scene where all the OO agents meet in a single room to discussion the mission, has to be one of the best moments in the series. To me Thunderball is also a film which wasn't afraid to show Bond in danger which I really appreciate.The chase sequence where Connery is being hunted down by Fiona and the Spectre agents stands out to me. I love that following the outlandish gadgetry of the DB5 in Goldfinger that every tool that Bond was given in Thunderball feels grounded in reality, even the Bell Rocket Belt in the title sequence was a legitimate and genuine device developed for the US Army in the 1950's. I could gush about this film for a long time.
GF is admittedly the film that started the spy boom and TB was the big bang at its peak. I think the two films can coincide together in their importance to the series and pop culture. I really think it was YOLT that pushed it over the edge.
Yeah, I read a lot of criticisms of TB being the point where the gadgets and machinery start to take over, but Connery really is the glue that holds it all together.
Add in the devilish Fiona Volpe and the rest of S.P.E.C.T.R.E and you have the makings of a great stand off and chase through the junkanoo.
The flaws of this film are many and yet I can overlook most. The hijacking of the plane takes up a ton of time, or maybe it just feels like it did. The searching for the plane is another waste of time. Why would Largo keep the bombs on the plane? Of course he wouldn't so why look for it. Oh just so Bond can provide the dog tags and effects to Domino? The gadgets aren't as impressive here and really don't serve the film well in terms of science. A pill that will be picked up on a radar? Who much radiation is in that thing? A re-breather that looks like it holds about 30 seconds of air?
But for all that I still love this film and would always have it in my top 5.
The thing I will say about the gadgets is at least he doesn't just have them by coincidence - I'm looking at you, convenient mini safecracker from YOLT - and Q equips them to be a necessary part of his mission. The radioactive pill is questionable, especially since Bond had a homer in the previous mission, but the rebreather was impressive enough that actual defense officials supposedly called Peter Lamont to ask how it worked. The jet pack, yeah, you could argue it was, but that was the pretitles, so I'm looking more at the film proper.
And Bond still had to use his wits to survive in the most perilous things he faced in the film, the gadgets weren't a cop-out way of his survival. I think back to the explosive pen of TB remake NSNA saving Bond from Fatima Blush.
Searching for the plane was necessary to confirm the suspicions of Largo having hijacked it. Having the evidence of Domino's brother's belongings helps, so it wasn't a flimsy excuse. Plus we get to see Golden Grotto sharks and a clue from earlier in the film when Largo mentions it is put into play. It works for me, at least. I just always loved that footage of the clear water and the eeriness of the dive into the plane. It captures some of what Fleming wrote, one of his most effective passages.
I have no problems with the Shrublands sequence.
I love how even moments that don't particularly stand out in the iconography of Thunderball when one immediately thinks of the film are brilliant. I love the OO briefing and the scale of the Ken Adams set is awesome.
Love that scene. I always wondered why Pohlmann never played Blofeld in the flesh, I'm YOLT or OHMSS. Was he a much better voice actor than "plain" actor? Did he lack physical presence?
Do you know where she's now?
Nassau, sir.
Do you think she's worth going after?
I wouldn't quite put it that way, sir.
Love it.
What I also like in that scene is how quick M shuts down the military officer when he doubts Bond's story about the dead Derval, although I can't blame the guy at the same time as "Derval" was seen boarding the Vulcan. Same later in the film when the snooty foreign secretary dismisses Bond's hunches.
One of the many things I like about Lee's M was he was able to stand up to Bond and keep him in check when necessary, but quick to praise or defend him in front of others; I think of the scene after going to Drax's empty lab in MR in front of an angry Frederick Gray or in front of Gogol in TWSLM. It's these scenes that make me so much less impressed with Dench's M. It's this sense that makes me so much less impressed with Judi Dench's M, who seemed more intent on putting Bond down although he was saving face for her over and over.
+1
This might sound odd, but Connery's hair in Goldfinger always irritated me, whereas it's spot on in Thunderball.