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"Don't worry, I'll tell the chef ": Thunderball Appreciation & Discussion

barryt007barryt007
edited June 2017 in Bond Movies Posts: 19,339
I sat down to watch TB on Sunday after trying for ages to watch it,and my 11 year old daughter came in and started watching it with me.
She was entranced by it,having only seen the 2 Craig films and maybe 2 of Brosnan's all the way through.

Knowing the complexity of TB i was surprised she got it all but she did and we had some lovely chats during it as well,including some laugh out loud moments for her (she loved "I don't know,could it be the front door bell ?!" and the one above ,"Don't worry,i'll tell the chef ")

This also for me was the most enjoyment i have had watching a Bond film for ages and i really really enjoyed TB this time round,even the underwater fights just seemed so much more enjoyable,all the individual battles etc.

So,this thread is for my newly found appreciation for TB and the fact that it has now jumped from #7 to #3 on my list !!
If this thread has been done before then i apologise,but little moments like this,and having quality time with my daughter,don't come often enough, so hats off to THUNDERBALL.
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Comments

  • PrinceKamalKhanPrinceKamalKhan Monsoon Palace, Udaipur
    edited April 2011 Posts: 3,262
    Quoting barryt007: This also for me was the most enjoyment i have had watching a Bond film for ages
    and i really really enjoyed TB this time round,even the underwater fights just
    seemed so much more enjoyable,all the individual battles etc.


    Glad to read of your enjoyment of TB, barryt007. :)

    For me, TB is THE ultimate Bond film. Other 007 films may have stronger storylines and certainly more recent ones have more updated technology and special effects, but TB just oozes classic Bond at the apex of the character's popularity and cinematic influnce. Connery in his 4th go round is his most superconfident ever in the role before boredom and/or weight gain would show while Misses Paluzzi, Auger, Beswick and Peters help make for the most impressive gallery of Bond girls to appear in a single Bond film. It's also the only Bond film in the series to combine the classic and classy style of Terence Young with the big-budget/Panavision epic style we'd become accustomed to later. It's my favorite series entry.
  • jaguar007jaguar007
    Posts: 638
    Oh. and I thought I was coming here for a Thunderball app for my Iphone :-D

    joking.

    Thunderball is great. I showed my 6 year old son the PTS just this past weekend because he started talking about jet packs. THe only Bond movie he has seen all the way though (with his eyes covered during a few scenes) is MR.
  • The_ReaperThe_Reaper
    Posts: 1,092
    Well said, PrinceKamalKhan. It IS the ultimate Bond adventure, the big, brawny, take no prisoners Bond flick that feels and acts like the huge BO champ it was. It has the iconic, massive, take over the world plot by the evil SPECTRE, Bond and the other 00's scrambling to stop them before the stolen nucelar weapon is set off.

    It's a great fricking movie, around #6 for me on my current list. It's Bond and Connery at their peak, everything the next film (23) should be. High stakes, tough villians that don't pull any punches and have incredible reasources with which to bring to bear against Bond, I mean, you really feel like he is out of his league and only his brains and training and bravery allow him to over come them.

    I can't see how any Bond fan doesn't think TB is flat out awesome.
  • RogueThunderballRogueThunderball
    Posts: 306
    @barryt007 - Glad to hear of your new-found appreciation!
    I absolutely love Thunderball, and always have. It's consistently been at #2 in my past rankings. There is nothing I don't enjoy about the film. It ranks in the top tier of Bond films that I never get tired of and enjoy watching every time. And to quote The_Reaper
    Quoting The_Reaper: I can't see how any Bond fan doesn't think TB is flat out awesome.
  • saunderssaunders Living in a world of avarice and deceit
    Posts: 987
    There is certainly an awfull lot to like about TB, it has one of the most exotic locations, a great central plot, beautiful actresses, menacing villains, great humour, the most thrilling big battle sequence of the series and all set in the classic golden era of Bond. If only the script and directing was a little bit tighter and Connery was still attempting to play the literary character as he did in the first two films then this could of been the greatest Bond of all!
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    Posts: 11,189
    I don't think TB is one of the "finest" films in terms of quality but its certainly great fun nonetheless. At the moment its number 11 on my list so slap bang in the middle.

    As people have said above, it looks classy and has several classic scenes, aswell as characters like Largo and Fiona so there is plenty to rave about.

    Like it or not though, some people hate it.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    blockquote>Quoting jaguar007: Oh. and I thought I was coming here for a Thunderball app for my Iphone :D


    On the old site you had a limited amount of space you could use for a thread title,so,as i copied and pasted it here,it remained the same.

    Now extended to the full word !
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,582
    TB is scattered with great, quotable dialogue, terrific set peices, Connery on top form, stunning Bond girls (best ever maybe?). Yet somehow it doesn't all hang together as well as you feel it should.
    Having said that, it's one of the Bonds I go back to time and time again.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,142
    For to long Thunderball hung in my mediocre at best Bond pile. Then as with others (recently YOLT) it has been seen in the correct light.
    Now I'd rank TB as one of my firm favourites easily outdoing the likes of the over rated GF.
    I loved your story Bazza of sitting down with your daughter to watch Bond. It just makes the whole experience so much more enjoyable. Like passing on the Bond torch.
    I too recently had a similar experience, I think even with TB, but certainly with TSWLM. Foxtel in Australia had a Bondathon last month, and mini benny and myself watched a few together.
    Thunderball has all the right ingredients that made Bond. Girls, gadgets and hugely entertaining. Always re-watchable, quotable and enjoyable.
    Here comes the biggest Bond of all.


    Untill Bond reached his All Time High. ;-)
  • RunawayRunaway
    Posts: 24
    Flawless (well almost bar the monotony of the underwater fight sequences), this has long been in my top 5 Bonds and is currently sitting at No. 3.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    No other Bond film looks as good as Thunderball does. The colour and it's cinematography are outstanding.
  • 00Beast00Beast
    Posts: 4,762
    Thunderball sits in my top 10! Many people think that Goldfinger is when everything came together for Bond, but even it had its share of flaws. I really think that TB did it in setting Bond off on its near 50 year span. Everything fit together just nicely: Sean Connery as Bond, SPECTRE, the nuclear threat plot, Q's amazing gadgets (the most given to him in 1 movie, no doubt), the action above and under the water, Domino, Pat, and Paula as the girls, and even the scenes at MI6 weren't a complete bore! Bond 23 really needs to review TB before making any huge decisions.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    I strongly agree with most everything that PrinceKamalKhan says. The one thing I would say is that I consider TB to be the "biggest" Bond film up until that time instead of the greatest.

    So many wonderful things, most especially the absolutely amazing dialogue. THIS is how humour should be done in a Bond film, not the junior school level double entendres of the Moore years or Christmas jokes.

    Unfortunately the slow pacing really hurts it for me. I read where someone who saw it in the theatre when it first came out said that the underwater cinematography was so amazing at the time that the audience wanted to "drink it all in" (pun intended). So to the initial audiences those sequences didn't seem slow or boring at all.

    Still, a great film and a great Bond film.
  • barryt007barryt007
    edited January 2017 Posts: 19,339
    How do people feel about the Shrublands scenes ?

    I think they are quite spooky in atmosphere ,and ConneryBond's one-liners are brilliant here..
    Its #5 on my list.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I really enjoy them. It's fun seeing Bond doing his job while technically not on the job. His work has a way of finding him sometimes and I just enjoy that.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Exactly,the one-liner of :

    Woman: What is that ?
    Bond : I dont know...could it be the front door bell ?

    Just cracks me up every time..Connery is the ultimate cool (apart from the rack) in this film...hence #5..
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,170
    I love the Shrublands scenes. Lippe. Sean sneaking around at night. Great stuff. Ever since I saw Sean roll his sleeves all the way up I've made that a habit myself.
    Sean is in top form here and at his best.
    Thunderball ranked as my number one Bond for decades, and is still very close,
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Where's the kickstarter? Thunderball has my favorite Connery oneliners. Tied with Dr. No.
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 16,170
    I must be six inches taller.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Exactly chaps ,see what i mean ?
    TB is slated for its slow underwater scenes and ending.

    The underwater scenes,i think,in 1965 ,deserve respect...the ending,i admit,is shit...hence it isnt going to knock QOS at #4 off its perch but it needs to be careful as OP is #6 right behind it,and i am emotionally linked to that film.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I'm fine with the underwater scenes. Sure they are a bit slow but that's part of the charm for me. The ending is okay too in my book.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Murdock wrote: »
    I'm fine with the underwater scenes. Sure they are a bit slow but that's part of the charm for me. The ending is okay too in my book.

    Exactly,we are talking 1965 here......and its loyal to much of the novel,and had the,pardon the pun,spectre ,of McClory hanging over it,so i think it was a brilliant job,and my ranking of it shows it..

    Add to it,Van Nutter's Felix,which is the closest to Fleming's and the exotic scenery etc and its not hard to see how this film is so brilliant.

  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Thunderball is Bond greatness. It battles Dr. No for my favorite Connery Bond film. It's hard to rank them sometimes since I love them equally.
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    Ooh i would give that to TB ..only FRWL rivals TB to me...TB is #5 and FRWL #2 at the moment !!
  • Crazysoul95Crazysoul95
    Posts: 3,336
    "Where's the kickstarter"?
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    "I must be 6 inches taller "
  • NSGWNSGW London
    edited January 2017 Posts: 299
    "See you later, alligator"
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,283
    Murdock wrote: »
    I'm fine with the underwater scenes. Sure they are a bit slow but that's part of the charm for me. The ending is okay too in my book.

    That's exactly how I feel to. I enjoy the tussle on board the Disco Volante a lot more than most.
  • timdalton007timdalton007 North Alabama
    Posts: 155
    I did a major re-watch of all the Bond films in 2011-12 in the lead up to Skyfall for something called "BlogalongaBond" and I have to say Thunderball came out on top for me there. I had seen all the films before of course but never in release order, one after the other, and I was struck both seeing it early on and when I'd finished about just how good it was. In a way it's the perfect combination of elements: drawing from Fleming's novel, the elements the film brought in, Connery's confident performance as Bond (before he started to sleepwalk through the films like he did with YOLT and DAF), and an assured production throughout. I love the underwater stuff myself and the ending fight remains my favorite Bond fight sequence. It's just a well made, enjoyable, and even suspenseful film and it's virtually everything I want from a Bond film.

    timdalton007
  • barryt007barryt007
    Posts: 19,339
    It is indeed a beautiful piece of film...well said @timdalton007 !!!
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