Thunderball - James Bond

As a fan of the spy genre I liked all the early James Bond films. My favorite was Thunderball. I like the older Bond films best as I think that Sean Connery made the best bond. The film was directed by Terrence Young. It also starred Claudine Auger as Domino and Adolfo Celi as the nemesis Largo.

The film follows Commander Bond as he searches for two missing nuclear bombs that SPECTER is holding for a 1oo million pound ransom. Bond begins at a health spa and follows the trail to the Bahamas and the one eyed villain Emilio Largo. Meeting up with the CIA agent Felix Leiter and recruiting Largo’s mistress Domino the film leads to a fantastic underwater battle with divers shooting each other with spear guns and battling sharks.

The Mystery begins when the pilot of a weapons plane is killed and a surgically altered look alike is substituted. The pilot we learn later is the brother of the lovely Domino. Bond had been sent to the Spa that this takes place at by M and later will recognize the impostor in a somewhat convenient plot twist. The tropical settings and underwater photography elevate this film above the other early Bond films although I enjoyed them all. I enjoyed the Carnival scenes with the steel drum music complimenting the scantily clad island dancing girls.

James avoids death by traction and by shark in addition to dodging bullets and spears adding to the excitement. Along with the cool diving gear they also introduce the Jet pack to the mix. The film ends with Bond and Domino escaping the crash of Largo’s yacht by jumping into the sea and being rescued by a sky hook equipped United States Navy rescue plane. The jet pack was an effect created using CO2 bottles but the sky hook was real.

-James