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 enlarge | Director: Terence Young
Actors: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Rik Van Nutter
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $34.98
Buy Used: $2.99
You Save: $31.99 (91%)
New (10) Used (33) from $2.99
Rating:  192 reviews
Sales Rank: 35529
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 130 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0792842790
UPC: 027616785725
EAN: 9780792842798
ASIN: B00000K0E9
Theatrical Release Date: December 29, 1965
Release Date: October 19, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 6-10 of 192
 One of the greatest Bond movies of them all!! May 22, 2008
Stephen Pletko (London, Ontario, Canada)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
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It's difficult to believe that this movie is almost 45 years old (counting from the year of this review)!!!
(Sir) Sean Connery made six EON production (or "official") movies with him starring as James Bond. They were: Dr. No (1962); From Russia with Love (1963); Goldfinger (1964); Thunderball (1965); You Only Live Twice (1967); and Diamonds are Forever (1971).
As can be seen from the above list, "Thunderball" is the fourth spy film of the British Bond series. As well it is the fourth to star Connery as the fictional MI6 agent Commander James Bond (code number: 007).
This movie is based on the 1961 novel of the same name as the movie by Ian Fleming (1908 to 1964).
Briefly, 007's mission (code name: Thunderball) is to find two NATO nuclear bombs stolen by SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) who holds the world in ransom for not destroying with these bombs a major city in either England or the U.S. The search leads Bond to the Bahamas, where he encounters Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), the card-playing, eye-patch wearing SPECTRE #2 and a beautiful but deadly SPECTRE operative named Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi). Backed by the CIA and Largo's mistress Domino (Claudine Auger), Bond's search culminates into an underwater battle with Largo's henchmen.
The title song is belted out by singer (Sir) Tom Jones.
This movie has all the Bond ingredients: gadgets, witty dialogue with "Bondisms" (Bond's one-liners), incredible background music, beautiful Bond girls, a memorable villain, and plenty of action. Also in the cast is Miss Moneypenny, M, Q, and Felix. Gorgeous background scenery accompanies most scenes. (This movie was made on location in Paris, the Bahamas, and London, England.)
Sean Connery brings his characteristic savoir faire to the movie and he holds it together. A. Celi as Largo is an unforgettable foil to Connery's Bond. Kudos must go to Luciana Paluzzi for playing a memorable villainess. (In fact, so memorable that she had trouble getting acting jobs after the movie's release.)
The underwater scenes are spectacular. Some say they are too long but this is untrue. They just feel long because they're underwater where the action seems to be in slow motion.
It seems to me that the entire movie was carefully constructed. For instance, the voices of A. Celi as Largo and C. Auger as Domino are actually dubbed but it's difficult to tell this.
Here's an example of witty dialogue with a Bondism:
While visiting Largo's lair, he and Bond go to so some skeet shooting (using a rifle). Largo hits a moving skeet while carefully aiming.
Bond: "Perhaps you can call [a skeet] for me."
Largo: "Of course. Pull!"
Bond: "It seems terribly difficult."
(He hits a moving skeet seemingly not aiming and with his rifle at hip level.)
Bond: "No it isn't, is it?"
When first released, this movie earned about one hundred and forty-one million dollars worldwide. That's about nine-hundred and sixty-five million in today's dollars making it the highest grossing Bond film so far. It won a Academy Award for Best Effects (visual).
The DVD (the one released in Feb., 2007) is flawless in picture and sound quality. This movie has been digitally restored and I'm sure the picture is just as good (if not better!!) than when it was released almost 45 years ago. There is also superior sound. There are two extras in the form of audio commentaries.
Finally, here is some information to consider. This DVD is actually the first disc of the two disc "Ultimate Edition." Bond fanatics might want to purchase this two disc Ultimate Edition since the second disc has "the best collection of special features ever assembled for Bond." (Unfortunately, the Ultimate Edition is no longer available but can be purchased second-hand.)
In conclusion, to date this is the highest grossing Bond movie and some say the best one. I leave you with some more witty dialogue from this movie:
This dialogue occurs right before the example dialogue given above where Bond and Largo are about to do some skeet shooting. Largo is carrying a rifle for skeet shooting:
Bond: "That [rifle] looks more fitting for a women."
Largo: "Do you know much about [rifles and] guns, Mr. Bond?"
Bond: "No. I know a little about women."
(1965; 2 hr, 10 min; wide screen; 32 scenes)
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One of the best of the original Bonds... March 10, 2008
D. S. Thurlow (Alaska)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Sean Connery's fourth outing as James Bond, 1965's "Thunderball", finds him and the franchise in high gear in a spy extravaganza filmed on location in and around beautiful Nassau, the Bahamas. The underwater film sequences were pioneering at the time and hold up pretty well today.
As the movie opens, Bond is at a health spa in England, recovering from one of his recent adventures. He can't help getting involved in another. The clues he picks up at the spa will lead him to a SPECTRE plot to steal a British bomber with two nuclear bombs aboard, stash the bomber in the ocean, and sell the devices to the highest bidder. Bond ends up in the Bahamas, where his investigation leads him to SPECTRE agent Largo (played with haughty menace by Adolfo Celi) and his beautiful mistress Domino (Claudine Auger). The movie manages two equally thrilling climaxes. One is the huge underwater fight between British and American frogmen and Largo's SPECTRE henchmen. The second is a struggle between Bond and Largo for control of Largo's escape boat as it careens toward destruction on a reef.
Luciana Paluzzi is an added bonus as a gorgeous but deadly red-headed SPECTRE agent who dogs Bond's footsteps. Their meeting in his bathtub features one of the more priceless tongue-in-cheek Bond dialogues, as she asks for something to wear and he hands her a pair of sandals.
This movie is very highly recommended as one of the best of the original Bond movies, featuring Sean Connery at his wise-cracking best as the prototypical Bond.
THE BOND FEW REMEMBER February 19, 2008
J J BAGS (MASSACHUSETTS USA)
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Top rate Bond film, completely forgotten by many. As I've mentioned before, Connery is absolutely no match for a 2007 Matt Damon (Jason Bourne), but in 1965 he had no peer. As usual in these films, the plot is both simple and outrageous. An organized international banditry group wants to extort 1 million pounds from NATO countries. They steal a bomber with 2 armed nuclear warheads as ransom. Bond arrives both casually and late at headquarters, having nearly been already killed and having had his mandatory sexual encounters with two gorgeous underground types.(If you ever see Shirley Booth or Rose Marie in one of these films, they've accidentally wandered onto the wrong set). With time running out, again and again the enemy has a chance to put Mr. Bond away for good, but fails to do so, thus lengthening the film, but also enabling a wild, realistic finale,accompanied by beautiful photography and a stirring musical score. Do not let alleged inferior Bond films fool you; this production can stand tall against the best of the others.
 Bigger budget does not always make a better movie January 25, 2008
NoWireHangers (Sweden)
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
After the success of "Goldfinger", the Bond producers secured the film rights to "Thunderball" and tripled the budget. The basic plot is simple but good: Largo, working for Spectre, steals atomic missiles and demands a ransom. Unfortunately, "Thunderball" is considerably longer than the previous movies, but there's less plot. The script is dull and the direction lifeless. Most of the budget seems to have been spent on the underwater sequences. But they're not well made, only chaotic and go on for way too long. They become the anticlimax of a movie that had already lost my interest. "Thunderball" is one of the few Bond movies that manages to bore me. Not recommended.
Action Adventure at its best January 24, 2008
King Lemuel (Puyallup, WA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Thunderball is one of my all time favorite action adventure movies. I saw this movie when it was originally released as a young boy with my older brother at the Star Theater. It was perhaps the biggest blockbuster movie of the 1960s. It was as big a hit as Star Wars in the 1970s if not bigger. This is noteworthy because it was the fourth movie in the series. Most sequels in movie series start to loose steam. For example, Lethal Weapon 4 is not in the same league as compared to the first 2. The Bond series has great staying power and has been able to reinvent itself and stay fresh over the 21 or so installments.
I recently watched one of the original Star Trek TV series episodes from the 1960s. It really looked dated and even had a campy feeling to it. This is not true about Thunderball. The movie has aged well, though some of the special effects and some of the models used do look dated and not as realistic as current standards.
There has been a lot of debate about what Bond lead actor is the best or what the best Bond film is. As a young lad, I was fascinated by Dr. No and his steel hands. At present, From Russia With Love is my favorite Sean Connery Bond Film.
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