Thunderball was the fourth installment into the 007 film series, but it was the first Bond film to really come of age. Thunderball far exceeds its predecessors in almost every category possible. With the financial success of Goldfinger, the coast was easily paved for the next James Bond thriller. And Thunderball was it. Thunderball had the highest box-office turnout for any Bond film until it was surpassed by Octopussy in 1983. However, Thunderball still remains today as the Bond film to have the highest U.S. admissions at $78.4 million.

Thunderball is an up-and-down roller coaster ride and one of the best films of the series. It is by far and wide the finest Sean Connery performance surpassed only by 1971's Diamonds are Forever. We begin the film with Bond killing a crooked Colonel and fleing his henchmen on a rocket powered jet pack. The scene with Connery fleeing with it is a projection, but someone actually designed and used one for the scene. I thought this was incredible and it started the movie off with an incredible bang. The credit sequence, designed by Maurice Binder, was the first one that started the Bond-esque tradition. The credit sequences of the previous three films were not very well done, but Thunderball's was excellent.

Bond begins his investigation by travelling to a health spa somewhere in France. While he is there, he encounters the deviant Count Lippe while he is recieving a massage. Bond notices a red marking on Lippe's wrist which Bond remarks is a "Tong sign". Lippe almost eliminates 007 while he is being stretched on "the rack" by turning the level up too high. Bond survives and retaliates by locking him in a steam machine. I love the health spa scenario because we are consorting with an assorted cast of characters. We have Count Lippe, the man who is being made to look like Angelo Derval, and Miss Violpe. One of the great scenes here is when Lippe's men are bringing in the "real" Angelo Derval, who has been killed. Bond sees them outside his window and decides to go for a little "excersize". He ends up uncovering Derval and figuring out what is going on. This is an important observation because later in the film, Bond tells "M" that he saw Angelo at the spa when he was supposedly flying the Vulcan aircraft. Given this observation, 007 and "M" suspect troubles abound and James goes to Nassau in the Bahamas to look for his sister, Domino.

That is one great thing about Thunderball: the locales. I can't think of any other Bond film that has given us such spectacular scenarios and magnificent beauty. The underwater scenes are fantastic in the film. There is one fixture that adds to the film's beauty in addition to the location: the girl. Domino Derval (Claudine Auger), is the finest Bond girl in the entire series. I found her to be an instant attraction and a very likeable character. Not to mention she is simply gorgeous! She, in essence, made the movie for me. I like the Mardi Gras scene somewhere in the middle of the film. Fiona Violpe and her henchmen are chasing James through the streets and past the parade floats. As James fled the car, he was shot in the ankle. An interesting sidenote: This is the first and only time in Bond history when 007 has suffered a gunshot wound.

James Bond infiltrates the operation by posing as one of Largo's men and as they are preparing the atomic bombs underwater, Largo recognizes that it is 007, which sets the stage for an underwater chase. Typically, Bond evades them and reaches shore where he is pulled aboard Felix Leiter's helicopter. Prelude to the finale. the Coast Guard sends several men to battle Largo's men in an all-out, full-scale underwater battle. The climax is great: everybody fighting with one another with knives and harpoon guns. Some of the scenes looked very realistic. In particular, the scene where someone shoots a harpoon through another's elbow looks excruciatingly painful. I grab my arm everytime I see that. Back aboard the Disco Volante, Largo's ship, Emilio is making for a clean get away. But Bond has slipped aboard the craft and takes care of Largo and his henchmen, and rescues Domino. The boat rears out of control as 007 and Domino must jump before the ship crashes into a rock cliff. The climax was a slam-bang, exciting, heart-pounding sequence.

In Thunderball, the action never let up; the scenes were among the finest in the series; Domino is the best Bond girl of all time; and the climax left you wanting more. All in hand, Thunderball is a pull-out-the-stops, dynamic, full-throttle thriller of the highest caliber.

Overall Rating: A-

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