Thunderball

Thunderball is definitely one of the worst Bond films, after the 1st act nothing exciting happens and it is rather boring.

Whilst he isn't quite as megalomaniac as "Auric Goldfinger"; Adolfo Celi is great here as "Largo" - the Spectre agent charged with their most ambitious mission yet. A great deal of meticulous planning has gone into their scheme to hijack an RAF plane carrying nuclear missiles that they intend to blackmail the world with. "M" (Bernard Lee) despatches "007" (Sean Connery) to investigate, a global journey that ultimately ends up in the Caribbean Sea. The film has oodles of pace and sexiness; the story is probably the best of the original Ian Fleming adaptations (by Richard Maibaum) and the last half hour finds us dabbling with sharks and scuba-divers armed with lethal spears; underwater jet-craft and ultimately a cracking boat chase with the original super-yacht - the "Disco Volante". Claudine Auger as "Domino" is one of my favourite, fiestiest "Bond Girls" - loads of attitude and glamour with just a hint of dastardliness of her own; and the characterisations are rich enough across the board to offer us a really superior, well put together, action adventure topped off with a rousing theme from John Barry, Don Black and a superlative Tom Jones.

This is the hay day of Bond. We get it all. Stunning women, great gadgets, non stop action, wit, and the exotic scenery that make 007 films so iconic. We also get the two greatest evil henchmen deaths in 007 film History, and may in film History. The boardroom assassination sticks out, because we know which of the two men is the embezzler by his demeanor. Innocent men have no idea how to prove their innocence, and so they sweat. It is the guilty man who thinks he has his tracks covered. The other henchman death is little fish "Quist", in a scene brutal and brilliant. The underwater battle scene still remains to this day as the most action packed and best directed underwater action scene in Film History. There is so much else going for this film that it would take ten pages to explain. Suffice to say it is a top five 007 film. I rank it about with Goldfinger. Goldfinger has more charm, while Thunderball has more excitement.and action.I usually rank Goldfinger 4th and this one 3rd, but I go back and forth on that.