Review of Thunderball (1965) by Benjamin G — 21 Jun 2009

The fourth of the Sean Connery James Bond films, Thunderball is definitely a mixed bag, its thrilling action highlights separated by long stretches of tedium. By the time Thunderball was released, producers Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli had given up taking Bond seriously; thus, the film is full of groanable one-liners from Sean Connery (after nailing a villain with a speargun, he mutters "I believe he got the point") and serial-like dialogue along the lines of "Don't kill him.

I have a better plan." After a dreary, drawn-out underwater battle, the film comes to a rousing conclusion in a runaway hydrofoil. Nearly kept off the screen due to a plagiarism suit concerning the original Ian Fleming novel, Thunderball proved as a big a cash cow as the early Bondfests; it was remade in 1983 as Never Say Never Again, again with Sean Connery in the lead.