Binge-watching Bond part 4: 'Thunderball'

Thunderball, the fourth Sean Connery Bond film, is inevitably a little bit of a letdown from Goldfinger -- but it's still a lot of fun.

This film was actually an even bigger box office hit and for while held the record for highest grossing Bond film, and would still rank near the top when the numbers are adjusted for inflation. Bond mania reached its pinnacle with this film, which built of the success of Goldfinger to go more over the top in every way.
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Connery's Bond is more violent and sexist here, and the sexuality is more knowingly explicit. It was 1965 after all and a sexual revolution was just bubbling under the surface.

The evil Spectre society re-emerges here after a brief hiatus with Goldfinger and the scenes involving the still unseen Blofeld clearly provided some of the best bits of fodder for Mike Myers to exploit later for laughs with the Austin Powers films.

There are some dated bits in this one that mark it a cut just below the previous three.

The plot takes a bit to long to come into focus, the villain pales in comparison to Goldfinger and Dr. No, and the underwater battle finale -- which was groundbreaking fifty years ago, feels overlong and overwrought now. Also, somehow, Connery's toupes seem to get worse with each film instead of better.

Still, Connery was so in ownership of the role at this point and he is clearly having a ball here being indisputably "The Man," even though what was once viewed as seduction would be perceived as assault today.

Luciana Paluzzi

One of the more interesting developments is the first true female villain who is also a sex object. This became a hallmark of the series going forward -- Roger Ebert wrote about it far more articulately than I, that most Bond films have a bad girl who seems good and a good girl who seems bad. Pussy Galore from Goldfinger would be the latter and the voluptuous Luciana Paluzzi would be the former.

Although these women are often used and dispatched in less than savory ways they do tend to be stronger female icons than you would expect to encounter in a 007 film, and they are often the sexier foil for our hero.

Thunderball is a solid, strong Bond entry, with it's classic jetpack opening, silky score and sleek cinematography, but it doesn't have quite the staying power of its more iconic predecessors.

Liz's take: I didn't like this one as much Goldfinger because there wasn't as strong a villain. It was never really clear who was running the show. As cool as the underwater fight scene was it wasn't as satisfying because you didn't get a showdown with a primary adversary. There was also not enough scantily clad Bond in this one.

The beginning almost felt like a Bond meets Hardy Boys, he sort of stumbles into the situation. I like Bond better when he is on a mission with purpose. It was good and solid, it hit all the Bond notes it just didn't feel inspired to me and it didn't bowl me over.