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• Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
• Average Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5
• Amazon's Price: USD $39.99
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Customer Reviews

Waiting for entire Collection Release.

Rating: 5/5

Does anyone know when they plan on releasing a nice box set on Blue ray for the entire Bond Collection. My favorite (Thunderball included) is "You only live twice". MGM/Fox was releasing the Bond films with the 3-pack series but stopped before releasing the last few films.
I am a huge Bond fan and have been waiting several years to buy the whole collection. I assumed the studio would release the last of the 3-pack series, then offer a really nice box set like they usually do. But it's been a long time since the last release of the 3-packs and the series is still missing several of the films.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.

The Best Bond Movie

Rating: 5/5

In my humble opinion, Thunderball was the greatest Bond flick ever. Sean Connery was at his peak - confident, etc. He seemed to really be into the role. Adolfo Celli as Largo was a very slick villian. Claudine Auger as Domino and Luciana Paluzzi were perfectly cast as Bond's love imnterest and the villainess, respectively. The underwater battle was incredible and the scene where the Disco Volante, Largo's yacht, breaks away from the "cocoon"; speeding across the waters outside Miami on hydrofoils, is unforgettable.
Fast-paced and very serious.

TERRIFIC!!!

Rating: 5/5

You get more bang for your buck with this movie. I got a single DVD with the same cover picture from a $5 bin at Walmart. I wasn't sure I was going to like it, since I have been 99% disappointed with my compulsive DVD buys from Walmart bins. However, I am thrilled with this purchase to say the least. The DVD is really really really clear, and MGM is taking strides in James Bond DVD excellence (GREAT JOB MGM!), the story is exciting to say the least--and very action-packed and fun. You get so much more than you expected--60's sophistication (the 60's was in many ways more glamorous and sophisticated than today), fabulous 60's cars including European models, gorgeous girls in 60's make-up & fashion, sophisticated European ways.

In this movie, Bond travels from Europe to Nassau on an exciting adventure. The movie is so much more than just a FIRST-RATE James Bond movie which it is! You should see this film several times to really soak it all in--the cars, the beautiful women, a young Sean Connery as James Bond, the subtle humor, suspense, classy places, classy 60's cars, classy 60's make-up, the best of the 60's fashion, the best technology of the times (you will be astonished!), AND NO CEL PHONES-WHEEEEEEE!--The one-&-only classic ring of a "real" telephone! Ahhh what a superb movie!

I will certainly put a collection of James Bond movies on my wish list. Awesome film!

NOT one of the best, but still good

Rating: 3/5

As far as a follow up to a classic film like Goldfinger, Thunderball delivers on many levels. The world threatening scheme is bigger and more menacing than it had been. We really get the impression that the fate of the world is at risk. We are also sent to a vast tropical paradise in the Bahamas, complete with sunshine, snorkeling for exotic fish, and sipping a cocktail under a palm tree on a warm carribean night. I don't think any other Bond film ever gave us such a breezy vacation feel as Thunderball.

Then there is the man himself, Bond, James Bond smoothly played by Sean Connery, bedding a hospital nurse here, an enemy agent there, taking off on a jet back, descending in the crystal blue waters from a helicopter, brawling a guy on a speeding motor boat. What doesn't he do in this movie? Sean Connery oozes so much confidence in this performance, you begin to feel like he doesn't even have to try.

There is plenty of high speed action to behold, such as the impressive underwater battle scenes (which are enjoyable and suspensful to watch if you ask me) Largo is also a pretty despisable main villain. Lastly there are sharks, albeit not with lasers, but there in there and that's still pretty cool...

So it sounds like I think this is film is pretty good, right? Well, yes and no. My reasons above may be everything some fans are looking for--action, chicks, martinis, cars, and great locations. For me, this is not enough--and I am a huge fan of this series. While the plot starts out interesting in the beginning, it just devolves into the lazy, let's turn this into one big chase movive. In this case, it's Bond tracking down Largo and attempting to board his Disco Volente ship. While this works great for a video game it starts to get boring in an over 2 hour long film.

My other big complaint is the casting of the lead Bond girl. First of all, Claudine Auger, while French and hot, has absolutely no acting ability and dimension to her character whatsoever. I don't care about her character and I don't know much about who she is either. It seemed like the producers were trying to put in another Honey Ryder (Dr. NO), what with the collecting sea creatures and all...But Honey Ryder, while played pretty dumb-faced by that actress, at least had some back story and reason for being where she was. On top of this, Bond has zero chemistry with this character, so any romance in this is completely unconvincing. My other problem with this, is that the other "Bond Girl" Fiona Volpe, in this movie is MUCH more interesting and much sassier. Why is she not the main Bond girl and worse, *Spoiler alert* why is she killed off so early in this movie? Her relationship with Bond as being an agent on the other side, made their romance all the more intriguing.

While this movie has all the great Bond ingredients, and probably some of the best in the series--Sean Connery as Bond in the Bahamas (really, what more do you need), it falls short on two fundamental areas that make a film good: interesting plot AND and an interesting supporting lead character. You need a plot that keeps you following the movie AND you need an interesting supporting lead to interact with the protagonist to make the plot interesting! I don't care how many chase scenes, sex scenes, drink scenes, kill scenes, or shark scenes you have, if the two foundational indredients are not there, then well...you don't have a cake...or a movie.

I don't think Thunderball is quite that bad; I find it quite enjoyable in fact. It just is missing some important elements that would make this a classic 007 film. For that, yes this film is over-rated, but certainly one worth checking out.

Balls Of Thunder!

Rating: 3/5

A Ball Of Thunder...

The porno industry would have been in uproar had Balls Of Thunder been the actual title. 1965 and for the fourth year in a row another Bond film hits the screens, again directed by Terence Young, the original Bond director. The Bond franchise had turned into a phenomenon, thanks to Goldfinger, making this one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of the year. It starts in a small way with Thunderball that Bond starts to transcend it's own boundaries of story and earthiness becoming more fantasy than spy thriller, living up the expectations of being a bigger and bolder movie than it's predecessor and to stand out against the number of imitator spy films popping up, in doing so it loses a little of it's soul. Terence Young's direction at least steers this adventure with the right look and feel maintained from the first few films. But it does suffer story and character wise trying to top previous entries. The bigger budget is obvious, there are more gadgets, girls and exotic locations than before and Sean Connery is still in his element with a nice enhancing hairpiece as his was starting to thin down by this picture and whose wouldn't when being pursued by paparazzi twenty four seven? Bond is ever more the womaniser, drinker and quipper although perhaps notable predicting the future this is the first film where we don't see the character smoke on screen. Plus the simple blockbuster plot groundwork is cemented for the series in this film. SPECTRE return with their most audacious plot, hijacking two atomic bombs and holding the world to a billion dollar diamond ransom or two Western cities will be destroyed. A similar plot would crop up again in future Bond pictures, even to Thunderball itself being remade as 80's Connery Bond `Never Say Never Again'. Good to see this is where the storyline originated. Italian actor Adolfo Celi plays the brutish, silver haired, eye patch wearing Number two of Spectre, Emilio Largo surrounded by a bevy of assassins a standout of which is Luciana Paluzzi playing Bond femme fatale, Fiona Vulpe, one of four woman Bond beds down as he lurches from one action set piece to another. Bond is numerically getting closer to Number 1, who is still frustratingly shown as a cat patting silhouette dishing out orders and frying the minions who have failed him, shades of Dr. Evil in years to come. However the simple plot is made up for with the rocket like pace for a film made in '65. Though it does drag a bit with the amount of underwater sequences the jet fighter hijacking and underwater theft being the most obvious. As far as the underwater photography goes though, the cinematographer, Lamar Boren, strikes gold with the clarity of these aquatic shots choreographed by Ricou Browning especially with Bond's underwater searches of Largo's yacht and the brutal underwater fight scene between the good guys and Spectre which benefits a lot from the crystal clear remastering and transfer to DVD. This Bond entry leaves no room for subtle brush strokes as he tracks down the dead pilot's sister froma Health farm in England to the Bahamas. `Domino' or Dominique is played by Claudine Auger, a former Miss France who is a passable Bond girl and it's here through no fault of hers Bond girls really begin to become bland in character. Bond and Largo play a game of cat and mouse totally lacking the finesse of encounters with previous Bond villains. Q makes his first appearance in the field to give out some gimmicky gadgets and Rick Van Nutter plays the third version of Felix Leiter. There's little doubt of the film's outcome about the only drama being when Bond suffers a minor bullet wound during a mid movie chase scene. More drama was happening leading to the film's prodcution, including the plagiarism court case surrounding the novel and screenplay initiated by Kevin McCLory against creator Ian Fleming which led to the former being given an on screen Producer credit. But despite this and the increasingly strained relationship between Connery and the press as fame overtook him, the film won an Academy Award for visual effects and adjusted for the 2010 box office is still the most financially successful Bond entry ever made. But as the pre credits sequence complete with massive fistfight and rocket pack shows the franchise was starting to head into the realms of absolute spy fantasy rather than spy thriller. However the DVD release covers the Thunderball phenomenon in a documentary and its impact on the way action films were heading and how the spy culture was creating many imitators on both film and television from films such as In Like Flint and The Ipcress File to Get Smart, The Avengers and the Man From U.N.C.L.E. Not only is this the cleanest looking remaster of 60's Bond's it's also the first that got the 5.1 surround sound treatment in it's first release, not that the powerful Tom Jones opening song needs that. Titbit - this is the first film to feature Connery in the famed gun barrel opening sequence, previously it was stuntman Bob Simmons in his hat.