The jetpack that James Bond uses in Thunderball..well the people thst made this scene didn't think it was cool for James Bond to actually wear a helmut for his jetpack..but no stuntman would ever do that scene WITHOUT a helmut. However ..in tbe video game for "From Russia With Love ..with Sean Connery voice and likeness in this video game..where they get thier way Sean Connery flying in a jet pack without wearing a helmut.
Heartily agree! Watching all of them in consecutive order also more starkly show the change in scenery, technology, architecture, fads and social norms. And except for Lazenby, it can show the subtle or stark changes in the way in which the actor playing James Bond performs in their role. Some things that wouldn't fly today or be uncomfortable were seemingly okay back in the day. The way in which some of the special effects and prop work was done back in the day can sometimes outshine the shiny CGI special effects in a movie maker's arsenal today. Love watching the reaction to this great film series.
I agree that’s how I watched each Bond film although the first Bond films I watched when introduced to the series as a kid in 90s by my cousin Jeff were The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker and saw Goldeneye in theaters in 95 for my 9th birthday with my parents and cousin Jeff. I have been a fan ever since and started collecting and watching them in order.
'Thunderball' has my my favourite evil Bond Girl - the gorgeous, charming and deadly Fiona Volpe played by the great Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi. I know people love Red Grant but for me Fiona is Bond's real evil counterpart (a hypercompetent, charismatic special operative who talks back to their bosses and uses special gadgets, hmm why does that sound familiar?) and their confrontation scene is riveting because these two people are so similar. I'm honestly sorry they killed her off so quickly, she'd have made a great recurring foil for Bond.
It would have been fantastic for her to have been able to surprise Bond in You Only Live Twice, giving the title a second meaning. But alas, this was not the time period for well done recurring female villains.
She's a lot of fun in "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" - one of the best latter day Hammer films. Jen might dig some of the Hammers - they were rated as rather horrific in their day but they're more atmospheric and creepy than gory or jump-scary.
"What's he going to do, jump onto a bike? He's wearing a jetpack!!!!!" The Broccoli family appreciates your reaction. Bond films have been known for crazy openings. Each new movie outdoing the previous.
_Thunderball_ was the _Star Wars_ of the mid-1960s - a massive culture-shaping success. Also Sean Connery's coolest & best Bond performance. 💯 - more Bond in chronological order! It's not just a watch through the franchise, it's a journey through design, fashion, culture, & politics of the latter half of the 20th century.
Nonsense. _Thunderball_ had only the third biggest box office numbers for 1965, behind _The Sound of Music_ and _Dr. Zhivago_ . That puts it in a totally different category from _Star Wars_ , which had four times the box office of each of the next two films, one of which was a Bond film.
@@markhamstra1083 The Sound of Music and Dr. Zhivago are not franchise movies but total one-offs. Thunderball's box office for a fourth sequel was unheard of back then. Secondly, the Bond phenomenon was practically everywhere with copycat TV shows and movies, plus children's merchandise. So yes, it was the Star Wars of its time. Further, you're only referrig to American domestic BO numbers, not worldwide receipts which weren't considered until much, much later.
@@SmartCookie2022 _Star Wars_ was not a franchise movie in 1977 when it was number one at the box office by a very large margin, something that no Bond movie has ever accomplished. The Bond franchise and _Thunderball_ were something quite different from _Star Wars_ .
@@markhamstra1083 True, the acting was much worse in Star Wars and even the plot was ripped from a Kurosawa film and AFAIK Bond producers didn't rip off actors by telling them the movie made no profit so they couldn't be paid.
I think you have the perfect approach doing these Bond films in release order. It’s the perfect way to see how the times change, how the films change, how social morals change, technology, etc. Some even get heavy with sci-fi. And of course the Bonds change! There are some stinkers coming up, but I think you should do the entire franchise all the way to the end. And don’t forget when you get to the 80s not to miss Never Say Never Again. There is a complicated long history to how that film got made and whether it fits into the canon, and whether it’s a remake of Thunderball, etc. but it’s still a decent film, has Sean Connery returning and has a great Bond girl.
Even the less great Bonds have something going for them. My least favorite by a country mile is “The Man With the Golden Gun” but Christopher Lee makes me forgive a lot. “Never Say Never Again” gets a lot of stick but I always liked it - getting that and “Octopussy” in the same year was like Christmas at the time. Michel Legrand does his own thing, since they couldn’t use Barry/Norman’s theme tune, and Klaus Maria Brandauer was damn’ good, I thought. And Fatima Blush is up there with the best of them. 🥰
Jen, please keep going! Please do 'You Only Live Twice' next.... Great fun to watch your reactions to these wonderful films. People tend to underrate 'Thunderball' these days due to the multitude of underwater scenes which some accuse of being slow and boring, but I disagree and I'm glad you enjoyed it too. And as always, your appreciation of the music is very cool. This film has probably John Barry's most in-your-face score of the eleven films he scored in the Bond series, and I love it.
Reading between the lines of anecdotes from the production, this was the first time they didn’t have the script locked down before they started shooting. They smoothed out what they could in post - thank you Peter Hunt and John Barry - but the final movie is a bit misshapen, not that I enjoy it any less. Apparently Martine Beswick had more to do, as did Largo’s henchman Vargas who is just there to get harpooned in the final movie, but the rough cut was running so long that a lot of it had to go. “Diamonds Are Forever” also shows signs of a runaway production with Lana Wood’s character being the casualty that time. But the films were making so much money that no attempt to economize lasted very long.
The musical score was awesome to Thunderball!I've seen though in a recent online poll,John Barry's score to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was rated the highest.To be quite honest,I have to agree with them.Even though,the Film itself wasn't the best Bond film.It also didn't star Sean Connery or Roger Moore.But rather,George Lazenby,who wasn't that bad.
@@karlmortoniv2951 your interesting comments make perfect sense, yes this movie is definitely a bit "all over the place" compared to the previous three entries. Seems like the production bit off more than they could chew within a short time frame. But like you, I still enjoy the film a great deal, it has a "rough and ready" quality despite its increased lushness. An interesting mixture which gives 'Thunderball' its own unique energy. There are so many pleasures along the messy way. Connery is utterly magnetic as ever, although he has his worst-looking toupee in this one..! 😄
@@rockinrichardsmoviereviews1901 yes I think I'd agree with that too! John Barry brought his own special magic to all the Bond films he scored but OHMSS could be his finest of all. I think Barry sensed Lazenby was a bit of a dud (although I agree with you, he is OK) and really pulled out all the stops with his music on that one. Brilliant film in my view and I'll be very interested in our Jen's reaction, especially given the glaring absence of her (quite rightly) beloved Connery.
The underwater action scenes were a revelation at the time, nothing had ever been done like that before and was thrilling to say the least! Fantastic 1960's action adventure, which set the bar for action adventures to come, 10/10 in my view.
This one followed the book fairly well. This was the first Bond movie to have teams of faceless minions have a huge battle in the background. It was remade as a non-canon Bond film called Never say Never in the 1980's, also with Sean Connery. It's not bad, but has some really cheesy moments. Both the Jet Pack and the cable grab at the end were real things. The Jet pack was actually a rocket pack and was good for a few minutes of flight before the fuel was gone, which was good because the heat was nearly unbearable for the pilot. The "Skyhook" was a real method of getting people out of areas where planes couldn't land. The same system makes an appearance in a Batman movie.
>It was remade as a non-canon Bond film called Never say Never Only in the scope of Eon Productions. Its a long story, but "Thunderball" was a collaborative work (originally intending to be a film with a different name before a book) between Fleming and Kevin McClory. Due to complications Fleming broke from McClory and wrote the book anyways, McClory sued accusing Fleming of plagiarism (which Fleming admitted to), and won the rights to the story/film, but not the book itself. McClory was involved with the production of Thunderball, under the agreement that he didn't do anything else with the story for at least 10 years, after which he started trying to get another film made closer to his version of the story. This legal battle is also the reason why the Eon Bond films dropped SPECTRE/Blofeld from the plot entirely for so long, since McClory won the rights to them as well.
I watched all of the Connery Bonds at the drive-ins. Such great memories from that time. I think every little boy from that time, wanted to be a policeman, a fireman, an astronaut,or James Bond!
Quite definitely, Eric. Always a great comment from you, I left a comment on this too. I'm quite a bit later on here than usual so, Jen (or Jennypenny, for the 'Bond' reactions from now 😄), might not see my comment as usually she goes to bed before now, I feel.
Thunderball was the code name of the operation, no reason was given for the name, but code names are frequently combination of familiar words put together with no particular meaning. However, in this case, it would be easy to surmise that the name is meant to evoke, and to keep in the mind of the audience the prime macguffin in this movie which was the stolen nuclear weapons (i.e. the thunder of a nuclear explosion, and the ball from the fireball that also results). This is almost certainly the first use of the stolen nuclear weapon trope in cinema, which has been repeated numerous times since.
Ahhh Miss Moneyjenny there you are! Halfway through watching the full commentary on Patreon, my favorite quote thus far "Just a grape for the road" Loving the Bondathon!
Tom Jones, who sings Thunderball, actually passed out delivering that last "Tunderball" during recording of the song. You can really feel the passion in his music. There's always something cool about each Bond film that I really like, but I can't wait for the reaction of "The Spy Who Loved Me" as it's my favorite Bond film and best song.
I love that story about Tom Jones. The Bond theme songs are another trope. The best ones are supposed to be belted out like Goldfinger. Both Thunderball, and Diamonds Are Forever do this and K.D. Lang's Surrender should have been the main theme to Tomorrow Never Dies instead of the end credit's song. (edits to correct my poor grammar)
@@michaelg2529 Well, they kind of became a trope with this movie. The _Goldfinger_ intro music was the first belter of the franchise, and was well received. Jones had no idea what to do with the _Thunderball_ music - like Jen, he got stuck on what “Thunderball” was supposed to mean. He was given the advice to belt it out like Shirley Bassey did with _Goldfinger_ . Sing it with enough conviction and passion, and the listeners won’t care that the lyrics don’t make sense. So he did. And they didn’t. And the mold for Bond theme songs was set.
I didn’t dislike the song John Barry initially wrote, called “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” sung by Shirley Bassey and then Dionne Warwick when the credit sequence got longer. Bits of the tune are all over the score, particularly in the night club scene with Fiona. Barry couldn’t imagine they actually wanted the title of the movie forefronted in the song, but at the last minute they insisted so Barry whipped out the title song that opens the movie now.
Thunderball took the more heightened elements of Goldfinger, with more gadgets and set pieces, and cranked it to the next level. This is where Bond films would aim for decades to follow. They never really revised this style until Daniel Craig. If you aren’t committed to watching every Bond, you could probably watch 5-6 more following this and see all the best ones. Loving this Bond journey, however it progresses!
Loved all the gadjets!!!The tiny mouth-size oxygen breather.The propeller-driven oxygen tanks at the end.My Favorite is "Little Nellie" from "You Only Live Twice" or the Aston Martin DB5 with modifications
Well obviously they started to pick out what people liked about earlier films, plus at the time there was a general sense of technology leaping ahead. Pretty well all of the devices shown have been created. Also I think many people underestimate that it was about 20 years since the end of WW2, and the new generation tended to look forward as the economy was basically just recovering from the war. The older generation were a bit more austere having grown up with rationing.
By the way! Jen, on case you didn't know, that's the view from inside a rifled gun barrel! The rifling provides spinning that makes bullets more accurate. 😎
If I remember correctly, this movie was made just when the first underwater camera came out that can shot movie quality film. The producers were always looking for the latest film technologies, weird vehicles, and stunts that people had come up with to be able to show action sequences that nobody had ever seen before in their next movie. When in later years someone creates a movie camera for sky diving, or a technique to film while downhill skiing, the next Bond movie is showing it off big time.
@@Yora21 The underwater cinematographer has previously worked on a series called Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges. The underwater mini-subs and motor sleds were leading edge at the time. The Fulton Sky hook used to extract Bond from from the life raft was designed by the CIA, US Navy and US Air Force to rescue or retrieved downed pilots or agents.
'Thunderball' is definitely my all time favorite James Bond, 007 license to kill with Sean Connery. Also Sean Connery really flew that Jet Pack. They were developed around that time period and were experimental prototypes. A few years back Sean Connery made his entrance on a late night talk show flying a jetpack. The next James Bond film is 1967 'You Only Live Twice'. Please do a reaction to that one!
That was on the David Letterman Show & to this day I never saw a Late Night Talk Show Audience give a guest a bigger standing ovation than Sean Connery that night. The audience went crazy & rightfully so. Thunderball is my all time favorite James Bond Movie because Sean Connery was at his very best in it. I wish Sean Connery in Thunderball could be the James Bond Actor forever. He was magnificent because he looked his best & was so cool.
You, Jen, really appreciated these Bond movies in a very entertaining way. They were a little camp back in the day, and you react to that. They are romantic, violent, and funny and you see it all. And, you are almost ready for the Mike Myers' parodies - the Austin Powers series. I am here for all of it!
Fun fact Tom Jones who sang the the Thunderball theme, actually passed out from holding (singing) the last note of the theme for sooooooooooooooo long. Lol!its parodied in the spy hard theme song sung by Werid Al! You'll love it!!
I remember reading something that when Tom Jones was recording the theme for this movie, he actually passed out as a result of holding that last note for so long. For the 1996 parody film "Spy Hard", Weird Al Yankovic did the theme song to the tune of this. Leslie Nielsen starred in that movie, so it's definitely worth a look if you ever get around to it.
I have to cast my vote for "Money Jenny"! The alternative "Jenny Penny" strikes me as too generic; anyone named Jenny could pick up that nickname. But "Money Jenny" immediately brings to mind the iconic Miss Moneypenny (or Eve or Jane, depending on the source material). I like it! 👍
I was about the same age, but I got to see it in the kids matinee in Allentown PA. I think it along with all the early Bond movies were rated G back then. At any rate I remember seeing it in the movies, and during intermission or before it came on I still remember a video from the group Herman Hermits playing, LMAO ua-cam.com/video/FFNoDsOmluA/v-deo.html
The next is You Only Live Twice, and that one is definitely recommended next. You asked here whether we'll see Number 1's face, and we do in that one. It's also the last consecutive Connery Bond (he's also in Diamonds are Forever, but he sat out the movie in between). This movie is one that people have often referred to, as far as I can tell, as the one with the torpedo fights.
When I was a boy in the 70s, I had a Corgi Car of the Astin Martin. It was made of metal and was about 4 inches long. It had the shield that popped up, the guns that popped out, the oil squirters that popped back, the tire shredders that came out the sides, and the icing on the cake, a working ejection seat-- the roof popped back and a little seat would fly out.
Loïs Maxwell: FOREVER THE BEST OF ALL !!! A lot of good sequences: false widow, jet-pack in Anet, SPECTRE reunion, scenes in clinc, death of Angelo, reunion in MI6, Casino VS Largo, love benaeth corails, in bed with Fiona, death of Fiona, underwater battle, death of Largo, etc. And a really good BO !
The original theme tune to Thunderball was a song called Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang written by John Barry and sung by Dione Warwick(Whitney Houstons aunt), you can hear the tune to this througjt the film particularly in the carnival sequence. But at last moment producers decided they wanted the film title in the theme song so John Barry quickly wrote Thunderball sung by Tom Jones.
And a slightliy advanced version of it was used for the 1984 opening of the Olympic games in Los Angeles. Another thing where the Bond movies inspired reality - just like the original star Trek series did.
In Thunderball the card game which Bond plays is baccarat. In Dr No Bond plays Chemin de fer. Bond also plays Poker and many other card games in different movies later in the franchise. :)
"Moneyjenny or Jennypenny" Jennypenny has a bigger charm in its sound, I think. Fun fact: while Moneypenny originally had no given name (as if it was a codename), later on the character got a given name. Depending on the version, she is either Eve or Jane Moneypenny. There is a set of officially sanctioned novels to the character under the colective name of "The Moneypenny Diaries". "That ambulance looks like the Ecto-1" It's not exactly the same model, but you are not very mistaken: the Ecto-1 (a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel), was used originally as both an ambulance or a hearse. The ambulance in the Bond film, though, is a Mercedes-Benz Binz Ambulance. The long, almost impossible to learn, names actually mean the cars were adapted by more than one company. For example: Cadillac made the Sentinel family car; but Miller-Meteor made the internal ambulance/hearse configuration for that available chasis (making it a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel). The same happens with the Bond ambulance: Mercedes-Benz made the regular car and then the Binz company made the ambulance configuration (thus, it's a Mercedes-Benz Binz Ambulance... say it three times, fast). "So we lost the bombs..." A mostly forgotten element of the Cold War is that the armies of the world with nuclear weapons didn't keep them stored most of the time; they made excersices to "parade them" (as a signal that they were always ready to answer hostile actions with nuclear force) or they transported them between bases. This led to several incidents where nuclear bombs were lost under the most varied circumstances: if the airplane had a severe malfunction, it was regular procedure to jettison the bomb; while in other cases they were dropped by mistake (as long as the bomb was not armed, the drop didn't make it explode). The US government had 32 incidents of unexpected bomb drops somewhere since the 1960's. To this day, three of those bombs have never been found (and still await in some swamp, covered by grass in a field or at the bottom of the ocean). There are no numbers for the bombs lost (and never recovered) by other nuclear powers such as France, Russia, China... or the United Kingdom (and that's only counting bombs dropped from planes, the number goes up if you consider nuclear missiles lost in sunk submarines). "The name of operations" Special operations are named in ways they don't make sense. That way, if the name leaks and the enemy gets knowledge of it, it can't figure out the topic of the mission just by its name (Fleming worked for the british intelligence during World War II; so the name "Thunderball", while cool, follows that rule). Some real life examples we can take from World War II are operations Chronometer, Ironclad, Menace, Catechism, Dracula, Mascot, Teardrop or Crimson. Perhaps one of the most famous ones would be Operation Mincemeat: you would never guess with that name that this operation involved releasing (in waters of Spain) the body of a random dead man dressed as a british officer with fake secret documents to convince Nazi germany the D-Day invasion was not going to happen in Normandy. Fun fact: this operation was developed from an essay on deception strategies written (completely or partially) by a, then, Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming (yes, the author of our dear Mister Bond). And that would be it; see you in the next one :P.
1:53 - Thunderball by British recording artist Tom Jones peaked at no.35 in the UK Singles charts, 20 January 1966 - 26 January 1966. According to Bond production legend, John Barry, Tom Jones fainted in the recording booth when singing the song's final note. Jones said of it, "I closed my eyes and I held the note for so long when I opened my eyes the room was spinning."
I think this is one of the best and most underrated films in the franchise. The story, characters, action, beautiful locations and cinematography made this one of my favorite Bond films. It's great to see how Sean Connery was evolving his interpretation as Bond and how he's even more cynical and charming, like the last scene for exemple, that's exactly how James Bond is supposed to be. My only problem with this film is that some of the sequences are too long, like the climax in the third act and the many sequences underwater. Yeah, it was one of the highlights of the film, but I think they exaggerate a little. Despite that, easily the best great Bond film with Sean Connery. Oh, and the scene where Fiona is in the bath and asks for something to wear and James only give her shoes is one of the most Bond scenes ever. Next one is You Only Live Twice. I don't recommend to skip it but be aware, it's one of the weakest of the whole franchise, pretty much a step down in every aspect compared to what we got so far and it's clearly that Sean Connery was getting tired to play Bond every single year.
Thank you! FINALLY, a young person who appreciates "Thunderball!" Okay - someone may have already answered your question - but "Thunderball" refers to a nuclear explosion. That is where the title comes from.
My vote is for you to watch all the series, so you can decide which is better. It is said that there are no bad Bond films, only some better that others.
Jen, "Number One" is actually the same main Bond heavy that was in From Russia with Love. Remember the cat? His name is Ernst Stavro Blofeld--probably the all-time number 1 villain, appearing in multiple movies. He's the main bad guy in the next movie, You Only Live Twice, and the next two after that, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds are Forever. After that, the series moved away from SPECTRE and Blofeld for a while. He makes a brief appearance at the beginning of For Your Eyes Only--and then disappears until the Daniel Craig reboot. There was a legal battle over the use of SPECTRE and Blofeld. In the next movie, the character is played by Donald Pleasance and he is shown, in OHMSS he is played by Telly Savalas, and in DAF by Charles Gray. I recommend you go ahead with the next one. It's a little bit of a come down--there's some silliness with outer space scenes, but some good aspects too. The worst Bond movies are with outer space scenes. The very best Bond movies were the first four with Connery, but most of them are still fun to watch, but in my opinion never quite reached the heights of the first four. I'm glad to see you heeding my suggestion, and that of many others apparently, to watch them in order of release, and you are watching them in the right spirit. And I agree with the other comments noting how you can get the vibe of the times, the culture, music and so on--and watch them in the spirit of the times. You'll notice a very marked shift in style when they have different actors playing Bond. The Bond movies inspired a bunch of knock-offs. I see you have True Lies also--so I'll watch that next. Please continue. I like your humorous observations. Upvoted.
It was: I saw it as a double-feature release with "Dr. No" in the fall of 1966. They' continued to re-release them as double-features for years. That ended when Connery left -which says all anyone needs to know.
The British Army actually contacted the production company because they were so impressed by the underwater breather Bond used and wanted to order them. 😄
A “Thunderball” is another word used to describe the mushroom cloud that a nuclear explosion creates, so a fitting code name for the operation in the film. The explosion of the boat at the end tested a new method of creating movie explosions and was way, way more powerful than special effects coordinator John Stears (who won an Oscar for this movie) anticipated. It blew all the windows in on Nassau’s Main Street miles away, and launched the remains of the boat so high in the air that at first the crew thought the boat had literally disintegrated. They had time to look up, see it all about to come down on them, and run out of the way.
I love how the super secret briefing was held in a room with most gigantic windows possible. I always pictured the roof top across the street crammed with Spectre agents with binoculars and lip readers.
You are becoming more and more enjoyable to watch reacting to James Bond. Your comments and observations, your excitement and joy at the action make these movies a joy to watch along with you. At one point you referred to James Bond as Bondy, or Bondie. You are making pet names for him, You are becoming attached. Good work Jen, you make it seem like it's not work. You keep asking if we want more, as for myself I think going thru every Bond movie there is should be your goal. Just a suggestion.
Yeah, a couple guys in England tried watching all the Bonds for their channel a while back and one of the two just couldn’t see these as products of their time at all. He kept moaning about disrespecting women and unmotivated setpieces and unrealistic plots and managed to make Bond reactions a trial to sit through. Jen’s are absolutely delightful.
When they filmed the shark pool scene there was a panel of the plexiglass that was supposed to contain the sharks missing, unbeknownst to Sean Connery, and one of them ended up swimming straight through it and directly at him. His reaction as seen in the film is genuine.
Hey Jen, I subscribed just because you were reacting to the Bond films. Some tiny interesting facts. Sean Connery was born 25th August 1930. The same day the cinema in Edinburgh; where all the Bond movies were Premiered, opened. It's also the cinema my mother worked at, and the one I watched all Sean's Bond movies. And George Lazenby's one and only portrayal of Bond.
Always a good day when I get home from work to see Jen has uploaded a new Bond reaction! Without spoiling anything, several of the things you were asking about will be in the next film, "You Only Live Twice". Really loving these reactions! It's the closest us Bondians can get to watching the films again for the first time ourselves.
Moneyjenny sounds more like Moneypenny and is therefore a more identifiable homage, but Jennypenny has a much nicer ring to it, so that's what I'll vote for.
Fun fact: a man working for a Royal engineering corps thought that the underwater breathing gadget Bond has here was real, and asked the filmmakers how long it actually worked for, to which the filmmakers were like "Well, as long as you can hold your breath."
So far this is the only James Bond film to be remade. Before he sold the rights to MGM, Ian Fleming agreed to write an original film treatment for a smaller studio. Eventually he turned that treatment into the book Thunderball which was sold to MGM with all the other novels. While the studio didn't own the rights to Thunderball they still had the rights to the original film treatment. Eventually they managed to make the movie as Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery reprising his role. Of course they had to change some things to avoid copyright from MGM.
Fun fact, despite the Avro/Hawker Siddeley Vulcan being built for the purposes of atomic bombing, it never actually dropped atomic bombs during its service life. In fact, the only time the Vulcan ever saw combat was when it dropped conventional bombs during the Falklands War of 1982.
The original theme song was "Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". It was changed to "Thunderball" by Tom Jones. Fiona Volpe is wearing a "SPECTRE ring". Luciana Paluzzi acted in A Black Veil for Lisa and The Green Slime. Maurice Binder's opening titles were spoofed in Spy Hard(1996). Kevin McClory sued Ian Fleming for plagiarism. The court gave McClory the movie rights and Fleming ended up with the novel rights. Sean Connery's blue visor disappears in one scene.
I love your enthusiasm... We have to look at these movies like insane adventures for their time, in the 60s. When I was a child these movies was so cool to watch...
Connery actually made this movie twice ... "Never Say Never Again" was released in 1983. The rights to Felming's novel "Thunderball" was owned by Kevin McClory, one of the writers on the 1965 movie, after a long legal battle originating in the 1960s. It was one of the few Bond movies not produced by Eon Productions (they produced most of them) and was directed by Irvin Kershner; who also directed "The Empire Strikes Back."
Great reaction, Jennypenny. For me this is the best of the Sean Connery 'Bond' films, he has the toughest foes, not just in 'Spectre' itself but in its agents, particularly No2 Largo and Fiona Lolpe as an assassin (the best female assassin in the series for me). I also love the interaction between Bond and Major Boothroyd a.k.a. 'Q', 'Q' stands for Quartermaster, a person who issues equipment in the Military, the character was based on a real person, Major Geoffrey Boothroyd, who advised Ian Fleming on weapons and equipment for the Bond novels. It's a great film with a fantastic sound track, the theme sung by Tom Jones is one of my favourites. As for moving forward my personal feeling is that you should move onto 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' with George Lazenby and then the Roger Moore 'Bond' era, starting with 'Live and Let Die', but others may want you to react to them all, it's up to you of course, either decision is good but it will take time to do them all.
These Bond movies really get Jen excited :) I like 'Miss Murray-Penny' for Jen's Bond Girl Name. "You Only Live Twice" from 1967 is the next one (another Connery), looking forward to watching Jen's reaction to it :)
OK, but at about 20:45 the editor cut one of the absolute COOLEST Bond stunts in the whole series- where, while holding the shotgun across his body in a relaxed pose, & without aiming, shoots the clay pidgeon & then remarks about how 'it's not so difficult after all!'
The dictionary definition of the word "thunderball" is a military term used by U.S. soldiers to describe the mushroom cloud seen during the testing of atomic bombs. Hence its use as a title, because this would be the result of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. detonating the stolen atomic bombs.
Great reaction, Jen, another rewatch to help boost the ratings for your channel. I'd love to go to the cinema with you as you're intelligent and it would be great fun discussing films after we watch them. I'll do some more 'Bond' rewatches tomorrow.
Another smashing review JennyPenny. "The Widow" in the teaser was played by Bob Simmons, the Connery Bond stunt-double, so in a way Bond was fighting himself! The Physio (Bond Girl 1) was Molly Peters, a 60s "Glamour model" in a rare, clothed role. The card game is baccarat (a winning hand is either eight or nine, royal cards don't count). Bond's true trademark drink is a Vesper - not a true Martini as it's made with Vodka, not Gin. Note the error: Bond claims he's acting for "King and Country", yet Elizabeth II is on the throne, and was even when Fleming wrote the book. Blofeld next.
Very entertaining as always Jen. The movie was good too. Couple of things I think I can fill in for you. The card game was baccarat. Very much a big money game. As to the codename, Thunderball is a term used to describe a series of explosions that take place within the mushroom shaped blast of a nuclear bomb. Oh, and I am pretty sure Sean Connery had stunt doubles for all underwater scenes except where they clearly show his face. You could see for sure that it was someone else in the scene in the shark pool. Looking forward to whatever is next. I will once again (at the risk of being a pain) suggest 2 great movies. We know you like romance and great (sometimes funny) characters. You also like a heist or caper storyline. So once again. Pencil in The Sting (Paul Newman and Robert Redford), and also Guys and Dolls with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando in a musical comedy. Seriously, break out the snacks!!!!
I know a family that missed out on the "JB" fun because the mother didn't want her children to see the nude girl silhouettes in the opening credits beginning with this movie! 😮 Though regular broadcast television had no qualms with them.
Bond No.4 is definitely another smash. Action and suspense was very good. The ocean was like another character. Just couldn't get away from water in this film. Thunderball was originally conceived as an original story to be the first-ever James Bond film. At least before the Dr. No novel was chosen as the 1st film. Between producers Broccoli & Saltzman and the film studio, the deal wasn't concrete with getting the rights from Ian Fleming. When it didn't become a film, it was made into an novel by Fleming without permission of the other screenwriters. A legal dispute by filmmakers McClory & Whittingham had Fleming sued after publication of the novel. Claiming he based it upon the screenplay that was being planned anyhow. They settled out of court and the producers, fearing a rival McClory film, allowed him to retain certain screen rights of the novel's story, plot, and characters while McClory to receive sole producer credit on the film. Thunderball was remade as an film in the 1980s. Known as "Never Say Never Again" (1983) and brought back Sean Connery to play an older James Bond. Although It's not an official installment, it was great to see Connery become 007 again. You'll like it too, Jen when you get to it.
Yes, please do the next one in order, "You Only Live Twice". You'll see the 'man holding the cat', who is the inspiration for the spoof in the 'Austin Powers' movies.
Best part of this and Never Say Never Again is I "grew up" diving on the wrecks/sets. Didn't realize how lucky I was as a kid to go to the Bahamas every year.
Anthony Dawson played number 1 in Thunderball. He is the same guy that played the professor in Dr. NO. He was the guy who transported the spider 🕷 from Dr. No's fortress to the bed that James Bond slept on.
“You can always tell which one James Bond is because he’s the one not wearing any pants.” - Jen Murray Definitely keep going with watching them in release order; the next one is YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967), which was the final Sean Connery 007 film....until he was convinced to reprise the role one last time in 1971 in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. In the intervening years, a new Bond was chosen: Australian actor George Lazenby, who played Bond just one time, in 1969’s ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE. There was also the rather bizarre comical adaptation of CASINO ROYALE that came out in 1967, starring David Niven, Woody Allen, and a large supporting cast of stars, but it’s not usually considered a legitimate Bond film since it’s a comedy/satire. It’s kind of a predecessor to the Austin Powers movies, but it does have a pretty decent Burt Bacharach score. Should you see it? Maybe, if you want to be a completist. But it’s not really necessary. Also one other thing: after DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971), Connery quit the Bond films for good, and Roger Moore became the next Bond, starting with LIVE AND LET DIE (1973). Connery was convinced one final time to play Bond, though, in 1983’s NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, but that’s a remake of THUNDERBALL, which has a rather peculiar history regarding its origins and the rights. It wasn’t an Ian Fleming 007 novel or short story but Fleming did write the story directly for the screen, and the screenplay is based on his treatment. So the remake is sort of canon-but-not-canon. It was still kinda fun to see Connery as Bond one last time, even though he sported a ridiculous toupee in it, having long lost his hair back in the 60s. It’s worth seeing that film but not until you get to the 80s Bond films. Looking forward to seeing you react to all of them!
The next James Bond movie is another favorite of mine along side Goldfinger and License To Kill. It is called You Only Live Twice. In my opinion, it has the second best opening theme song of all the Bond movies. The best opening theme song is from A View to a Kill.
"eating a sandwich" A few years ago, jets were scrambled from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and intercepted a British Vulcan Bomber. They were surprised and excited to see such a classic Cold War bomber. The F16 pilot radioed the Vulcan to ask if they would do a "fly bye" for the Nimitz crew to take photos. The Brit navigation officer replied... "well, I'll just put down my egg sandwich and see what we can do for you" Obviously a pack lunch of sandwiches was a crucial bit of kit! 😂
Movie merchandising wasn't quite as huge as it is now, but there were quite a few Bond related toys. I remember as a kid seeing 12 inch Bond action figures in the the rocket belt set and the scuba outfit in a tabletop diorama display in the toy department of my local Sears. Man, I wanted those so bad for Christmas (didn't get them though). I also recall that there was a smaller scale yacht that turned into a hydrofoil which didn't interest me much.
Toy soldier collectors still find black and orange scuba-divers mixed into toy soldier sets even today. There was also a set of underwater vehicles to go with them.
Domino. Ah, Domino. 😍 This is my favorite Bond, and has been for 40+ years. Don’t get me wrong, I like all of them, and I love a lot of them a lot, but this one is at the top. And Domino is at least part of the reason. 😏
"You Only Live Twice" is next. It's set in Japan, it has Bond training to be a ninja, and it briefly features a real life forgotten weapon: the Gyrojet gun, so I definitely want you to watch it. Your reactions are delightful. I can't think of any other reactor who makes me smile as much as you do. I love how quickly you pick up on genre tropes and how you anticipate and cheer them just like long time fans do. To fans of the movies you react to, you feel like one of us.
Thunderball was based on the novel of the same name. It was named Operation Thunderball in the book. SPECTRE's №1 is a recurring presence. He will return. BTW, SPECTRE stands for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. You Only Live Twice (1967) is the next Bond film. Please continue. I would also recommend The Man for U.N.C.L.E. (2015). It's a movie based on the '60s television spy series. U.N.C.L.E. stands for United Network Command for Law Enforcement. What can I say? The '60s loved their acronyms. Ian Fleming was actually a consultant of the show. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series also had a spin-off called The Girl from U.N.C.L.E..
Sir Sean Connery performed the gun-barrel sequence for the first time because of the new Panavision process used in the movie. Beginning with this movie, the sequence would be performed by the actor playing Bond in the movie.
I just had to watch parts of this recently because a client wanted me to 3D model the car/sub as well as the under water base and some vehicles/divers. Edit: Oops I merged this with The Spy Who Loved Me in my head.
Gosh Jen.....If you really like Bond, you'll need to watch them all. I'd recommend "You Only Live Twice", which is set in Japan and adds a few more cool gadgets "Konichiwa Bond-san!"
James Bond Playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PLQHhQlj8i5dp_oymDpZRwVEgCMP9fUpks.html
LIKE the video above if you want to see more BOND reactions!
The jetpack that James Bond uses in Thunderball..well the people thst made this scene didn't think it was cool for James Bond to actually wear a helmut for his jetpack..but no stuntman would ever do that scene WITHOUT a helmut. However ..in tbe video game for "From Russia With Love ..with Sean Connery voice and likeness in this video game..where they get thier way Sean Connery flying in a jet pack without wearing a helmut.
This is still a favourite of all the Bond films of mine, Jen. I loved watching your reaction to it again. 🙂
Please don’t skip over any of the movies, keep watching them in release order. IMO it’s the best way to watch them.
also the ones with the other actors :)
Heartily agree! Watching all of them in consecutive order also more starkly show the change in scenery, technology, architecture, fads and social norms. And except for Lazenby, it can show the subtle or stark changes in the way in which the actor playing James Bond performs in their role.
Some things that wouldn't fly today or be uncomfortable were seemingly okay back in the day.
The way in which some of the special effects and prop work was done back in the day can sometimes outshine the shiny CGI special effects in a movie maker's arsenal today.
Love watching the reaction to this great film series.
I agree that’s how I watched each Bond film although the first Bond films I watched when introduced to the series as a kid in 90s by my cousin Jeff were The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker and saw Goldeneye in theaters in 95 for my 9th birthday with my parents and cousin Jeff. I have been a fan ever since and started collecting and watching them in order.
'Thunderball' has my my favourite evil Bond Girl - the gorgeous, charming and deadly Fiona Volpe played by the great Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi. I know people love Red Grant but for me Fiona is Bond's real evil counterpart (a hypercompetent, charismatic special operative who talks back to their bosses and uses special gadgets, hmm why does that sound familiar?) and their confrontation scene is riveting because these two people are so similar. I'm honestly sorry they killed her off so quickly, she'd have made a great recurring foil for Bond.
As a young Boy.....I was IN LOVE with her!!
She is gorgeous but HIGH MAIINTENANCE, in that she might kill you at any moment
It would have been fantastic for her to have been able to surprise Bond in You Only Live Twice, giving the title a second meaning. But alas, this was not the time period for well done recurring female villains.
AGREED!
Yeah, she has always been my favorite Bond girl, good or bad. Too bad she didn’t have more of a career. She’s still alive and lives in California.
Definitely the counterpart lady Bond!
Martine Beswick, who played Paula, was also one of the girls who fought at the gypsy camp in "From Russia With Love".
She's a lot of fun in "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" - one of the best latter day Hammer films. Jen might dig some of the Hammers - they were rated as rather horrific in their day but they're more atmospheric and creepy than gory or jump-scary.
I knew I recognized her!!!!I thought she was!!!Thanks for confirming it!!That's funny.
She was also in "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde." That was one far out film.
"What's he going to do, jump onto a bike? He's wearing a jetpack!!!!!" The Broccoli family appreciates your reaction. Bond films have been known for crazy openings. Each new movie outdoing the previous.
😆😅😅🤣
_Thunderball_ was the _Star Wars_ of the mid-1960s - a massive culture-shaping success. Also Sean Connery's coolest & best Bond performance.
💯 - more Bond in chronological order! It's not just a watch through the franchise, it's a journey through design, fashion, culture, & politics of the latter half of the 20th century.
@WVR Spence (WestVirginiaRebel) You're not wrong, the Bond explosion was a one-two punch in '64-'65 with _Thunderball_ serving the knockout.
Nonsense. _Thunderball_ had only the third biggest box office numbers for 1965, behind _The Sound of Music_ and _Dr. Zhivago_ . That puts it in a totally different category from _Star Wars_ , which had four times the box office of each of the next two films, one of which was a Bond film.
@@markhamstra1083 The Sound of Music and Dr. Zhivago are not franchise movies but total one-offs. Thunderball's box office for a fourth sequel was unheard of back then. Secondly, the Bond phenomenon was practically everywhere with copycat TV shows and movies, plus children's merchandise. So yes, it was the Star Wars of its time. Further, you're only referrig to American domestic BO numbers, not worldwide receipts which weren't considered until much, much later.
@@SmartCookie2022 _Star Wars_ was not a franchise movie in 1977 when it was number one at the box office by a very large margin, something that no Bond movie has ever accomplished. The Bond franchise and _Thunderball_ were something quite different from _Star Wars_ .
@@markhamstra1083 True, the acting was much worse in Star Wars and even the plot was ripped from a Kurosawa film and AFAIK Bond producers didn't rip off actors by telling them the movie made no profit so they couldn't be paid.
I think you have the perfect approach doing these Bond films in release order. It’s the perfect way to see how the times change, how the films change, how social morals change, technology, etc. Some even get heavy with sci-fi.
And of course the Bonds change! There are some stinkers coming up, but I think you should do the entire franchise all the way to the end.
And don’t forget when you get to the 80s not to miss Never Say Never Again. There is a complicated long history to how that film got made and whether it fits into the canon, and whether it’s a remake of Thunderball, etc. but it’s still a decent film, has Sean Connery returning and has a great Bond girl.
Even the less great Bonds have something going for them. My least favorite by a country mile is “The Man With the Golden Gun” but Christopher Lee makes me forgive a lot.
“Never Say Never Again” gets a lot of stick but I always liked it - getting that and “Octopussy” in the same year was like Christmas at the time. Michel Legrand does his own thing, since they couldn’t use Barry/Norman’s theme tune, and Klaus Maria Brandauer was damn’ good, I thought. And Fatima Blush is up there with the best of them. 🥰
@@karlmortoniv2951 TMWTGG is a snooze for sure but you’re right about Lee. It has a really cool villain lair, too!
@@karlmortoniv2951 Fatima Blush rules!!!
Jen, please keep going! Please do 'You Only Live Twice' next.... Great fun to watch your reactions to these wonderful films. People tend to underrate 'Thunderball' these days due to the multitude of underwater scenes which some accuse of being slow and boring, but I disagree and I'm glad you enjoyed it too. And as always, your appreciation of the music is very cool. This film has probably John Barry's most in-your-face score of the eleven films he scored in the Bond series, and I love it.
Reading between the lines of anecdotes from the production, this was the first time they didn’t have the script locked down before they started shooting. They smoothed out what they could in post - thank you Peter Hunt and John Barry - but the final movie is a bit misshapen, not that I enjoy it any less. Apparently Martine Beswick had more to do, as did Largo’s henchman Vargas who is just there to get harpooned in the final movie, but the rough cut was running so long that a lot of it had to go. “Diamonds Are Forever” also shows signs of a runaway production with Lana Wood’s character being the casualty that time. But the films were making so much money that no attempt to economize lasted very long.
The musical score was awesome to Thunderball!I've seen though in a recent online poll,John Barry's score to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was rated the highest.To be quite honest,I have to agree with them.Even though,the Film itself wasn't the best Bond film.It also didn't star Sean Connery or Roger Moore.But rather,George Lazenby,who wasn't that bad.
@@karlmortoniv2951 your interesting comments make perfect sense, yes this movie is definitely a bit "all over the place" compared to the previous three entries. Seems like the production bit off more than they could chew within a short time frame. But like you, I still enjoy the film a great deal, it has a "rough and ready" quality despite its increased lushness. An interesting mixture which gives 'Thunderball' its own unique energy. There are so many pleasures along the messy way. Connery is utterly magnetic as ever, although he has his worst-looking toupee in this one..! 😄
@@rockinrichardsmoviereviews1901 yes I think I'd agree with that too! John Barry brought his own special magic to all the Bond films he scored but OHMSS could be his finest of all. I think Barry sensed Lazenby was a bit of a dud (although I agree with you, he is OK) and really pulled out all the stops with his music on that one. Brilliant film in my view and I'll be very interested in our Jen's reaction, especially given the glaring absence of her (quite rightly) beloved Connery.
The underwater action scenes were a revelation at the time, nothing had ever been done like that before and was thrilling to say the least! Fantastic 1960's action adventure, which set the bar for action adventures to come, 10/10 in my view.
This one followed the book fairly well. This was the first Bond movie to have teams of faceless minions have a huge battle in the background. It was remade as a non-canon Bond film called Never say Never in the 1980's, also with Sean Connery. It's not bad, but has some really cheesy moments.
Both the Jet Pack and the cable grab at the end were real things. The Jet pack was actually a rocket pack and was good for a few minutes of flight before the fuel was gone, which was good because the heat was nearly unbearable for the pilot. The "Skyhook" was a real method of getting people out of areas where planes couldn't land. The same system makes an appearance in a Batman movie.
>It was remade as a non-canon Bond film called Never say Never
Only in the scope of Eon Productions. Its a long story, but "Thunderball" was a collaborative work (originally intending to be a film with a different name before a book) between Fleming and Kevin McClory. Due to complications Fleming broke from McClory and wrote the book anyways, McClory sued accusing Fleming of plagiarism (which Fleming admitted to), and won the rights to the story/film, but not the book itself. McClory was involved with the production of Thunderball, under the agreement that he didn't do anything else with the story for at least 10 years, after which he started trying to get another film made closer to his version of the story. This legal battle is also the reason why the Eon Bond films dropped SPECTRE/Blofeld from the plot entirely for so long, since McClory won the rights to them as well.
I watched all of the Connery Bonds at the drive-ins. Such great memories from that time. I think every little boy from that time, wanted to be a policeman, a fireman, an astronaut,or James Bond!
Quite definitely, Eric. Always a great comment from you, I left a comment on this too. I'm quite a bit later on here than usual so, Jen (or Jennypenny, for the 'Bond' reactions from now 😄), might not see my comment as usually she goes to bed before now, I feel.
Thunderball was the code name of the operation, no reason was given for the name, but code names are frequently combination of familiar words put together with no particular meaning. However, in this case, it would be easy to surmise that the name is meant to evoke, and to keep in the mind of the audience the prime macguffin in this movie which was the stolen nuclear weapons (i.e. the thunder of a nuclear explosion, and the ball from the fireball that also results). This is almost certainly the first use of the stolen nuclear weapon trope in cinema, which has been repeated numerous times since.
Ahhh Miss Moneyjenny there you are!
Halfway through watching the full commentary on Patreon, my favorite quote thus far "Just a grape for the road"
Loving the Bondathon!
🍇 Lol!
And in Canada we're used to being called American lol 😉🇨🇦
Tom Jones, who sings Thunderball, actually passed out delivering that last "Tunderball" during recording of the song. You can really feel the passion in his music. There's always something cool about each Bond film that I really like, but I can't wait for the reaction of "The Spy Who Loved Me" as it's my favorite Bond film and best song.
I love that story about Tom Jones. The Bond theme songs are another trope. The best ones are supposed to be belted out like Goldfinger. Both Thunderball, and Diamonds Are Forever do this and K.D. Lang's Surrender should have been the main theme to Tomorrow Never Dies instead of the end credit's song. (edits to correct my poor grammar)
Bond themes may be hit or miss across the series, but Tom Jones crushes Thunderball.
@@michaelg2529 Well, they kind of became a trope with this movie. The _Goldfinger_ intro music was the first belter of the franchise, and was well received. Jones had no idea what to do with the _Thunderball_ music - like Jen, he got stuck on what “Thunderball” was supposed to mean. He was given the advice to belt it out like Shirley Bassey did with _Goldfinger_ . Sing it with enough conviction and passion, and the listeners won’t care that the lyrics don’t make sense. So he did. And they didn’t. And the mold for Bond theme songs was set.
💯
I didn’t dislike the song John Barry initially wrote, called “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” sung by Shirley Bassey and then Dionne Warwick when the credit sequence got longer. Bits of the tune are all over the score, particularly in the night club scene with Fiona. Barry couldn’t imagine they actually wanted the title of the movie forefronted in the song, but at the last minute they insisted so Barry whipped out the title song that opens the movie now.
Tom Jones was born about a mile away from me, and he hung out with my Dad, when they were all Teddy Boys, with the slick back hairdo's lol.
These bonds are classic, dignified suave 2 steps ahead of everyone, saves the day and gets the girl. Your reaction adds to the fun, ty.
You want villain lair action? "You Only Live Twice" has got what you need. Best lair ever. Lifestyle goals.
Ooooh I'm excited
The ocean tower villain lair in The Man With The Golden Gun is choice.
@@guymorris6596 WUT?
Thunderball took the more heightened elements of Goldfinger, with more gadgets and set pieces, and cranked it to the next level. This is where Bond films would aim for decades to follow. They never really revised this style until Daniel Craig. If you aren’t committed to watching every Bond, you could probably watch 5-6 more following this and see all the best ones. Loving this Bond journey, however it progresses!
Loved all the gadjets!!!The tiny mouth-size oxygen breather.The propeller-driven oxygen tanks at the end.My Favorite is "Little Nellie" from "You Only Live Twice" or the Aston Martin DB5 with modifications
Well obviously they started to pick out what people liked about earlier films, plus at the time there was a general sense of technology leaping ahead. Pretty well all of the devices shown have been created.
Also I think many people underestimate that it was about 20 years since the end of WW2, and the new generation tended to look forward as the economy was basically just recovering from the war. The older generation were a bit more austere having grown up with rationing.
Rubbish take, they revised the style many times. OHMSS, For Your Eyes Only and the Dalton films would like a word.
By the way! Jen, on case you didn't know, that's the view from inside a rifled gun barrel! The rifling provides spinning that makes bullets more accurate. 😎
This was the first James Bond film to win an Oscar: Best Visual Effects.
This is my favorite Connery era Bond film! (And the book is a good one to read as well!)
The underwater photography is pretty amazing in this movie.
Definitely!
If I remember correctly, this movie was made just when the first underwater camera came out that can shot movie quality film.
The producers were always looking for the latest film technologies, weird vehicles, and stunts that people had come up with to be able to show action sequences that nobody had ever seen before in their next movie. When in later years someone creates a movie camera for sky diving, or a technique to film while downhill skiing, the next Bond movie is showing it off big time.
@@Yora21 The underwater cinematographer has previously worked on a series called Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges. The underwater mini-subs and motor sleds were leading edge at the time. The Fulton Sky hook used to extract Bond from from the life raft was designed by the CIA, US Navy and US Air Force to rescue or retrieved downed pilots or agents.
@@timmooney7528 Ricou Browning was his name. He also played the "Creature from the Black Lagoon."
You won't hear this from anyone else probably but Domino played by French actress and model Claudine Auger was one of my favorite Bond girls
“She’s evil, but she’s sexy”. Yes. The very definition of what a redhead is 😉
'Thunderball' is definitely my all time favorite James Bond, 007 license to kill with Sean Connery. Also Sean Connery really flew that Jet Pack. They were developed around that time period and were experimental prototypes. A few years back Sean Connery made his entrance on a late night talk show flying a jetpack. The next James Bond film is 1967 'You Only Live Twice'. Please do a reaction to that one!
That was on the David Letterman Show & to this day I never saw a Late Night Talk Show Audience give a guest a bigger standing ovation than Sean Connery that night. The audience went crazy & rightfully so. Thunderball is my all time favorite James Bond Movie because Sean Connery was at his very best in it. I wish Sean Connery in Thunderball could be the James Bond Actor forever. He was magnificent because he looked his best & was so cool.
You, Jen, really appreciated these Bond movies in a very entertaining way. They were a little camp back in the day, and you react to that. They are romantic, violent, and funny and you see it all. And, you are almost ready for the Mike Myers' parodies - the Austin Powers series. I am here for all of it!
Fun fact Tom Jones who sang the the Thunderball theme, actually passed out from holding (singing) the last note of the theme for sooooooooooooooo long. Lol!its parodied in the spy hard theme song sung by Werid Al! You'll love it!!
I remember reading something that when Tom Jones was recording the theme for this movie, he actually passed out as a result of holding that last note for so long. For the 1996 parody film "Spy Hard", Weird Al Yankovic did the theme song to the tune of this. Leslie Nielsen starred in that movie, so it's definitely worth a look if you ever get around to it.
I have to cast my vote for "Money Jenny"! The alternative "Jenny Penny" strikes me as too generic; anyone named Jenny could pick up that nickname. But "Money Jenny" immediately brings to mind the iconic Miss Moneypenny (or Eve or Jane, depending on the source material). I like it! 👍
"You can tell which one Bond is. He isn't wearing any pants." LOL . So true , Miss Jen.
I laughed at that and I remember my mum saying the guys in the black wetsuits are wearing the same tights as she had on.
I was 9 years old in 1965. Too young to see the movie, but I read the book. Us kids knew all about James Bond and how cool he was.
I was about the same age, but I got to see it in the kids matinee in Allentown PA. I think it along with all the early Bond movies were rated G back then. At any rate I remember seeing it in the movies, and during intermission or before it came on I still remember a video from the group Herman Hermits playing, LMAO ua-cam.com/video/FFNoDsOmluA/v-deo.html
The next is You Only Live Twice, and that one is definitely recommended next. You asked here whether we'll see Number 1's face, and we do in that one. It's also the last consecutive Connery Bond (he's also in Diamonds are Forever, but he sat out the movie in between).
This movie is one that people have often referred to, as far as I can tell, as the one with the torpedo fights.
I was 11 when I saw this and the underwater battle was insane! There wasn’t another great secret agent movie series until Jason Bourne.
Love the Bourne movies!!
When I was a boy in the 70s, I had a Corgi Car of the Astin Martin. It was made of metal and was about 4 inches long. It had the shield that popped up, the guns that popped out, the oil squirters that popped back, the tire shredders that came out the sides, and the icing on the cake, a working ejection seat-- the roof popped back and a little seat would fly out.
That's awesome!
Loïs Maxwell: FOREVER THE BEST OF ALL !!!
A lot of good sequences: false widow, jet-pack in Anet, SPECTRE reunion, scenes in clinc, death of Angelo, reunion in MI6, Casino VS Largo, love benaeth corails, in bed with Fiona, death of Fiona, underwater battle, death of Largo, etc.
And a really good BO !
The original theme tune to Thunderball was a song called Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang written by John Barry and sung by Dione Warwick(Whitney Houstons aunt), you can hear the tune to this througjt the film particularly in the carnival sequence.
But at last moment producers decided they wanted the film title in the theme song so John Barry quickly wrote Thunderball sung by Tom Jones.
That was a real jetpack, you know~ Military grade. Good for only 20 seconds. But good enough to wow a theater audience.
The Bell Small Jet Lift Device actually existed. Powered by hydrogen peroxide.
And a slightliy advanced version of it was used for the 1984 opening of the Olympic games in Los Angeles. Another thing where the Bond movies inspired reality - just like the original star Trek series did.
In Thunderball the card game which Bond plays is baccarat. In Dr No Bond plays Chemin de fer. Bond also plays Poker and many other card games in different movies later in the franchise. :)
"Moneyjenny or Jennypenny"
Jennypenny has a bigger charm in its sound, I think. Fun fact: while Moneypenny originally had no given name (as if it was a codename), later on the character got a given name. Depending on the version, she is either Eve or Jane Moneypenny. There is a set of officially sanctioned novels to the character under the colective name of "The Moneypenny Diaries".
"That ambulance looks like the Ecto-1"
It's not exactly the same model, but you are not very mistaken: the Ecto-1 (a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel), was used originally as both an ambulance or a hearse. The ambulance in the Bond film, though, is a Mercedes-Benz Binz Ambulance.
The long, almost impossible to learn, names actually mean the cars were adapted by more than one company. For example: Cadillac made the Sentinel family car; but Miller-Meteor made the internal ambulance/hearse configuration for that available chasis (making it a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel). The same happens with the Bond ambulance: Mercedes-Benz made the regular car and then the Binz company made the ambulance configuration (thus, it's a Mercedes-Benz Binz Ambulance... say it three times, fast).
"So we lost the bombs..."
A mostly forgotten element of the Cold War is that the armies of the world with nuclear weapons didn't keep them stored most of the time; they made excersices to "parade them" (as a signal that they were always ready to answer hostile actions with nuclear force) or they transported them between bases.
This led to several incidents where nuclear bombs were lost under the most varied circumstances: if the airplane had a severe malfunction, it was regular procedure to jettison the bomb; while in other cases they were dropped by mistake (as long as the bomb was not armed, the drop didn't make it explode). The US government had 32 incidents of unexpected bomb drops somewhere since the 1960's. To this day, three of those bombs have never been found (and still await in some swamp, covered by grass in a field or at the bottom of the ocean). There are no numbers for the bombs lost (and never recovered) by other nuclear powers such as France, Russia, China... or the United Kingdom (and that's only counting bombs dropped from planes, the number goes up if you consider nuclear missiles lost in sunk submarines).
"The name of operations"
Special operations are named in ways they don't make sense. That way, if the name leaks and the enemy gets knowledge of it, it can't figure out the topic of the mission just by its name (Fleming worked for the british intelligence during World War II; so the name "Thunderball", while cool, follows that rule). Some real life examples we can take from World War II are operations Chronometer, Ironclad, Menace, Catechism, Dracula, Mascot, Teardrop or Crimson.
Perhaps one of the most famous ones would be Operation Mincemeat: you would never guess with that name that this operation involved releasing (in waters of Spain) the body of a random dead man dressed as a british officer with fake secret documents to convince Nazi germany the D-Day invasion was not going to happen in Normandy. Fun fact: this operation was developed from an essay on deception strategies written (completely or partially) by a, then, Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming (yes, the author of our dear Mister Bond).
And that would be it; see you in the next one :P.
Operation Mincemeat!! 😂😂😂
1:53 - Thunderball by British recording artist Tom Jones peaked at no.35 in the UK Singles charts, 20 January 1966 - 26 January 1966. According to Bond production legend, John Barry, Tom Jones fainted in the recording booth when singing the song's final note. Jones said of it, "I closed my eyes and I held the note for so long when I opened my eyes the room was spinning."
I think this is one of the best and most underrated films in the franchise. The story, characters, action, beautiful locations and cinematography made this one of my favorite Bond films. It's great to see how Sean Connery was evolving his interpretation as Bond and how he's even more cynical and charming, like the last scene for exemple, that's exactly how James Bond is supposed to be.
My only problem with this film is that some of the sequences are too long, like the climax in the third act and the many sequences underwater. Yeah, it was one of the highlights of the film, but I think they exaggerate a little. Despite that, easily the best great Bond film with Sean Connery. Oh, and the scene where Fiona is in the bath and asks for something to wear and James only give her shoes is one of the most Bond scenes ever.
Next one is You Only Live Twice. I don't recommend to skip it but be aware, it's one of the weakest of the whole franchise, pretty much a step down in every aspect compared to what we got so far and it's clearly that Sean Connery was getting tired to play Bond every single year.
This was my fav James Bond. I saw it in the movies when I was like 8 years old :)
Thank you! FINALLY, a young person who appreciates "Thunderball!" Okay - someone may have already answered your question - but "Thunderball" refers to a nuclear explosion. That is where the title comes from.
My vote is for you to watch all the series, so you can decide which is better. It is said that there are no bad Bond films, only some better that others.
Jen, "Number One" is actually the same main Bond heavy that was in From Russia with Love. Remember the cat? His name is Ernst Stavro Blofeld--probably the all-time number 1 villain, appearing in multiple movies. He's the main bad guy in the next movie, You Only Live Twice, and the next two after that, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds are Forever. After that, the series moved away from SPECTRE and Blofeld for a while. He makes a brief appearance at the beginning of For Your Eyes Only--and then disappears until the Daniel Craig reboot. There was a legal battle over the use of SPECTRE and Blofeld.
In the next movie, the character is played by Donald Pleasance and he is shown, in OHMSS he is played by Telly Savalas, and in DAF by Charles Gray.
I recommend you go ahead with the next one. It's a little bit of a come down--there's some silliness with outer space scenes, but some good aspects too. The worst Bond movies are with outer space scenes. The very best Bond movies were the first four with Connery, but most of them are still fun to watch, but in my opinion never quite reached the heights of the first four.
I'm glad to see you heeding my suggestion, and that of many others apparently, to watch them in order of release, and you are watching them in the right spirit. And I agree with the other comments noting how you can get the vibe of the times, the culture, music and so on--and watch them in the spirit of the times. You'll notice a very marked shift in style when they have different actors playing Bond.
The Bond movies inspired a bunch of knock-offs. I see you have True Lies also--so I'll watch that next. Please continue. I like your humorous observations. Upvoted.
This is peak Bond mania! Dad told me that Goldfinger was still playing after Thunderball is released.
It was: I saw it as a double-feature release with "Dr. No" in the fall of 1966. They' continued to re-release them as double-features for years. That ended when Connery left -which says all anyone needs to know.
The British Army actually contacted the production company because they were so impressed by the underwater breather Bond used and wanted to order them. 😄
Sean Connery said this was his favorite Bond film
My first Bond movie! After I went my mother actually looked at pictures from the movie and thought she made a mistake (I was 8)
A “Thunderball” is another word used to describe the mushroom cloud that a nuclear explosion creates, so a fitting code name for the operation in the film.
The explosion of the boat at the end tested a new method of creating movie explosions and was way, way more powerful than special effects coordinator John Stears (who won an Oscar for this movie) anticipated. It blew all the windows in on Nassau’s Main Street miles away, and launched the remains of the boat so high in the air that at first the crew thought the boat had literally disintegrated. They had time to look up, see it all about to come down on them, and run out of the way.
This is one of my top Bond movies. The soundtrack is so good too
I love how the super secret briefing was held in a room with most gigantic windows possible. I always pictured the roof top across the street crammed with Spectre agents with binoculars and lip readers.
You are becoming more and more enjoyable to watch reacting to James Bond. Your comments and observations, your excitement and joy at the action make these movies a joy to watch along with you. At one point you referred to James Bond as Bondy, or Bondie. You are making pet names for him, You are becoming attached. Good work Jen, you make it seem like it's not work. You keep asking if we want more, as for myself I think going thru every Bond movie there is should be your goal. Just a suggestion.
Thanks Gerald! 👍
Yeah, a couple guys in England tried watching all the Bonds for their channel a while back and one of the two just couldn’t see these as products of their time at all. He kept moaning about disrespecting women and unmotivated setpieces and unrealistic plots and managed to make Bond reactions a trial to sit through. Jen’s are absolutely delightful.
When they filmed the shark pool scene there was a panel of the plexiglass that was supposed to contain the sharks missing, unbeknownst to Sean Connery, and one of them ended up swimming straight through it and directly at him. His reaction as seen in the film is genuine.
Oh man!!
Hey Jen,
I subscribed just because you were reacting to the Bond films.
Some tiny interesting facts.
Sean Connery was born 25th August 1930.
The same day the cinema in Edinburgh; where all the Bond movies were Premiered, opened.
It's also the cinema my mother worked at, and the one I watched all Sean's Bond movies.
And George Lazenby's one and only portrayal of Bond.
I love it when Domino says "That's why you make love to me"
I'm like .... No, it's because you are hot as hell 🤠
That breather! Batman has been using them thanks to this movie! 😎
Always a good day when I get home from work to see Jen has uploaded a new Bond reaction!
Without spoiling anything, several of the things you were asking about will be in the next film, "You Only Live Twice". Really loving these reactions! It's the closest us Bondians can get to watching the films again for the first time ourselves.
I'm having a blast watching with all you Bond fans!! 👍
Moneyjenny sounds more like Moneypenny and is therefore a more identifiable homage, but Jennypenny has a much nicer ring to it, so that's what I'll vote for.
"Vargas does not drink, does not smoke, does not make love...What do you do, Vargas?!"
One of the great Bond villain quotes.
Fun fact: a man working for a Royal engineering corps thought that the underwater breathing gadget Bond has here was real, and asked the filmmakers how long it actually worked for, to which the filmmakers were like "Well, as long as you can hold your breath."
So far this is the only James Bond film to be remade. Before he sold the rights to MGM, Ian Fleming agreed to write an original film treatment for a smaller studio. Eventually he turned that treatment into the book Thunderball which was sold to MGM with all the other novels. While the studio didn't own the rights to Thunderball they still had the rights to the original film treatment. Eventually they managed to make the movie as Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery reprising his role. Of course they had to change some things to avoid copyright from MGM.
Fun fact, despite the Avro/Hawker Siddeley Vulcan being built for the purposes of atomic bombing, it never actually dropped atomic bombs during its service life. In fact, the only time the Vulcan ever saw combat was when it dropped conventional bombs during the Falklands War of 1982.
The original theme song was "Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". It was changed to "Thunderball" by Tom Jones. Fiona Volpe is wearing a "SPECTRE ring". Luciana Paluzzi acted in A Black Veil for Lisa and The Green Slime. Maurice Binder's opening titles were spoofed in Spy Hard(1996). Kevin McClory sued Ian Fleming for plagiarism. The court gave McClory the movie rights and Fleming ended up with the novel rights. Sean Connery's blue visor disappears in one scene.
This was definitely the appropriate movie to rewatch after seeing your the rocketeer reaction especially for the jet pack scene.
"Is that the CIA doofus?" My favorite saying.
Bond's jetpack was actually flown by engineer Bill Suiter. He was one of only two people in the world qualified to fly it.
On to "You Only Live Twice". The good news is that #1 returns in a major way.
$280 million from 1965 would be about $2.6 billion today.
I love your enthusiasm... We have to look at these movies like insane adventures for their time, in the 60s. When I was a child these movies was so cool to watch...
Connery actually made this movie twice ... "Never Say Never Again" was released in 1983. The rights to Felming's novel "Thunderball" was owned by Kevin McClory, one of the writers on the 1965 movie, after a long legal battle originating in the 1960s. It was one of the few Bond movies not produced by Eon Productions (they produced most of them) and was directed by Irvin Kershner; who also directed "The Empire Strikes Back."
Great reaction, Jennypenny. For me this is the best of the Sean Connery 'Bond' films, he has the toughest foes, not just in 'Spectre' itself but in its agents, particularly No2 Largo and Fiona Lolpe as an assassin (the best female assassin in the series for me). I also love the interaction between Bond and Major Boothroyd a.k.a. 'Q', 'Q' stands for Quartermaster, a person who issues equipment in the Military, the character was based on a real person, Major Geoffrey Boothroyd, who advised Ian Fleming on weapons and equipment for the Bond novels. It's a great film with a fantastic sound track, the theme sung by Tom Jones is one of my favourites. As for moving forward my personal feeling is that you should move onto 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' with George Lazenby and then the Roger Moore 'Bond' era, starting with 'Live and Let Die', but others may want you to react to them all, it's up to you of course, either decision is good but it will take time to do them all.
Thanks Adam! 👍
@@jenmurrayxo My pleasure, it's always nice to be appreciated, and I do appreciate it.
These Bond movies really get Jen excited :)
I like 'Miss Murray-Penny' for Jen's Bond Girl Name.
"You Only Live Twice" from 1967 is the next one (another Connery), looking forward to watching Jen's reaction to it :)
It's definitely got a Lair. 🤐
Nancy Sanatra was awesome and flawless singing You Only Live Twice.
@@steriopticon2687 Oh yes. It does indeed. One of the best IMHO 😉
OK, but at about 20:45 the editor cut one of the absolute COOLEST Bond stunts in the whole series- where, while holding the shotgun across his body in a relaxed pose, & without aiming, shoots the clay pidgeon & then remarks about how 'it's not so difficult after all!'
The dictionary definition of the word "thunderball" is a military term used by U.S. soldiers to describe the mushroom cloud seen during the testing of atomic bombs. Hence its use as a title, because this would be the result of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. detonating the stolen atomic bombs.
Great reaction, Jen, another rewatch to help boost the ratings for your channel.
I'd love to go to the cinema with you as you're intelligent and it would be great fun discussing films after we watch them. I'll do some more 'Bond' rewatches tomorrow.
Another smashing review JennyPenny. "The Widow" in the teaser was played by Bob Simmons, the Connery Bond stunt-double, so in a way Bond was fighting himself! The Physio (Bond Girl 1) was Molly Peters, a 60s "Glamour model" in a rare, clothed role. The card game is baccarat (a winning hand is either eight or nine, royal cards don't count). Bond's true trademark drink is a Vesper - not a true Martini as it's made with Vodka, not Gin. Note the error: Bond claims he's acting for "King and Country", yet Elizabeth II is on the throne, and was even when Fleming wrote the book. Blofeld next.
I've red a fan theory that Q is actually psychic. Bond needs every gadget he's given and is never given a gadget he doesn't use.
Very entertaining as always Jen. The movie was good too. Couple of things I think I can fill in for you. The card game was baccarat. Very much a big money game. As to the codename, Thunderball is a term used to describe a series of explosions that take place within the mushroom shaped blast of a nuclear bomb. Oh, and I am pretty sure Sean Connery had stunt doubles for all underwater scenes except where they clearly show his face. You could see for sure that it was someone else in the scene in the shark pool. Looking forward to whatever is next. I will once again (at the risk of being a pain) suggest 2 great movies. We know you like romance and great (sometimes funny) characters. You also like a heist or caper storyline. So once again. Pencil in The Sting (Paul Newman and Robert Redford), and also Guys and Dolls with Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando in a musical comedy. Seriously, break out the snacks!!!!
I know a family that missed out on the "JB" fun because the mother didn't want her children to see the nude girl silhouettes in the opening credits beginning with this movie! 😮 Though regular broadcast television had no qualms with them.
Lucianna Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe is my MVP of Thunderball... My favorite Bond Girl of the 1960s!
Jens in the house whoot whoot She has such great nicknames for these older movies. JB, Soup, Bondy
Bond No.4 is definitely another smash.
Action and suspense was very good.
The ocean was like another character.
Just couldn't get away from water in this film.
Thunderball was originally conceived as an original story to be the first-ever James Bond film.
At least before the Dr. No novel was chosen as the 1st film.
Between producers Broccoli & Saltzman and the film studio, the deal wasn't concrete with getting the rights from Ian Fleming.
When it didn't become a film, it was made into an novel by Fleming without permission of the other screenwriters.
A legal dispute by filmmakers McClory & Whittingham had Fleming sued after publication of the novel.
Claiming he based it upon the screenplay that was being planned anyhow.
They settled out of court and the producers, fearing a rival McClory film, allowed him to retain certain screen rights of the novel's story, plot, and characters while McClory to receive sole producer credit on the film.
Thunderball was remade as an film in the 1980s.
Known as "Never Say Never Again" (1983) and brought back Sean Connery to play an older James Bond.
Although It's not an official installment, it was great to see Connery become 007 again.
You'll like it too, Jen when you get to it.
Yes, please do the next one in order, "You Only Live Twice". You'll see the 'man holding the cat', who is the inspiration for the spoof in the 'Austin Powers' movies.
"The Biggest Bond Of Them All!"
I heard this was one of the biggest filmed underwater scenes ever!!!!In film history.Yeah,one thing keeps me out of the ocean.SHARKS.
Best part of this and Never Say Never Again is I "grew up" diving on the wrecks/sets. Didn't realize how lucky I was as a kid to go to the Bahamas every year.
Anthony Dawson played number 1 in Thunderball. He is the same guy that played the professor in Dr. NO. He was the guy who transported the spider 🕷 from Dr. No's fortress to the bed that James Bond slept on.
“You can always tell which one James Bond is because he’s the one not wearing any pants.” - Jen Murray
Definitely keep going with watching them in release order; the next one is YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967), which was the final Sean Connery 007 film....until he was convinced to reprise the role one last time in 1971 in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. In the intervening years, a new Bond was chosen: Australian actor George Lazenby, who played Bond just one time, in 1969’s ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE.
There was also the rather bizarre comical adaptation of CASINO ROYALE that came out in 1967, starring David Niven, Woody Allen, and a large supporting cast of stars, but it’s not usually considered a legitimate Bond film since it’s a comedy/satire. It’s kind of a predecessor to the Austin Powers movies, but it does have a pretty decent Burt Bacharach score. Should you see it? Maybe, if you want to be a completist. But it’s not really necessary.
Also one other thing: after DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971), Connery quit the Bond films for good, and Roger Moore became the next Bond, starting with LIVE AND LET DIE (1973). Connery was convinced one final time to play Bond, though, in 1983’s NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, but that’s a remake of THUNDERBALL, which has a rather peculiar history regarding its origins and the rights. It wasn’t an Ian Fleming 007 novel or short story but Fleming did write the story directly for the screen, and the screenplay is based on his treatment. So the remake is sort of canon-but-not-canon. It was still kinda fun to see Connery as Bond one last time, even though he sported a ridiculous toupee in it, having long lost his hair back in the 60s. It’s worth seeing that film but not until you get to the 80s Bond films. Looking forward to seeing you react to all of them!
The next James Bond movie is another favorite of mine along side Goldfinger and License To Kill. It is called You Only Live Twice. In my opinion, it has the second best opening theme song of all the Bond movies. The best opening theme song is from A View to a Kill.
"eating a sandwich"
A few years ago, jets were scrambled from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and intercepted a British Vulcan Bomber. They were surprised and excited to see such a classic Cold War bomber.
The F16 pilot radioed the Vulcan to ask if they would do a "fly bye" for the Nimitz crew to take photos.
The Brit navigation officer replied... "well, I'll just put down my egg sandwich and see what we can do for you"
Obviously a pack lunch of sandwiches was a crucial bit of kit! 😂
That was actually an F-14, piloted by Alan "Shoes". He said this on his interview with Mover.
Movie merchandising wasn't quite as huge as it is now, but there were quite a few Bond related toys. I remember as a kid seeing 12 inch Bond action figures in the the rocket belt set and the scuba outfit in a tabletop diorama display in the toy department of my local Sears. Man, I wanted those so bad for Christmas (didn't get them though). I also recall that there was a smaller scale yacht that turned into a hydrofoil which didn't interest me much.
I had the Goldfinger race car set.
Toy soldier collectors still find black and orange scuba-divers mixed into toy soldier sets even today.
There was also a set of underwater vehicles to go with them.
Domino. Ah, Domino. 😍 This is my favorite Bond, and has been for 40+ years. Don’t get me wrong, I like all of them, and I love a lot of them a lot, but this one is at the top. And Domino is at least part of the reason. 😏
"You Only Live Twice" is next. It's set in Japan, it has Bond training to be a ninja, and it briefly features a real life forgotten weapon: the Gyrojet gun, so I definitely want you to watch it.
Your reactions are delightful. I can't think of any other reactor who makes me smile as much as you do. I love how quickly you pick up on genre tropes and how you anticipate and cheer them just like long time fans do. To fans of the movies you react to, you feel like one of us.
Thanks!! Happy to be watching with you guys 😊👍
The best Bond movie ever. So good that Sean Connery made it again in the 80s (Never Say Never Again).
Oh really?!
Thunderball was based on the novel of the same name. It was named Operation Thunderball in the book.
SPECTRE's №1 is a recurring presence. He will return.
BTW, SPECTRE stands for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.
You Only Live Twice (1967) is the next Bond film. Please continue.
I would also recommend The Man for U.N.C.L.E. (2015). It's a movie based on the '60s television spy series. U.N.C.L.E. stands for United Network Command for Law Enforcement. What can I say? The '60s loved their acronyms. Ian Fleming was actually a consultant of the show. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series also had a spin-off called The Girl from U.N.C.L.E..
Sir Sean Connery performed the gun-barrel sequence for the first time because of the new Panavision process used in the movie. Beginning with this movie, the sequence would be performed by the actor playing Bond in the movie.
Ken Adams was the production designer for the first seven Bond films. He created all those "secret lairs".
He was not the production designer for On her majesty's secret service.
Bond in short sleeves is actually reflective of Ian Fleming’s personal taste in clothing-he also often wore short sleeved shirts.
I just had to watch parts of this recently because a client wanted me to 3D model the car/sub as well as the under water base and some vehicles/divers.
Edit: Oops I merged this with The Spy Who Loved Me in my head.
Gosh Jen.....If you really like Bond, you'll need to watch them all.
I'd recommend "You Only Live Twice", which is set in Japan and adds a few more cool gadgets
"Konichiwa Bond-san!"