Product Details

• Actors: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Rik Van Nutter
• Directors: Terence Young
• Writers: Ian Fleming, Jack Whittingham, John Hopkins, Kevin McClory, Richard Maibaum
• Producers: Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: October 19, 1999
• Run Time: 130 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (203 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000K0E9
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,677 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "Thunderball" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

James Bond's fourth adventure takes him to the Bahamas, where a NATO warplane with a nuclear payload has disappeared into the sea. Bond (Sean Connery) travels from a tony health spa (where he tangles with a mechanized masseuse run amuck) to the casinos of Nassau and soon picks up the trail of SPECTRE's number-two man, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), and his beautiful mistress, Domino (Claudine Auger), whom Bond soon seduces to his side. Equipped with more gadgets than ever, courtesy of the resourceful "Q" (Desmond Llewelyn), agent 007 escapes an ambush with a personal-size jet pack and takes to the water as he searches for the undersea plane, battles Largo's pet sharks, and finally leads the battle against Largo's scuba-equipped henchmen in a spectacular underwater climax. This thrilling Bond entry became Connery's most successful outing in the series and was remade in 1983 as Never Say Never Again, with Connery returning to the role after a 12-year hiatus. Tom Jones belts out the bold theme song to another classic Maurice Binder title sequence. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what Bond is all about! Clearly the best Bond film in the franchise!, September 6, 2005

By	Steve Forsyth "sforsythnoe" (Denton, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I noted that this is the only Bond film of the entire series that, to date, has not received a single 1-star review here on Amazon. That's pretty dang good!

Director Terrence Young had introduced us to Bond in DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Guy Hamilton then took us down the GOLDFINGER road, and while his attention to action made that the first SMASH Bond film, he also seemed to lose alot of the more down-to-earth flavor that made the first two Bonds so much better.

But, Terrence Young returned for his final Bond film, and somehow managed to provide the perfect mesh of the realistic Bond from the first two films, and the more action-oriented Bond of GOLDFINGER. The result is a very happy marriage indeed - it's just too bad there were very few legitimate children born of it!

THUNDERBALL contains all the great locales, villains, and Bond coolness that we love, without getting into the ridiculous, gadget-filled territory of the later films. It introduces us to our first true Bond femme fatale, and also gives us the first really interesting Bond girl in Claudine Auger's Domino character.

The music in the movie by John Barry is very nice, high-lighting the slower pace of much of the film. This movie is longer than the previous three by almost 20 minutes, and it is a nice extra cushion to really build the tension. In fact, Bond is largely absent from the first 45 minutes of the movie, and we finally see more of the villians plans - what they are and how they are being accomplished - in almost meticulous detail. Somehow, this makes the threat more real. Speaking of the threat, the plot being about terrorists stealing nukes and demanding ransom to prevent blowing up an undesignated city, is as fresh as today's headlines!

The only real gripe that can be levied at the film is that Connery does indeed seem a little less interested in the role than he had been. I think he's still mostly on track here, but he's missing the total devotion that he showed in the first three films.

That aside, THUNDERBALL is simply the best Bond - offering everything that makes Bond great, and eliminating all the over-the-top sillieness that made the later films so excruciating to sit through!

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thunderball Rocks!, November 3, 1999

By	J. H. Minde "Can you keep up?" (Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Bond: Thunderball [VHS] (VHS Tape)

THUNDERBALL (1965) the fourth of the James Bond 007 series is among the best of the films. As a follow-up to the phenomenally successful and definitive GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL is just a shade less satisfying. In terms of tone and composition the two films are of an era in the James Bond mythology.

Sean Connery returns as the inimitable British Secret Agent, this time set against SPECTRE Agent Number Two, Largo (Adolfo Celi). SPECTRE has stolen an atomic bomb and is holding the world hostage.

Largo is a worthy adversary. Strongly-built, silver-haired, wearing an eyepatch, and more physically intimidating than Gert Frobe's plump Goldfinger, Celi's Largo lacks the faintly tongue-in-cheek air which animated Goldfinger's behavior. In fact, the entire film lacks the decidedly humorous undertone of GOLDFINGER. The villains are more vicious, and Connery's Bond, his wit more honed than ever, is playing for keeps.

The theme song (with Tom Jones singing), plot and story are at least on a par with the predecessor film; however, the action, based in the Caribbean, takes place largely around, and under, water, and the film drags deplorably during most of the underwater sequences despite the fact that one of these is the climactic fight scene. The change in tempo between land and undersea action is jarring and detracts from the movie in a manner that its innate excellence in other respects cannot compensate.

Of course, Bond successfully seduces just about every woman on the set (except for Miss Moneypenny, the Penelope of the series). While he is able to win an ally in Domino (Claudine Auger), he is less successful with others, though as he admits, after all, it is "all for King and Country." What a sense of selfless sacrifice the man has!

THUNDERBALL was later remade as NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN in which Connery, still trim, fit, and feisty (but with toupee) returned to the James Bond role after more than a decade's hiatus. The remake is great to watch as a counterpoint to the original.

While THUNDERBALL is not as much fun as GOLDFINGER, if all subsequent Bond films could have been as good as THUNDERBALL, even Timothy Dalton would have been a tolerable 007. Let's give this one FOUR AND A HALF STARS.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential Bond, September 23, 2007

By	Scott Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Thunderball (DVD)

After the phenomenal success of "Goldfinger," Bondmania reached its box-office peak with this spectacular 1965 adventure. Though the adaptation by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins is needlessly complicated in spots, "Thunderball" has all the requisite 007 elements: Sean Connery's classic performance, solid direction from Terence Young, an impressive supporting cast, and John Barry's memorable score. The first widescreen Bond production makes the most of its Bahaman locales and John Stears' Oscar-winning visual effects. Slightly overlong, "Thunderball" is a notch below the previous 007 films, but well worth having.