Shaken, Not Stirred takes a (brief) look at the James Bond canon from Eon Productions. Twice a month, Chris and Jon share their impressions of each film, both on its own terms and in terms of the cultural landscape as well as the genre it helped to create, not to mention its intersection in the Cinema Dual hosts’ lives.
FROM THE (LETTER)BOX(D): LOOK UP! LOOK DOWN! LOOK OUT! HERE COMES THE BIGGEST BOND OF ALL! A criminal organization has obtained two nuclear bombs and are asking for a 100 million pound ransom in the form of diamonds in seven days or they will use the weapons. The secret service sends James Bond to the Bahamas to once again save the world.
WHAT CHRIS THOUGHT: Goldfinger may have been silly, but it had enough charm in its step to elevate the circumstances above its silliness. But Thunderball, despite having Terence Young return in the director’s chair, feels the weight of a franchise trying to do more with less, and a leading man feeling stifled and pigeon-holed, and letting that come through in the performance. It’s a problem when SPECTRE’s internal mechanics are more interesting than watching Bond stumble into another global adventure with his cock cocked more than his Walther PPK.
It’s fun to watch things like the pool of sharks, the underground criminal lair with chairs that can electrocute then dump their board member at the press of a button. And how could I ever forget what I think is the third Felix Leiter in four films? More seeing lap dog than valiant CIA agent, at least there’s a bonus point for looking like Jim Jarmusch stole a time machine just to chill in Nassau for a long weekend. Still, I dig how we get a little more of a sense of how MI6 operates with other intelligence agencies, and any chance for more antics with the Aston Martin is okay in my book. I’m not quite sure what to make of Adolfo Celi as Largo, SPECTRE’s No. 2 and a man who brazenly wears his eyepatch under the ocean and a bare chest under his captain’s jacket. But he does manage to extort the US and the UK while stealing two atomic missiles, so props for the world domination plan making a modicum of sense.
WHAT JON THOUGHT: I had thought after the last two Bond movies that we were out of Bond tropes to establish. Blessedly though, Thunderball brings back Spectre and we get the first major conference meeting with electrified chairs for operatives who don’t meet their quota. I admire their commitment to the bit of never showing Blofeld’s face, but making him look like he’s stuck in an elevator between floors does strain credulity a bit. We also get the first instance of Spectre making public threats. But as with its predecessors, Spectre functions more like setup to the film’s actual plot. And where Thunderball shines the best is the underwater sequences that take up a lot of the film’s run time. From the early sequence involving camouflaging the stolen plane, to the more simple diving sequences between Bond and Domino, to the bombastic underwater battle at the film’s end, anytime this movie is underwater I am mesmerized.
Elsewhere however, Thunderball strains to find ways to distinguish itself in the series. Tom Jones’ theme song never quite holds a candle to Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger theme — except, perhaps, for that final note. For a globe-trotting franchise, it feels a bit too soon to be coming back to the Caribbean (Nassau). The standout exception is Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona Volpe, who correctly calls out Bond for using his sex appeal as a recruitment tool — and pointedly asks what his failure with her will do to his ego. For Bond’s part, he extorts a nurse for sex, and uses yet another woman as a human shield, but we’ve seen Bond play these notes before. I don’t want people to leave with the impression that this movie is bad, but rather that this is the first movie in the franchise where I felt like I’d been here before.
ANYTHING ELSE, CHRIS? For every good piece in Thunderball, like pretty much every underwater sequence, the hijacking of the plane and the eventual demise of Angelo, the assassin who murdered a NATO general and then impersonated him to steal the plane, you get something like the god-awful jetpack scene. Or Bond literally holding a woman up and using her as a human shield like something in The Naked Gun.
Thank God Young knows how to shoot a location, because despite going back to Nassau (full circle, weirdly) he’s able to make the most of every location, particularly a thrilling chase sequence during a Junkanoo parade. And certain moments are so indelible in my mind from seeing this as a child: that shot of Bond casually using the speargun on the beach to kill Vargas, Largo’s main henchman, still thrills me. Largo’s casual cutting of the air hose, tying off one more loose end in his plans…hell, even the hilarious shot of #1 with a steel shutter obscuring his face is so batshit silly I have to smile.
They knew it was ridiculous, and they leaned into it even back then.
ANYTHING ELSE, JON? Speaking of having “been here before,” Thunderball holds what I assume will be the very rare distinction of “Bond movie shot in a place I have visited.” I will admit that having traveled to Nassau might influence my particular feelings of familiarity, but there is a pleasant nostalgia that comes with that as well. Having also had the chance to interact with sea life during that trip, it also gave the shark pool, an otherwise ripe target for parody, actually feel a bit more grounded. It felt less implausible, which I was not expecting. Would I have latched onto the Junkanoo parade if the movie’s plot were otherwise more exciting? Possibly not, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy to see it.
Finally, if I’d characterize most of Thunderball as being a competent film that marginally iterates on the formula, I do want to highlight the opening fight sequence with Colonel Bouvar. You’re never really given much about him except to set up that he and Bond were enemies, and he is now dead, so Bond goes to the funeral. Afterwards, Bond goes to pay respects to the widow, only to immediately and shockingly punch her in the face, because he has deduced it is the Colonel himself. From that violent moment, a very intense fight to the death ensues, which is sadly undercut by possibly the worst special effects to date in this franchise. Bond’s escape on the jet pack is laughably bad.
THE FINAL WORD(S): For Jon, Thunderball has one major trick up its sleeve, but it’s not quite enough to surpass its forebears. Chris finds it equal parts fun and dumb, the dumb mostly outweighing the fun, except when it doesn’t.
NEXT TIME: WE RETURN WITH YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE…AND “TWICE” IS THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE!
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