Rest in peace Claudine Auger (26 April 1941 - 18 December 2019) Always loved her role as Domino, and one of the most beautiful Bond girls.

Love how you took a jab at Kevin McClory there.

I found a quote from the IMDB page under trivia. "Bond enters Miss Moneypenny's and hangs up his hat then enters the meeting with M. When he exits M's meeting, after his chitchat with Moneypenny he goes to the hat rack to find his hat is gone Bond states "I thought I wore a hat when I came in.." This was the final appearance of James Bond wearing a hat as a fashion statement. (With the exception of the opening scene of On Her Majesty's Secret Service)" Not sure if that clears up the hat dilemma or not.

It's important to remember that the scuba scenes were super innovative at the time, so while they seem really long and gratuitous to us, they were a huge new thing at the time.

On these “health” machines - why is there always a setting that will kill the person on it?

Hey Calvin, have you noticed - in the Q/ Bond scene Q explains to him (and us) that the watch is a geiger counter and the camera is an underwater camera. However later when Bond gives Domino the CAMERA he tells her it’s a geiger counter(?!). WTF? Did they forgot their own gadgets?! Crazy. I love your reviews, and keep up the good work.

16:00 The real question is: What shower has hot water the moment you open it?

THUNDERBALL, despite the pacing the problems, is the only Bond that made a world wide threat seem legit. You felt like nations were scrambling to stop SPECTRE from killing innocent people. In the later films, it just became such a routine for one man taking down entire armies in order to stop a threat no one knew except Bond and a few red shirts.

This mightve been answered already but the whole missing hat thing was just to symbolize that Bond wasn't going to wear a hat anymore as part of his standard outfit

It was a good basic plot. Steal two nukes, and hold the US and UK for ransom. It gave more background on SPECTRE. It had Fiona (Drool). However, in 1965 underwater action sequences were unheard of. So there was a lot more fascination with that. It gave something different. It's basically a film that hasn't aged well. It would have been better if we just saw SPECTRE having a meeting, and saying it had the largest operation SPECTRE ever attempted. Then explained the plot as well to the audience. I do think the disarming of the bombs was lame as well as the sped up action sequences. But it's still a fun film.

Calvin, at 5:44, I hear, 'AH, IT'S NOT A WOMAN, IT'S A TRANSVESTITE!" is that intentional?

That insignia on Lippe was not SPECTRE, it was a symbol of the red tongs.

Vargas being asked what his passion is and not answering - I believe this is supposed to be killing. James putting on sunglasses to hide emotions - Look at the hands giving Domino the watch, they tremble

Just after the policeman apologizes to Largo he nearly gets ran over by a car lol

Cmon man its the bond with almost all the elements, Connery, Spectre,gadgets, jetpack, hot bondgirls, coldwar, eye patch villain, DB5, felix leiter, M,Q,Moneypenny,intense situation, Bombers, Nukes, world domination, exotic locations, original bond theme, cool OST ect... I sure hope SPECTRE is more like thunderball and goldeneye.

Terence Young got disillusioned with the franchise too. I read this quote ages ago (impossible to verify now) that he would like to direct one more JB; provided it be the last, and not just his last, the last ever.

Ahhh it's not a woman its a transvestite randomly popping up during that editing hiccup was so funny!

How can anybody not like this movie? It practically is the definition of BOND. Everything from the music, the women, gadgets, the locations, SPECTRE, Connery, and much more is just perfect in this movie

Just rewatched this, got very close to falling asleep. The story moves at an absymally slow pace, and the best bits are so brief you often forget them. I could give credit for the underwater scenes being revolutionary and the pre title scene having some intrique, but there's so little good to talk about.

You actually forget one thing that always bothered me with the shower scene. Bond tells Leiter "You were about to call me 007" while the guy in the shower is coming to it. So why punch Leiter if you then mention it anyway while the guy is listening, now even closer up cause it is right in front of him.

I have a feeling he flew the jetpack in when he got to the house but you do bring up a good point in how did no one else notice

Hot take on the "blackmail" scene with the health spa lady: It's made pretty plain from their earlier interactions that she finds him attractive and is only rebuffing his advances because it would be a violation of the terms of employment to shag the clientele, and she values her job. The "blackmail" situation provides enough of a pretext for her to "surrender", her rationale being "well, he _might_ be making a genuine threat", even though it's pretty obvious to everyone from that roguish twinkle in his eye that this is basically role-playing foreplay, and that he's not really the sort to go tattle to the manager.

Did anyone else hear "Ahh! It's not a women, it's a transvestite!" at 5:44 ?

I would take this over Diamonds are Forever any day

"I think I had a hat when I came in" My guess is Bond is trying to show M that he wasn't just chit-chatting with Moneypenny. The very obvious, and empty, hat stand shows he's just making excuses.

That SPECTRE uniform bit is one of the best things I've ever seen and can be applied to so many villainous organizations. 🤣

I honestly find Thunderball one of the best Bond films. Great music, the underwater scenes were state of the art for that time, the plot is solid, the SPECTRE organization is given effective time in the movie, and Largo is a solid villain. Connery gives us a great performance and the leading Bond girl is fantastic. I love the whole movies.

Thunderball is one of my favorite 007 movies

I avoided re-watching Thunderball for years after this review, but having recently read the novel, I gave the film another chance. You're way too hard on this film, I really enjoyed watching it again. I'm not surprised Bond is sarky with Q, as he's being patronising in the extreme to him.

Slight editing hiccup around 5:43 where the audio of the transvestite line plays. Good review so far, though!

18:54 "gess that's a good shot!" Oh man, I know right, that french...oh...you mean the actual shot from the previous scene. Ok."

I'm sorry, but to me Thunderball is the epitome of the James Bond "Thing". The locales, beautiful women, the diabolical and actually believable bad guys in this one are GREAT, the chase scenes... I could go on. I suggest sir that you go back and look again at this film! It is gorgeous and its many interesting character interactions and situations, intriguing... While this film may be other things, "Weak" is certainly NOT one that would be an accurate description of this ultra cool, suave, film. And the women are just simply Delicious! Ciao!

Hiya Calvin, love your videos! 😂 Just thought I'd throw my opinion in of the "I had a hat when I came in" part of the film. If you look closely, Bond and M have different outfits on in both scenes, which suggests they are supposed to be different days which would explain why Bond's hat has disappeared. Obviously discussing his individual assignment with M is happening the day after the meeting with all the 00s. Or maybe even later the same day? Bond had come back quickly from Shrublands hadn't he so maybe he'd gone home and changed before coming back in to see M? Farfetched perhaps but maybe? The line "I think I had a hat when I came in" is said by Bond to try to move on from the awkwardness created by Moneypenny calling M "the old man" and to get out of there asap. The expressions he pulls as he heads for the door suggest that he's thinking Moneypenny might have overstepped the mark and he just wanted to get out of there. Just my opinion. Any thoughts? Keep the reviews coming! 😁

It cracked me up when M initially assigned Bond to Station C (Canada). I thought, "Canada? You're sending Bond to CANADA? "

Ha ha I died of laughter with your Kevin McClory rant on how he invented everything.

Watching most Bond films for the first time in 2020, I have to say: the Thunderball scuba battle stands out as a high point. So many of the films in the series try so hard to come up with something novel for the chase and fight scenes, and in this case they actually did something truly novel, and not contrived at all (it is integral to the plot), and they knocked it out of the park.

The harpoon going clean through the shark appears to be a special effect. I could be wrong, but I believe that shark was unharmed.

The main reason I don't like this movie are the underwater sequences. I get that at the time it was so advanced but now it's just soooo slow. But I agree with you, Fiona Volpe is the saving grace of this movie, sexy and amazingly acted

A BIG moment you missed talking about the beach scene with Domino and Bond revealing her brother's death...The shot right before he puts on the sunglasses is a close up of his hand, giving Domino her brother's items. As he pulls it away his hand clearly trembles! A lot of people miss this for some reason.

I think its pretty clear that bond intended to use Fiona as a human shield, he clearly saw the gun pointed at him and swung her on purpose with a look of fear on his face in front of him

Say what you will about the underwater sequences, but Thunderball is ten times better than Diamonds Are Forever which I've grown to dislike tremendously. Domino is one of the most attractive Bond girls of Connery's films, Fiona Volpe was an amazing henchwoman. Her death was one of the more notorious deaths in the franchise and was definitely intense. SPECTRE was also more of a global threat in this film rather than a British, Russian, or Chinese one. The musical score by John Berry is excellent, and the opening song "Thunderball" by Tom Jones is the best male vocalist song in the films other than "You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell, and last but not least... the Jetpack. Enough Said. Thunderball is without a doubt Connery's most underrated movie.

Thunderball is my favourite bond film.

I've started watching all the Bond films from the beginning. I just finished Thunderball and I think cinematography and technology wise, it's the best so far. I can't wait to keep going

Why do I love Thunderball? I think it has all the right ingredients for a classic Bond film. Beautiful locations and women, a great John Barry score, an interesting Bond girl... Yes, Domino does share some similarities with Honey Ryder, but Domino does kill Largo, an interesting villain if just for how good he is at his job of Spectre. He's also one of the most classy and stylish villains in the series. Yes, the underwater sequences do drag, but it's probably a top 5 Bond film for me.

I loved thunderball

Bond intended to use Fiona as a shield. He saw the gun at the last second and decided to turn. The bullet went right between his two fingers, and he wasn't surprised when she died.

The OLD MAN scene is the highlight of a turgid movie. Ignoring the reasoning for the missing hat, It's a lovely piece of awkward comedy with great timing and delivery by Connery. His tight arsed walk is perfection!!

How dare he leave out the best bond quip of all time... when Fiona asks Bond to get her something to put on!

We don't get a Q scene until over an hour into the film. I wouldn't mind so much if anything before hand wasn't so painfully dull.

Thunderball is my favorite. The editing isn’t the best, but claudine auger....😍

This was the first Bond I saw on TV as a kid. I ate chocolate and drank coke all night, for this reason it's a classic.

Calvin does: Thunderball vs Never Say Never Again. I genuinely don't know which would win 🤔

Well Calvin, I understand that you didn't find this movie spectacular and some people would say love or hate this movie both at the same time. However, I really like "Thunderball" and...I kind a like underwater fight scenes. 👪👩‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👨‍👦: Boooooooo!!!! Okay, okay, I will admit it is too slow, but the entire sequence, the story, all these gorgeous ladies, and Connery still becomes a clever Bond character. It may be not the strongest Bond film like every hardcore Bond fan should said it, but it was fantastic only for me. With the jet pack scene, beautiful underwater experience, and Bond banging with Domino and Fiona. Probably a better Bond film than the same director who did "Dr. No" or "From Russia With Love." But hey, the ending scene where Disco Valente was stupid and hilarious.

i always thought that moneypenny took it as a keepsake

You need to appreciate how cutting edge underwater filming was for audiences, but it does look dull today

Dude military airbases are as relaxing as you can get... YOU DESERVE MORE SUBS *thumbs up*

I watched it recently and I really enjoy the John Barry score, particularly when Felix and Bond are in the helicopter finally finding the plane. Combined with the widescreen footage its a great part. Thunderball looks great and sounds great, but its so slow to get going, so in many ways it reminds me of SPECTRE (though that film has a meh soundtrack).

I think the hat scene is just that he’s finding the situation awkward so try’s to change the subject.

Wait you want me to ignore the ridiculousness of Moonraker but then poop on the jet pack? Lol

Thunderball is the Bond franchise's Aquaman: hugely successful, mostly set underwater, and kind of dumb.

I adore this film. I appreciate the opportunity to see the nuts and bolts of SPECTRE's operation for once (although I admittedly did find it boring in the remake). I love seeing the 00s meet together for a conference. I find the villains to be loads of fun, from our eyepatch-sporting Largo (who, of course, was iconic enough to inspire an Austin Powers character) to Fiona and even Vargas (who, for the record, is shy about his love for killing). The shark pool scene is one of my favorite moments in the entire series, and even though the underwater scenes drag a bit (where's that quirky Peter Hunt editing when you really need it?), they're still spectacular--contrast the truly bland and incomprehensible climax of NSNA. Sure, it's pretty much all formula and spectacle rather than character, but unlike most of the later films with that same balance, this film is simply gorgeous to stare at for its padded running time. For my tastes, at least, it's the best-looking Bond flick with the possible exception of Skyfall.

I happen to love this film, and after recently viewing it again, consider one of my top 10 favourite bond films. Your arguments seem far too nitpicky and bring up complaints that you ignore in other films. An example of this is the scene between Q and James bond. The look that they give one another I found to be quite comedic, and saying that Bond acts like a petulant schoolboy around Q, can be seen frequently in other bond films as well. I feel that the harsh review of this film, is unjust. It is by no means a perfect films, but I believe it is one of the better ones in the series.

7:57 How will Bond get out of this one? Is he doomed to being stretched out of shape? Will Largo, the arch-fiend be successful? Find out tomorrow, Same Bond-Time, Same Bond-Channel

You are one of the very few James Bond KZfaqrs that I respect but I gotta say I love the underwater battle sequences.

“Jacques”=“James” in French

I absolutely love Thunderball

And if you question that, he’ll take you to court... Best Line Everrrrr

This is honestly one of my favourite bond movies. My top 10 would be: #1 Goldfinger #2 From russia with love #3 Dr.no #4 Casino Royale #5 The spy who loved me #6 Skyfall #7 License to kill #8 Thunderball #9 The living daylights #10 Goldeneye

I love thunderball

I'm pretty sure the harpoon misses the shark. It's just a question of frame-rate... We would see blood flowing from the holes...

RIP Claudine Auger. (Domino)

"Vargas does not drink, he does not smoke, he does not make love. What do you do Vargas?" ".............. I write Gilligan's Island slash fiction." ".......... Ok."

It's interesting how you and I have diametrically opposed preferences for our 007 style (campy Moore vs deadly serious literary) but we both hate Thunerboredom and Quantum of Boredom and your opinions of both these messy films are almost identical to mine. I also agree that Thunderball often gets a free pass due to Connery.

6:20 to 7:23 that had me laughing so hard in stiches Calvin,Lord Colton Of Gallifrey

Killing Fiona Volpe was a huge mistake, even if the death scene itself was impressive. Not only is she a far more interesting villain than Emilio Largo (who is inexcusably bland for second in command of SPECTRE) she is practically tailor made to be a recurring antagonist for Bond. She's a ruthless, highly skilled operative and assassin who uses her sexuality as part of the job, I mean she's basically 'what if Bond was a woman and evil?' Throw in the mutual sexual tension with 007 and Fiona is the obvious figure to face him more than once.

"PARKS IN A NON PARKING ZOOOOOOONNE?????!!!!"

31:29 Alec Trevelyan certainly looked a hell of a lot like Ringo Starr back in the day.

Thunderball Is One Of Best Bond Films Of All Time,Claudine Auger As Domino Derval Was Hot As Hell,10/10 Rating For Me With A Badass Seal Of Approval,Lord Colton Of Gallifrey

7:54 really the only time in the whole series where Connery genuinely looks scared sh*tless lol

Thunderball sets itself apart by depicting England, and MI6, in a more Baroque setting. It is also a very formalistic film by first briefing the audience in a very comprehensive way, making sure that that we know that this is a very glamorous *job* which Bond is being tasked with. We see the English attitude toward developments 'abroad', before stripping Bond of the ecoutrements of civilization, and dropping him into a snake pit in the Bahamas.

Myself I used to have Thunderball as my favourite Bond flick (after that, I picked From Russia with love and recently I consider Dr. No to be the best ... but that's another story.). But there's no film like Thunderball just like there's no film like Skyfall - that's why I see the two quite similar in some way. First, the picture looks beautiful, and that would've been a must to make the underwater scenes to work. And I love every piece of those "teadious" underwater scenes! Sometimes the picture even looks modern (and I've only seen this film on VHS and DVD, and not on Blue-ray). The filming under water is wonderfully done and the picture is great, it's an art in itself to make a suspense drama in a slow motion moving atmosphere like underwater - and yet they manage top class! Fiona Volpe is also a great contribution, I agree with Calvin on that point. But Largo I think is great and although we don't get to know that much about him I Think he shines through the screen in every scene he's in and you really get intimidated by this character. Vargas is also a very interesting henchman, almost entirely mute throughout the movie (and I wish I stayed that way). But also, I agree with Calvin that Vargas should've been more elaborated thoroughout the film. One of the most interesting Bond henchmen in the film series if you ask me. I also agree on that the scientist who ends up pretty much "solving the problem" gets too Little attention, but to tell the truth I actually never thought about that until Calvin pointed it out! Maybe it's because I've always been hooked on the film itself that all the plot holes get under my radar, I don't now. The final fight between Bond and Largo with the fast forwarded backdrop I've always found hilarious though, but since I'm a 60s fan I've never got that much bothered about it since that kind of technique and editing was quite general at that time and I think shouldn't be too much dug in to. But nevertheless, it does look quite stupid! I don't think this is Connery's best performance though (I save that for From Russia with love and Dr. No) and Claudia is a beautiful Bond girl "with teeth" ;) ... But I guess all that matters, wheather you will like this film or not, gets down to how you feel about the under water scenes. If you like them and think they're you will certainly like this film, but if you don't, you will surely dislike most parts or the entire film. As for the plot I've for some reason always found myself invested even though Calvin has good points in the lacks in the script showing and telling us everything only to let us see the characters catch up with the plot. Not very good storytelling but it worked for me! :)

In the pantheon of bad Bond films, I don't think this classifies anywhere near bad. It isn't great, but it manages to do many things right and has some interesting ideas. If you think this is a bad movie, you have not seen enough bad movies.

I think that Largo is, perhaps, the coolest of all the Bond villains; The eye patch, the 'Disco Volante', the dinner jacket, the beachside villa... ... So much so that he was honoured [ie sent up] in the Austin Powers' series as the eye-patched "Number Two" played by Robert Wagner.

Regarding the Aston Martin, my guess is that her majesties government liquidated Goldfingers business interests after his death and were able to recover the car

I first saw Thunderball when I was about 12-13 years old. I absolutely loved it. Now that I'm 20 I still love it. I love Connery (who actually gets to do stuff the whole film, unlike Goldfinger), the Tom Jones theme, I love Blofeld's scene with SPECTRE, I love the locations, the girls, etc. I also like the underwater stuff. I think the slow pace is justified because of the sheer gruesomeness of the deaths, like having their oxygen lines cut, or taking a harpoon to the face. For me it's tense. A great review though, I appreciate your unique perspective.

they were delayed 3 weeks and all of the editing was done in that time.

A spa next to a military base sound great since it gives the soldiers a place to relax.

Really entertaining. You’re too rough on this movie, but your review is great fun. So happy I found you.

When will you do the OHMSS review?.... and I think its time you rank all your Bond films again now that Spectre has come out

A very funny review. I think you are being a little hard on this film as I would have expected the audience to have enjoyed this movie back in 65 subsequent to the Ian Fleming (McClory) novel. It is very similar to the book, which incidentally is a great 007 read. It just flows and I think Terrance Young wanted the same for the film, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the rich but poor looking film with poor dubs and edits. Remember, Terrace Young was James Bond and extravagantly spoiled the whole cast and crew while holidaying in the Bahamas. Wasn't he known for spending his wages on entertaining the whole film unit? Maybe with some of the films budget also..... Fiona Volpe was and still is a favourite of mine. The scene after Bond beds her, only to find that the henchmen are waiting for him outside is in my opinion one of the greatest Bond moments ever. "Vanity Mr Bond, something you know so much about" And with this dark humorous moment, John Barry drops a gentle score of Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang over the top of it. Spine tingling. Yes my friend, you forgot to mention anything about the late great Mr John Barry. What drives a number of the Bond films. which are slow in pace, is the Barry music which gives emotion and superior feel. The suspension of disbelieve is what is required in viewing these films and as bad as they are, John Barry always kept you wanting more. Goldeneye for me was never going to work as Eric Serra playing the 007 theme on timpani drums was dirge! Thunderball was never going to be better than Goldfinger, following Goldfinger in chronology, but this movie has its moments, not many but many more than Brosnan films and QoS. Cheers!

How come videos 8 & 9, on this playlist, are marked as "Private Video"? Was there an error in settings for those vids?

Could anybody tell me the order I should read the books in chronologically? I’m finding it kind of hard to read them in order.

Personally, I used to really enjoy this movie. I used to watch it all the time as a kid. Now I can honestly say after watching it recently, I was bored out of my mind. The film's plot is just poorly constructed and I feel they should have branched off from the book and made it more mysterious. They completely branched off when it came to Moonraker. That film may not be universally liked but atleast its enjoyable and a fun film which I cannot say about Thunderball. Also I really enjoyed that bit with Vargas that you did! Still a better henchman than Elvis though since he atleast dies in a unique way.

I'm glad someone else has pointed out a lot of my problems with Thunderball...I thought exactly the same thing about that guys random change of heart at the end! I remember the first part being pretty good and then it just gets so bogged down in those bloody tedious underwater sequences which go on for an age! I sort of wonder, as I believe this at this period of time the whole Jacques Costeau underwater 'odyssey' films were being popular whether there was some emulation of this? I dunno, but it doesn't work...watchable with good to very good moments but as this reviewer says it lags and characters are just sort of picked up and discarded for convenience all the way through.

I always thought the hat thing was Bond saving face and trying to escape the awkwardness of the moment.

This movie was so strange. Even for Bond. I think my favorite bit is the doppelgänger pilot having his oxygen line cut, being unable to escape his chair, and drowning in the cockpit of the Avro. The handle for the ejector seat is clearly visible almost the entire time. Ok the spine stretching thing loops past parody, another high point.

There's a time skip between the MI-6 scenes. There's a difference in the suit Bond is wearing. My best guess is that in the time before Bond went into his briefing with M (in which 001 through 006 got their assignments), he came back for the hat changed into his yellow shirt and vest. The hat becomes a convenient excuse to get out of an awkward situation. I've, personally, grown out of love with this film. When I first saw this in 2000, I loved the plot and I love the set up. I thought the underwater scenes were something different that I really enjoyed. But as I saw more of the series and saw better underwater scenes in "For Your Eyes Only" and "Tomorrow Never Dies," my opinion of it has gone down. The plot meanders and I can safely blame how this was executed by the producer. A director can have a vision but a producer is the final voice and Kevin McClory showed that he had no right to produce this film at all. On a positive note, though, the actors have done amazing job with what they have and I can easily say this movie has one of the sexiest female villains. Fiona Volpe is the reason why I tend to have an interest in redheads. Good job as always, Calvin. Can't wait for the next review.

Hi Calvin, just found your channel, already a huge fan and working my way through all your videos. I agree with everything you said on why Thunderball is not a great film but its one of the best films for Bond the person/brand of James Bond as a person. A lot of the appeal for me is he is the person I would love to be (minus the sexual assault) ;). Huge sex appeal, commanding, tough, cool, suave, smooth, sophisticated. This movie delivers everything that is escapism Bond to the max. This move is peak Bond idolization for who James Bond is. When I was younger the part that really stuck out was how he grabbed the girl to dance with at the Kiss Kiss club until Fiona cuts in. I always loved when he used his magnetism to pick up girls who weren't integral to the plot. If someone wanted to know why do people like James Bond so much? This is the movie I would put on and say isn't he cool?

Are you by any chance planning to review The World Is Not Enough for N64? Thanks.

Existence was all Kevin McLory’s idea.