Thunderball (1965)
 The early Bond films - Dr No (1962), From Russia With
Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964) - emerged in the
middle of the international impact of British cinema, and the
whole 'Swinging London' ethos, and the formula of the Bond series
was set instantly and has varied little over the years;
A stylish pre-credit sequence establishes the scene and the
tone; the credits have a fancy design by Maurice Binder and a
title song sung by a popular recording artist of the time;
Thereafter it's a combination of stunts, gadgets and girls. Bond
is ironical towards his boss M (this is more marked in the Connery
movies) and Bond's mettle is tested by having to oppose a master
criminal who is threatening some form of world domination.
In the meantime Bond is tempted by two females, one of whom is
true, the other treacherous, and these relationships give him the
opportunity to release some dubious double-entendres.
As the series blossomed in the 60s the locations became more
exotic, the hardware more elaborate and the special effects
threatened to reduce Bond to a bit player . . .
The fourth Bond film, Thunderball, is an excellent
example of this. Its plot concerns the theft of two nuclear bombs
which threaten the future of the world.
Connery's Bond continues
to be an elegant, unruffled ironist in a world of sensation, but,
when he makes a spectacular airborne escape over the rooftops
early in the film, one can see that the movie is becoming rather
more interested in the gadgetry than in any nuances of character.
 Sean
Connery is in top form as James Bond, and Adolfo Celi is equally
good as the arch villain Emil Largo, who almost matches secret
agent 007 step for step in this fourth Bond Yarn, about a SPECTER
plot to destroy the city of Miami if a huge ransom isn't
paid.
Unfortunately though, Largo lacks the impact and self-confident
smugness of the previous Bond film's Auric Goldfinger - But at
least he provides us someone to die during the film's climax!
The plot is somewhat weak (hey, it's a Bond film), but there
are many slick gimmicks and the usual bevy of beautiful girls.
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