Thunderball [1965]

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1965
Running Time:
Format: Technicolor     35mm      Panavision
Ratio:
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Eon Productions
Producers: Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman, Kevin McClory
Production Supervisor: David Middlemas

SCRIPT
Screenplay: Richard Maibaum, John Hopkins
Original Screenplay: Jack Whittingham
Story: Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ian Fleming

DIRECTION
Director: Terence Young
Assistant Director: Gus Agosti
Action Sequences: Bob Simmons
Underwater Sequences: Ivan Tors Underwater Studios
Underwater Sequences Director: Ricou Browning

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Ted Moore
Camera Operator: John Winbolt
2nd Unit Camera: Egil Wonthou (?)
Underwater Camera: Lamar Boren

EDITING
Supervising Editor: Peter Hunt
Editor: Ernest Hosler [uncredited?]
Assembly Editor: Ben Rayner

MUSIC
Music: John Barry
Lyrics: Don Black
Song Performed By: Tom Jones

SOUND
Sound Recording: Bert Ross, Maurice Askew
Dubbing Editors: Norman Wanstall, Harry Miller
Underwater Engineer: Jordan Klein
Sound Recorded At: The Gate Recording Theatre

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Paul Rabiger, Basil Newall
Hair: Eileen Warwick
Wardrobe Designer: Anthony Mendleson
Wardrobe Mistress: Eileen Sullivan
Wardrobe Master: John Brady
Connery's Suits: Anthony Sinclair

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: John Stears, Frank George [uncredited]

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Ken Adam
Art Director: Peter Murton
Assistant Art Director: Michael White
Set Dresser: Freda Pearson
Main Title Designer: Maurice Binder

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Joan Davis
Technical Advisor: Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Russhon [uncredited]

LOCATIONS
Locations: Paris; The Bahamas; Pinewood Studios, London, England
Location Manager: Frank Ernst
Location Facilities: Bramwell Flm Productions Ltd (Bahamas)
Paradise Island Sequences Courtesy Of: W.I Huntingsoon Hartford (?)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks To: Ministry of Tourism of the Bahamas; Royal Navy; Royal Air Force; United States Air Force; United States Coast Guard

STUNTS
Jet Pack Pilot: Bill Suitor
Stunt Driver: Bob Simmons

CAST
Sean Connery [James Bond]
Claudine Auger [Domino]
Adolfo Celi [Largo]
Luciana Paluzzi [Fiona]
Rik Van Nutter [Felix Leiter]
Guy Doleman [Count Lippe]
Molly Peters [Patricia]
Martine Beswick [Paula]
Bernard Lee [M]
Desmond Llewelyn [Q]
Lois Maxwell [Moneypenny]
Roland Culver [Foreign Secretary]
Earl Cameron [Pinder]
Paul Stassino [Palazzi]
Rose Alba [Madame Boitier]
Philip Locke [Vargas]
George Pravda [Kutze]
Michael Brennan [Janni]
Leonard Sachs [Group Captain]
Edward Underdown [Air Vice Marshal]
Reginald Beckwith [Kenniston]
Harold Sanderson [hydrofoil captain]
Bill Cummings [Quist - uncredited]
Maryse Guy Mitsouko [Mademoiselle La Porte - uncredited]
Bob Simmons [Jacques Boitier - uncredited]
Anthony Bailey [radar navigator - uncredited]
Gabor Baraker [SPECTRE No 13 - uncredited]
Suzy Kendall [Prue - uncredited]
Harold Sanderson [double for Connery - uncredited]
Frank Cousins [underwater double for Connery - uncredited]
Charles Russhon [air force officer at 00 briefing - uncredited]
Anthony Dawson [Ernst Stavro Blofeld / Number 1 (uncredited)]
Joseph Wiseman [voice of Ernst Stavro Blofeld - uncredited]

SPECTRE audaciously steals a pair of nuclear weapons by forcing a Vulcan bomber to crash into the sea off the Bahamas. James Bond is called in when the group holds the world to ransom, threatening to start World War III if their demands aren't met in full.

A disappointment after the marvellous Goldfinger [1964], as indeed anything would be. Connery is as good as ever and the production standards are higher than ever, but all that mucking about underwater just gets too tedious after a while and the pacing seems sluggish.

UK
DVD Distributor: MGM

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: PG

Finland
Rating: K-16

Germany
Rating: 12

Netherlands
Rating: 12

Norway
Rating: 15

Spain
The title sequence was cut to remove some of the more suggestive cavorting by the naked swimmers.

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: PG
In some UK TV showings, the film is so badly cut as to be almost meaningless. Bond's throttling of Boitier, for example, is completely missing.

USA
Rating: PG

Look Up! Look Down! Look Out! Here comes the biggest Bond of all!

James Bond har lyckats jgen!

James Bond haller stilen!

James Bond dans le ciel. James Bond sous la mer. Et voici le plus explosif de tous les James Bond.

L'Unico, autentico e' James Bond

El agente 007 en el aire... el agente 007 rajo el mar... en la mas electrizante pelicula de James Bond

007 taucht auf - 007 taucht unter.

Look out! Remember... there is only one James Bond and Thunderball's the biggest of them all!

007 en l'aire! 007 bajo el mar! James Bond actua en todas partes!

El Agente 007 en l'aire! El Agente 007 bajo el mar! En la mas electrizante pelicula de James Bond

007 dans le ciel - 007 sous la mer... E voici le plus explosif de tous les James Bond

1963
November
26: UK - Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham's legal action against Ian Fleming, his publishers Jonathan Cape and his financier John Bryce ends when Fleming agrees to an out-of-court settlement. McClory receives the right to an additional credit on all subsequent reprintings of the novel and would retain the film rights.

1964
January
8: UK - The Daily Mail reports that Kevin McClory is planning to bring Thunderball to the screen at last. He announces that he is pursuing Laurence Harvey and Richard Burton to play Bond.

October
1: UK - Kinematograph Weekly announces that McClory has struck a deal with Eon productions, enabling him to back Thunderball as part of the 'official' series of films

December
Day Unknown: UK - Ken Adam buys the yacht The Flying Fish which would double as Largo's Disco Volante

1965
January
19: UK - Maibaum and Hopkins deliver a revision of the shooting script

February
14: UK - The Daily Mail publishes an interview with Sean Connery in which the actor hails the forthcoming film as "the best story of them all really."
16: France - Principal photography begins in Paris
19: France - Bond's jet-pack assisted escape from the chateau is filmed.

March
17: UK - The Daily Express claims that Sean Connery had begun a trial separation from wife Diane Cilento
22: Bahamas - Filming begins on Nassau

May
Day Unknown: UK - Principle photography ends at Pinewood

November
26: USA - The Incredible World of James Bond is broadcast on television

December
21: USA - world premiere in New York
25: Finland - theatrical release
29: UK - theatrical premieres at the Pavilion in Piccadilly Circus and at the Rialto in Coventry Street
29: USA - theatrical release

1966
January
1: UK - Rank holds midnight matinees at all nine of its Premiere Showcase cinemas around London

February
10: Ireland - charity premiere held at the Savoy in Dublin. Luciana Paluzzi, Molly Peters and Albert Broccoli are among those in attendance and are greeted by a phalanx of harpoon-wielding frogmen. The screening is followed by an exclusive party held by Kevin McClory at the Gresham Hotel.

1977
February
26: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

1984
January
2: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

1986
June
29: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

1989
January
7: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

1992
April
20: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

August
8: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

1993
April
12: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

1994
February
19: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

1999
June
19: UK - television broadcast [on ITV]

2002
February
16: USA - television broadcast [on ABC]

Agente 007 i Ilden - Danish title
Agente 007 - Thunderball - Italian title
Askbollen - ?? title
Feuerball - German title
Operacion trueno - Spanish title
Operation Tonnerre - French title
Operazione tuono - Italian title

1965
Academy Award - Best Visual Effects

SEQUEL TO
Dr No [1962]
From Russia With Love [1963]
Goldfinger [1964]

SEQUELS
You Only Live Twice [1967]
On Her Majesty's Secret Service [1969]
Diamonds Are Forever [1971]
Live and Let Die [1973]
The Man With the Golden Gun [1974]
The Spy Who Loved Me [1977]
Moonraker [1979]
For Your Eyes Only [1981]
Octopussy [1983]
A View To a Kill [1985]
The Living Daylights [1987]
Licence to Kill [1989]
Goldeneye [1995]
Tomorrow Never Dies [1997]
The World Is Not Enough [1999]
Die Another Day [2002]

SEE ALSO
The Making of Thunderball
The Thunderball Phenomenon
Trainspotting [1996]
The Cannonball Run [1981]
Zuijia paidang zhi nuhuang miling [1984]
Spy Hard [1996]
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery [1997]

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Behind the Scenes With Thunderball [1995]
Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond [1987]
The James Bond Story [1999]
Premiere Bond: Die Another Day [2002]

REMAKE
Never Say Never Again [1983]

MAGAZINES

TV Times 31 December 1983 - 6 January 1984 p.31 [UK]
credits, synopsis, TV data

BOOKS

The Incredible World of 007 [2nd edition] pp.36-45, 146, 156
illustrated article, synopsis

Kiss Kiss, Bang! Bang! pp.44-55
illustrated article, review, credits, synopsis

Sean Connery by Robert Tanitch pp.67-71
illustrated review, synopsis

KEYWORDS

secret agents, james bond, spies, nuclear weapons, cars, gadgets, aircraft, underwater, extortion, secret organisations, hydrofoils, boats

Last Updated: 6 March, 2007