Thunderball (1965) on Netflix
Approved19652h 10mActionAdventureThriller
SPECTRE seizes two atomic bombs from an RAF bomber and demands 100 million pounds in diamonds. James Bond asks to be sent to Nassau, where Domino Derval is Emilio Largo's mistress.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb6.9/10139,315 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes85%
Trailer
Plot summary
A British bomber on a training exercise is hijacked and its two atomic bombs are seized by SPECTRE, which threatens to destroy a major city in Britain or the United States unless 100 million pounds in diamonds is paid within seven days. British agents are placed on alert. James Bond, recuperating at a health resort, sees the body of the French pilot François Derval there and asks to be assigned to Nassau to seek out Derval's sister Domino. She is the mistress of Emilio Largo, SPECTRE's Number Two. Bond works with the CIA agent Felix Leiter and the Bahamian intelligence operative Pinder as he looks into Largo's operation on the island.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Thunderball (1965)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Worried about filming real sharks in Largo's pool, Sean Connery had production designer Ken Adam install a Plexiglas barrier, but it was not fixed in place, and when one shark slipped through it Connery scrambled out of the pool moments before it could reach him.
- For the climactic yacht explosion, special-effects supervisor John Stears used experimental rocket fuel without appreciating how powerful it was, and the blast he set off shattered windows on Bay Street in Nassau roughly 30 miles away.
- Thunderball was tied up in a legal dispute lasting from 1961 to 2006, after former Ian Fleming collaborators Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham sued him claiming the Thunderball novel was based on a screenplay the three had written together, a suit settled out of court with McClory keeping certain screen rights to the story.
- The film's first title song was pulled from the credits because producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman feared a Bond theme would not work without the film's title in its lyrics. Barry and lyricist Don Black wrote Thunderball instead, sung by Tom Jones, who by Bond production legend fainted in the booth on the final note.
- Broccoli's first choice for Domino Derval was Julie Christie, after Billy Liar, but he was disappointed on meeting her and turned to Raquel Welch, whom 20th Century Fox hired for Fantastic Voyage instead. Faye Dunaway also came close to signing for the part.
- Thunderball's $141.2 million worldwide gross beat not just every Bond film before it but every one of the five Bond films that came after it as well.
- Thunderball was the first James Bond film to be shot in widescreen Panavision, and it was also the first in the series with a running time of over two hours.
