Customer Rating: 
Summary: Still strong after 43 years
Comment: After the success of Goldfinger, considerable resources were used to produce the next James Bond film, Thunderball. I was in the 8th grade when the film was released in 1965 and there was tremendous cultural excitment arouind the film with magazines like
GQ and
Esquire promoting the film with flashy articles.
Now seeing the film 43 years later I remember just what a good film Thunderball really is. Sean Connery will always be the perfect James Bond. In comparison to the thin fellows that played Bond in later films, Connery is a thick, muscular, masculine, hunk of muscle. This makes the fight scenes more realistic and less choreographed. He is paired with the villian Emilio Largo, played by Adolfo Celi, one of the few villians that is as smart, muscular, athletic, and talented as Bond. This makes for a more balanced struggle which engages the viewer a bit more than Bond's struggles with the obese Goldfinger or the anemic Dr. No.
We also have the pleasure of James Bond meeting his match in the character of a female assassin, played perfectly by Luciana Paluzzi. She is extremely strong and athletic, beautiful and cunning. There is a wonderful scene where after making love she confronts Bond with her contempt, informing him that she is one girl who won't be transformed from evil to good through the love making of James Bond. The scene in which they dance in the Kiss Kiss club while assassins surround the dance floor and John Barry's score is at its best in reflecting island beat, is a total winner.
The plot is a bit more complex in Thunderball with the villian Largo having multiple back up plans which Bond must uncover and then foil.
Claudine Auger is incredibly beautiful as Domino, Largo's mistress who turns on her evil master through the influence of Bond.
Thunderball is the finest of the Bond films where Sean Connery plays James Bond. It has held up to scrutiny after 43 years.
