RW326 - James Bond Rewatch - Thunderball

In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan jet into another adventure as they discuss "Thunderball."

Trailer:

The Music of Thunderball:

Our Favourite Trivia:

Originally meant as the first James Bond film, Thunderball was the centre of legal disputes that began in 1961 and ran until 2006. Former Ian Fleming collaborators Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham sued Fleming shortly after the 1961 publication of the Thunderball novel, claiming he based it upon the screenplay the trio had earlier written in a failed cinematic translation of James Bond.

The dictionary definition of the word "thunderball" is, it was a military term used by U.S. soldiers to describe the mushroom cloud seen during the testing of atomic bombs. Hence its use as a title, because this would be the result of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. detonating the stolen atomic bombs. 

Guy Hamilton was invited to direct, but considered himself worn out and "creatively drained" after the production of Goldfinger. Terence Young, director of the first two Bond films, returned to the series. Coincidentally, when invited him to direct Dr. No, Young expressed interest in directing adaptations of Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball. 

The original title song was entitled "Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", written by Barry and Leslie Bricusse; the song was originally recorded by Shirley Bassey, and later rerecorded by Dionne Warwick, whose version was not released until the 1990s. The song was removed from the title credits after producers who were worried that a theme song to a James Bond film would not work well if the song did not have the title of the film in its lyrics. "Thunderball" was sung by Tom Jones, who apparently fainted in the recording booth when singing the song's final note.

Bond's jetpack was actually flown by engineer Bill Suiter. He was one of only two people in the world qualified to fly it. 

First 007 movie in which Bond doesn't smoke. Interestingly though, a large papier-mache Marlboro box can be spotted on the right side of the screen during a festival.

Broccoli's original choice for the role of Domino Derval was Julie Christie following her performance in Billy Liar in 1963. Upon meeting her personally, however, he was disappointed and turned his attentions towards Raquel Welch after seeing her on the cover of the October 1964 issue of Life. Faye Dunaway was also considered for the role and came close to signing for the part.

In the underwater scenes, where Bond encounters sharks, Sir Sean Connery was supposed to be protected by clear plastic panels shielding him from sharks in close-ups. However, the panels only extended about three feet in height and sharks could swim over them. As a result, in some scenes Connery got much closer to the real sharks than he wanted.

This is the only Bond movie where we get a glimpse of all 00 Agents in one shot.

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"You Only Live Twice."

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