Thunderball Ending

[Consuela Ellett]

Thunderballis a 1965 spy film and the fourth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the 1961 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham devised from a story conceived by Kevin McClory, Whittingham, and Fleming. It was the third and final Bond film to be directed by Terence Young, with its screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins.

The film follows Bond's mission to find two NATO atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE, which holds the world ransom to the tune of 100 million in diamonds under threat of destroying an unspecified metropolis in either the United Kingdom or the United States (later revealed to be Miami). The search leads Bond to the Bahamas, where he encounters Emilio Largo, the card-playing, eyepatch-wearing SPECTRE Number Two. Backed by CIA agent Felix Leiter and Largo's mistress, Domino Derval, Bond's search culminates in an underwater battle with Largo's henchmen. The film's complex production comprised four different units, and about a quarter of the film comprises underwater scenes.[5] Thunderball was the first Bond film shot in widescreen Panavision and the first to have a running time of over two hours.

Although planned by Bond film series producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman as the first entry in the franchise, Thunderball was associated with a legal dispute in 1961 when former Fleming collaborators McClory and Whittingham sued him shortly after the 1961 publication of the novel, claiming he based it upon the screenplay the trio had written for a cinematic translation of James Bond. The lawsuit was settled out of court and Broccoli and Saltzman, fearing a rival McClory film, allowed him to retain certain screen rights to the novel's plot and characters,[6] and for McClory to receive sole producer credit on this film; Broccoli and Saltzman instead served as executive producers.[7]

The film was exceptionally successful: its worldwide box-office receipts of $141.2 million (equivalent to $1,365,200,000 in 2023) exceeded not only that of each of its predecessors but that of every one of the next five Bond films that followed it. Thunderball remains the most financially successful film of the series in North America when adjusted for ticket price inflation.[8] In 1966, John Stears won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects[9] and BAFTA nominated production designer Ken Adam for an award.[10] Some critics and viewers praised the film and branded it a welcome addition to the series, while others found the aquatic action repetitious. The movie was followed by 1967's You Only Live Twice. In 1983, Warner Bros. released a second film adaptation of the Thunderball novel under the title Never Say Never Again, with McClory as executive producer.

SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo devises a plan to hold NATO to ransom by hijacking two atomic bombs from a Royal Air Force (RAF) Avro Vulcan strategic jet bomber during a training exercise. To facilitate Largo's plans, SPECTRE operative Count Lippe recruits Angelo Palazzi to oversee the theft of the bombs. With help from SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe, Lippe has Palazzi surgically alter his face to match that of French Air Force pilot Franois Derval, who is assisting in the exercise. Volpe and Palazzi murder the real Derval, while they are staying at the Shrublands health resort, only for the latter to demand more money. Volpe acquiesces, merely to have him continue with their operation. Following the plan, Palazzi successfully hijacks the bomber, killing its crew, and lands it in shallow waters within the Bahamas. While the bombs are recovered by his men, Largo murders Palazzi for reneging on his original deal with SPECTRE.

British secret agent James Bond, recuperating at Shrublands after killing SPECTRE assassin Jacques Bouvar who had faked his death at his chateau, notices Lippe's presence and keeps him under observation, discovering Derval's body. Upon being recalled to London, Bond finds himself targeted by Lippe for trying to interfere. Before he can defend himself, Volpe kills Lippe for jeopardising Largo's scheme. Once back in London, Bond learns that all 00 agents are being put on high alert following the theft of the bombs, after being informed a major city in the US or the UK will be destroyed unless 100 million is paid to SPECTRE within seven days. While in talks with M on his assignment, Bond requests he be assigned to Nassau, Bahamas, to contact Derval's sister Domino, after recognising Derval from the photo given to the agents in their main briefing as the body he found at the resort.

Bond meets with Domino, who he learns is the mistress of Largo when he visits a local casino. Both men recognise each other as adversaries and engage in a tense cat-and-mouse game while still pretending ignorance of each other's true nature. Following their initial meeting, Bond meets with his friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter, fellow agent Paula Caplan, and MI6 quartermaster Q, to receive equipment to help with finding the bombs, including an underwater infrared camera and miniature underwater breathing apparatus. Investigating Largo's ship, Disco Volante, he notices an underwater hatch beneath her that intrigues him. The next day, he visits Largo at his estate during the night, only to find that Paula had been abducted and committed suicide before she could talk. Forced to escape, Bond evades Largo's men during a Junkanoo celebration. Volpe catches up with Bond, but is killed when Bond puts her between himself and a henchman aiming for Bond.

Suspecting the bombs were brought to the area, Bond and Leiter search for the Vulcan and find it camouflaged underwater, along with the bodies of the crew members and Palazzi. Upon returning to the island, Bond reveals to Domino that her brother was killed by Largo and gets her to help him search Disco Volante. However, Largo catches her in the act and has her imprisoned. Meanwhile, Bond replaces one of Largo's men as SPECTRE prepares to move the bombs, and manages to learn where one of them is being moved to before being discovered and left behind. Reuniting with Leiter, the pair gets the US Coast Guard and US Navy to battle the Disco Volante crew and recover one of the bombs in an underwater battle, killing / arresting all of the SPECTRE frogmen while transferring the bombs to their detonation location and destroying the latter half of the Disco Volante in a gunfight with Bond pursuing Largo and grabs hold of Disco Volante as she sheds the rear half to become a hydrofoil to attempt to escape. Bond gets on deck and sends the Disco Volante out of control whilst he defeats Largo's men and fights Largo. In an ironic twist, Largo gains the upper hand and is about to shoot Bond when Domino kills Largo with a speargun in revenge after his hired nuclear physicist Ladislav Kutze frees her. The trio quickly flee Disco Volante seconds before it crashes into rocks and explodes. Bond and Domino are retrieved by a plane with the Fulton system.

Originally meant as the first James Bond film, Thunderball was the centre of legal disputes that began in 1961 and ran until 2006.[14] 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.[15][6] The lawsuit was settled out of court; McClory retained certain screen rights to the novel's story, plot, and characters. By then, Bond was a box-office success, and series producers Broccoli and Saltzman feared a rival McClory film beyond their control; they agreed to McClory's producer's credit of a cinematic Thunderball, with them as executive producers.[16]

Later, in 1964, Eon producers Broccoli and Saltzman agreed with McClory to cinematically adapt the novel; it was promoted as "Ian Fleming's Thunderball". Yet, along with the official credits to screenwriters Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, the screenplay is also identified as 'based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham' and as 'based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming'.[16] To date, the novel has twice been adapted cinematically; the 1983 Jack Schwartzman-produced Never Say Never Again features Sean Connery as James Bond, but is not an Eon production.

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, he was disappointed and turned his attentions towards Raquel Welch after seeing her on the cover of the October 1964 issue of Life. Welch was hired by Richard Zanuck of 20th Century Fox to appear in the film Fantastic Voyage the same year, instead. Faye Dunaway was also considered for the role and came close to signing for the part.[17] Saltzman and Broccoli auditioned an extensive list of relatively unknown European actresses and models, including former Miss Italy Maria Grazia Buccella, Yvonne Monlaur of the Hammer horror films, and Gloria Paul. Eventually, former Miss France Claudine Auger was cast, and the script was rewritten to make her character French rather than Italian, although her lines were dubbed in the final cut by Nikki van der Zyl, who had voiced several previous Bond girls. Nevertheless, director Young cast her once again in his next film, Triple Cross (1966). One of the actresses who tried for Domino, Luciana Paluzzi, later accepted the role as the redheaded femme fatale assassin Fiona Kelly, who originally was intended by Maibaum to be Irish. The surname was changed to Volpe in co-ordination with Paluzzi's nationality.[17]

Guy Hamilton was invited to direct, but considered himself worn out and "creatively drained" after the production of Goldfinger.[5] Terence Young, director of the first two Bond films, returned to the series. Coincidentally, when Saltzman invited him to direct Dr. No, Young expressed interest in directing adaptations of Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball. Years later, Young said Thunderball was filmed "at the right time",[18] considering that if it was the first film in the series, the low budget (Dr. No cost only $1 million) would not have yielded good results.[18] Thunderball was the final James Bond film directed by Young.

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