Thunderball

"Thunderball" Theatrical Release Poster

Production Team
Presented by: Albert R. Broccoli & Harry Saltzman
Produced by: Kevin McClory
Directed by: Terence Young
Screenplay by: Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins, based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming
Edited by: Peter Hunt
Musical Score by: John Barry
Theme Song Performed by: Tom Jones

Premiere Info
Order in Series: 4 of 20
World Premiere: December 9, 1965
U.S. Release Date: December 21st, 1965
First Television Broadcast: September 22nd, 1974 (on ABC)
First Basic Cable TV Telecast: March 5th, 1991 (on TBS)

Box Office Receipts

World-wide Box Office: $141.2 million

U.S. Box Office: $63.6 million

Plot Summary:

SPECTRE hijacks a NATO bomber outfittted with two atomic bombs. With the nuclear weapons, SPECTRE holds the United States and United Kingdom ransom for 100 million pounds.

Cast & Characters

British Secret Service

Character Name	Portrayed By	Character Description
James Bond	Sean Connery	British secret agent 007
"M"	Bernard Lee	Head of MI6, the British Secret Service, "M" gives all double-o agents their assignments.
Miss Moneypenny	Lois Maxwell	"M"'s secretary, Moneypenny enjoys a playful, flirtation relationship with 007.
"Q"	Desmond Llewelyn	The head of "Q-Branch", the special ordinance & equipment division of MI-6.

Allies

Character Name	Portrayed By	Character Description
Felix Leiter	Rick Van Nutter	Ca
Paula Caplan	Martine Beswick	A local intelligence operative who assists Bond while he is in the Bahamas.
Pinder	Earl Cameron	Head British secret service operative in the Bahamas.

Villains

Character Name	Portrayed By	Character Description
Ernst Stavro Blofeld	Anthony Dawson; voice by Eric Pohlmann	The head of SPECTRE (AKA "Number One")
Emilio Largo	Adolfo Celi	SPECTRE Number 2; An italian operative with only one eye, Largo is responsible for the theft of the NATO war plane and it's atomic weapons.
Fiona Volpe	Lucianna Paluzzi	SPECTRE agent who uses her powers of seduction as a weapon.
Angelo Palazzi	Paul Stassino	SPECTRE agent who has ungone plastic surgery and voice lessons to become a flawless doppleganger of NATO Major Francois Derval.
Count Lippe	Guy Doleman	SPECTRE agent who is responsible for killing Major Derval so that Angelo Palazzi can replace him. Lippe also attempts to kill Bond while at the Shrublands Health Clinic.
Vargas	Philip Locke	Emotionless assassin employed by SPECTRE and under the direction of Emilio Largo.
Jacques Bouvar	Bob Simmons	SPECTRE Number 6; while under investigation by James Bond, Bouvar fakes his own death and poses as his widow in an attempt to fool 007. Bond recognizes the facade and rectifies the situation.

Bond Women

Character Name	Portrayed By	Character Description
Dominique Derval	Claudine Auger	Nicknamed "Domino" by her friends, Ms. Derval is the sister of Major Francois Derval and the "kept woman" of Emilio Largo.
Patricia Fearing	Molly Peters	A physical therapist working at the Shrublands Health Clinic.

Gadgets

Bell-Textron Jet Pack

Aston Martin DB5, which included the following "optional equipment":

Rear Windshield Bulletproof Shield

High Pressure Water Cannons

Miniature SCUBA gear

Ingestable Radioactive Homing Pill

Watch with integrated Geiger Counter

Underwater Self-Propelled Transportation Unit with:

Underwater Explosive Torpedoes
Underwater Oil Cloud ("Smokescreen")

Travel Destinations

France
Shrublands Health Clinic, England
London, England
Bahamas (Nassau and outer islands)
Miami

Sacrificial Lambs

Major Francois Derval - Killed by SPECTRE and replaced by Angelo Palazzi..

Facts about Thunderball

The Bell-Textron jet-pack was an actual device - not a prop. It was developed for use by the U.S. Army, but never saw mass production or use in action.

The initial runtime of Thunderball, prior to editing, was over four hours long! Editing was so tedious a task that the release date of the film was pushed back by a month.

Thunderball, and James Bond in general, was so successful that some movie theatres ran it 24 hours a day to meet the public's demand for the film.

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