Thunderball (1965) Facts
| Director(s) | Terence Young |
| Producer(s) | Kevin McClory, Harry Saltzman (uncredited), Albert R. Broccoli (uncredited) |
| Featured Cast | Sean Connery, Adolfo Celi, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, Michael Brennan |
| Total Facts | 91 |
(27 October 2010) The Aston Martin DB5 used in this movie (and Goldfinger) was sold - fully "loaded" - to American classic car collector, Harry Yeaggy, for a reported $4.6 million by London's RM Auctions. The car had only one previous private owner, an American radio station owner named Jerry Lee, who purchased the car directly from the Aston Martin factory in 1969 for $12,000. Lee had kept the car at his Pennsylvania home for over forty years.
Reginald Beckwith, who plays the minor part of Kenniston, died before the movie's release.
Adolfo Celi's voice was dubbed by Robert Rietty (who previously dubbed the voice of John Strangways in Dr. No and later a man resembling Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in For Your Eyes Only). The reason for this was because Celi's thick Sicilian accent made his voice difficult to follow even when speaking English.
Raquel Welch, Julie Christie, Faye Dunaway, Yvonne Monlaur, Mary Menzies, Gloria Paul and Maria Grazia Buccella were all contenders for the role of Domino. Raquel Welch dropped out to do Fantastic Voyage. Faye Dunaway would later be a contender to play Octopussy.
Martine Beswick had played one of the gypsy girls in From Russia with Love, and Paula Caplan in this movie. She is well-tanned in the film, but before shooting she was pale white due to years of stage work in England. So before filming in Nassau she was required to spend some two weeks sunning herself to get the proper tan of a native girl.
Kevin McClory, Ian Fleming and Jack Whittingham collaborated in 1959 on an original story and screenplay for what would have been the very first 007 film, entitled "James Bond, Secret Agent". McClory reportedly wanted Richard Burton to play James Bond. But reportedly, after an unrelated film by Kevin McClory bombed, Ian Fleming changed his mind and backed out of the partnership with McClory.Fleming had previously cannibalized plots prepared for two other abandoned Bond spin-off projects, a newspaper comic strip and a television series, for 007 novels, and similarly turned this one into his novel "Thunderball". However, in this case his right to do so was not so clear. When Harry Saltzman bought the film rights to the Bond novels from Fleming and went into partnership with Albert R. Broccoli, McClory initiated legal action, resulting in Dr. No rather than Thunderball becoming the first Bond film. Although this production is a fairly faithful adaptation of the published novel, McClory's suit resulted in only the earlier screenplay being credited as source material. McClory's producer cred
Peter R. Hunt claims that the scene with a dog urinating in the shot during the Junkanoo (at 87:14) was at first left on the cutting room floor, feeling that the footage wasn't that great. However the producers, who noticed the take as they checked the dailies, enjoyed the shot so much that they demanded it remain in the film. Also, in the parade behind the dog, a group who arrived for filming as part of the parade dressed up wearing "007" on their hats. Filmmakers attempted to edit around the group, but the dog's impromptu nature call kept the "007" group in the film.
Claudine Auger's heavily accented English was deemed too "French-thick" by the filmmakers after shooting initial scenes of her. Hence, Nikki Van der Zyl, who dubbed Ursula Andress' voice in Dr. No, was brought back to dub Auger's lines. For similar reasons, Adolfo Celi (Largo) had his lines dubbed over by Robert Rietty to hide his thick and distinctive Sicilian accent.
Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton was originally offered the directing job by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. However, due to fatigue at the time, he felt he could not add anything more, and turned it down.
Maurice Binder returned to the series to design the main title sequence for this movie after being absent from the previous two Bond movies, From Russia with Love and Goldfinger. He had designed the opening titles for Dr. No and would continue on every Bond movie after this one until his last on Licence to Kill.
A character called Fatima Blush was originally created by Ian Fleming as a double agent and existed in early treatments / outlines of this movie. She does not appear in neither the book nor movie Thunderball but does in its remake, Never Say Never Again.
A GI Joe doll was popular in the toy market at the time of Thunderball's production so when the film was released, the first ever James Bond action figure was manufactured as part of the film's merchandising. The film's massive collectible merchandising continued the boom which had started with Goldfinger.
A promotional film, The Incredible World of James Bond was aired on American television on 26 November 1965, one month before the release of the movie. Narrated by Alexander Scourby, the 48 minute documentary aired as a one hour special. It included footage of the filming at Silverstone Racetrack, Northamptonshire and of the fight aboard the Disco Volante at Pinewood Studios; media coverage of Martine Beswick, Luciana Paluzzi and Claudine Auger; and archive footage of Ian Fleming at 'Goldeneye', Jamaica. It is available on the Thunderball DVD Ultimate Edition.
A Special 25th Anniversary Screening of the film was held at the National Film Theatre in London in 1990 and was attended by director Terence Young and Molly Peters amongst other people associated with the production and EON's James Bond movies. It was organized by the James Bond Fan Club. A Special 40th Anniversary screening of the movie was held on 20 November 2005.
A special charity premiere was held on the 10th of February 1966 in Ireland at the Savoy Theatre in Dublin. Production personnel attending included Albert R. Broccoli, Kevin McClory, Luciana Paluzzi and Molly Peters. Frogmen wearing harpoons and underwater wet-suits adorned the screening whilst an after party was held at the Gresham Hotel.
A timely reference to the recent British Train Robbery was inserted into the script at the last minute. This can be heard during the SPECTRE meeting after the opening credits. In the film's story, Agent No. #5 reported that SPECTRE was paid £250,000 consultancy fee for the British Train Robbery.
According to "Bond-Gadget-Designer" Ken Adam, the jet pack that Bond uses to escape his enemies was no nice special effect but a real jet pack provided by the US Air Force. Initially Sean Connery was to fly the jet pack without a helmet (and some publicity photos of him with the jet pack were made with him without a helmet). This was because he would have looked more debonair. It was later decided he wear a helmet in the scene. This was for risk / safety reasons as the pilot refused not to wear a crash helmet and the scenes had to match.
According to Behind the Scenes with 'Thunderball', in the scene were Bond climbs out of the shark tank right as a shark makes a run at him, the shark in question is dead, and pulled by a wire.
According to the film's CD Soundtrack sleeve notes, the title song debuted in the US Charts on 11 December 1965 and peaked at the No. #25 spot. In the UK Charts, it entered on 13 January 1966 where it peaked at No. #35.
As overseen by John Stears, the special effects explosion of the Disco Volante was so powerful it shattered and blew out windows about twenty to thirty miles away in Nassau's Bay Street where the film's Junkanoo Mardi-Gras sequence was filmed. Reportedly, he had not known how potent and strong a mix the experimental rocket fuel was in order to create the explosion.
At the preflight briefing an officer says, "You'll be flying a Vulcan armed with two atomic bombs, MOS type." MOS is a standard motion picture abbreviation, used to indicate a film segment has no audio, "Mit out sound". So two "silent" atomic bombs.
Coinciding with the release of the film, Milton Bradley marketed a "Thunderball" board game, having marketed a "James Bond" board game the previous year. These were just two of numerous 007 tie-ins introduced on the market at the height of the early Bond boom.
During the recording of the title song "Thunderball", Tom Jones asked the song's writer what the "strikes like thunderball" line meant. The song's composer allegedly replied that he didn't know. Jones reportedly fainted after recording the high note at the end of recording the song.
Final James Bond film directed by Terence Young.
First 007 film 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.
For the opening main title sequence, title designer Maurice Binder filmed swimmers swimming naked in black and white before adding in the color by an optical process afterward.
For the scene where Major Francois Derval opens the door on himself, it was a composited shot, and not a body double used.
Ford produced a promotional film A Child's Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car as a promotional film to tie-in with the release of the movie. The seventeen minute gently humorous short film was about a boy's visit with his godfather Uncle Denis to one of the movie's filming locations at Silverstone Racetrack, Northamptonshire, England. The end credits state "Made for the Film Library of FORD OF BRITAIN". It is available on the Thunderball DVD Ultimate Edition.
In early outlines / treatments for this movie, the Domino Derval (aka Dominique Derval) character was known as Domino Smith. She is known as Domino Petachi in this movie's remake, Never Say Never Again. The Paula Caplan character was called Paula Roberts at first.
In early outlines / treatments for this movie, the Emilio Largo character was known as Henrico Largo. He is known as Maximilian Largo in this movie's remake, Never Say Never Again. Emilio Largo's eye-patch was worn over his left eye whilst the Maximilian Largo character was not given an eye patch.
In Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, Disco Volante translates as "Flying Saucer."
In the scene where Bond and Domino meet underwater and disappear behind a rock, the scene was originally supposed to show Domino's bikini float out from behind the rock. Producer Albert R. Broccoli vetoed this because he felt it was too suggestive.
In the trailer for the film, Bond says the line, "The things I do for England." The line was cut from the final version of the film, and then used in the next Bond film, You Only Live Twice.
In the underwater scenes where Bond encounters sharks, 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 (notably during the pool fight at Largo's mansion) Connery got much closer to real sharks than he wanted - director Terence Young said in an interview that scenes used in the film where Bond reacts in fright at the approach of a shark were miscues in which Connery was reacting with genuine terror as a shark approached unobstructed by plastic shielding.
It took almost thirty years for the complete soundtrack for the film to be released. This was because composer John Barry was still scoring the second half of the picture when the music for the recording of the soundtrack was required. Practically no music from the second half of the movie appeared in the original score's release.
It's rumored that a Royal Navy engineer approached the producers after the film's release to ask them how they designed the mini-rebreather. Apparently he had been working on something similar but could not figure it out. He was devastated when the producers told them their secret - the actors were holding their breaths. The amount of time one had to breathe underwater in the movie utilizing the Rebreather mini-aqualung was four minutes.
James Bond does not drink a vodka martini shaken not stirred in this movie but he does order a Dom Perignon 55 champagne by a swimming pool whilst dining with Domino.
Largo's two-section yacht the Disco Volante was adapted from a hydrofoil vessel called The Flying Fish. It cost $500,000 to acquire from Puerto Rico and transfer to Miami for refitting and refurbishment. It was given a cocoon shell which was fifty feet long and could be separated from the main boat as seen in the movie's finale.
Members of the cast and crew were interviewed several times about the film while it was being shot due to the immense popularity of the Bond series. Sean Connery, however, consented to just one interview and it was with "Playboy" magazine.
Principal photography at Château d'Anet, Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France coincided with the French Premiere of the previous James Bond movie, Goldfinger. As such, members of the production attended the French launch.
Principal photography at Château d'Anet, Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France coincided with the French Premiere of the previous James Bond movie, Goldfinger. As such, members of the production attended the French launch.
Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include the Aston Martin DB5; Smirnoff Vodka; Rolex Watches, James Bond wears a Rolex Submariner; Cinzano Vermouth; Breitling "Top Time" watches; the Bell Textron Jetpack; Johnnie Walker Scotch whiskey; Corgi Toys; and Dom Perignon Champagne, particularly a Dom Perignon '55.
Singer/actor Burl Ives was originally chosen to play Largo when author Ian Fleming and producer Kevin McClory first tried to get the Bond series up and running in the late 1959.
Some release prints did not show 'James Bond will be back On Her Majesty's Secret Service' at the end of the film's credits. This was because a late change meant filming of that movie due to difficulties in scheduling shooting during winter meant that film was postponed. You Only Live Twice became the next James Bond film. The solution put forward by editor Peter R. Hunt was simply to remove the name of the title from the final credits.
Stuntman Bob Simmons appeared to have made a very narrow escape from the car explosion stunt during filming at Silverstone Racetrack, Northamptonshire, England. Director Terence Young raced to the scene whereupon Simmons surprised him from the side road as a gag. People watching the stunt generally didn't see Simmons exit the vehicle before the explosion, probably due to his exit-point being in a blind-spot to the point-of-view of those overseeing the stunt.
Stuntman Bill Cumming was paid a $450 bonus to jump into Largo's shark infested pool.
The aircraft that plucks James Bond and Domino out of the life raft was a highly modified B-17G (and was a prototype for the USAF/NASA Satellite Airborne Recovery Project).
The amount of money spent on underwater equipment for this movie including props, cameras and apparatus totaled to about $US85,000.
The Boeing B-17G-95-DL, 44-85531, registered N809Z, flown in the film with the Fulton Skyhook recovery system (later used on U.S. Air Force HC-130 Hercules rescue service aircraft), was owned by Intermountain Aviation, a secretive company based at Marana Air Park, Arizona, which was revealed in the 1970s to have actually been a CIA proprietary company, wholly owned by the agency, set up to cloak discrete operations, as reported by author and B-17 historian Scott A. Thompson. This aircraft is now known as "Shady Lady", registered N207EV, with the Evergreen Aviation Museum, Portland, Oregon, where Howard Hughes' HK-1 Hercules, aka the "Spruce Goose", is also displayed.
The budget for this Bond film was more than the combined budgets of the first three Bond films.