Thunderball (1965)

Thunderball (1965), directed by Terence Young.

SPECTRE hijacks two NATO A-bombs and will sell them back or it's bye-bye Miami.

Bond #4 has always seemed to me the quintessential film in the Connery series, although I only dimly remember the ones he did after this. He's tactically very quick, as violent as required and good at hand-to-hand fighting. Indefatigable lover, as always.

Gorgeous Bahamian locations and beautiful women, with Miss France as Domino. Exciting bomber hijacking and ambitious underwater segments, including a battle between two small armies. This is the first Bond film in Cinemascope aspect ratio.

On the down side, the series silliness cannot be denied. Instead of just shooting Bond they continue to try and kill him with motorized traction machines and by dunking him in a shark tank. He delivers painfully leaden quips. Too many gadgets. The sparring with villain Largo and carnivale bits go on too long.

We see the SPECTRE offices this time, very rich and business-like, although the performance reviews can be murder. The British Secret Service meeting rooms are equally lavish.

John Barry score with lush aquatic themes.

Available on Blu-ray.