It seems to me that in Thunderball (1965), whenever there’s little to no dialogue or when the iconic hazy, lazy elevator music plays, it’s always an enjoyable scene. That’s not to say that the music in question here is poor – I actually think it’s catchy and I get the melody stuck in my head after a viewing and get a bit drowsy the more I hum it to myself. I think it perfectly encapsulates the laid-back Caribbean setting of the movie, alongside its sinister villain. And this scene is a perfect example of that.
It starts out with Bond arriving at his hotel, where the receptionist (like most) is smitten – so much so that they show a second shot of her adoring face as Bond leaves! Bond skips his room and heads to Paula Caplan’s, where he checks his previously set up hollowed-out book recording device. The harpsichord (I think that’s the instrument at least…) part of this music gets me every time! Love it!
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Ladislav Kutze (George Pravda), Domino Derval (Claudine Auger) and James Bond (Sean Connery) at the end of Thunderball (1965)
No glory for Ladislav Kutze – the true hero of Thunderball!
Desmond Llewelyn as Q, his loud shirt as a fashion statement and Sean Connery as James Bond in Thunderball (1965)
Q and his awesome pineapple Hawaiian shirt from Thunderball (1965)
Leave it to the gadget man to make a fashion statement. The crazy pineapple shirt is fitting for a trip to Jamaica (along with his straw fedora)! I’d buy both if they were available for a good Bond themed Halloween costume…
Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo and Sean Connery as James Bond in Thunderball (1965)
“No it isn’t, is it?”
Cool GIF from Thunderball’s trailer. I’ve always loved the simplistic elements of retro James Bond movie trailers!
An atomic bomb in Thunderball (1965) advises to “Handle Like Eggs”
Sean Connery as James Bond in 
Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo in Thunderball (1965)
Largo needs to look both ways before crossing the street!
It’s sometimes overlooked and odd to think about that James Bond villains have to have a physical headquarters. They need a place to reside, meet and plot. Over the movies, we have seen them in all shapes and sizes, from a hollowed-out volcano lair, an abandoned satellite, an off-shore oil rig or a gold refinement factory.
In Thunderball (1965), we get to visit SPECTRE (Special Executor for Counterintelligence, terrorism, revenge, extortion) headquarters, of which Ernst Stavro Blofeld is its leader and Emilio Largo is number two in charge. What’s unique about Thunderball, however, is that we see the exact perspective of a villain leaving the public world (this time a city) and every step of their commute to their proverbial work desk. Here, Largo enters the Centre International D’Assistance aux Personnes Replacées (International Brotherhood for Assistance of Stateless Persons), goes to the back of the office and opens a secret door to the SPECTRE meeting room via buttons on a custom cigarette holder.
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A “recovering” James Bond endearingly says this friendly quote after a session with his rehab aide Patricia Fearing. Although a playful, funny quip, Bond shows his nonchalance (and the 1960s misogyny he’s sometimes known for) after coaxing Fearing for a romp after her incompetence leaving 007 trapped and unaccompanied in the stretching rack machine.
