And now the second entry in our series on the only 5 Bond films you need to see:

Thunderball, 1965

Plot: The terrorist organization SPECTRE has stolen 2 nuclear weapons and James Bond is the only man who can stop them.

Reason for placement on the list:

James Bond has become the super agent he truly is. His loss of Vesper forces him to bury himself in his work to become the greatest British Agent ever. Here we see Bond in his prime. He is both a man of action and a man of thinking here.

Kick ass with the best of them:

Working all angles possible to find out where the bombs are Bond is a force that can't be stopped. While he does end up using the girl in the film to find things out, he does have some feeling for her. But as mentioned last time, he can no longer love. He tries and tries with multiple women, but he can not feel a thing. He is hoping that one day it may return, but he finds nothing but emptiness. So all he can do is continue to be Bond.

My silence has a price, come snog with me in the steam room:

SPECTRE plays a major part in this film and the hatred for Blofeld and his sinister organization gets it's final roots here.

Gun barrel sequence:

The traditional gunbarrel sequence. Check out the awesome hat on Connery! Trivia: While this film was Sean Connery's 4th time playing Bond, this was his first time being in the actual gunbarrel scene. The previous 3 stuntman Bob Simmons starred in the scene so technically he was the first actor to play Bond in films. Notice how Connery wobbles while turning and adjusts his balance and then bends over and fires. I really wonder why they didn't re-shoot this to show Bond being a little more stable.



Opening Number:
Maurice Binder (who designed the majority of Bond opening sequences before he died in 1991) gives us another great sequence with a wonderful "water ballet" to a Tom Jones power ballad (with lyrics that truly make no sense)



Best Action Sequence:
While the underwater battle at the end of the film is huge and impressive, I rather enjoy both the stealth break in (and subsequent henchman fight/shark tank scare) of Largo's house and the chase in the parade from the bad guys.

Gadgets used:
A great plethora of gadgets used here: a short term pocket sized re-breather, underwater camera with infrared capabilities and a geiger counter, jet pack, Aston Martin bullet shield and water hoses, radioactive emergency locator beacon in pill form, and a watch also with a geiger counter.

SUBSTITUTION: Discussing this theory with my father (for it was he who got me into the world of Bond in the first place) he offered one substitution for my list. Instead of Thunderball, view From Russia With Love instead. It fills many of the same points that Thunderball does so it is an acceptable replacement. I just like Thunderball better.

Random points of interest:
-Dominio at one point goes to change bathing suits to something less distracting to the men from this:



to this:



-James Bond wears pink, and looks hot doing it. What happened to the color pink? Why is it considered so feminine now?



-And for anyone of you who do find Mr. Connery to be a gorgeous man, then this movie is for you. Because honestly, he spends about 70 percent of the movie looking like this:



When speaking with my mother about the amount of time in the film Sean is mostly naked she responded "oh, you mean the best part of the movie?" Gotta love my mom.

Felix Leiter: One

Best Line:

(after dancing with the Femme Fatale and making her take an assassin's bullet Bond quips:

"Would you mind if my date sat here?"


"She's just dead"


As per my wifes request, one final shot of gratuitous Sean porn:




Next in the series, Bond finds humanity again, only to lose it all.