THUNDERBALL AT 60: A Deep Dive Into One of the Greatest JAMES BOND Movies of Them All
13 THINGS You May Not Know About the 1965 Classic… By PETER BOSCH In 1965, movies and TV shows everywhere exploited the spy craze James Bond had created. The Bond film producers — Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman — and United Artists knew they had to protect their goldmine by stepping up the game by making Thunderball an epic. The budgets for the three previous pictures ranged from $1 million to $3 million. Thunderball came in at $9 million. Broccoli and Saltzman’s company was Eon Productions, with “Eon” being their shorthand for “Everything or Nothing.” There are some who say Thunderball was when the James Bond productions lost their specialness and entered the world of just gadgets… but, to me, Thunderball is not only the best of the Sixties’ James Bond thrillers, it remains my favorite Bond movie. Since December 21 is the 60th anniversary of Thunderball’s release in the U.S., and since so much of the film involved underwater action, let’s take a “deep dive” into 13 things you may not know about the film. Enjoy! — 1. BACKGROUND Of all the Bond movies, Thunderball was probably the most litigious. In 1959, film producer Kevin McClory, screenwriter Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming banded together to create a new, original James Bond script because McClory felt that none of the novels lent themselves to a big screen treatment. The screenplay they created was called “Longitude 78 West.” Fleming did some rewriting, renamed it Thunderball, shopped it around but got no takers. It’s also been suggested he backed out of the project due to feeling nervous that McClory’s only movie as a producer, The Boy and the Bridge (1959), which McClory also wrote and directed, was a critical flop. With no film deal in sight, Fleming decided to adapt Whittingham’s script into a new James Bond novel, which he still called Thunderball. Published in 1961, Fleming’s novel included elements that McClory and Whittingham felt they had created, but they did not see any acknowledgment in his book. They took Fleming to court. The case lasted a few years, apparently longer than Whittingham could hold out because of the continuing legal fees he could no longer afford. In 1964, before a legal decision was made, Fleming decided to settle out of court. He was in ill health and no...
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