Thunderball (1965)
We're very aware that as a lifelong Bond-o-maniac, we've posted on this film previously (12/7/19).
But what the hey.....it's been 60 years since 'Thunderball' opened worldwide to such thunderous anticipation and box office, downtown first run theaters had to turn themselves into grindhouses, showing the film 24 hours around the clock.
Yes, boys and girls.....back in the day, not only could you catch a showing of 'Thunderball' at 3 in the morning, you could stay in the theater to watch it enough times until your eyeballs had the Bond gun barrel logo permanently imprinted on them.
And plenty of Bondphiles did exactly that.
If the 1960's are too much ancient history, you might be asking us.....Really? Why all the frenzy over this one movie? What was the big deal?
We'll explain: One year earlier, in December of 1964, 'Goldfinger' , the quintessential template for all the subsequent Bonds, captured the world's imagination like no other film in history.
More rapid than Covid, the globe was infected with Bondmania. The girls! The gadgets! The car! The creepy bad guys! And the coolest pop culture hero ever, perfectly embodied by that young Scotsman, Sean Connery. TV became flooded with Bond rip-off series, Hollywood and European studios began grinding out feature film imitations like sausages rolling off a perpetual conveyor belt.
We all had our fun with the many knock-offs, but the film we breathlessly awaited for, the film that kept us salivating with Bond-ian hunger, was 'Thunderball'......the 1965 Christmas present we couldn't wait to seize and wallow in a non-stop orgy of Bondgasms......
Hundreds upon hundreds of ravenous Newspaper and TV reporters flocked around the film's shooting in the Bahamas, and world gobbled up and savored every nugget of news they could scrounge out.
Finally December of 1965 arrived and what was billed as the biggest, most spectacular Bond of all hit the theaters. Millions lined up in theaters from Tokyo to Berlin to Paris to Rome to New York and every other major city in the USA.
You might ask....was it worth it? Did the movie fulfill every glorious dream the fans had for it?
By and large....yes. Everything we ever wanted was in place.....action, spectacle, smokin' hot girls, luxurious settings and Connery at his lethal yet casual coolest. The red hot Bond fever that took hold of us all hit white hot temperature.
And then finally cooled down a bit....
Bond films settled down to become a steady, expected part of pop culture, so the orgiastic fever surrounding 'Thunderball' finally broke after its release. Sean Connery grew weary of the intrusive attention paid to him and bowed out of Bondage after the next film, "You Only Live Twice" which, we dare say, showed signs of him looking bored while playing the role.
But 60 years ago, moviegoers popped their eyes over 'Thunderball' like kids who got a new puppy for Christmas.
Pardon us now.....time to watch it yet again as a Holiday treat....forever and always 5 stars (*****).
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