Thunderball

Released 60 years ago, Thunderball was the fourth movie starring Sean Connery as James Bond and remains one of the most successful films of the entire Bond franchise earning back more than 15 times its budget at the box office. Featuring large underwater sequences, the film is notable for the deaths of several key members of SPECTRE (including one at his own funeral in the opening sequence).

While recovering at a health spa, Bond uncovers a link to SPECTRE's theft of two atomic bombs leading 007 to the Bahamas in search of the missing weapons before world leaders are forced to pay SPECTRE's demands. Claudine Auger co-stars as Domino, the mistress of Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi) and the sister of the dead NATO pilot killed and replaced as part of Largo's plan to steal the bombs for SPECTRE. In smaller roles, we also get Luciana Paluzzi as the devilish femme fatale Fiona Volpe, Molly Peters as a momentary distraction for Bond at the spa, and Martine Beswick as Paula Caplan who is fated for tragedy like so many of the secondary Bond women.

Many of the early staples are here including appearances by Q (Desmond Llewelyn), M (Bernard Lee), and Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), the Aston Martin, various Bond gadgets including a jet pack and a camera that doubles as a Geiger counter, and the opening credits set to Tom Jones' "Thuderball."

While the underwater sequences might not be as impressive six decades later, the practical effects and photography still hold up well (especially during the climactic sea battle). Despite the success of the film, it would be several years before another Bond film would have long sequences underwater which were key to the plot of the movie.

The movie is also notable as the only production from the franchise to be remade when Connery starred in 1983's Never Say Never Again which could be produced outside of the official franchise because of the same tangled movie rights that also delayed the original film.

Thunderball is solid Connery Bond with fun locations and lots, and lots, of underwater sequences which are what most remember from the film, although there are some highlights out of the water as well including the doppelganger subplot early in the film, 007's reactions to Volpe's seduction, and Domino (rather than Bond) being the one to take down the villain at the end.

• Title: Thunderball
• IMDb: link