Thunderball

James McMahon -- Though this is the first film where the gadgets began to dominate over character, and action over tension, it is still a top-notch James Bond film in the prime of the series successes. Connery's in top form so you simply cannot go wrong. It s a big movie, but the big characters in it are up the task. Some say the underwater scenes slow the film down, but I disagree. This is a film, not a race. Claudine Auger possibly the series most beautiful leading lady; Lucianna Paluzzi the sexiest. Odd idea to make the Hathaway shirts-man the villain-- and if anyone gets this, and is under 55 years old, please e-mail me Robert Cotton -- The last time Connery cared and Young put him through his paces. One last JAMES BOND film before the camp factor cuts in. Paul Baack -- Film snobs may tell you that this is the film where the gadgetry overtook the humanity in the series, but screw them. This is one of the best films in the series to give us a picture of how things go in Ian Fleming's fantasy universe, and it takes its own sweet time to reveal its plot in a novelistic fashion. Whether or not that's actually how you could steal a nuclear weapon, it for damn sure looked accurate on the big screens of 1965. Another supercooled performance by Connery; a couple of the yummiest ladies in the history of the series; the best Felix Leiter ever; and a still-high Mojo content for the villains. It also has the best cameo performance by a dog in the history of British cinema.

Bill Koenig -- The biggest hit (in terms of inflation-adjusted, 2002 dollars) released at maximum Bond interest. Slower than Goldfinger. However, the Bond-Domino scene where he informs her of the death of her brother has more emotional wallop than the previous film. Continuity errors galore, but the underwater fight still is impressive today. Ed Werner -- To this day, it's difficult to describe why this movie is so important to me. It has been slammed by many a critic as the end of the Bond golden age, primarily for it's excesses . But what excess! A jet pack, a hydrofoil, the return of the DB-5, a miniature underwater rebreather, a sea sled and sea tows, a rocket firing motorcycle, an underwater rocket propulsion pack and last but not least, two atomic bombs! Sixties cool just permiates through this film. Connery's Bond has yet to be surpassed in this portrayal and is in total control. His flippant one liners are classics here. The casino scenes are IMHO, the best written and most elegant of the entire series. John Barry's soundtrack is incredibly atmospheric - nobody can do underwater like him. The casting is perfection. Adolfo Celi (Largo) is a very stong villian, really the first that is a physical threat to Bond. Luciana Paluzzi as Fiona (woof!), Claudine Auger as Domino (major woof!), Martine Beswick (Paula) and Mollie Peters (Pat). Rounding out the lot is Rick Van Nutter as Felix, who looks as if he he's just stepped off Fleming pages. Check out my favorite canine of the series during the Junkanoo scene. Michael Reed -- A great story that is undercut with some awful editing and pacing. If the crew had been tighter, the film would have been too. And it needed to be. Good cast but Connery is mostly sleepwalking. Tom Zielinski -- It' s 1965, Goldfinger is a runaway success, and James Bond has become a cultural phenomenon. So where to go from there? The series first showed its perceived (and in my opinion, misplaced) need to top itself with Thunderball, something that was to become an even more annoying bane later in the series. No matter, all the elements were still in place to produce a grand Bond adventure, and Thunderball delivers. Terence Young returned, Richard Maibaum wrote another great screenplay, and the cast is top-notch. James Bond took a bit of a backseat to the technology, and yes, Connery looked just a shade bored, but his charisma and the tight screenplay proved those complaints to be of minor consequence. This also may just be the most violent film of the series; check out the masterful and exciting underwater battle sequence. Great stuff. Kevin McClory' s Thunderball (Broccoli and Saltzman "Presented") is the last of the "Big Four," and simply put, a wonderful James Bond film.