Plus, most of these sequences (especially the final climactic battle) seem to go on for an eternity and you genuinely feel like you're drowning. The story isn't bad but there's an awful lot of focus on underwater action – which is very hard to make hugely exciting when you can only move at a certain speed. However, it is also – adjusting for inflation – the most money-making of ALL Bond films. It's the one Bond film that I normally actively avoid watching. I think I just heard the collective gasp of 007 fans over my typing. I'm sorry, did I say something wrong? Ahem. You can read more about that when we get round to Never Say Never Again! A court case ensued, Fleming lost, and the rights to the Thunderball book and the contents within became a co-property with McClory and Whittingham. Nothing came of it, so Ian Fleming turned it into a novel but failed to credit either of the other men. Two other men, Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham - had a hand in writing it with him, as they knew more about that side of the business than he did. In a very small nutshell, Ian Fleming wrote a film treatment that he shopped around film studios when his 007 books were selling well. But, that's all documented in a very fascinating book called The Battle For Bond by Robert Sellers. Surely, this film should have inherited the next title? You Only Live Twice! Because, in twenty years time, Thunderball would be remade – with Sean Connery reprising the James Bond role at the same time as Roger Moore was being James Bond in Octopussy – and this remake would be called Never Say Never Again.įirst of all, how does a 007 movie get remade, when the famously litigious Broccoli family who produced the franchise (Harry Saltzman left the partnership around the start of Roger Moore's tenure as Bond) do their very best to squash anything like this happening? Well, hereby hangs a very long tale. “Try to be a little less than your frivolous self, 007.” Here, Barnaby Eaton-Jones remembers Thunderball, back in cinemas this week. Marking the 60th Anniversary cinema re-release of the beloved film franchise, we're looking back at Stuart Mulrain and Barnaby Eaton-Jones' series of articles on the 007 films.