James Bond Special : Thunderball (1965)

Thunderball was the fourth instalment in the Bond franchise and supposedly the most successful financially taking inflation into account. The film has Connery's Bond searching for two NATO atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE who asked for £100 million in diamonds for ransom in exchange for not blowing up Miami. Much of the action in the film takes place underwater.

In the film, Bond is assisted by Domino, the mistress of SPECTRE's Number Two, Emilio Largo. Several actresses were considered for the role including Julie Christie, Raquel Welch and Faye Dunaway but finally the role was given to Miss France and First Runner-Up in Miss World 1958, Claudine Auger. The name of the character was changed from Dominetta Palazzi to Dominique Derval to reflect Auger's nationality but her voice was still dubbed.

The three actresses who were considered for the role of Domino :-

Julie Christie

Raquel Welch

Faye Dunaway

The other notable Bond girl in the film was Luciana Paluzzi who played SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe. In Never Say Never Again (the re-make of Thunderball) her name was changed to Fatima Blush and she was played by Barbara Carrera.

I must admit that I have not actually watched Thunderball but I do remember the theme song by Tom Jones. Initially a song called Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was written as the theme (recorded by Shirley Bassey but re-recorded by Dionne Warwick) but the producers wanted the title of the film in the theme song. Country singer Johnny Cash submitted a song entitled "Thunderball" to Eon Productions incorporating the plot of the film but the song was never used. Instead John Barry and Don Black hurriedly wrote a song which was recorded by Tom Jones.

 

It seems that during recording Jones fainted when singing the last note of the song. What a big girl's blouse, Tom ol' chap.

James Bond Special : Goldfinger (1964)

This third Bond film involved a plot by the villain, Auric Goldfinger, to invade Fort Knox and contaminate the US gold reserves in order to boost the value of his own stockpile. It is widely thought to be one of the finest and iconic instalments in the franchise.

The film was responsible for one of the iconic moments in history involving Bond girl Jill Masterson who reached a rather "glittering" end. Jill was played by British actress Shirley Eaton who, although appearing in a number of successful films, will forever be remembered as "the golden girl".

However, the star of the film was, of course, Pussy Galore who was played by Honor Blackman who had, at the time, found fame as the leather-wearing high-kicking Cathy Gale in The Avengers. The name Pussy Galore caused quite a controversy and it was suggested that the name Pussy be changed to Kitty. However, it is said that the name was retained after a photo of Ms. Blackman and Prince Philip was published in the papers under the heading "The Prince & Pussy".

Pussy Galore is considered the second sexiest Bond girl (after Honey Ryder) and many people's favourite despite her being completely clothed throughout the film.












The title theme was sung by Dame Shirley Bassey and is widely considered to be as iconic as the golden girl herself. It was written by John Barry with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Bassey's sexy growl suited the song to a tee.

The song gave Bassey her only American Top 40 hit (reaching no. 8) while in the UK the song reached no. 21.

Incidentally, Honor Blackman also had her moment in pop history when Kinky Boots, a single she recorded with her Avengers co-star, Patrick Macnee, in 1964 charted at No.5 in 1990 after being re-released. As a matter of trivia, Patrick Macnee also had a role in a Bond film (A View To A Kill) as did his co-stars Blackman, Diana Rigg and Joanna Lumley.