(Internet Image)
At six o'clock in the morning there was a knock at the door at my hotel... "Aaah" I
thought, "breakfast"... the door burst open and in walked (director) Terence (Young) followed by
(cinematographer) Ted Moore and (set designer) Ken Adam, followed by (actor) Sean Connery
wheeling in what looked like my breakfast trolley... "Makeup trolley, Bob" said Sean... "I don't
understand, it was breakfast I ordered." Terence began by behaving like a director on set, "Put it
over there Sean, will you, in front of the mirror". Sean folded back the lid of the trolley and
opened all the drawers. For the next half hour they went to work on me... applying lipstick,
eyelashes, nail varnish, a blonde wig, stockings and high heeled shoes. When it came to trying
to equip me with suspender belt and knickers I drew the line - I put those on myself. Then they
marched me out in full drag in broad daylight making me cross the hotel foyer crowded with
people and down the hotel steps into the car. And the last glimpse I had of Terence and Sean
was as they collapsed in two huge chairs in the foyer as they gasped for air and barely
controlled hysterics... but that impersonation of a woman in Thunderball and the ensuing
fight when Bond offers me his sympathy and then knocks my blonde wig off, revealing I'm a
man, was really one of my favorite stunts.
- Bob Simmons
Original and longtime Bond stuntman
(YouTube Video)
(Internet Image)
Fight sequence final edit (T) and Connery and Simmons on set (B)
To us it would be a great job to be tasked with sitting around and cooking up asinine
situations to craft into a finish narrative. We could handle that.
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One morning in 1965, a few days before Christmas (or was it a few days after?), woke up totally amped one morning in anticipation of heading out to the local theater later that afternoon to check out the opening of the new James Bond film, Thunderball. The Bond films were a relatively new concept and at the peak of their popularity at the time. The buddies and I were always in eager anticipation of 'em and big fans. Received quite a bit of Bond-themed gifts that Christmas as well. We even purchased ol' pop a gift set of 007 shave cream and aftershave. He apparently didn't share our enthusiasm for Bond gear. Remember that stuff setting un-opened on the shelf in the upstairs medicine cabinet for a few years before (we suspect) going the way of the pink bowtie and yellow socks.
Those early films set new standard in film production with emphasis on technical stunts and, in particular, award winning sound design. A good example is the above short YouTube clip. Courtesy of sound engineer Norman Wanstall and composer John Barry, the audio is always just as much an element of entertainment as the action on screen. Hence the term "Sounds like a Bond film."
Happily, No CGI back in those days. Stunt work was handled all live action with actual stuntmen...
(Internet Image)
The impressive as heck final underwater battle was choreographed by underwater director Ricou Browning (above) and photographed by underwater cinematographer Lamar Boren. We were familiar with both those guys from the Sea Hunt television series. As soon as we saw them tagged in the opening film credits we figured that this was gonna' be good.
(Internet Image)
Earlier in time, Browning was also the underwater Creature From The Black Lagoon
Wrangling a 14ft tiger shark for Thunderball: Browning, dive assistant and cast "extra"
(YouTube Video)
Thunderball underwater battle. We always liked when the various sea predators joined the final 1/3 of the fight.
We read current on-line comments regarding the final edit length of the underwater battle being excessive and slowing down the pace of the film. We always wished that it was longer. The audience at the time certainly thought so. Shortly after Bond exits the Coast Guard helicopter, zipping along powered by his tank-mounted propulsion unit, we remember the surrounding theater audience erupting in cheers as Bond enters the battle by ripping the face mask off a battling bad guy as chief villain Largo views incredulously.
Speaking of hardware. Other than Bond being equipped with "everything but the kitchen sink", we like the simplicity of the dive gear. No BCD's and only the necessary hardware - a basic weight belt and double tank back-plate, face mask and fins. We also like the bad guy's old school double hose regulators. Bear in mind that at the time recreational diving was less than ten years old. We ourselves attained open water dive certification years later, prompted to a large extent from viewing Thunderball as well as the Sea Hunt and Cousteau TV series. Though by that time the pursuit had advanced to a bit of point of exasperation with all the hardware, as far as we were concerned. We realize the necessity for learning the function and developing the skill associated with the stuff, but man, the course instructors really loaded ya' up with gear - console depth/pressure gauge, dive watch, dive computer, compass, BCD, octopus regulator, dive knife, thick 6mm wet suit (second lesson out we brought our own 3mm paddling wetsuit), hood, gloves, boots, snorkel, fins (a bit oversized we thought - we preferred our own traditional snorkeling fins) and weight belt. Ta' boot they additionally recommended a thin under-wet-suit rash guard/thermal suit. First sight of all this stuff splayed about the deck of the pool our first thought was "How come Mike Nelson can dive with just an air tank, weight belt, face mask and fins?". And we thought that we'd seen it all after meeting a few over-the-top gear junkies from rock climbing. Those guys are pikers when sided amongst divers.
Excerpt from a recent NAUI on-line interview with Ricou Browning prior to his passing in 2023:
NAUI: "How do you think the dive industry has changed in the last, say, 40, 50, 60 years?"
Browning: "A diver wears so much equipment it's unbelievable. We used to just wear a tank
and a weight belt, and that's it. And then they all of a sudden start putting all
this junk on ya'. And then you're overweighted... everything, it's just too much.
All you need is air."
We gotta' agree with Ricou. Although, we're hardly the expert. We've only subsequently have done maybe a dozen dives. The last being sometime late 90's. Most all memorable, however. One of which being a pretty cool drift dive of the Niagara River (NY) a few miles upstream of the falls. Remember lots of interesting large rock boulders. And our group was escorted the maybe two mile distance by random schools of small mouth bass.
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One of the Sunday newspaper magazine supplements featured a rear page mail order ad offer of nine Ian Fleming Bond novels for (as we recall) $2 for the bunch. Hard back. Each of the then four film adaptations and five others. Placed our order and after receipt read 'em all in about a month. Each quite a contrast to the film versions but highly recommended none-the-less. At about that time we received a letter from the publisher listing a second month's selection of books handpicked just for us based upon our "known interests". Seemed that we had inadvertently committed to a subscription book club. Minimum one year. The selections included all adult level reading. Hey - we're nine years old. We can handle it. Didn't gripe and honored our contract. Subsequently developed a life long interest in reading. Just as important, learned to read over the terms and conditions and fine print of any future agreement, whether we understand it or not, before signing on the dotted line.
Anyway, good film. And the book ain't bad, either.
