Thunderball (film) listed at number 73. Thunderball (film) Thunderball is a 1965 British spy film and the fourth in the "James Bond" series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham. It was directed by Terence Young, with its screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins. The movie would have been the first of the Bond series if not for legal disputes over copyright issues. The film follows Bond's mission
No. 1 of the Secret Service with those films. With the continued popularity of the James Bond films starring Roger Moore in the mid 1970s, talk of Sean Connery reprising his 007 role in the planned "James Bond of the Secret Service" and the delay in the production of Eon Productions’ "The Spy Who Loved Me", Shonteff thought he would return to the imitation James Bond field with his own film. The original title of "008 of the Secret Service" was replaced by "No. 1 of the Secret Service". Perhaps to avoid rights difficulties with producer James Ward, Shonteff replaced the name of "Charles Vine" with