I’d like to like Thunderball more because of the Italian stars in it but it’s Goldfinger for me.
I do love both films by the way.
I prefer Thunderball which I think is the quintessential 1960s James Bond movie
I agree Thunderball has aged better; it looks better, and feels less old-fashioned (especially the girls look and feel much better), but I prefer Goldfinger. It’s dated, it’s a bit silly, but there’s so much to enjoy in that silly old movie.
Of the two, I prefer THUNDERBALL; but, my favorite Bond film is FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
Whether these films look dated or not is to me a moot point. They are all dated. That is because they are old! And that is precisely why I like them!
When I want to feel like it is the sixties, again, I watch a Connery Bond film (excluding the awful DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER).
I guess maybe I am just getting too old to be among film fans, these days, because I am getting tired of people (younger than I am) using words and phrases such as “dated” and “old fashioned” to describe a film in a bad light.
I would much rather see a so-called old-fashioned film than to sit through something that is ultra-modern, CGI infested, and has a barrage of jump cuts that pass for an action sequence.
But, that is just me, apparently.
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:5, topic:2220”]I would much rather see a so-called old-fashioned film than to sit through something that is ultra-modern, CGI infested, and has a barrage of jump cuts that pass for an action sequence.
But, that is just me, apparently.[/quote]
It’s not just you, Chris, relax.
But when I say dated, and old-fashioned, I do not simply mean old.
Leone is as old as the first Bonds, but his movies have aged much better, they don’t feel dated or old-fashioned at all. Some (but not all) can be explained by the fact that a western is a more timeless frame than an espionage movie, but even if you take this into account, the Bonds look and feel old-fashioned. Old films have old cars in them, and old coiffures and clothes etc. but that’s not the point. Like I said on another thread, the Bond are storywise more reminiscent of the fifties or even WWII. They’re about mad scientists, criminal masterminds, and express the idea (even more pre-WWII) of the European nobility governing us, and the world. Like his creator, Ian Fleming, Bond, the shaken-not-stirred Bond, belong to the old world, a world that had already vanished in the sixties. Fleming ante-dated his stories, and especially the fist Bond movies feel ante-dated too. Apart from some violence & flesh they have little in common with the crazy sixties.
Goldfinger. Prefer the action and bad guys in this one, oh and the theme song.
I just love Gerd Fröbe.
Right, there’s a difference between ‘old’ and ‘dated’
It’s always nice if an old movie still feels up-to-date so to speak, which I think Thunderball does
Of course Sergio Leone and many other of the better spaghettis haven’t aged either, because of their timeless attitudes
Many of today’s CGI action movies will probably look very dated in a few years time 
Goldfinger without a doubt; it is just pure style with great performences from Connery and Fröbe. And the theme song is to die for. Thunderball is still good, but apart from the great final, there isn’t as much to remember for me in the middle (apart from a brief nipple flash!). So I have to go for Goldfinger.
Good point!
And Scherp, amigo…I am relaxed.
I just have been feeling like a grouchy old man, lately, I guess.
Maybe because that is what I am! ha ha!
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:11, topic:2220”]I just have been feeling like a grouchy old man, lately, I guess.
Maybe because that is what I am! ha ha![/quote]
Better a grouchy old man than … eh …
(they haven’t dated at all)
Goldfinger by far.
Actually Thunderball looks better and more modern than its 80s remake Never Say Never Again.
That is the truth!
I’ll go with Goldfinger.
The best JB of the Connery years, and also the best directed, was in fact the one without Connery.
Apart from that Goldfinger and Thunderball are the best of the early years. A bit more intelligent, and with the best dialogues. Great spectacle.
Had rewatched From Russia last Monday for the first time in 20 years, and it wasn’t as good as I remembered it. Too much average dialogues. Robert Shaw has a great role, until he starts talking, and Lotte Lenya is great, but considering her talent still wasted. Pedro Armendariz is then the king of the film.
Terrible M / Moneypenny scenes, weak love scenes, and a weakly filmed action scene with boats, when the film doesn’t need another.
I think both Dr No & From Russia with Love are still good Bond movies, even though they’re a bit dated and badly done
Technically they’re even a bit amateurish at times, especially From Russia for some reason
Still they have great spy atmosphere and great music by John Barry
Some stills and posters from Goldfinger and Thunderball:
I think the pre-credits sequence, the car chase, and the laser beam are great in Goldfinger
Fröbe as the villain is great too of course
The movie is also a bit more fast paced than Thunderball
But I prefer the atmosphere of Terence Young’s Bond movies
Here are some fun cover versions of the theme song ;D
