Thunderball

Factual error: The second blackmail message from SPECTRE tells the British that they must drop the ransom diamonds in a container "off the coast of Burma, in the Mergui archipelago, latitude 20 degrees north, longitude 60 degrees east." Unfortunately, 20 N, 60 E is nowhere near Burma. It's right off the coast of Oman in the Arabian peninsula, all the way on the other side of India from Burma. The actual coordinates for the Mergui archipelago are approximately 13 N 97 E. I guess there wasn't a map handy....

Factual error: When Bond finds the hi-jacked sunken Vulcan, he swims into the aircraft and towards a door at the rear of the cockpit. In the real Vulcan there's no door. There is a full-width table with racks of "black boxes" where the bomb aimer and navigator sit.

Factual error: When Largo's henchman is hiding in Bond's shower, Bond turns on the hot water which scalds the villan. But scalding hot water is never the first which comes out of the hot faucet.

Jacob La Cour

Factual error: Before the final fight when the soldiers parachute down, they are spread out over a long stretch of water (up to 1 km, it seems). It would take them a long time to swim together (and none of them are wearing the underwater jet as Bond is). Nevertheless they are all in one group minutes later.

Jacob La Cour

Factual error: After the photo dive at Disco Volante, where Bond's air tanks are hit, he takes them off and leave them in the water. There is no air filled BCD attached to the tanks (which are quite heavy) but they float anyway.

Jacob La Cour

Factual error: When the operation to plant the bombs is foiled, the Disco Volante casts off, pursued by two speed-boats and a destroyer. But how could the latter, as a large (and slow) battleship, approach the yacht without arousing suspicion?

Factual error: The Panamanian flag on the Disco Volante is upside down throughout the film. It flew in that configuration only in 1903.

wizard_of_gore

Factual error: The Vulcan aircraft shown before and after the water landing has French markings. The Vulcan bomber was only flown by the British.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The roundel is an RAF roundel type A.

Continuity mistake: When the Disco Volante separates to escape the cruisers firing on it, the "cocoon" is seen facing the pursuing ships stern-first. When the shot changes to show the gunners firing on the ships, the back half of the "cocoon" has turned completely around. The gunners are firing from the separated mid-section of the Volante, and the stern of the "cocoon" is now facing away from the cruisers, making it easy to see which parts of the scene were filmed live and which were done in the studio.

demodon

More mistakes in Thunderball

Fiona: You look pale, Mr. Bond. I hope I didn't frighten you.
Bond: Well you see, I've always been a nervous passenger.
Fiona: Some men just don't like to be driven.
Bond: No, some men just don't like to be taken for a ride.

More quotes from Thunderball

Trivia: When Bond and the guard fall into the pool and the shutters close over them, Largo gets the gate opened to allow sharks into the pool. When they were shooting this, there was supposed to be a sheet of glass in the water with the sharks on one side, and Sean on the other. Unfortunately, a couple of the sharks got round it, and when Sean opens the door to go through to the other pool, he's nose to nose. At this point, he's not acting. Watch his face for the genuine look of horror.

More trivia for Thunderball

Question: I am completely confused about the ending of this film. I mean, the camera-geiger counter starts clicking showing the nuclear weapons are on the boat, but they are not, they are still being moved. And the weapons do get onto the yacht, but both parts of it explode right at the end. Wouldn't that destroy the bombs as well, eg. massive atomic explosion? It is probably just me, I am known to be slow, but can someone explain?

KingofallSamurai

Chosen answer: Geiger counters show when radiation, even faint traces, are present. Therefore, if nuclear weapons were there recently, it will register. The scientist told Domino he threw the detonators overboard so the bombs could not explode. Also, nukes are surprisingly durable. Being in a large explosion will not detonate the core, only a specific chain reaction will.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Answer: Yep he's right.

More questions & answers from Thunderball

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.