Cast and Crew: Terence Young (Director); Richard Maibaum (Screenplay); Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory (Story); Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman (Producers); John Barry (Score); Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Martine Beswick, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell

What It’s About:  SPECTRE hijacks a Vulcan bomber (and its payload of two nuclear bombs) and blackmails the world.  Can James Bond (Sean Connery) get to the bottom of things before it’s too late?

Why Watch it Today?:  Today is the first day of the Junkanoo, which is the memorable setting for a key scene in today’s film.  Thunderball features a few too many underwater scenes (and a bit too much creepiness from Bond, who blackmails a nurse into sleeping with him for his entire stay at health spa) for it make the top-tier of Bond films, but it is solid enough to merit a watching.  Northern readers should join me in imagining they’ve escaped their icy climes for the sunny Bahamas.  Don’t forget your martinis (I’ll take a Bombay, straight, dirty, thanks) and your PPK.