Thunderball

Continuity mistake: The man with the eye patch is underwater on his way to retrieve the bombs, then confronts Domino about the camera on the yacht, and then is in subsequent underwater scenes as the bombs are being brought back to the yacht.

Continuity mistake: The bullet-proof shield that rises behind the rear window on Bond's Aston Martin comes from a very noticeable slot in the sheet-metal. On all subsequent views of the car, this slot is not there,indicating a different car used for the bullet-proof shield scene.

Continuity mistake: When Major Derval steps up to the co-pilots seat and sits down you can see him wearing an orange life preserver and strapping on the white four-point safety harness. However, when he removes the gamma gas from his pocket the safety harness is missing but is back in place in the next scene.

bcoles

Continuity mistake: One for the wristwatch enthusiasts: Towards the end when Bond goes into the water he checks the time on his Omega. Later he looks at his watch and he's wearing the Breitling with built-in Geiger counter that Q gave him. Both shots are long and clear, probably because the watchmakers paid for them.

Continuity mistake: Near the end of the film as James Bond swims towards Palmeras, he gets out of the water to go up a flight of steps, and you see that he is wearing red shorts that are wet as he gets to the top. You then see a shot of Largo's henchmen getting into the back of a truck, as Bond goes down the next flight of steps the shorts are no longer wet, and they are now much lighter in colour.

Will

Continuity mistake: When James and Felix land on the water and find the Vulcan, as James goes to dive Felix is wearing shorts, when James returns Felix is wearing rolled up trousers then back to shorts again.

lindasmur13

Continuity mistake: After Bond had been dancing with Domino, Largo takes her to his jet boat to return to the Disco Volante for the night. Just when Largo asks her, "What was he saying just then?", in the background one can see Felix Leiter taking his sunglasses off and approaching Bond. Bond even turns his head towards him. The scene continues with Domino and Largo leaving in the jet boat. The scene cuts and the next shot shows Bond with Felix Leiter standing some steps behind him again, still wearing his sunglasses. (00:51:55)

DapperDan

Continuity mistake: As Bond reaches his car just before tossing the jet-pack into the trunk, it is clear to see that the entire rear portion of the car is covered in tree droppings, especially the rear window. However, the angle changes as he is in the car and now the car is completely clean.

Continuity mistake: Bond takes off his jet-pack and tosses it into the trunk of his Aston Martin. He tries to close the trunk lid, but it is still open a few inches as he drives away. Somehow the trunk lid appears completely closed in the next shot as he races away from the bad guys.

Continuity mistake: When Bond removes the bandage from Duval's face, he first uncovers a large square area from the nose to the hairline. In the next shot Duval's face is again fully covered except for the eyes.

Jacob La Cour

Continuity mistake: James Bond is in the Shrublands clinic. He is snooping in a patients room. The patient (with bandaged face) opens the door. Bond hides behind the door and reaches into his jacket for his gun. A widescreen shot then shows his arm hanging down but in the next shot,his arm is back in the jacket. (00:13:05)

Continuity mistake: During the fight at the beginning of the film, you can see the fire in the fireplace burning brightly but when Bond is throttling his attacker with the poker, you now see that the fire (though partially hidden by the table) has nearly gone out, and does not burn as brightly. (00:03:10)

Will

Continuity mistake: In the bit where the power on the island is turned off, while Largo is getting ready in his room, you can see the moonlight that is coming through the grill of the door suddenly "turn on" as the lights go out.

Continuity mistake: After Vargas is harpooned, Bond is walking quickly up the beach with Domino toward his car. He tells her to go straight back to Palmyra. Her speed boat is anchored off-shore in the opposite direction. Shouldn't she be heading for the boat and not the car?

Continuity mistake: One of the gadgets which Q gives to Bond is a mini air tank, "good for about four minutes of air." He's very specific about this number. In the huge climactic underwater battle scene, Bond Against The Hordes, 007 puts on the mini tank and proceeds to fight, vigorously, for a solid ten minutes without borrowing anyone else's tank. He either had gills implanted or can fight while holding his breath for enormously long periods of time.

Continuity mistake: At the carnival scene Bond gets shot in the calf, but in the underwater fight there is no mark on either of his calves.

Thunderball mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Bond and Felix go out for the first time to search for the missing plane, Bond's hair has a parting to the left and is wearing watch on his left arm, but at the moment when they are flying over Largo's house, Bond is looking through a pair of binoculars. As he says to Felix "separate pools for sharks, no less" his hair is now parted on the right and his watch is now on his right arm, also watch out for the mouthpiece on Felix's headphones - it changes from left to right.

Will

Continuity mistake: When Bond meets Largo at the casino there's no-one behind. Then a woman in a white and black dress suddenly appears standing behind, only to disappear one shot later and come walking towards that same spot again.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the opening sequence, Bond activated water jets on his car. Several times the pressure of the jets changes, from full force to just shooting and back.

Movie Nut

More mistakes in Thunderball

James Bond: My dear, uncooperative Domino.
Domino: How do you know that? How do you know my friends call me Domino?
James Bond: It's on the bracelet on your ankle.
Domino: So... what sharp little eyes you've got.
James Bond: Wait 'til you get to my teeth.

More quotes from Thunderball

Trivia: If you noticed that almost all of the bad guys, including the villain, are all Italian, this is no coincidence. The original story involved the Mafia and the villain, Emilio Largo, as a Mafia chieftain. The story was changed to replace the Mafia with the organization, SPECTRE.

More trivia for Thunderball

Question: In the last scene, what happened to the man who helped Domino? They all (Bond, Domino and man) jumped from the boat before it crashed into the rocks but only Bond and Domino climbed into the lifeboat. They didn't even try to find him.

ginnythecat

Answer: Bond hands Kutze a lifesaver just before they jump off the hydrofoil. Presumably he just floated there before being picked up by the Coast Guard.

Jukka Nurmi

Chosen answer: There's no explanation about what happened to him. I would assume he somehow died when they jumped.

raywest

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.