In an unidentified tropical region, James Bond (Sean Connery), on assignment, is infiltrating an enemy compound. He distracts, subdues and kills several guards until he reaches the compound's primary building. After eliminating several more guards, he enters an adjacent bedroom where he finds a kidnapped woman, bound to a bed. As he frees her arms, she grabs a hidden knife and stabs him in the ribs. At MI6 headquarters, Bond's boss, M (Edward Fox) and a tactician review Bond's performance on video; the mission was a fake assignment designed to test Bond's effectiveness. Though his total mission time was acceptable, Bond is heavily criticized for being killed, a result of him missing details in the mission's "plot." Bond points out that he has been a willing participant in M's "war games" and that he was only previously wounded in one of them. M points out that the result of that training exercise was Bond losing both of his legs, thereby becoming useless as an active agent. M orders Bond to Shrubland's, a rehabilitation club outside of London. "Q" (Alec McCowen) Algy (Algernon), Double-0 section Quartermaster who issues specialized equipment to Bond. Miss Moneypenny (Pamela Salem), M's secretary. At a bank in France, a woman, Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera) (#12), arrives and demands access to a secret room housed within the bank where her parent criminal organization, SPECTRE, holds a top-secret meeting. Present is SPECTRE's leader, Blofeld (Max Von Sydow). He announces a new plan for the group's latest attempt at extortion called "The Tears of Allah", so-named for a jade pendant that the mission's creator, Maximillian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) (#1), gives to his lover, Domino Petachi (Kim Basinger). With the aid of Blush, Largo will steal two nuclear cruise missiles. The theft will be performed in part by an American Air Force Captain, Jack Petachi (Gavan O'Herlihy), Domino's brother, whose right eye is being altered surgically to represent that of the United States President. Blush's role will be as Capt. Petachi's caretaker following the surgery, however, SPECTRE has also insured his compliance by addicting him to heroin. At Shrubland's, Bond is required to adhere to a strict regimen of controlled diet and exercise. However, it does not prevent him from sneaking in a small cache of rich food, which he uses while he seduces his nurse. After the two have had sex in Bond's room, Bond notices a commotion outside his window and across the courtyard; a woman is arguing with a man whom she then beats severely. The two are Petachi and Blush. Bond sneaks over to the man's window and observes him using a strange decoding machine. The window shade suddenly flies open and Petachi sees Bond. Blush searches the nearby grounds for Bond using night-vision glasses and spots him easily. The next day Bond is working out in the club's weight room when he is attacked by a large thug, Lippe (Pat Roach). Their battle spills into several rooms of the club, causing much destruction. Lippe finally corners Bond in a small lab and Bond throws the contents of a nearby beaker in the man's face, causing him to scream horribly and back into a set of shelves, impaling himself on dozens of pieces of glassware. The man falls dead and Bond looks at the beaker's label; it reads "James Bond - urine specimen". Bond later reports to M who chastises him harshly for creating an enormous amount of damage to the club. At an American-run air force base in Britain, Jack Petachi steals into a sealed control room and uses his fake eye and decoding machine to successfully switch two "dummy" warheads for live nuclear ones on a test flight. The warheads are installed into two cruise missiles which are loaded on a plane for a test mission. Shortly after leaving the base, Petachi is killed by Blush, who causes a car crash and destroys him with an explosive device. The warheads are launched from a British stealth bomber and speed toward their intended targets. As they pass by Max Largo's yacht, the Flying Saucer ("Disco Volante" in Thunderball), one of Largo's operatives (Dr. Kovacs (Milow Kirek), a nuclear physicist working for SPECTRE) activates a jamming device which forces the missiles to splash down. They are taken aboard and later hidden in an underwater cave. A broadcast from SPECTRE informs NATO that the missiles will likely have differing targets. SPECTRE naturally demands an exorbitant amount of money as ransom. Bond speaks with M and decides to check a lead; Petachi was logged leaving the base right before he was killed. Bond has discovered that Petachi's sister, Domino, is involved with Largo himself and tracks them both to Nassau in the Bahamas. He is met there by the bumbling Nigel Smalls (Rowan Atkinson), his MI6 contact. Smalls informs Bond that Largo possesses no criminal record and is quite a philanthropist. Bond is met at a harbor-side bar by Fatima Blush, who persuades Bond to join her on a deep-sea diving expedition. The two have sex on the way to their dive spot and explore the wreck of a sunken ship. Blush discretely places a small tracking device on Bond's scuba tank that attracts a tiger shark. Bond traps it on the wreck, only to find another tiger has taken its place. Bond finds the tracking device and detaches it, however, his oxygen line is cut. He swims to the surface and finds a woman he'd befriended at the Nassau harbor. When Fatima sees him and the woman at the dock later on, she is spurned and plants an explosive charge under Bond's bed. She activates it only to find she'd gotten the wrong room; Bond had gone back to the fishing woman's room instead. Bond checks in with Smalls, who tells Bond that Largo has set sail for the south of France on the Flying Saucer. Bond travels there and meets his MI6 contact, Nicole, and Felix Leiter (Bernie Casey), his CIA contact. While Bond observes the Flying Saucer in the bay below their villa, he sees a beautiful blond woman dancing on the deck; Domino Petachi. Bond goes to the same spa as Domino and poses as a masseur to find out information about Largo. Domino tells him that Largo is hosting a large charity event for orphaned children. Bond goes there and gains entry by subduing a security guard. He meets Domino and Largo; the millionaire challenges Bond to a video game called Domination. The two battle each other for the monetary values attached to countries of the world. The game, however, is rigged to electrically shock the hands of the loser in each round. In the final round, Bond, having challenged Largo to a match for the entire dollar amount of the remainder of the world, wins and forces Largo to let go of his hand controls; when Largo shows no obvious physical pain, Bond concludes that Largo is psychotic. Largo is about to pay Bond his winnings when Bond offers to waive them in exchange for a single dance with Domino. Largo orders a tango and during the dance, Bond tells Domino that Jack is dead and that her lover is the chief suspect. Largo suddenly ends the dance and tells Domino that her brother will again be delayed in meeting them. Bond returns to the villa to find Nicole murdered and hears the killer leaving the house. The killer is Fatima, who drives off. Bond mounts a turbo motorcycle and pursues her in a furious chase, using the cycle's defenses to evade the henchmen who chase him in cars. He chases her into a harbor-side warehouse, where she knocks him from his cycle. At gunpoint, she forces him to write a statement saying that Fatima was the greatest sexual partner he's ever encountered and threatens to shoot him in the crotch if he doesn't. Bond tries shooting her with an explosive charge from his pen but the charge fails to detonate immediately. As Fatima aims her own gun, the charge goes off, killing her. Felix Leiter steps out from a hiding place and helps Bond escape the French police. Before the Flying Saucer sets sail, Bond and Leiter scuba dive to it's keel, finding that it's designed to open, which it does. Bond is quickly captured and is treated quite pleasantly as a guest by the genial Largo. Bond finds Domino in the yacht's dancing studio and deliberately kisses her passionately, knowing Largo is watching through a one-way mirror in his private control room. Largo rushes into the studio and begins smashing the mirrors and stereo with a fire ax. Bond gains entry to Largo's control room and radios his contacts that the Flying Saucer is headed for North Africa. After arriving in North Africa, Largo retrieves the hidden nuclear warheads and imprisons Bond in an ancient fortress. He explains to Bond that the two nukes have different targets; one will be planted in Washington DC, but he refuses to reveal the other target specifically, which will be somewhere in the oil fields of the Middle East. He also gives Domino to a man who intends to auction her off to a group of local Arab men. Bond waits until Largo leaves and escapes from his shackles. He steals a horse from a guard and rescues Domino, however, the two are forced to jump from a rampart into the sea to escape. They are rescued by Leiter, who has come in an America submarine. Bond conveys that the first bomb is in DC, which is then found and diffused.. The submarine follows the Flying Saucer, finding her anchored off a shallow coastline. Bond, Leiter and the sub's captain try to figure out where Largo has hidden the 2nd bomb. The location is revealed when Bond notices that the map of the general area matches the design on Domino's pendant (the pendant is called the "Tears of Allah" and was gifted by Largo to Domino). Bond and Leiter, along with a commando team, infiltrate Largo's lair (an underwater cave, designed by the ancient Persians, with an actual well called the "Tears of Allah") and battle briefly with his men but are unable to stop him from moving the bomb to his yacht. Bond and Leiter regroup with the sub's crew and pursue the Flying Saucer. Bond is dropped from a helicopter into the crevasse where Largo intends to plant the warhead. He fights with Largo, pinning him to the crevasse wall with a submersible vehicle. Largo aims a harpoon gun at Bond but is killed himself by Domino, who uses a harpoon gun of her own. She and Bond return to the surface. While on holiday with Domino, Bond surprises a man who had attempted to sneak up on him. The man is Nigel Smalls who informs Bond that M wants him to return to active service. Bond refuses, saying "never again" - a reference to actor Sean Connery's quitting the role of James Bond after his final film, Diamonds are Forever.
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