A Study of Adaptation - Thunderball

This post comes with a minor content warning, as there is a brief discussion of a possible sexual assault.

I think someone told Fleming that having Russian villains was old hat by this point. Thunderball is Fleming's ninth entry in the book series, published in 1961, and the fifth entry in the film series, released in 1965. Fleming initially co-wrote the story as a screenplay with Kevin McClory, which resulted in a legal battle. McClory would later produce a second adaptation, Never Say Never Again, released in 1983 but not part of the official film series (despite getting Sean Connery to reprise his role).

A criminal organisation known as SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion), spearheaded by Ernst Stavro Blofeld, has stolen two atomic bombs and are demanding a ransom from the NATO powers. Bond, who had been on leave at a health clinic after his last physical assessment, is sent to Nassau to investigate as part of Operation Thunderball. He soon becomes suspicious of Emilio Largo, a ruthless Italian playboy who is apparently conducting a treasure hunt with his luxury yacht, the Disco Volante. Bond also meets Domino Vitali, Largo's kept woman, and reunites with Felix Leiter, who has been brought back to the CIA.

The film adaptation pretty much remains faithful, but with a few changes here and there:

• Domino's birth name in the novel is Dominetta Petacchi, but her name in the film is Dominique Derval. While she was Italian in the novel, they changed her nationality with the casting of French actress Claudine Auger.
• While at the health clinic, Bond meets fellow patient Count Lippe and becomes suspicious of him after noticing a tattoo used to denote membership in a Tong. In the novel, Count Lippe overhears Bond calling his office over this and attempts to kill him with a motorised spinal traction machine. In the film, Bond is spotted searching Lippe's room by his bandaged neighbour, Angelo. This ties in to another change, so I'll discuss that when I get to it.
• After Bond survives the attempt on his life at the clinic, he and the nurse, Patricia Fearing, discuss the incident with the clinic's owner. In the film, they change this so that Patricia allows Bond to seduce her in exchange for his silence. That might have been OK in the sixties, but that really doesn't sit well today. Another example of the novel being less sleazy than the film.
• Lippe was using the clinic as a base of operations due to its proximity to an RAF base. In the book, he bribes Italian Air Force pilot Guiseppe Petacchi (Domino's brother) to hijack the plane carrying the bombs. In the film, he arranges for Angelo to have plastic surgery to resemble the French pilot, Francois Derval, whom they kill and take back to the clinic. This made more sense, because it gave Bond a clear lead in Nassau (he was originally assigned to Canada but asks M to send him to Nassau).
• In the novel, Petacchi is killed off once he has delivered the bombs to Largo, but it doesn't give a clear explanation as to why. 
• You could argue that it was silence him, but it contrasts an earlier scene which shows how SPECTRE works; Blofeld executes another member of SPECTRE for a sexual liaison with a girl they held for ransom. It's not made clear whether or not the liaison was consensual, but Blofeld's anger was over the fact that it breached the promise made to return the hostage unharmed (he actually refunds half the ransom over this). In the film, Blofeld has another member executed for embezzling money raised through a drug operation.
• In the film, Angelo demands more money after they kill Derval. He is killed by Largo afterwards for jeopardising the whole operation over this. Count Lippe is also killed over this (in the book he was killed for his childish feud with Bond).
• There's no reference to Largo's treasure hunt in the film. Neither is the reasons for Bond being sent to the clinic.
• The film also adds a new character; the SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe.

One reason for a lot of changes was that SPECTRE had appeared in the previous films, whereas in the novel they had just been introduced. This meant that Largo knows who Bond is, and discusses this with Volpe.

Well, that's about it. I suppose it was easy to adapt this one considering they already had the screenplay for it. Legal troubles aside.