MovieChat Forums > Thunderball (1965) Discussion > The one where Bond rapes a woman....

The one where Bond rapes a woman....


What a hero!

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So you took her playfulness as a genuine "no"? I never felt he was forcing himself on her. I don't think she did either.

But if you're sensitive, you might want to avoid 007 movies from now on. Because there's a lot of "butt slapping" type moments throughout the series. PC is one thing Bond is not. Modern attitudes toward the sexes are not shared by this character. Don't like it? Don't watch.

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That actually happens one step earlier, in Goldfinger.
Bond lays on top of Pussy Galore and - through all her physical and verbal objections - force himself onto her, and sticks his tounge down her throat until she eventually gives in.

I like the Bond series - despite all its chauvinistic crap and all its other flaws, but that scene always makes me really uncomfortable.

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Give me a break. I ought to report this post, but will instead enlighten you as to what "rape" really is.

It is the violent forcing of a sexual act upon another person, which is usually coupled with threats and acts of violence, such as beating or use of a weapon.

That's a world of difference from taking a woman in your arms and exerting mild sexual force, usually in a romantic vein, which some women like (it's a sign of strength and power in the male; which can bring about arousal).

Maybe you need to get your facts straight before spewing off at the mouth.

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I am formerly known as HillieBoliday.....Member since May 2006:

You are right...thank you for your very honest and much needed "dressing down"
of such a condescending and ignorant statement!

I am a huge Sean Connery/James Bond fan, and a hopeless romantic as well; but I also feel somewhat very uncomfortable when I watch that scene in Goldfinger.

....But....I always remind myself that the seduction of James Bond by Poosay Galore, is the very reason she took him on the tour of the place at the behest of Auric Goldfinger. It was already strongly suggested that she should sleep with James Bond. I think all of that physical altercation was just a very strong game of foreplay, and to maybe lead him to believe that she was not purposely seducing him.

But we know.....that seductive love/rape scene was a plot twist to facilitate changing her mind, with her switching the canisters with the deadly gas, and her betrayal of Goldfinger.

"OOhhhooo....I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"

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The Pat Fearing seduction scene is IMO the one scene in the whole Connery era that leaves me quite uncomfortable. You can make the argument in "Goldfinger" that Bond is doing it all in the line of duty to get her to switch sides, which ties in to his great "What I did was for Queen and Country!" speech to Fiona in "Thunderball". With Pat though, it is in effect, "Submit to me or else I make you lose your job" and that kind of attitude just bothers me completely. And I'll be honest, much as I respect and admire Connery for setting the standard, that scene is also why I personally think he would have been a disaster in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" because I can not picture Connery, with his rough machismo, ever doing a sensitive love story as Bond without evoking snickers.

Roger Moore, for all the critical drubbing he gets, at least showed a more discriminating approach like in "For Your Eyes Only". If that had been Connery, he would have accepted the offer from Lynn-Holly Johnson to hop into bed!

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“Somewhat very”: for fuck’s sake, make up your alleged mind.

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Did he rape her? No, under most definitions. Did he cross the line? Yes.

He almost got injured. She was apologetic. He implied that he would get her fired unless she slept with him. She slept with him. How is that cool or romantic? I know that things have changed a lot since this movie was made, but I still don't understand what the motivation behind this scene was.

That's a world of difference from taking a woman in your arms and exerting mild sexual force, usually in a romantic vein, which some women like (it's a sign of strength and power in the male; which can bring about arousal).
Most women dont want to be aggressively manhandled by horny customers while they are at work.

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Did she complain? I'm inclined to doubt it!

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Doesn't this post belong on the Goldfinger board? Bond films are all pretty sexist where Bond gets his way no matter what. Telling him no just turns him on.


Interesting. You're afraid of insects and women. Ladybugs must render you catatonic.

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Thunderball has way, way more more misogyny in it than Goldfinger did. At least in Goldinger, Bond forcing himself onto Pussy Galore (while uncomfortable to watch by today's standards) is nevertheless interesting because it's an instance where the hero and the villainess are fighting each other through sex. Pussy used her rock-solid lesbianism as a weapon against Bond, Bond fought back, she embraced him and Bond won.

In Thunderball, Bond blackmails an innocent nurse into having sex with him despite her objections, threatening to get her fired if she doesn't comply. That's not cool.

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I don't think she objected!

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'Bond forcing himself onto Pussy Galore (while uncomfortable to watch by today's standards)'

I don't find it in any way 'uncomfortable to watch by today's standards'.

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I think her eventual smile got him off the hook, meaning she was okay with it. The Golfinger scene is borderline, but she seemed to enjoy it after 3 seconds of kissing.

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I think her eventual smile got him off the hook, meaning she was okay with it.

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Plus, anybody here remember the LATER scene -- AFTER the scene in the steambath - - in which this woman is IN BOND'S BED, enjoying a back massage with a mink glove on Bond's hand, from Bond himself...either before or after additional lovemaking? She dug him.

PS. Note how the scene of her back pressed against the steambath glass wall..some very brief but very noticeable rear nudity. Censorship was easing. The character is most willing to go nude for Bond...

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