JAMES BOND OF THE SECRET SERVICE

Contributed by: The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

Early working title of a script by Kevin McClory, Len Deighton, and Sean Connery that was planned as a remake of Thunderball but was never produced. McClory had cowritten the original story for Thunderball with Ian Fleming and screenwriter Jack Whittingham as part of an early attempt to adapt Fleming’s Bond novels to the screen, and he controlled all rights to that particular Bond adventure. In 1965 he’d partnered with Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to produce the original film version, under an agreement that prevented him from producing another adaptation for ten years. Promptly in 1975, McClory announced James Bond of the Secret Service—later known as Warhead—which would feature the return of Sean Connery as 007.

By this point Broccoli was producing the Bond series alone for United Artists, and he remembered the competition provided by Columbia Pictures’ Casino Royale spoof in 1967. He was not about to let a rival Bond into the marketplace without a fight. A long legal battle with McClory soon began, and it wasn’t until 1982, when producer and top entertainment lawyer Jack Schwartzman entered the fray, that a Thunderball remake finally went before the cameras. Based on an entirely different script, it became Never Say Never Again.

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