10 Stunts That Went Wrong In James Bond Films
4. Mega Explosion - Thunderball
While there are many issues related to misfiring stunts that can be put down to bad luck or over exuberance on behalf of the actors involved, the misfire in this case came down to sheer incompetence on behalf of the Producers and stunt coordinators. Incredibly, it was not the only case of errors off camera almost causing an incident for the fourth Bond flick, but more on that later in the list.
As told by crew involved in the film's production on the excellent documentary The Making of Thunderball, plans for a major explosion to occur at the film's finale hit a snag - namely a lack of explosives.
Approaching a contact they had in the US Army, they managed to get their hands on some rocket fuel. However, unaware of how powerful the rocket fuel was and with the materials only arriving a night before filming, the stunt coordinators loaded up with just a little more of the explosive than was required. As the boat approached the explosives at full speed the rocket fuel was detonated and the boat... disappeared.
The answer to where the boat had gone came later that day when the true power of the rocket fuel became apparent. When the crew returned to the town of Nassau, some thirty miles away from where they were filming, every window in the main street had been shattered.
Amazingly there was no reports of any injuries from the incident, but one must assume there was a hefty insurance claim.