I saw this film first when they played it on some James Bond marathon when I was 10. I thought it was somewhat funny (I guess I was pretty easy to amuse as a child). A week ago it was on again, and I figured I'd give it another viewing. For me, it turned into one of those "why did I like this?" moments.
To begin with, the idea of making a James Bond spoof in the late Sixties was not a bad one. Secondly, they had a great cast (David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, etc.). However, this movie just didn't come together. Maybe it is because the director's chair was the proverbial revolving door. Maybe it was because Sellers wanted to play the straight man and wasn't his zany self. Or maybe it is because the jokes were the usual schlock that one would expect from a low budget vaudeville comedy act. I think it was all of the above.
Here's the plot kiddies. Sir James Bond (Niven) is summoned out of retirement to stop the killing of agents whose identities have been sold out. This "Bond" is the typical English Gentleman who shuns the excesses that we all know and love Fleming's James Bond for. His plan is to recruit spies and give them all the name James Bond and number 007 (this is where things get confusing and not very funny). Sellers plays a card pro who is recruited (yes they named him James Bond) to play against Le Chiffre (Welles) and bankrupt him thus exposing his embezzlement from SMERSH. Sellers is aided by Vesper Lynd (Andress). Also, there's Woody Allen (Jimmy Bond, Niven's nephew) who provides some yuks. There are also quite a few cameos from big name stars (John Huston, George Raft, William Holden, to name a few).
The big joke in this thing (everyone being James Bond) really fell short of the funny mark. As a matter of fact, all the jokes land short of humor. I think this was the main failure of this movie. All in all it had a lot of potential, but just wasn't executed well.
To begin with, the idea of making a James Bond spoof in the late Sixties was not a bad one. Secondly, they had a great cast (David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, etc.). However, this movie just didn't come together. Maybe it is because the director's chair was the proverbial revolving door. Maybe it was because Sellers wanted to play the straight man and wasn't his zany self. Or maybe it is because the jokes were the usual schlock that one would expect from a low budget vaudeville comedy act. I think it was all of the above.
Here's the plot kiddies. Sir James Bond (Niven) is summoned out of retirement to stop the killing of agents whose identities have been sold out. This "Bond" is the typical English Gentleman who shuns the excesses that we all know and love Fleming's James Bond for. His plan is to recruit spies and give them all the name James Bond and number 007 (this is where things get confusing and not very funny). Sellers plays a card pro who is recruited (yes they named him James Bond) to play against Le Chiffre (Welles) and bankrupt him thus exposing his embezzlement from SMERSH. Sellers is aided by Vesper Lynd (Andress). Also, there's Woody Allen (Jimmy Bond, Niven's nephew) who provides some yuks. There are also quite a few cameos from big name stars (John Huston, George Raft, William Holden, to name a few).
The big joke in this thing (everyone being James Bond) really fell short of the funny mark. As a matter of fact, all the jokes land short of humor. I think this was the main failure of this movie. All in all it had a lot of potential, but just wasn't executed well.