Casino Royale is too much for one James Bond.

Sir James Bond (David Niven) is persuaded to come out of retirement to destroy the criminal organization SMERSH; as the new M, he gives every agent the name “James Bond” to confuse his enemies. A tremendous amount of money and talent lay behind this spoof of 007 flicks, which came at the right time, but turned out to be a stupendous waste of time. We’re thrown from one gargantuan, unfunny scene to the next and nothing holds the story together. Sole virtue: the music.

1967-Britain. 130 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by John Huston, Ken Hughes, Robert Parrish, Joe McGrath, Val Guest. Music: Burt Bacharach. Song: “The Look of Love” (Burt Bacharach, Hal David). Cast: Peter Sellers (Evelyn Tremble), Ursula Andress (Vesper Lynd), David Niven (Sir James Bond), Orson Welles, Joanna Pettet, Woody Allen… Deborah Kerr, William Holden, Charles Boyer, John Huston, George Raft, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacqueline Bisset. Cameo: Peter O’Toole.

Trivia: Additional material for the script was added by Allen, Ben Hecht, Joseph Heller, Terry Southern, Billy Wilder and Sellers. The film borrows ingredients from Ian Fleming’s novel; basically it only has a few character names and the card game in common with Casino Royale (2006).

Quote: “I have a very low threshold of death.” (Allen facing a firing squad)

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Published 2009-01-10 10:58