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Casino Royale '67--Wow
I finally broke down and watched CR67 last night. Wow. What can I say? It left me shaking my head. I had heard it was pretty bad, but I wasn't expecting a train wreck quite like this.
CR67 is a totally incoherent mess that fails at every level. I understand the film is supposed to be an all-star, madcap romp in the vein of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, World, but that fact does not absolve it of the responsibility to maintain a certain level of plot integrity, and maybe more important, to be funny.
CR67 has none of that. Outside of a brief nod to Fleming's superb novel, the plot--such that it is--is a shambles. The poor sound quality renders much of the dialogue almost incomprehensible. And the gags, which come a mile a minute, almost without exception, fall flat. Never once did I laugh out loud. I smirked thrice, and one of those was actually a grimace from acid indigestion.
It also must be said that CR67 fails utterly as parody. For parody to succeed, it must attain passing resemblance to that which it is satirizing. CR67, unfortunately, bears no resemblance whatsoever to any Bond film that preceded it. The parody, therefore, is a complete misfire. And it is this fact that undermines the film's humor.
I can only imagine that Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman heaved a sigh of relief when they first watched CR67. Surely, when they saw the roster of talent that was being assembled for this Bond parody, they were a bit concerned that the film would puncture their golden egg to devastating effect. Alas, CR67 doesn't lay a glove on Bond. Indeed, ironically, CR67 makes the viewer appreciate just how good the Bond films really are. Save Die Another Day, CR67 is clearly worse than any Bond film that has ever been made. And it is almost as bad as DAD. Shocking. Positively shocking.
CR67 is a totally incoherent mess that fails at every level. I understand the film is supposed to be an all-star, madcap romp in the vein of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, World, but that fact does not absolve it of the responsibility to maintain a certain level of plot integrity, and maybe more important, to be funny.
CR67 has none of that. Outside of a brief nod to Fleming's superb novel, the plot--such that it is--is a shambles. The poor sound quality renders much of the dialogue almost incomprehensible. And the gags, which come a mile a minute, almost without exception, fall flat. Never once did I laugh out loud. I smirked thrice, and one of those was actually a grimace from acid indigestion.
It also must be said that CR67 fails utterly as parody. For parody to succeed, it must attain passing resemblance to that which it is satirizing. CR67, unfortunately, bears no resemblance whatsoever to any Bond film that preceded it. The parody, therefore, is a complete misfire. And it is this fact that undermines the film's humor.
I can only imagine that Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman heaved a sigh of relief when they first watched CR67. Surely, when they saw the roster of talent that was being assembled for this Bond parody, they were a bit concerned that the film would puncture their golden egg to devastating effect. Alas, CR67 doesn't lay a glove on Bond. Indeed, ironically, CR67 makes the viewer appreciate just how good the Bond films really are. Save Die Another Day, CR67 is clearly worse than any Bond film that has ever been made. And it is almost as bad as DAD. Shocking. Positively shocking.
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Comments
Great review! Please feel welcome to post this one or another one here too:
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/3466/casino-royale-1967#Item_1
I myself enjoy CR67 for what little it has to offer: the score, the cute ladies (Jacky Bisset!!) and some of the acting (like Peter Sellers'). But it is, overall, a travesty from start to finish. :-)
There are specific elements in the film I need to jump to. They make the experience worth the effort. But there are dirty puddles of mud in between, and I'm angry with the producers for soaking me in them time and again.
:)
Great to see the equally stunning Ursula Andress, though her performance is less polished than her previous Bond effort, and it's clearly evident why she was dubbed in DN.
Personally I don't like the song 'The look of love" though I concede it is considered a classic tune and I do have very poor musical judgement, I did however like the rather upbeat title theme and the accompanying title sequence (that IMO has just the vaguest hints of similarities to the themes later used in the titles of the official CR).
While possibly not a career best Woody Allen does have some funny lines, though sadly he's the only one who does in what is otherwise a comedy misfire on every level.
The use of 6 directors and 10 writers takes it's toll on the film and the structure falters between really bad sections and truly dreadful ones.
Why that variety show of Indians, cowboys and whatnot? It's a total Zardozian acid trip if you ask me. ;-)
(And one I hate for that matter.)
P.S. We miss you deeply over on BaB. Please come back.
Obviously you can buy the DVD.
I saw it once but chose FRWL and TSWML over it, hasnt it got Ursala Andress in it?
Yes, she stars as Vesper Lynd in it.
Yep. First time. And the last!
Frankly, I found the title track appallingly un-Bondian and the score insipid. The credits, moreover, looked more like something from a bad Monty Python movie than from a Bond. And that is an example of what I meant when I said that this film bears no resemblance to a Bond film. CR67 was incredibly amateurish and bespeaks a woeful incomprehension of Bond by its creators.
Yes, agreed. It's a bad Bond film, bad spoof film of a Bond film. Come to it, it's just a very, very, very bad film. It was shot by 5 different directors, "right between the eyes" as one clever critic rightly said. Dire.
I don't think that I agree on DAD being worse than CR'67, though. It's bad, but not that bad!
Me, I like it. I realize I'm in the minority, but I like it.
At first I scoffed when reading your theory of it looking like a blueprint for the Moore films, but a few other examples did spring to mind:
Dressing up in silly costumes (OP)
Q lab scenes with ridiculous gadgets included just for laughs (TSWLM, MR, FYEO and OP)
Bond interacting with a camp man for comedy value (MR)
PTS without any action (LALD)
Bond in jeopardy from a remote controlled vehicle (FYEO)
Return appearance of a main character Bond girl in a different role (OP)
Replica figures (TMWTGG)
Poison pen letter quips (OP)
Bond girl tricking Bond into unconsciousness (TSWLM)
Spaceships (MR)
Watches with TV screens misused to objectify women (OP)
Villains buying cultural landmarks (MR)
Berlin wall checkpoints (OP)
It would be an interesting (if ultimately futile) exercise to try and list all the similarities.
Quite a problem when one wants to make a parody.
I got a free DVD copy of it, and threw it away. THAT is how bad it is.
Yes, they couldn't pay you to watch it, quite frankly.
I still have to see the 1954 version, though it probably rates higher than the other two! I think you can watch it all on You Tube nowadays. The wonders of the Internet!
There are better copies out there but this contains the one minute ending missed off of most versions.
Hopefully a DVD release is out next year, it'll be 60 years old.
Oh thanks, @Samuel001. You can't say better than that.