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| This movie marks a departure from the official series of James Bond films. Producer Charles K. Feldman had bought the rights to Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, years before Broccoli and Saltzman bought the rights to all the other novels and kicked off the 007 movie franchise with Dr. No. He didn't make anything, though, so was understandably kicking himself when it became the phenomenon that it did. He decided to make the movie, but was turned down by Sean Connery, to whom he offered the lead role. |
| CASINO ROYALE 1967 Directors: Joe McGrath, Robert Parrish, John Huston, Val Guest, Ken Hughes & Richard Talmadge Producer: Charles K. Feldman Screenplay: Wolf Mancowicz, John Law & Michael Sayers |
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| He therefore insanely decided to make a spoof Bond movie which he hoped would ruin the franchise. The result is Casino Royale. With some seven directors working on the movie, at one point three at the same time, in different studios, with no contact with each other. Combined with a lot of different writers and the ostensible star of the movie disappearing, this makes for a quite a disjointed, not to mention surreal, outing for 007. David Niven plays Sir James Bond, formerly the world's greatest secret agent, now retired. The "sexual acrobat who leaves a t-trail of beautiful d-dead women like blown roses behind him" (in the Broccoli/Saltzman Bond films) is explained away as being a replacement to keep the legend alive, given the name James Bond and the number 007. This Bond is quite different to the other, believing in discipline and abstinance, rather than "Aston M-Martins, complete with lethal accessories." The British Secret Service, CIA and KGB unite to persuade Bond out of retirement, to find out why their agents are being killed. When he refuses M has his house blown up, but dies in the explosion. Bond becomes the new M, and re-designates all agents James Bond, 007 to confuse the enemy. It turns out SMERSH is behind the plot, although in the Ian Fleming novels SMERSH was a Russian intelligence agency, it is here used basically like SPECTRE. Baccarat expert Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) is recruited as a James Bond, trained by Vesper Lynd (Dr. No's ultimate Bond beauty Honey Rider) to play against Le Chiffre (Orson Welles), a SMERSH agent. The head of SMERSH, Dr. Noah, is revealed to be Jimmy Bond (Woody Allen), Bond's nephew. His plans involve causing devastation by (a) unleashing 1000 robotic 007 clones, (b) releasing a bacillus that will render all women beautiful and kill all men over four foot six inches, (c) killing all world leaders and replacing them with yet more robotic clones. and (d) using a pill he has developed that turns people into atomic bombs. He ends up taking one himself, and blows up, killing everyone, and destroying Casino Royale. Lots of other stuff happens, but you really have to see it to believe it. Not only is this not like any other Bond movie, it's not like any other movie. |
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