Operation Kid Brother (1967)

During the height of the original James Bond craze in the 60's, there were a lot of rip-off films produced. High profile celebs like Dean Martin and James Coburn starred in light hearted Bond rip-off series. Existing characters like Bulldog Drummond and Modesty Blaise were co- opted into films that were more like Bond films. Even Bond material not owned by the folks behind the series got adapted into the terrible film "Casino Royale". Still ... trust the Italians to produce the most blatant rip-off of them all. This film stars a ton of actors from the Bond series ... Lois Maxwell, Bernard Lee, Anthony Dawson, Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi ... and throws in Sean Connery's young brother Neil to play the younger brother of "England's greatest spy" who's called into action when his brother is not available. The film's not exactly good ... in fact, I don't think the plot ultimately makes much sense at all ... but with all these actors from the series and surprisingly decent production values, it's nowhere near as bad as you'd expect. The big problem with the film is the giant gaping charisma hole that is Neil Connery. It's no surprise that only one brother became a star.

With a title that alludes to the short-lived 1965 Burl Ives sitcom O.K. CRACKERBY, I wasn't sure what to expect from O.K. CONNERY. It turned out to be a very good Eurospy flick that stands as deuterocanonical Bond. And OK CONNERY is not a spoof, as many like to dismiss it. It is played straight first frame to virtually last, closing on a lighthearted note similar to those in most of the official series films.Neil Connery was a good actor--not great--but capable of holding his own alongside screen veterans. Yeah, he wasn't polished and smooth like Sean, but for what little acting experience he had I thought he did a fine job. I will admit that if the Bond connection depended solely on him it would have been tenuous. But the producers scored a coup in landing both Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell. Besides lending credibility, they each were able to spread their wings more than in the official films, especially trigger-happy Miss Moneypenney! Their appearances throughout the film alone made it worth watching, then add to the mix Bond film veterans like Danielle Bianchi, Adolfo Celli, and Anthony Dawson and the movie becomes a treat for any Bond film fan.The plot is from the old school super-spy playbook--world domination, secret organizations with a stylized skull as its symbol, death to those who fail, bizarre plot points (like having blind Arabs weaving radioactive rugs!)and clever gadgets (such as the machine guns descending from the ceiling). A cute line that made me smile was Bianchi's telling Connery he reads too many Fleming novels after he tells her of Celli's plot. I also liked Cunningham/M's references to the Connery's brother and how he was at work on another component of this same case.I also liked the all-girl crew on the yacht--cute without ever crossing over into luridly sexy. The sex is cranked down low in OK CONNERY, leading me to think it was targeted to kids. And on that subject, as beautiful as Danielle Bianchi is, I was most wowed by Agata Flori as Mildred. I fell in love with her during the opening titles and even found her irresistibly enchanting while wearing Phyllis Diller's chapeau at the Malaga airport."I'm a surgeon, not a spy!" cries Connery in a parallel to Bones McCoy's impotent protestations in another venue. It's interesting to note that Neil Connery the actor and the character were both recruited into a position outside their usual area of expertise, and both did O.K., as M himself declares at the end. And in what appears prescient now, the rousing title song is sung by Khristy over a shot of a ship at sea, foreshadowing by seven years Lulu singing a rousing title song over a similar shot at the close of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. That Khristy song--composed by Morricone?!--was catchy and reminded me of the theme to another great Eurospy flick--MODESTY BLAISE.For this Bond fan, O.K. CONNERY is a welcome addition to the second-tier canon which boasts the 1967 CASINO ROYALE, Roger Moore's proto-Bond movie CROSSPLOT, and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. O.K. CONNERY is O.K. by me!

So 007 has a brother, who is a Doctor, that some how gets talked into taking on a super badguy organization called Thanatos. He also happens to know Judo and knows techniques to induce the deepest states of trance possible (and that most men would kill to know). This organization plans to steal "Atomic Nucleus'" by woman poisoning MP's, and then raiding a highly secured facility dressed as...cats? I admit I watched the MST3K version of this, but it probably saved me from turning if off. That being said, there wasn't much about this movie that made sense from the word go.I found and watched this during a bout of insomnia one evening. I slept like a baby afterwards.

It's cheesy good fun in this blissfully goofy Italian romp 'starring' the amazingly untalented younger brother of Sean Connery, Neil. I love the fact that in this spy film they refer to his brother as the greatest agent of Britain, but they're referring to Sean Connery, not James Bond! That's because they couldn't get the rights to use the Bond name in the film, although Sean seems to have been amenable to his own name used. Probably thought it was a good joke.Neil's a plastic surgeon, of all things, who gets drawn into a spy caper because of his work with hypnosis. One of his patients apparently knows too much, and so is kidnapped by the (almost exclusively female) agents of an organization called THANATOS. Also starring in this amusing pastiche is the fleshy guy who played in Diabolik as the crime lord who utters the memorable words:"Is that Stud, coming?" while on his boat. he plays another fleshy crime lord in this one, and the most unappealing part of this film is watching the beautiful young women who surround him on his yacht(a yacht again? What's with this guy!) massage him and wait in him hand and foot.The theme song is a hoot, proving once again that Morricone is the King of Corny. The addled plot line never quite comes up to scratch, but that's o.k. The real reason for the movie is displayed about three quarters of the way through, when the stunning boat babes get into a wrestling match/fight with the male sailors on board the yacht. The movie just goes to show you that a movie is all about the details-which this one manages to get all wrong, but in such a way as to leave you gasping with laughter. Thank God for cheap Italian films, which have provided us with so much mirth over the years. Oh, and Clint Eastwood, of course.