Casino Royale ’67
Sometimes in the midst of what can best be called a VERY troubled production, something truly amazing can happen. The producers can wind up switching gears in midstream, rewrite the entire movie to have an entirely different kind of plot while still retaining all footage already shot, and manage through sheer lack of modesty in sparing no expense and some gifted craftsmanship to wind up creating something that is utterly genius and brilliant, basically topping everything else in the genre of surreal, 60s psychedelic comedy cinema for all time and even serving as an influence on a later generation of comedy stars, most notably Mike Myers and his Austin Powers franchise, of which this served as a virtual reference guide for his wild spoof of the genre that this film epitomized (confirmed by the fact that Austin’s own muse, Burt Bacharach, composed all of the music for this film). With the “official” James Bond series in full swing under the watchful eye of Albert Broccoli, Producer Charles K. Feldman, having solely in his own hands the rights to the first Ian Fleming Bond novel that which Broccoli was unable to obtain, decided to embark on his OWN Bond movie with this as the source novel, but alas found himself unable to meet Sean Connery’s salary demands. Figuring it could never work as a straight up Bond movie without the man himself, Feldman decided instead to make it into a spoof of the actual Bond films and have it rewritten to be a comedy, only using the original story as a loose framework for what he had conceived. But there were worse problems to come, as star Peter Sellers proved to be extremely difficult to deal with during filming, and according to whom you talk to, either quit or was fired outright and not allowed to return to the set despite having not shot several of his remaining scenes. That’s when something amazing happened: Feldman chose to retain all of the footage already shot with Sellers, but now would have it be incorporated in a different way than was intended into the film, while rewriting and reimagining the entire premise and direction of the film and pouring as much money as possible into the whole enterprise, utilizing the services of at least 5 directors (including the legendary John Huston) and at least 10 writers (including true literary heavyweights like Terry Southern and Ben Hecht) and an overall cast of such astonishing quality as to make one’s head spin, along with the decision to make the whole affair an amazing exercise in sheer unbridled insanity and anarchy, whose anything goes approach and seemingly random gags from out of nowhere managed to predate both Mel Brooks and the ZAZ / Airplane style of movie comedy! But what the movie also has that is truly all its own is the ability to suddenly shift gears at a moment’s notice in tone and even comedic style while still somewhat maintaining a barely coherent but nonetheless hilarious storyline from start to finish, breaking the rules so consistently and still managing to get away with it in such an inspired way that it successfully comes across as a big budget, big studio, experiment in avant garde cinema. And on top of all that, the movie STILL managed to be a box office hit as well AND even scored an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song! The plot, such as it is, is brilliant in its accurate audacity: All secret agents and spies around the world are being systematically targeted and killed, up to and including the CURRENT James Bond 007 (indicating the idea that when any agent with the Bond name and number either retires or is killed, the credentials are simply handed over to the next top agent in line who meets the “qualifications”, and thus explains the change in actors we get every so often in the REAL Bond Franchise, made even more amazing by the fact that the first Bond, Connery, was still in control of the character at that point!), with the main weapon used to eliminate them always being that of a beautiful woman seducing and luring them to their doom (since all secret agents naturally seem to take it for granted that being sex crazed lust machines is simply supposed to be part of the job). Determined to put a stop to their dwindling numbers, all the top spymasters in the world which include M (John Huston) along with representatives from The CIA (William Holden), The KGB (Kurt Kasznar), and France (Charles Boyer), decide to seek out and bring out of retirement the one and only, true, ORIGINAL Sir James Bond himself (David Niven) and help put an end to the madness. But things are not quite what they seem, as even though Niven was 57 at the time of filming, from the information we receive on him, Bond would appear to be somewhere in the range of 90 something years old(!), and thus the most physically fit human being imaginable in that age bracket, plus he has taken a literal vow of chastity(!!) due to him feeling that “the only good spy is a pure spy” and obviously feels disgusted at what he feels is a trend of secret agents living a playboy type lifestyle and constantly letting their guard down as a result. Once put in charge of MI5, the original Sir James institutes anti-female resistence training for all agents overseen by Moneypenny (Barbara Bouchet, who remains the most gorgeous of all actresses to play that role), and in a move whose audacity is second to none, declares that ALL agents in the field (male or female) along with all personnel and trainees are now ALL to be known as Agent James Bond, 007, in order to “confuse the enemy”. However, some Bonds are more important than others based on their skill levels in specific areas, which means that some experts in certain fields would need to be recruited, which is where the Sellers portion of the movie (and the part that most closely resembles the book) comes into play, as Sir James sends Vesper Lynn (Ursula Andress, literally the first Bond Girl ever in Dr. No) to use her skills of persuasion to bring one Evelyn Tremble (Sellers) into the fold. A hapless nerd in almost every respect, Tremble’s one area of expertise is a foolproof way that he has personally designed at winning at the card game of baccarat (even writing a book on the subject), so who better to be given the Bond identity and have a showdown at the card table with none other than Le Chiffre himself (Orson Welles, turning the larger than life meter to eleven). Those who know the book (or the “official” Daniel Craig Bond film) probably know the result there, but there is more, much more, including the best character in the film, Sir James’ sexy as hell, beautiful, and completely carefree and free spirited (which makes her even sexier) daughter, Mata (Joanna Pettet, whose failure to become a major star and household name redefines scratching one’s head), recruited by her dad to infiltrate a Berlin “dance school” which doubles as a spy academy which Le Chiffre has connections to. We also get Daliah Lavi, Deborah Kerr, George Raft, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacqueline Bisset, Ronnie Corbett, Burt Kwouk, and the most random cameo in movie history from none other than Peter O’Toole, who was visiting the set that day, drunk as a skunk, and literally wandered in front of the camera without knowing that they were filming, engaged in some totally improvised banter with Sellers, and then wandered right off, with the bit actually being kept in the movie! And then finally, like a cherry on top is Woody Allen, as Sir James’ extremely neurotic nephew Jimmy Bond, who not only comes on at the end of the film and steals it outright with HIS brand of humor, but also helped to inspire Myers’ Dr. Evil with much of his physical schtick. On top of the hilarious, anything goes nature of the humor though, is actually a much darker undercurrent, that of a sinister outlook on the (soon to come) Sexual Revolution and empowerment of women, with the idea of women not only using their beauty to manipulate and destroy men in order to lead them to their doom, but also to destroy any vestige of the established tenets of society to the point of reducing it to helpless near slavery, best seen in Ursula Andress’s Vesper leading Sellers by the nose into certain death while making him believe all the while that he’s going to have the time of his life, but also in the way that the enemy throws one beautiful girl after another at Niven’s chaste Bond knowing that if they’re able to seduce HIM, then the war is pretty much won. Add to the fact that none of the characters’ very lives or existences can at all be considered sacred, and you have all the ingredients for an anything goes slapstick farce mixed with some truly dark details. Combine that with some truly brilliant, trippy psychedelic visuals and an ending that can only be described as pure chaos with no more rhyme or reason remaining in the story until the hilariously abrupt actual finish, an unexpected triumph hated by some but loved by many as the best vintage acid trip comedy ever made…
10/10