Name: Casino Royale (1987)
IMDb: link IMDb
Genres: Comedy Country of Origin: USA.
Cast: David Niven as James Bond, Peter Sellers as Evelyn Tremble, John Huston as M/General MacTarry, William Holden as Ransome (CIA), Charles Boyer as Le Grande (le deuxieme bureau), Kurt Kasznar as Smernov, Orson Welles as Le Chiffre, Ursula Andress as Vesper Lynd, Joanna Pettet as Mata Bond, Deborah Kerr as Agent Mimi, Jean-Paul Belmondo as le Legionnaire, Derek Nimmo as Hadley, Woody Allen as Jimmy Bond (the nephew), Barbara Bouchet as Moneypenney, Peter O'Toole as Corbett, Jacqueline Bisset as Miss Goodthighs.
Directed by: Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish, Richard Talmadge.
The initial tableaux: The 'real' James Bond is retired. Since the intelligence services of US-UK-FR-RU have been decimated, M from UK, Ransome from US, Legrand from FR, and Smernov from RU approach the retired Sir James Bond to help them solve the problem. This does not go as expected.
Delineation of conflicts: Agents seem to be exercising their reputations as sex maniacs (as Bond put it), and getting killed by groups of women. So, who is the boss behind it all? Bond starts training agents to resist women. He enlists Vesper Lynd to get Evelyn Tremble's help (in re baccarat) with the sinister card player (and SMERSH agent and hokie magician) Le Chiffre. Jimmy Bond is always in trouble, and seems to be yet another wild card in this potpourri of weirdness. Sir James recruits his daughter by Mata Hari, Mata Bond, to infiltrate the group of women spies that have been attacking western spies.
Resolution: There are lots of opposing processes at work here so one might expect lots of action, but this is a comedy, after all.
One line summary: Artsy and bizarre take on Fleming's book.
Statistics:
a. Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully shot. The art direction is between interesting and amazing, and at times sumptuous. The East German interior sets were quite something.
b. Sound: 8/10 Good, with some nostalgic pop tunes included.
c. Acting: 8/10 David Niven was fine. Joanna Pettet was a lot of fun to watch. Peter Sellers and Woody Allen were up to their usual standards. The many cameos were clever and funny.
d. Screenplay: 4/10 Bullshit, start to finish. Most of this script makes no sense at all. The film has next to nothing to do with Ian Fleming's book, and has continuity problems, such as abrupt and unexplained changes in venue. Also, the references to the books Dr No and Goldfinger were head scratchers. This is the work of five directors, and the resulting chaos is rather clear. The segment with Woody Allen was perhaps the worst. On the other hand, I had at least 10 good laughs for sight gags and witty lines.
Final rating: 7/10
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