BONUS – A
Few Words About Casino Royale (1967)
By Brandon
Peters
I was
originally just going to cruise on by this film when doing this
retrospective. It’s not a part of the
official 007 canon. I had only seen it
once (sophomore year of college) and I didn’t like it. However, after the positive response this
series has received, I decided to return to Casino
Royale (1967) for a viewing and talk a small bit about it as an
appreciation bonus. I also thought,
maybe I was too young the first time I saw it.
Maybe I was in bad company that rendered it unenjoyable. Maybe I’ll appreciate it more being in the
thick of the 007 films this was to parody.
Casino Royale is a staggering 2 hours
and 11 minutes long! That’s way way way
too long for a comedy (this film claims it’s a satire. That’s fine and dandy but there’s a lot here
played for slapstick yucks). The film
truly doesn’t get its start until around the 35 minute mark. All that came before is incredibly pointless
and not even remotely engaging. And to
be honest, a lot of scenes/sections of the film are this way. The look and feel of this movie feels like
the Disney live action family films of this era. Nothing at all looks or feels like they are
parodying the Eon Bond films. It’s more
like the people who made it never saw a Bond film but had heard about some of
them and then attempted to parody it (kinda like the current writing staff of
SNL).
Casino Royale is an easy skip. If you haven’t seen it, don’t bother. The film barely resembles the book and only
bears the name James Bond, it doesn’t do it any favors. The only truly funny part is Woody Allen’s
introduction scene (and then he’s not seen again until the end of the film
where he appears completely uninterested).
If you’re still curious, I’m going to reiterate that this is a PARODY
FILM THAT IS 2 HOURS & 11 MINUTES LONG.
Imagine Scary Movie, Meet the Spartans or any one of those
being that long. I recommend you watch Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. I’m never going to revisit this film
again. This viewing sealed it.
1 comment:
Personally, I quite enjoy this film. Yes, it's a complete dog's breakfast, a surreal example of how not to make a movie, one which truly doesn't know what it is. However, Niven is charming, and the farce of the production history adds to the enjoyment. Certainly not for everyone though.
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