Operation Kid Brother (1967)

Such a frustrating disappointment

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

In a recent article, TV critic Jamie Weinman noted that 1967 was the year that James Bond stopped being cool. The Bond film that year YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE was less successful than predecessors, and that was also the year that Italian filmmakers stopped cranking out spy films and started cranking out westerns . . .Before they quit, though, they gave us just about the goofiest and most enjoyable Bond rip-off ever made-- OPERATION KID BROTHER, which is also know as OPERATION DOUBLE 007 and OK CONNERY, all of the titles pointing wildly to the star of the film as saying "He's actually SEAN'S BROTHER!!" At any rate, Sean's brother Neil Connery plays Neil Connery, a plastic surgeon/hypnotist/archer/lip-reader/karate-fighter . . . No doubt he can also unblock drains and make a perfect angel-food cake, but nobody in the movie asks him to . . . At any rate, Dr. Connery is plastic-surgeon-ing/hypnotizing/lip reading for a gathering of medical experts on the Riviera when his patient is kidnapped, first by Allied Counter-Intelligence, then by bad guys from the criminal gang Thanatos (no doubt formed by people who were fired from SPECTRE during one of Blofeld's efficiency drives). Apparently, the young lady knows something she doesn't know she knows. and after being kidnapped, she gets tortured by a short lesbian and shot to death by a hot-cha-cha Italian lady. There's also a lady spy who dresses at various times like Barney Rubble, Phyllis Diller, and a can-can dancer. She's played by Daniela Bianchi, who co-starred with The Other Connery in FROM Russia WITH LOVE and manages to remained poised and amused throughout. Her boss is played Adolfo Celi, who was in THUNDERBALL, which also starred The Other Connery, although like Ms. Bianchi, he pretends to find Neil terribly impressive. Almost with a straight face.One of the great things about this movie is the presence of Lois Maxwell, who played Miss Moneypenny for years in the Bond films, and was always a highlight. She is here as well, and for once, she gets out in the field and proves she can kick ass as well as any plastic surgeon/hypnotist/lip-reader/archer. And look cool while doing it. As for Bernard Lee, he's along for the ride as well. Smiling broadly and apparently a bit soused. What the heck. The movie can survive it . . .

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.

MASTER PLAN: Operation Blackmail - controlling the world's gold reserves. A very calculated attempt to copy & make money off the James Bond craze of the sixties, this comes off as a silly joke, maybe intentionally. It's similar to "Licensed to Kill," the 'Charles Vine' Bond cheap copy, but less creative. The plot can be deduced from an alternate title, "Operation Double 007" - that's not a typo - the spy agency of the Bond world requests the services of 007's brother; hence, this is about 007's double (they never completely finish saying '007' out loud, always stopping short of voicing the '7' - ha). 007's brother is played by Sean Connery's real life brother, Neil, with a goatee and a talent for hypnotism. This starts off badly, with Neil Connery, playing a famous genius plastic surgeon, explaining his advanced techniques and how he combines them with Tibetan mind control - it's pathetic drivel - and then some mêlée breaks out. It's groan-inducing. But, the main attraction is for film buffs and Bond fans making all the connections with the real Bond films.All the main actors (besides N.Connery, whose connection to Bond is already explained) in this one are from one or more James Bond movies. Celi, as the main villain, played a similar role in "Thunderball" (Celi, who looks like an overweight banker, was always playing villains or gangsters in the sixties). Bianchi, the femme fatale, was in "From Russia With Love." Dawson was in "Dr.No." Of course, Bernard Lee (aka M) and Lois Maxwell (aka Ms.Moneypenny) were from most of the Bond films of the sixties and seventies. They duplicate their roles from those here, though Maxwell gets a chance to run around shooting a gun, something she never had a chance to do with her 'receptionist' role in the Bonders. The villains seem to be SPECTRE, though they're referred to by another name, Thanatos, who plan to use some kind of magnetic waves to imbalance the world. The other strange and amusing aspect is that some of the main characters are referred to by their real names (Dr.Connery, Ms. Maxwell, etc.) rather than as Mr.Bond - get it? It's goofy, somewhat dull and a curiosity. Hero:3 Villains:3 Femme Fatales:4 Henchmen:2 Fights:3 Stunts/Chases:3 Gadgets:3 Auto:3 Locations:4 Pace:2 overall:3

I checked this out through MST3K (as most have already pointed out). To tell the truth, I was pretty excited... being a huge Bond fan, and loving the small Bond roles like in OHMSS, but this was worse than B-Film "comedy". Allow me to lay out the plot of this fiasco:Sneaking dealings arise when Largo/Diabolico surfaces and kidnaps a patient of Dr. Connery. Apparently, Bond's brother (as mentioned by M) is a plastic surgeon with the special ability to hypnotize unsuspecting people Jedi style (within 2-3sec). For some ungodly reason, I suppose the real Bond was busy with more important things (I'd like to think getting plastered on a remote island). So, the MOD hires his brother to discover what's going on.Before you know it, Dr. Connery is taking out electric fence perimeters with a bow and arrow, showgirls in the middle of nowhere manage to take out an army convoy, and blind Arabs are weaving radioactive carpets. One may wonder where this will lead, well, Largo manages to unleash an EMP (they just called it a magnet) on a small mountain town in the Alps. At this point, I'm sure nobody would care, but no, a squad of horsemen with bows and arrows somehow appear and storm the enemy base.In the end, the day is saved by the dud, and he settles in by somehow managing to get a whole ship of women under his charm (more mind tricks I'm sure cause the desperate brother couldn't con his right hand into charm).Q, or someone pretending to be him, never makes an appearance, but you can expect three fine spy gadgets in this film: a bow with a spool, a knife that shoots its blade(used by a female villain, and also may I add a useless weapon compared to say... a gun), and a belt that becomes stiff for throwing as a javelin *rolls eyes*.Any Bond fan should vier away from ever being disgusted by this movie.