Operation Kid Brother (1967)

The civilian brother of Britain's best secret agent must use his skills in plastic surgery, hypnotism and lip-reading to prevent a crime syndicate from using a magnetic wave generator in their bid for world domination.

Director:

Alberto De Martino

Writers:

Paolo Levi (story), Paolo Levi (screenplay)

Stars:

Neil Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Neil Connery	...	Dr. Neil Connery
Daniela Bianchi	...	Maya Rafis
Adolfo Celi	...	Mr. Thai - 'Beta'
Agata Flori	...	Mildred
Bernard Lee	...	Commander Cunningham
Anthony Dawson	...	Alpha
Lois Maxwell	...	Max
Yee-Wah Yang	...	Yachuko (as Yachuco Yama)
Franco Giacobini	...	Juan
Ana María Noé	...	Lotte Krayendorf
Guido Lollobrigida	...	Kurt
Francesco Tensi	...	Auctioneer
Margherita Horowitz	...	(credit only)
Enzo Consoli	...	Sitting Man at Lecture (as Vincenzo Consoli)
Mirella Pamphili	...	(as Mirella Pompili)

Storyline

The evil crime syndicate Thanatos is bent on taking over the world, using a magnetic wave generator that will cause all metal-based machinery to grind to a halt. However, the well-known British secret agent normally assigned to such tasks isn't available, so they engage his civilian brother, Neil, to help. Neil, played by Neil Connery, is a world-class plastic surgeon, hypnotist, and lip-reader, which turn out to be precisely the skills required for thwarting Thanatos.

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Plot Keywords:

eurospy | james bond spoof | parody | character name in title | psychotronic film | 

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Taglines:

OPERATION KID BROTHER is Too Much for One Mother!

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The soundtrack was composed by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, and was the first time the 2 composers had worked together.

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Goofs

Dr Connery is referred to repeatedly as Scottish, however his character is voiced (or rather dubbed) with an American accent.

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Quotes

Dr. Neil Connery: It's going to blow up soon. Maybe even tomorrow. With you on board.
Maya: You read too many novels by Fleming.

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Crazy Credits

The "Operation Double 007" print ends with the credit: "Released through United Artists." UA was the company that released the James Bond films.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Ninja Champion (2014)

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Soundtracks

Se chiami amore
Lyrics by Audrey Nohra
Music by Bruno Nicolai and Ennio Morricone
Sung by Maria Cristina Brancucci

User Reviews

Entertaining Euro-spy thriller with James Bond's little brother

If you're a fan of the Euro-spy movies made in the 60s, how can you not just love Operation Double 007? Using the success of James Bond as a model, those crazy Italians certainly made some crazy spy movies. This one stars Sean Connery's brother, Neil Connery (who plays a character cleverly named Neil Connery) as a plastic surgeon / hypnotist / lip reader. With tongue firmly in cheek, we also learn that Neil is the brother of a famous spy and, as his brother is unavailable, the government wants Neil to stand in and give them a hand. Before you can say Dr. No, Neil's up to his neck in beautiful women, a super-villain with a nuclear device, the obligatory henchmen, archers on horse back, gun fights, car chases, blind Arab rug-weavers, can-can dancers, explosions, underground lairs, and a Japanese woman kidnapped by the world's most vicious nun/nurse. Don't worry, it all makes sense in the end (well, sort of anyway). Besides, if there's a loose end here or there, who cares when you're having this much fun.

Joining Connery in the cast is a plethora of Bond vets including Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi, Bernard Lee, and Lois Maxwell. It's a real treat to see them all in a different setting. In particular, it's great to see Lois Maxwell out from behind that desk she always sat at in the Bond movies. Here, she's not only gets out in the field, but she gets the chance to mow down baddies with a machine gun as well. Celi, always the bad guy in a movie like this, looks like he's having the time of his life. There's at least one scene where it's not hard to notice a small smile come to his face and you've got to wonder how close he came to losing it. But as much as I enjoyed both of these fine actors, I was particularly impressed with the work of Daniela Bianchi from From Russia with Love fame. In Operation Double 007, she gets to play both the good and bad girl, wear some over-the-top outfits, and look generally fabulous. It's a shame she didn't go on to do more after this movie. She had a definite screen presence about her.

There are some out there who want to label Operation Double 007 a "James Bond rip-off". It's not a rip-off, it's a parody - and a good one at that. Operation Double 007 was released the same year as the more famous Bond parody Casino Royale. The big difference is that Casino Royale is one big, bloated mess of a movie that's rarely funny. Operation Double 007, on the other hand, is a blast. In fact, and this may be blasphemous to some, but it's more fun than about half of the Bond movies. It's too bad it's never had a proper R1 DVD release so that more people might discover this movie. The only way I've seen the movie is courtesy of a DVD-R of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode on which it appeared. It's a great episode, but I would love to see a good release without the bots and their comments.

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

20 April 1967 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Operation Kid Brother

Filming Locations:

Tétouan, Morocco

Company Credits

Production Co:

Produzione D.S. (Dario Sabatello)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1