at the time this movie was released in Brazil, it was a medium musical comedy, success of public, with known comedian like Costinha and the beautiful actress Annik Malvil.The purpose of the movie was to make the public laugh and it was reached. Nothing intellectual but funny.
3 Reviews
Special agent James 007 (1/2) in Rio de Janeiro
guisreis16 February 2021
This film is a chanchada (light-hearted Brazilian comedies with innocent and slapstick gags and often samba musical scenes) and it is a 007 spoof. As a satire of James Bond, it works quite well: his lack of stealth, his flirting skills, an evil enemy organization called by an acronym, a good-hearted Bong girl and an evil treacherous one, all the chases on cars and boats... The best gag about the British agent was the scene in which Larry Carr (James, agent 007 1/2), acompanied by a beautiful woman, asks in a bar: "A martini for her and a glass of milk for me... both very dry." His sidekick for accident, comedian Costinha, also has very funny moments and good jokes on the spying that everybody notices. It is nice to see other actors such as AlÁtila Iório (the bad guy of many films from the 60's and 70's and a star in the classic Barren lives) and Lúcio Mauro (he had no change as decades advanced). A funny innovation in the film is the way it is protrayed as a meta-movie: chaotic and legendary TV hoster Chacrinha appears almost directing the movie and its edition, commanding it to be remade many times. Not all those Chacrinha moments are funny, I shall admit, but the general concept is nice. What deffinitively did not work was the nonsense insertions of carnival music segments. It was a recurrent trait in chanchadas, but it had no connection to the story. Another problem was the edition. Sometimes it was part of the joke of Chacrinha ordering it to be changed, but in other moments it was just a weird unprofessional mistake. For example, from minute 50' to minute 60', the film became too chaotic and confusing due serious edition problems: only the lack of complexity of the story made it possible for spectator to follow it despite the fragmented sequence. One more last element may be highlighted: there are some situations which emulate "cartoon physics", and it may lead to some laughs: Jojóca dealing with the heavy box was probably the most clear example. To resume, the film is not amazing but it has good moments and some smart spoof gags for those who watched Bond movies.
A Turn-Your-Brain-Off 007 Knockoff Comedy
andreipisces3 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A little film with not much to offer, but it is fun. There are some funny parts, yes, but it is just a knockoff of 007, made by brazilian comedy idols Chacrinha and Costinha, surprisingly, in 1966, still in the Connery-Era of the Bond films.
The plot is very, very basic: Agent 007 1/2 is sent to Rio de Janeiro to look for the plans of an atomic plane. But the agent who would help him was murdered, and Zé Cutia (Costinha), a random civilian, unintentionally takes his place. Afterwards, another spy group will try to steal the plans, even going to the lenghts of mind controlling Zé Cutia. It has not much to offer, so the watcher can basically turn its brain off. But do look out for Chacrinha breaking the 4th wall quite a lot, randomly interrupting the projection to ask for a Samba or Bossa Nova song, or saying the projection is wrong. The funniest parts of this movie are the two dudes who carry a box (that will have the professor with the plans) around. One of them, Jojoca, has some very decent acting by José Santa Cruz.
The soundtrack, if not saved by the numerous musical moments by Chacrinha, is repetitive, the theme song playing everywhere.
In general, it's not that good of a movie. Ir can't fully redeem itself with some funny moments and musical numbers. It pretty much summarizes the 60s era of brazilian comedy cinema, with only very rare exceptions, to be mentioned ahead. In that point in time, the productions in brazil were almost amateur-ish, perhaps with the exception of Amácio Mazzaropi, who was truly ahead of his time.
It is worth the watch, yes, but only if you're willing to have a bit of fun. It's not worth looking for anything deep.
The plot is very, very basic: Agent 007 1/2 is sent to Rio de Janeiro to look for the plans of an atomic plane. But the agent who would help him was murdered, and Zé Cutia (Costinha), a random civilian, unintentionally takes his place. Afterwards, another spy group will try to steal the plans, even going to the lenghts of mind controlling Zé Cutia. It has not much to offer, so the watcher can basically turn its brain off. But do look out for Chacrinha breaking the 4th wall quite a lot, randomly interrupting the projection to ask for a Samba or Bossa Nova song, or saying the projection is wrong. The funniest parts of this movie are the two dudes who carry a box (that will have the professor with the plans) around. One of them, Jojoca, has some very decent acting by José Santa Cruz.
The soundtrack, if not saved by the numerous musical moments by Chacrinha, is repetitive, the theme song playing everywhere.
In general, it's not that good of a movie. Ir can't fully redeem itself with some funny moments and musical numbers. It pretty much summarizes the 60s era of brazilian comedy cinema, with only very rare exceptions, to be mentioned ahead. In that point in time, the productions in brazil were almost amateur-ish, perhaps with the exception of Amácio Mazzaropi, who was truly ahead of his time.
It is worth the watch, yes, but only if you're willing to have a bit of fun. It's not worth looking for anything deep.
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