The Lucid Nightmare: i SPY EUROSPY: OK Connery

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

i SPY EUROSPY: OK Connery

OK Connery (Operation Kid Brother)
Director: Alberto De Martino
Year 1967

If you thought Sean Connery was the only Connery in the family that kicked all kinds of ass, then you my friend would be dead wrong. Enter Neil Connery, the jack of all trades. The guy is a world renowned plastic surgeon, a professional archer, an expert hypnotist and an ace lip-reader. Well at least in the film, OK Connery, in which he stars as the normal everyday citizen turned secret agent, Dr. Neil Connery. If any of this sounds enjoyable to you, then OK Connery is right up your alley.

The overall story of OK Connery, also known as Operation Kid Brother, is that there is an evil organization called Thanatos who has created a device that can render any mechanical metal devices, most importantly guns, useless. This would be the perfect assignment for the world's most experienced secret agent, but unfortunately he isn't available. What to do, what to do? Well the answer is easy. Get his younger brother to do it. Duh!

Dr. Neil Connery, played by who else, Neil Connery, is recruited into saving the world from the evil schemes of the Thanatos organization. Armed with expert knowledge and the genetic DNA of his super agent brother, Neil proves that Operation Kid Brother is too much for one mother. What a tag line!

When first watching this flick, I wasn't too sure whether Neil had the chops to pull off this classic role, but boy was I wrong. The guy has charisma. Not as much as his legendary older brother Sean, but close enough. He carries himself with an effortless poise and confident swagger, that you just can't help believe that he can do all the things his more experienced brother can and possibly more. I really was surprised how well he blended into the role and my only regret is that he didn't go on to have a more illustrious career for himself in cinema. Oh well, I'll take what I can get.

Neil isn't the only one strutting his stuff and making this film so much damn fun to watch. We also have some veteran actors of the Eurospy circle to help Neil out in giving the film some much needed street cred. First we have the lovely Daniela Bianchi, who is arguably one of the key female spokespersons for this genre. She has been in so many memorable spy efforts that it's hard to keep count. From her standout roles in From Russia With Love, Code Name: Tiger, Slalom, Requiem for a Secret Agent, and my personal favorite, Special Mission Lady Chaplin, Daniela is anything but a slouch in the cinematic espionage world. In OK Connery, Daniela plays the role of Maya Rafis, an assassin with a heart of gold, who eventually falls to the charms of Mr. Connery. She's had quite a career for herself, though terribly short, having charmed the pants, literally, off of two Connery brothers. Way to go Daniela!

On the flip side of that we have the wonderfully evil Adolfo Celi, who plays the role of Mr. Thai, an ambitious man in the ranks of the Thanatos organization. Celi is a familiar face to those of you out there that have seen your fair share of Eurospy flicks. He's been in a number of classic spy films like That Man From Rio, Slalom (alongside Daniela Bianchi), Thunderball, and Danger: Diabolik, just to name a few. He plays the usual sneaky character in this film, constantly trying to best Neil at every turn, playing a cat and mouse kind of game with Connery while trying to keep his allegiance to Thanatos a secret.

There's also some more friendly and familiar faces for those of you out there that love the Bond universe. Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell give us another dose of Bond recognition as they play fairly similar characters compared to their official James Bond roles. Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny is one of my favorite reoccurring Bond characters and her role in OK Connery is something of a treat. In this film she plays the character of.... wait for it.... Miss Maxwell. I guess they didn't really feel the need to stray very far from the original actor's and actress' names in this flick, but needless to say, Maxwell gets to see far much more action then her Moneypenny counterpart has ever seen in her entire go at the role. The Maxwell in OK Connery gets to fire an automatic machine-gun into a crowd of bad guys like some sort of badass out of the Expendables movies. Now that's one hell of an idea!

Now the film has the memorable characters and familiar faces, but does it have that special something that makes these Eurospy films so damn enjoyable? You bet your ass it does! Neil Connery has the charm and wit to match any Ken Clark, John Gavin, Kerwin Mathews, Ray Danton, or even Sean Connery for that matter. Those clever lines of dialogue that have come to be a staple of the genre are here in all their ridiculous glory. "Do you ever walk upright like other people?", is said by Neil after repeatedly coming into contact with a young girl who is always clamoring on all fours, looking for something. It's a smart ass remark that gets me every time, and it showcases perfectly the expert timing and delivery that Connery was capable of. Aside from the charm and wit of Connery, the film is just a whole hell of a lot of fun, proving that talent runs in the family and that you don't need an A-lister to have a rip roaring Eurospy filled fun time.

OK Connery was an unexpected treat, one that took me for a loop in bringing about a highly entertaining Eurospy flick. Neil Connery really made a believer out of me and that is quite a feat, seeing that he was up against one of the greatest actors to ever take on the James Bond character. Being his younger brother, the cards were stacked against him, leaving people to assume that he just got the role because of his looks and relation. Thankfully that wasn't the case because Neil really made this movie his own, creating a secret agent that is both physically and mentally up to the task of bringing the bad guys down.

His agent was not solely relying on his brawn, but his intellect in order to get him out of sticky situations. The entire fact that the main villain's evil scheme was to render guns useless, giving Connery the opportunity to showcase his characters archery skills in the final climactic battle, was a sight to see and gave the film a unique flavor that separates itself from the rest of the Eurospy pack. Plain and simple this film is a great and entertaining fun ride and one that simply......