The Nude Bomb

Come on now, sometimes a movie seeks to be nothing more than simple inane fun! as is the case with The Nude Bomb. Let's face it you know going in this movie is farce it's just an enjoyable way to spend time you wanted desperately to waste anyway.

A movie about a dude in plumb paisley that wants to rule the world by creating a bomb that renders the world totally nude. Making the way clear for him to inflict his warped fashion sense on a now naked world get a grip its just fun. On the face of it the plot and the developer of the Nude Bomb sounds deliciously stereo-typical gay wanting to force feed a naked world his sense of high tone fashion.

However the movie is set in the hopelessly weird world of Control Agent number 86 Maxwell Smart and thats weirder than anything in gay life let me tell you. Max has to stop the nude bomb terror threat because, let's face it if the world was suddenly plunged into being seen in, "the all together", all the failings and small wonders of human civilization will be "exposed". Just think of the ugliest person you know now imagine you looking right at them when the first Nude Bomb hits... Yuck, gag me with a spoon. Now that I have you in a playful mood go buy the Nude Bomb movie and count your blessings if Agent 86 saves us from the Nude Bomb fright.

Of course the Nude Bomb would be great for the makers of Sport Utility Vehicle's if some men had to walk about nude because immense size and number of SUV's needed to rebuild shattered male ego's around the world would be huge.

As another IMDb contributor has noted, it seems very strange that Universal wanted to make a Maxwell Smart movie -- in fact, at the time, there was talk of doing a series of Smart movies a la Inspector Clouseau -- and then went out of its way to remove nearly every element that made "Get Smart!" so funny. Nearly all of Don Adams' supporting cast (esp. Barbara Feldon and Edward "Chief" Platt) are absent here, as are rivalling spy agencies CONTROL and KAOS, as well as *any* of the show's writers or producers. Happily (with the exception of the deceased Platt), they'd all get it right nine years later, for the TV-reunion-movie "Get Smart, Again!" Indeed, as of this writing, that movie is the only "Get Smart" item available on DVD; better that than "The Nude Bomb," at least.

Having watched "Get Smart" and "Get Smart, Again!" I have finally laid my hands on this follow-up to the greatest TV-series spoof comedy of all times and it turned out just fine. Not as true to the original as "Again" was nine years after "The nube bomb" but still pretty decent. The idea though of having a KAOS villain built a bomb that when blowing up makes everyone naked is very silly, even by "Get Smart" standards but the overall humor, surprisingly good action sequences, superb performances by Don Adams' Agent 86 and (I can't call her new 99) Agent 22 and naturally tons of references makes this movie a worthy watch for the fans of the series and parody comedy in general.

Like the Austin Powers movies, "Get Smart" is a spoof of spy movies like the James Bond series, and "The Nude Bomb", made at the height of the Cold War, in the early 1980s, concerns Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, the guy with the shoe phone, pursuing the madman who has developed a bomb that, if exploded, would render everyone without clothes. This is an underrated movie and works well even with the absence of the original supporting cast from the 1960s television series. Almost, but not quite as funny as "The Naked Gun". 8/10

One of the poorest of the classic TV show adaptation movies. Lacks any of the heart of the original show. Only Don Adams, of the original show, was involved in this film. He reprises his Maxwell Smart character very well, but there's no humor in the script for him to work with.

The classic spy movies satire Get Smart provided the kind of jokes you could use as one-liners in everyday speech, and the pleasant nostalgia of remembering lines like "Missed it by that much," "Sorry about that, Chief," "Would you believe...," etc. still evoke a smile today. This movie had little of that humor, and a contrived storyline that tried but went nowhere. Worst of all: there were none of Admas's hilarious co-stars doing the agents 99, 13, Himey, and of course the Chief. Ed Platt, as the chief, had passed away by the time this was made, but they failed to even get one of the others.

The writing of failure was on the wall before they started. One has to wonder: why (beyond the obvious cash-in on the name, that is) did they do this? At least the word "bomb" was in the title to warn you.