Operação Paraíso

I have a friend who is trying to lose some weight. To accomplish this, he recently went on a banana diet. Whenever he's hungry he just eats a banana. Well it looks like Kelly, the hero of this film, is on the same diet. He eats bananas throughout the movie, to comedic effect and at the most unexpected of times. The man eats a banana while dangling from the back of a moving speedboat! Then he casually tosses the peel into the water!

It's a spoof of other spy films, but it never goes too far overboard with the parody like Austin Powers, which is what I love about it. The main character is not an unbelievable buffoon, but a smart, capable, sophisticated spy—not unlike James Bond but with his own, funny personality—with a few good one-liners and who appreciates a good banana. Sure, it's very cheesy at times, but that is balanced with a generous helping of action and a decent storyline, topped off with spot-on performances and fun dialogue. There is one stunt in particular, involving a helicopter and a well-known Brazilian statue that had me on the edge of my seat.

This movie is both funny and tense. It's never boring, and every scene has something good in it. Mike Connors is great in the lead role, and he's backed up by some outstanding performances by Susan Fleming and Raf Vallone. However, I particularly enjoyed Terry-Thomas' pitch-perfect performance in the role of an unassuming chauffeur with a few tricks up his sleeve.

I saw this film at a revival house in Los Angeles many decades after its release. I was initially intrigued because of the awesomely hilarious title and the strange but funny trailer I'd seen played the previous week at the same theater. Everyone in the theater laughed and had a good time, but after it was over I overheard some of the other people in the theater say that it was so bad it was good. I didn't get that feeling. I just felt like it was good. I haven't been able to find it on home video and I get the feeling that it never received a wide home video release, if any, but if you get a chance to watch it I highly recommend it.

Mercifully not nearly as offensive as that title suggests (which the makers were actually proud enough of to base a title song on) although the threatening names as producer and director of Dino De Laurentis and Henry Levin serve as ample warning that the results will be predictably banal; the biggest surprise in the credits being the name of the distinguished TV writer Jack Pulman.

Chuck Connors is personable enough foiling a particularly daft scheme by Raf Vallone to rule the world, but what makes the film is a lively Dorothy Provine as an English agent with a cut-glass accent and her very own Parker in the form of Terry-Thomas.

In the 1960s, the James Bond movies were so successful that it led to MANY knock-off movies. Some of them were pretty serious (such as the Jerry Cotton movies starring George Nader) and some were utterly ridiculous and didn't try to be serious spy movies (such as the Matt Helm movies). I'd say "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" is somewhat in the middle...in some ways a serious Bond-like film as well as a parody at the same time.

The plot of "Kiss the Girls" is actually pretty similar to "Moonraker"...an official Bond movie which seems like a parody of itself due to all the gadgets and the silly sci-fi plot. And, like "Moonraker", the baddie hopes to wipe out the human race so he and his bevvy of sexy ladies in suspended animation can repopulate the planet!

Out to stop him in Ageny Kelly of the CIA (Mike Connors), a banana-chomping secret agent who is tough but not nearly as competent as Bond. To make up for his deficiencies, a female British agent (Dorothy Provine) helps along with a HUGE number of gadgets that she and her chauffeur (Terry-Thomas) have at their disposal.

So is this any good? Well, it's not dull. But it also isn't very good either. Connors is fine in the lead though later in the story he seems to have very little to do. Provine is terrible, as she seems about as British as a taco! Plus all the gadgets get to be pretty silly after a while. Overall, a curiosity more than a good movie...but one that isn't dull at all.

MASTER PLAN: infertilize the USA's population by eliminating the sexual drive (cripes!) via a launched satellite. This begins as an obvious spoof, showing some scientist getting shot in the jungles while exploring a local tribe's infertility problem, with satirical narration (by actor Michael Hordern, maybe?). It's a very goofy start. But, the action switches to Rio de Janeiro, a nice bit on Corcovado, in and around the famed statue, as an agent played by lead Mike Connors fights off a villain. This sets the tone for the rest of the film, a more sophisticated parody of the James Bond thriller than I first thought, in the vein of "Our Man Flint." There's the typical stuff: use of scorpions & piranha, the odd henchman and the main villain (Vallone) who has sinister grand plans for the world. Provine shows up as a femme fatale with a severely British accent. Terry-Thomas then pops up as an effeminate chauffeur who can handle himself very well in a fight.

The exotic locations in Brazil are pretty good; as mentioned in other comments, some of this, including some plot points, seems to have been copied by an actual later Bond film, "Moonraker," though one could argue this happened because this copies earlier Bond films such as "Thunderball" and "Dr.No." The story has some slow parts in the first half, meandering as the hero follows villains and vice-versa. This is reflected in the film's music score, which has a lazy, easy style to it, even during action sequences. As the hero, Connors also ambles his way through, usually laconic or sarcastic, depending on the scene, but projecting toughness. This was just before he began his 8-year run as tough TV private eye "Mannix." To give you an idea of the humor, there's a recurring theme of the hero's fondness for bananas. Things pick up in the latter half when the action shifts to the sci-fi stronghold of the villain. I've heard that this film is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino's. Hero:6 Villains:6 Femme Fatales:6 Henchmen:6 Fights:7 Stunts/Chases:6 Gadgets:6 Auto:4 Locations:7 Pace:6 overall:6

All four main actors, which I've seen in many other movies, they have surpassed my expectations here in a good way. I'm talking about Mike Connors, Dorothy Provine, Raf Vallone and Terry-Thomas. They are all very good, due to the script and Henry Levin's good direction (together with Arduino Maiuri, who has directed only another film except this one). It's a delicious comedy, parodying spy movies, that is, the James Bond genre. And, not accidentally, in a Bond called "Moonraker," they were inspired by this movie, so well is done (this one, because, "Moonraker", just between me and you, it's probably the worst Bond). The beauties called Margaret Lee, Nicoletta Machiavelli, Marilu Tolo, they appear just a little bit, almost not at all. Instead, Dorothy Provine appears in full and she is delicious. Funny character Hans Thorner as Krüger. Very smart film, entertaining, a real beautiful surprise!