A Bomba Que Desnuda

An interesting trivia note: Joey Forman, who plays Agent 13, was a regular on the television show as the Hawaiian detective Harry Hu. Also, when promoting the film, Don Adams and Johnny Carson repeated dialogue from the film that took place when Smart and Larrabee were driving. Not as bad as some critics say.

"THE NUDE BOMB" looks and feels like a cheap attempt to resurrect a 60's TV show for 80's Movie audiences - a la "Star Trek". And it is. But there's nothing terribly wrong with the film, if only that it jettisons practically every character the "Get Smart!" show created and introduces an all-new spy agency for Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) to work for. The film might make die-hard fans a little disappointed, but casual viewers probably won't care.

The plot makes very little sense - a evil fashion designer blackmails the clothes-wearing world with potential, full-blown nudity via The Nude Bomb - and it seems to zig-zag in an half-hearted attempt to string together as many mildly-silly gags, low-budget set pieces and James Bond-ian spoofs into it's brief running time. For a very tenuous plot point, Agent 86 ends up cavorting through many of the attractions of the Universal backlot in a lengthy chase scene that plays out as a mid-film "When In Southern California, Visit Universal Studios" advertisement. It serves less to the story than as a very visual and perhaps only reason why this film was greenlit by executives in the first place.

But it does have it's charms. Pantyhosed Vittorio Gassman is a good villain, and of course Don Adams is a treat. Adams' energy and delivery does about as much as British director Clive ("What's New, Pussycat?") Donner to keep this thing moving. Agent 86's gadgets are inspired, and Don's bell-bottom slacks collection are also quite funny, although probably in only retrospect.

"THE NUDE BOMB" has a breezy pace, is relatively sunny and undemanding. The film and has some funny moments, including a nifty opening credit sequence and some zingy one-liners - and for that Maxwell Smart gets a pass - but of what could have been? Missed it by THAT much.

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.

There were two remakes of Get Smart. The Nude Bomb came first and while keeping the premise of the TV show it virtually abandoned the story line of the series (if you remember Maxwell Smart had married 99, had twins, and lived in an average apartment). The Nude Bomb plays as a spoof of James Bond movies. James Bond films ALREADY are a spoof so that was a bad idea. The film didn't realize that the cold war was over. Terrible, terrible Turkey. Don Adams would reunite with most of the Get Smart gang in the much superior Get Smart...Again! which picks up the original story line as it has progressed in the future and spoofs the fact that the cold war and spy era is virtually over. Sorry about that Chief.

Okay, I was 11 when I first saw The Nude Bomb -- it was on HBO, I taped it and watched it over and over and over and over again. A huge fan of Get Smart, yes, I was disappointed Don Adams was the only original from the series. But I do remember enjoying the film's opening - a spoof of the Bond-films, with women fawning over Smart as a hokey ballad played over the credits. And of course, Sylvia Kristel ... need I say more.