User reviews

I was expecting the worst when I found a copy of "Operation Double 007" (one of the many alternative titles for this film) in a bargain video rack for a dollar. But I didn't get the worst -- I got a surprisingly OK film.

Neil Connery, Sean's little brother, is indeed a dead ringer for his sibling. The only major difference is Neil sports a beard, in keeping with his character, a plastic surgeon. As far as acting goes, he has many of Sean's mannerisms down pat, but in the print I saw his voice was badly dubbed by an American (even though his character is clearly said to be Scottish), so I cannot pass judgment.

The story is a pastiche of Bond films past, such as Thunderball, a similarity driven home by the fact the main villain in both this movie and Thunderball is played by Adolfo Celi, one of a number of 007 veterans who somehow managed to get involved in this bizarre Italian production. Anthony Dawson (another 007 vet -- he was Dent in Dr. No and also provided the body for Blofeld in From Russia With Love and Thunderball) plays a Blofeld clone named Alpha, another apparent nod to Thunderball.

Bernard Lee (Bond's M) and Lois Maxwell (the first and best Moneypenny) appear in very similar roles in this file, EXCEPT that Maxwell's character gets a lot more action here. Fans of Moneypenny will love seeing her mowing down bad guys with a machine gun, and she even kidnaps another character! Bernard Lee, meanwhile, gets to show some of his comedy skills. Both actors do a good job here, and for the record they weren't overdubbed.

For me, the real pleasure in this movie is a rare chance to see Daniela Bianchi. Five years after seducing 007 in From Russia with Love, the Italian actress gets to play an assassin with a heart of gold, and she is absolutely gorgeous in this film. Fans of her work in From Russia should check this film out just for her (sadly, she retired from acting not long after this film was made).

Although this movie has been heavily criticized as a rip-off of 007, in fact there are a number of original touches that make the film, if not good, at least interesting. For example, Neil Connery's character (who is, imaginatively, named Neil Connery) is a master of hypnotism and is more apt to use his brains than his brawn. A good example of this is when he creates a MacGyver-like device to get past a machine gun turret.

Released the same year as the infamous Casino Royale spoof, I have to say that OK Connery actually has a better storyline, and unlike that other film, it actually (sort of) makes sense.

This film is hard to find (though I understand Mystery Science Theater 3000 featured it once). But serious Bond fans should check it out at least once as an interesting curio from the height of Bondmania. And if you're a fan of Lois Maxwell or Daniela Bianchi, it is definitely worth checking it out.

It's hard to imagine it today, but the public went insane for spy films in the 1960s...and not just the James Bond and other familiar spy movies. In addition to the Matt Helm and Flint films, many European studios made their own Bond-like movies. Many of them never made it to the States and most were soon forgotten...though MANY (such as the George Nader films where he played super-spy Jerry Cotton) were actually pretty good. Also, many are on YouTube...you just have to know where to look for them.

One of these strangest YouTube offerings is "Operation Kid Brother" (also called "OK Connery"). As you can guess from the alternate title, the movie is a knockoff of Sean Connery's spy films and they use his own real-life brother, Neil to star in the movies. In many ways, he looks like Sean in the movies...but sporting an evil goatee and with slightly fairer features. To further the lookalike aspects of this movie, they even used the same man to play the villain (Adolfo Celi) who had previously played the villain in Sean's "Thunderball"! But it didn't stop there! Nope, Bernard Lee ('M'), Lois Maxwell ('Moneypenny'), Anthony Dawson (a Dr. No lackey who tried to murder Bond in the first film) and the female lead from "From Russia With Love" ALSO appear in the film! There could be others...but those are a few I recognized. Due to copyright reasons, each plays a different character than the ones they played in the Bond films. Obviously, they were hoping Sean's success would somehow rub off on his brother.

An oddity about the film is that you really don't see much of Neil until well into the film. Another oddity is that he plays a doctor who is a world-class plastic surgeon and hypnotist...definitely less of the Bond-type. It seems that James isn't available in the story so the forces of goodness engage his brother to fight THANATOS, an international organization of evil almost exactly like SPECTRE from the Bond films. So, Neil is Sean Connery's brother in real life AND he plays the brother or 007 as well! I wonder how that went over within the Connery family.

So is this 'Spaghetti Spy' movie worth seeing? Well, definitely if you are the curious type. Seeing Neil channeling his famous brother is pretty weird and worth a look. Also, the film looks pretty nice, as the costumes, sets and European locales look quite nice. As for the story, it's full of a lot of psychic stuff instead of the usual spy stuff...which is odd but interesting but probably not what the fans were looking for from this film. But the story has plenty of dumb moments (such as the costumed women attacking the MPs) and Neil has little in the way of charisma or charm. I am sure he's a nice guy...probably nice to his mother, small children, and dogs...but hardly the sort to be able to carry a film. An odd curio of a film! Perhaps worth seeing once....and only once.

You just have to love the massive balls that it took to release this film at the height of the James Bond craze. It wasn't enough just to flagrantly rip off the Bond films, no, the producers actually got most of the supporting actors/villains/hot chicks from the real films and then had the nerve to cast Sean Connery's brother, Neil, as the hero (who is alluded to be 007's brother)! However, as bad'60's spy flicks go, this is astonishingly more entertaining than most of them. Give it a chance!

I thank the heavens for MST3000, otherwise this movie would have been intolerable. It is a communal pain, distributed among the watchers. First of all, the protagonist is Dr. Neil Connery, played by Neil Connery (subtle). Neil is Sean Connery's brother. You would not guess that from the great acting displayed in this movie. This movie is simply an Italian knock-off of a James Bond movie, except you couldn't afford any of the trademarks. They also managed to get some people who actually stared in Bond movies, like Ms. Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), M (Bernard Lee), and Emilio Largo (from Thunderball played by Adolfo Celi). Thats about where all the similarities to any Bond movie end. Where James Bond has a suave, debonair style and uses various gadgets, his brother Neil, user hypnosis and the Jerry Lewis approach. It's not that he is clumsy, he just seems to be uncomfortable with women. The plot is pretty bad and nonsensical. By far the best part of the movie is the end conflict, where Neil and friends fight "Largo's" minions, who dress like the aliens from V (red vinyl outfits) with the helmets from the fireman of Fahrenheit 451. Not only that, but they are all shooting underwater harpoons. Exciting isn't it ?? This all leads to the duel between "Largo" (aka Thair Beta) and Neil. Harpoons at 20 paces. This movie is bad. Please don't watch this movie, unless you are heavily medicated.

MASTER PLAN: Operation Blackmail - controlling the world's gold reserves. A very calculated attempt to copy & make money off the James Bond craze of the sixties, this comes off as a silly joke, maybe intentionally. It's similar to "Licensed to Kill," the 'Charles Vine' Bond cheap copy, but less creative. The plot can be deduced from an alternate title, "Operation Double 007" - that's not a typo - the spy agency of the Bond world requests the services of 007's brother; hence, this is about 007's double (they never completely finish saying '007' out loud, always stopping short of voicing the '7' - ha). 007's brother is played by Sean Connery's real life brother, Neil, with a goatee and a talent for hypnotism. This starts off badly, with Neil Connery, playing a famous genius plastic surgeon, explaining his advanced techniques and how he combines them with Tibetan mind control - it's pathetic drivel - and then some mêlée breaks out. It's groan-inducing. But, the main attraction is for film buffs and Bond fans making all the connections with the real Bond films.

All the main actors (besides N.Connery, whose connection to Bond is already explained) in this one are from one or more James Bond movies. Celi, as the main villain, played a similar role in "Thunderball" (Celi, who looks like an overweight banker, was always playing villains or gangsters in the sixties). Bianchi, the femme fatale, was in "From Russia With Love." Dawson was in "Dr.No." Of course, Bernard Lee (aka M) and Lois Maxwell (aka Ms.Moneypenny) were from most of the Bond films of the sixties and seventies. They duplicate their roles from those here, though Maxwell gets a chance to run around shooting a gun, something she never had a chance to do with her 'receptionist' role in the Bonders. The villains seem to be SPECTRE, though they're referred to by another name, Thanatos, who plan to use some kind of magnetic waves to imbalance the world. The other strange and amusing aspect is that some of the main characters are referred to by their real names (Dr.Connery, Ms. Maxwell, etc.) rather than as Mr.Bond - get it? It's goofy, somewhat dull and a curiosity. Hero:3 Villains:3 Femme Fatales:4 Henchmen:2 Fights:3 Stunts/Chases:3 Gadgets:3 Auto:3 Locations:4 Pace:2 overall:3

Never in the history of film has there been such a blatant rip-off of the Bond movies or an attempt to cash in on same. Every effort is made to include Bond-type characters without actually acknowledging the "borrowed" source material. If the movie were at least entertaining, this might be forgiven, but the idea of "Neil Connery", our "best agent's brother", a hypnotic plastic surgeon, martial artist, and amateur spy, just goes nowhere. The secret agent antics are lame, and the movie is deserving of all the attention Joel and the 'bots give it on MST3K. One imagines Sean Connery had a long chat with his brother after he found out about this fiasco of a movie...

This really poor James Bond rip-off stars Sean Connery's talentless, charismaless, weird-faced brother Neal, my candidate for the Lowest Self Esteem award (beating even Clint Howard!). Neal plays "Dr. Neal Connery", a plastic surgeon, hypnotist, lip reader, and kung-fu fighter (what, is he Buckaroo Banzai?). Constant references are made to Neal's brother (although not by name, as that might cost money) as Neal takes part in a stunningly uninteresting, slightly diabolical plot to do... something, I think. Action includes a bow-and-arrow fight and a "Every Which Way But Loose"-style brawl at one of Connery's live surgery demonstrations.

Adding to the shame are Bond regulars Bernard Lee (more attractive than Judi Dench as M) and Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny), as well as Daniela Bianchi ("From Russia With Love") and Adolfo Celi (of "Thunderball"- and "Diabolik"!).

Not to be watched by people with functioning eyes, although the music's pretty good.

This is basically unwatchable. Impossible to write a coherent review. If you want to hear Neil's actual voice, which is identical to Sean's, look elsewhere. He is dubbed by an American. Rather than a spoof, it is ham-handed and stupid. No satire at all. The only thing resembling it is the projection of shaking backsides on a woman's back. This is a dreadful and totally unwatchable film.

"Do you ever walk upright like other people?" Neil Connery says to a sexy Eurobabe who's on all fours looking for a lost lighter. I love this movie. The sheer number of super-sexy actresses in Operation Kid Brother is staggering. Some enterprising video company should locate the negative and make a deal to put it on DVD in a widescreen version. The Ennio soundtrack is tremendous. You have to wonder why the man was never invited to contribute to a Bond film. Operation Kid Brother is more entertaining than all of the Bond films released since Diamonds Are Forever. I'll add Casino Royale to the list as soon as I see it. The big question is how come Neil Connery didn't speak at the American Film Institute's tribute to Sean Connery last year. Did Sean show the bouncers a photo of Neil and tell them to keep him out at all costs? Lois Maxwell got to do more in this movie than in every Bond film she made and she looks better too, strangely enough. It's a blast to see Dawson and Celi acting side by side. It was probably in Celi's contract that he gets to feel up the actresses. You have to wonder if Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman didn't go ape when Bernard Lee and Maxwell turned up in this.

If you're a fan of the Euro-spy movies made in the 60s, how can you not just love Operation Double 007? Using the success of James Bond as a model, those crazy Italians certainly made some crazy spy movies. This one stars Sean Connery's brother, Neil Connery (who plays a character cleverly named Neil Connery) as a plastic surgeon / hypnotist / lip reader. With tongue firmly in cheek, we also learn that Neil is the brother of a famous spy and, as his brother is unavailable, the government wants Neil to stand in and give them a hand. Before you can say Dr. No, Neil's up to his neck in beautiful women, a super-villain with a nuclear device, the obligatory henchmen, archers on horse back, gun fights, car chases, blind Arab rug-weavers, can-can dancers, explosions, underground lairs, and a Japanese woman kidnapped by the world's most vicious nun/nurse. Don't worry, it all makes sense in the end (well, sort of anyway). Besides, if there's a loose end here or there, who cares when you're having this much fun.

Joining Connery in the cast is a plethora of Bond vets including Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi, Bernard Lee, and Lois Maxwell. It's a real treat to see them all in a different setting. In particular, it's great to see Lois Maxwell out from behind that desk she always sat at in the Bond movies. Here, she's not only gets out in the field, but she gets the chance to mow down baddies with a machine gun as well. Celi, always the bad guy in a movie like this, looks like he's having the time of his life. There's at least one scene where it's not hard to notice a small smile come to his face and you've got to wonder how close he came to losing it. But as much as I enjoyed both of these fine actors, I was particularly impressed with the work of Daniela Bianchi from From Russia with Love fame. In Operation Double 007, she gets to play both the good and bad girl, wear some over-the-top outfits, and look generally fabulous. It's a shame she didn't go on to do more after this movie. She had a definite screen presence about her.

There are some out there who want to label Operation Double 007 a "James Bond rip-off". It's not a rip-off, it's a parody - and a good one at that. Operation Double 007 was released the same year as the more famous Bond parody Casino Royale. The big difference is that Casino Royale is one big, bloated mess of a movie that's rarely funny. Operation Double 007, on the other hand, is a blast. In fact, and this may be blasphemous to some, but it's more fun than about half of the Bond movies. It's too bad it's never had a proper R1 DVD release so that more people might discover this movie. The only way I've seen the movie is courtesy of a DVD-R of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode on which it appeared. It's a great episode, but I would love to see a good release without the bots and their comments.

The biggest complaint with this movie is that it's an obvious James Bond ripoff. Well...it mostly is. It's still hard to really blame the film because it does feature the brother of Sean Connery. There's even a mention to Ian Fleming's novels. I thought those were pretty cute little tongue in cheek references, whatever that means. Some of the action isn't that bad either. The explosions are done pretty well, but as we know from a Michael Bay film, those can never save an entire film. The fight scenes aren't bad.

The film still suffers from having a really dumb plot. It really does have no identity of its own. It was quite hard to follow, especially with how it was about radioactive rugs. That's weird even by James Bond standards. Like "The Village Of The Giants" it was hard to tell whether or not these jokes were intentional. I guess I'll give it credit for amusing me in some way. You do really have to watch the MST3K version as it truly is some of their best stuff. **

I remember so clearly how excited I was to see this movie into theaters were the first came out. When I remember most was seeing so many great familiar faces from the Sean Connery 007 series. Little did I know that composer Ennio Morricone would later become famous for the theme for "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly," but I did love the theme song "O.K. Conneryand," which incidentally is an alternate title for this film is. Many will tear this film apart, but I say no fair. It was meant to be for fun, and succeeds quite well there. True, the dubbing is awful, especially since I really wish I could have heard Sean's less famous brother speak for himself, but no matter. There are lots of great locations to see how the many attractive Italian girls, and if you don't take it too seriously (God knows how you could) it's a fun and entertaining way to pass the time. Hell, it beats the crap out of "Casino Royale."

Yes, it's another cornball movie that would be unknown to modern audiences had it not appeared on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". "O.K. Connery" is also known as "Operation Kid Brother", although the version that appeared on MST3K is called "Operation 007". The movie is basically a James Bond knockoff, and a number of the cast member prove it. The star is Sean Connery's brother Neil, and it also stars Daniela Bianchi (Tatiana Romanova in "From Russia with Love"), Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny), Bernard Lee (M), Adolfo Celi (Emilio Largo in "Thunderball") and Anthony Dawson (Professor Dent in "Dr. No"). Yeah, I wonder how they didn't get sued from copyright infringement.

As for MST3K's presentation, Joel, Servo and Crow riff the movie with mentions of Sukarno, Rue McClanahan and Paul Prudhomme, and references to "The Singing Nun" and "Leave It to Beaver". During one of the breaks, Joel struts around the Satellite of Love dressed as the movie's villain who watched a movie on the back of a scantily clad woman.

In the end, the movie might be kind of enjoyable on its own given all the half-dressed women, but MST3K's presentation is the real deal. And anyway, the really good James Bond knockoff from 1967 was John Huston's "Casino Royale" (the 2006 version was NOT a good movie; in fact, none of the James Bond movies have been any good since Sean Connery left).

Opus Dei indeed!

It's Plan 9 mixed with Austin Powers, and even worse than you could imagine.

This film is so incredibly bad, it's frightening. I'm sure all the actors and anyone involved knew this, but they did it anyway. In the first few minutes, we see bad guy Adolpho Celli cavorting around his love best with his uniformed henchmen, who happen to all be hot 20 year old chicks. It is suggested that this white haired, flabby older man with a huge nose has sex with them whenever he wants. The film actually goes downhill from there.

I Mean Come On People! It's One Of The Most Shameless Ripoffs In Film History! Although The Reason Why I Gave This Movie A 5 Was Because I Actually Got To See This Movie On A Sunday Afternoon When A TV Station First Started Out When I Was About 11 Years Old. Me My Brothers And A Few Of The Neighborhood Kids Sat And Started Watching The Movie And Heckled It Within In About Ten Minutes Of The Credits YOU Have To Make The Movie Enjoyable! If You Don't You'll Want Your 90 Minutes Back. When I Seen This Movie On MST3K Almost Ten Years Later I Called And Brother And EVERY Scene We Heckled And Riffed Back Then Was The Same Ones THEY Did! It Was Actually Kiiiiiiiinda Creepy. If You Think This Is Rip Off Of 007 It's SUPPOSED To Be! That's What Makes It So Funny! The Lines Are Some Of The Worst I've Seen In A Long Time But Hey To Each Their Own....Hypnotic Plastic Surgeon...Who Knew?

I saw this film as an episode of the show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. During the years, the show has riffed many movies that were basically trying to capitalize on the success of the James Bond films and this one does so in the most blatant way possible. They got Sean's brother, Neil Connery, they got two of the Bond villains to play villains here and they got Moneypenny and M too! However, that being said, this is also the most enjoyable of the Bond ripoff films that they riffed. I am not saying it was great or anything, it is kind of all over the place, but at the same time they really keep things moving in this one so it never gets to the point where the agent is simply hanging around a beach house and flirting with some guy's niece, nor is the action so dull that it is outdone by the windmills of Holland and they never resort to cheap models to simulate a car chase. No, this film did a pretty good job of being a Bond film, while at the same time not being a James Bond film.

The story has a deadly organization using a remote car to blow up a plane. On the plane, a man who had information about the organization's plan. A woman has this information locked in her mind and her plastic surgeon may have the key to retrieving this information. This man, is the younger brother of an awesome spy and he is soon recruited to help foil the evil organizations plans. He may not have a license to kill, but he has many skills that help him discover the whereabouts of the kidnapped woman, discover the deadly secret of the factory where only the blind may find a job and try to thwart the plans of one of the members of the organization that wants to seize all the power for himself!

This made for a very good episode of MST3K, I generally like it when the film they riff is not completely horrid. I like to be able to get some enjoyment from the film itself and it actually makes it more amusing to hear the riffs. They obviously leave a lot of this film out of the episode, as at one point Neil references a archery contest that he had with the main villain that I did not see. Makes me want to see the whole film, though for the most part they leave in enough to know what is going on. It is just a film that is all over the place as one moment they are rescuing a girl, then an army convoy is being hijacked, then there is a battle on a yacht and then a raid on a castle!

So, it is not a good movie, but it is hardly a bad movie. Definitely not the worst James Bond knockoff that I have seen. Neil certainly looks a lot like his more famous older brother and I am surprised he did not appear in more films. This film was done in Italy and they have always managed to mimic other films in the most blatant ways over the years and this film is no exception as it is the most blatant ripoff of the James Bond films there is other than the one that was done years later that actually starred Sean Connery and was essentially a James Bond film, but not part of the actual series, "Never Say Never Again". This one is actually more enjoyable than that film as that film was just so terribly paced and could not hold my interest. This one at least moves at a fast pace and never lingers to long on any one scene for long.

Seeing the average rating for Operation Kid Brother, better known by its much better title O. K. Connery, made my heart sink, yet upon viewing found it better than its reputation suggests. It's certainly not going to win any awards, it's a painfully routine spy thriller, but it's such tremendous fun that if someone had told me this was the missing link between You Only Live Twice and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, I'd have believed them. The movie's trick casting is undoubtedly one of its most memorable aspects, casting Sean's younger brother Neil in the title role is genius although Neil clearly lacks any form of charisma which isn't helped by the fact he's dubbed by some bland American actor. You also get an unreasonable amount of other Bond alumni from Daniela Bianchi and Adolfo Celi to Anthony Dawson and even managed to bag Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell. The movie has a certain flair and skill in its production that makes it feel like an official Bond entry in places. The costumes are beautifully colourful and certainly imaginative in that way only 60s movies can and the score by Ennio Morricone feels like he just changed a few notes of Barry's main theme and called it a day but still kinda works. Going in with pretty much no expectations most definitely helped me with my viewing of O. K. Connery but if you can get past the movie's weaker aspects, it's a blast.

The first 20-30 minutes of this are surprisingly good: a fantastic title song (in both the English and the Italian versions!), a rousing score (by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai), cool gadgets (driverless car), sexy and powerful women (Daniela Bianchi and Lois Maxwell - sexier here than in any official Bond film!), a bon viveur villain (Adolfo Celi), Monte Carlo and Malaga locales, and - last but not least - the sublime atemi (it's fatal). It slows down A LOT in the middle, but does deliver the expected explosive finale. The production is fairly polished, and Neil Connery, although obviously not a casting find like his brother, is inoffensive. The whole film is very meta, too - in a modern sense. **1/2 out of 4.

So 007 has a brother, who is a Doctor, that some how gets talked into taking on a super badguy organization called Thanatos. He also happens to know Judo and knows techniques to induce the deepest states of trance possible (and that most men would kill to know). This organization plans to steal "Atomic Nucleus'" by woman poisoning MP's, and then raiding a highly secured facility dressed as...cats? I admit I watched the MST3K version of this, but it probably saved me from turning if off. That being said, there wasn't much about this movie that made sense from the word go.

I found and watched this during a bout of insomnia one evening. I slept like a baby afterwards.