Cinematical (Double-O) Seven: How to Spoof Bond
Filed under: Action, Comedy, MGM, Cinematical Seven, James Bond, Remakes and Sequels, Lists, Seven Days of 007
I won't keep it a secret from anyone: I couldn't care less about James Bond. Maybe I'm not a man's man. Maybe I'm not a proper film critic. Maybe I just don't have the time to watch all the 007 movies in order to convince myself that they're not all the same. Whatever the reason for my disinterest in the series, the painful truth is that I'm completely lost when it comes to discussing Bond. This could be why I don't hang out with a lot of movie geeks. Or, more likely, why they don't hang out with me.
It would make sense for my disinterest in Bond to extend to the films that parody the character and the series. Sure, I appreciate a good spoof, but there's not much enjoyment for me in a joke I don't get. So, just as I don't have a desire to watch the Scary Movie franchise because I don't watch the horror movies it makes fun of, I probably wouldn't like a concentrated spoof of the Bond franchise. Luckily for me, most Bond parodies aren't strictly a series of specific jokes and gags that I don't understand. They typically have something more to offer. And those that I can appreciate and enjoy are due to my having a general, pop-cultural knowledge of Bond films, a taste for simple satire and a preference for liberal, anarchic and random humor.
So, I've made a list of ways in which Bond has been spoofed that are accessible to the non-Bond-fan. There are others out there, from pornographic parodies to obscure foreign takes on the character, but I'll let the real 007 aficionados seek out every spoof out there. ...
- Adapt loosely. There are many reasons that the 1967 version of Casino Royale was made as a spoof, and the history behind that is too complex to go into here, but it is hardly a parody of any of the Bond movies, really. It is made from an actual Bond novel, the same one now adapted seriously as the new Casino Royale, and it features the main character by name, which is typically rare in a spoof. It also includes the novel's plot -- although very, very loosely. Sometimes it pokes fun at actual Bond characteristics, such as the spy's playboy reputation, while other times it goes off on ridiculous tangents, including a riotous ending involving a nonsensical, forcefully conclusive fight sequence that has nothing to do with the book. Basically, Casino Royale is less a Bond spoof than it is just a wild comedy that uses the Ian Fleming novel as a simple foundation. And it includes my favorite Bonds: the adorable but sexy Mata Bond (Joanna Pettet) and the maniacally funny Jimmy Bond (Woody Allen).
- Specifically reference. There is nothing too Bond-like about the character of Austin Powers, except for his profession and his success with women, but the trilogy of Austin Powers movies has a great deal of homage parody, much of which I don't recognize with my limited familiarity of Bond films. Still, despite the specific jokes and gags, the three movies have plenty of comedy that isn't exactly Bond-related, and they are all funny enough on their own. They also support the idea that good comedy can overshadow bad directing and editing.
- Self-parody. Roger Moore's appearance in The Cannonball Run is made hilarious by the fact that he plays a character who thinks he's both the actor Roger Moore and the character James Bond. He drives a tricked-out Aston Martin (though Moore's Bond never drove one) and is accompanied by a different woman each time we see him. Another type of meta self-reference exists in the obscure film OK Connery, which seemed to be content with working only on the comedic principle of casting Sean Connery's younger brother as its Bond knock-off.
- Demonstrate irrelevancy. My favorite spoof of Bond is in the corny introduction of xXx. It features a tuxedo-clad spy sticking out like a sore thumb at a Rammstein concert. This gag about the irrelevancy of a Bond-type spy in modern times was obvious and easy, but it worked to make way for the x-treme sort of spy played by Vin Diesel.
- Play it young. There have been a number of youth-oriented takes on the Bond model, including the authorized cartoon James Bond, Jr. and the unconnected teen spy movies Agent Cody Banks (and its sequel), Stormbreaker and If Looks Could Kill. All of these point to the boyish fantasies of the Bond series -- mainly the predilections for loose, sexy women and toy-like gadgets.
- Get stupid. There are two Bond parodies that I would never take over an actual Bond film. One is Spy Hard, the other is Johnny English. Each has more to offer than cheap slapstick, and I hate to even imply that slapstick is a bad thing, but neither has anything intelligently comic to say about the Bond series. Some people out there can appreciate the simple irony of featuring a Bond who is incompetent, but not me.
- Run it into the ground. Here's where people will disagree with me most. I think one way to spoof James Bond is to drag the series out until the character is a parody of itself. Just as many horror franchises become a joke after too many sequels, the Bond series has suffered at times by having its premise stretched thin. I have a good feeling that my disinterest in Bond is partly related to the era in which I grew up. It was a time when Bond films were at their worst, from Moonraker (come on, Bond in space?) to the short-lived Dalton period. I won't say that the Brosnan contributions are great; in fact I can't take them any more seriously, especially the one with Denise Richards, but at least they work for the most part as thrilling action movies, if nothing else (isn't that all we can expect these days, anyway?). It's possible that by going back to the origins, the new Casino Royale will be a fresh start, but eventually somebody needs to put Bond to bed for good.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-16-2006 @ 11:33AM
Littleoldman said...
For the specific references, I have two obvious examples from Austin Powers.
1) Dr. Evil is a hilarious version of Donald Pleasance as Ernst Stavro Blofeld from You Only Die Twice.
2) Dr. Evil dispatching his less than competent henchmen while seated around the meeting table was previously seen as the head of SPECTRE eliminating his lesser minions in Thunderball.
On the issue of self parody, although not mentioning Bond by name, there's Roger Moore's appearance in "Curse of the Pink Panther" as Inspector Clouseau's new body of choice for the result of his extensive plastic surgery. This one appeared in 1982, while Moore was in the midst of his work as Bond.
Other Bond parodies can be seen in some of the other spy movies, notably the three Matt Helm movies with Dean Martin, the two Derek Flint movies with James Coburn, (I haven't seen Ray Danton's made for TV's effort as Flint, but I'll assume it was in the same vein) and The President's Analyst, once more with Coburn. Each of these had cheesy dialoge, full of double entendres, multiple occurrances of our hero doing physical (and mental, for Flint) stunts that are beyond belief, and a plethora of over the top gadgets.
In TV you had "The Man from UNCLE" franchise, "Get Smart", "The Wild Wild West", "The Prisoner", "Secret Agent Man", and many more.
All in all, good fun one and all, if perhaps a tad past actual belief - but part of our pop culture and what we've come to accept (if not actually believe) for our "spy" movies.
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11-16-2006 @ 12:01PM
Beta said...
I always saw Val Kilmer's early 80's comedy, TOP SECRET, a bit of a Bond spoof.
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11-16-2006 @ 12:35PM
Richard von Busack said...
Top Secret is one of the best of the movies named here--it's very strange, and Kilmer is surprisingly good. It's more of a parody of WW2 spy films...essential viewing for ZAZ brothers fans, though it was a little too eccentric for most of them. Really, have a look at it.
When mentioning going young, don't forget all three Spy Kids movies. Wish I could--though the Danny Elfman them in the first is rather nice. "It's a cruel, cruel world, little boys and girls..."
And remember, Bond almost made it to space in You Only Live Twice...
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11-16-2006 @ 3:00PM
ThePete said...
Wow--so this site replaces it's banner with an uber-bondian one and then lets two non-bond-fans (you and Jette) write about Bond in as many days. I wonder why I didn't read either post in its entirety. I happen to be a huge Bond fan and have watched all the Bond films in order and can happily agree that they are generally the same yet still enjoy them.
It seems disrespectful and hypocritical for this site to rebrand itself and then have two of it's bloggers write about how they don't like Bond--yet, we assume that we, your loyal readers, should still somehow want to read their posts. At least Jette had the decency to make the entire post about not being into Bond. But you, Christopher, make your post about how to parody a franchise you don't even like. This makes no sense to me.
In fact, parodies are generally meant to be send-ups of popculture icons that are virtually universal in our culture. Like Airplane! was a parody of the glut of airport-disaster movies during the 1970s or Spaceballs was a direct parody of the Star Wars films. You seem to think that parodies aren't to be aimed at audiences that are fully familiar with the source material.
Besides all of that, here's all anyone needs to know about doing a parody of Bond: Don't bother. Any Bond movie from the third one on is a self-parody. With names like "Pussy Galore" and "Holly Goodhead" and so on scattered throughout the series, how can you take these films as realistic?
This post is fluff and was written probably because of some requirement for the writer to write something for "the seven days of Bond". As a fan of Bond it's frustrating to find so much of the Bond-related content here to be interesting only to gag on this post.
And because I know this question is on your mind, yes, I am bored at work and have nothing better to do.
Though to be fair, I did notice that you actually have knowledge of OK Connery (aka Operation Double 007 aka Operation Kid Brother). I'm impressed when anyone knows about that film.
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11-16-2006 @ 3:37PM
Christopher Campbell said...
Dear Bored-at-work Pete,
I think it is good to have Jette and I write about our disinterest in Bond so Cinematical doesn't seem like just a Bond marketing machine. Anyway, I understand all of your points and have to say that when I first thought of writing this post, which wasn't meant to fulfill any obligation, I hadn't even realized how little a Bond fan I am, and I just wanted to write about the parodies. Then, I noticed how few actual Bond films I'd seen compared to how many spoofs I'd seen and I figured I should be honest.
As for OK Connery, it was featured on an episode of MST3K, for anyone interested in checking it out. Not sure if, or which, DVD it might be on, though.
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11-17-2006 @ 8:55AM
dlz said...
as much a bond spoof that austin powers is, those films are actually a combination spoof of ALL the british spy films of the 60's. there's more of michael caine's harry palmer than any bond in the character. plus the powers films take a large dose of 60's spy spoofs -- modesty blaise and the flint movies come to mind -- and make those references their own.
as for the idea of the current film returning to its roots, my personal favorite of the older films is 'on her majesty's secret service' simply because it shies away from the gadgets, hews closer to the novels, and puts bond in a more mano-a-mano setting. if the series were to reinvent itself by remaking the original novels in the current (ie less cartoon-y) mode i wouldn't complain.
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