8 replies to this topic

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Someone has posted my pick for the best of the 1960s James Bond knockoffs on youtube.

Richard Johnson as Sapper's Bulldog Drummond in Deadlier Than The Male:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g2MRNyxGOM

Johnson was Terence Young's original pick for the role of Bond in Dr. No but he didn't wish to commit to a multi-picture deal.

Bond series vets Laurence Naismith(Sir Donald Munger from Diamonds Are Forever), Milton Reid(Sandor from The Spy Who Loved Me and a very radiant Virginia North(Olympe from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in her film debut) appear as well.

[AMC Hornet]

I'm going to comment, just so I can save this to watch later.

I can imagine the pitch:

"Drummond has been around longer than this Bond fellow - we should be able to get at least as much mileage out of him!"

[lazenbyland]

Great stuff. I last saw this back in the seventies in a spy season on TV.

Excellent production values. There was sequel called 'Some Girls Do'.

[numan]

And the film has got a title track by The Walker Brothers which is a plus. Funnily enough Scott Walker sang on TWISNE much later.

[Brisco]

Thanks for sharing that, Kamal! Every Bond fan should watch this movie. I wrote a lengthy love letter to the film in my review on the Double O Section. If anyone remains unconvinced, please give it a read and maybe you'll be inspired to watch on YouTube.

[Dustin]

Thanks for sharing that, Kamal! Every Bond fan should watch this movie. I wrote a lengthy love letter to the film in my review on the Double O Section. If anyone remains unconvinced, please give it a read and maybe you'll be inspired to watch on YouTube.

Great work there, splendid and entertaining review. Fun!

[Brisco]

Thanks, Dustin!

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Thanks for sharing that, Kamal!

You're welcome, Brisco.

Every Bond fan should watch this movie.

ITA.

I wrote a lengthy love letter to the film in my review on the Double O Section. If anyone remains unconvinced, please give it a read and maybe you'll be inspired to watch on YouTube.

Very well-written review.

I liked this paragraph:

"Of course, even if the toes match, it only gets up to about Connery’s bow tie in production values. The Bond movies were so far ahead of anything else of their era, budget-wise and effects-wise, that all imitators pale in comparison. But of those imitators (and there were many), Deadlier Than the Male comes closest. Even on a relatively large budget for its genre, it can’t duplicate Thunderball’s underwater spectacle or You Only Live Twice’s volcano base, but it does manage to duplicate the style, the glamor and–most importantly–the wry tone of the Bond movies–thanks to the winning team of director Ralf Thomas, producer Betty Box and screenwriters David Osborn, Liz Charles-Williams and Jimmy Sangster (a Hammer stalwart). Other spoofs fell short because they attempted to lampoon what was already tongue-in-cheek (even at that stage), but Deadlier Than the Male manages the same level of playful self-parody that Goldfinger achieves. It’s sheer fun."

Very well put and I completely agree. That style, glamour and perfect balance of the tension and humor was something certainly missing from DTTM's very disappointing and lackluster sequel.

"Network’s current version comes bundled as a double feature with the film’s sequel, Some Girls Do. Some Girls Do is enjoyable enough and well worth watching once, but it doesn’t come close to capturing the magic of Deadlier Than the Male–primarily because it’s missing the two key ingrediants to that film’s success. While Johnson returns, even the sexy Dahlia Lavi can’t replace Sommer and Koscina. The sequel also fails to capture the tone that makes the first film so successful, opting instead for a jokier formula that doesn’t gel right."

Bingo. SGD is so campy it makes the Matt Helm films look like From Russia With Love. However, DTTM hits all the marks perfectly. Virginia North(later Olympe in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) is positively radiant as Drummond's nephew Robert's girlfriend Brenda ("I am hard to get. But it's worth the effort.") who prefers the uncle to the nephew.

Here's the trailer. It's fun but it contains SPOILERS for those who've not seen the movie yet so check it out after you've seen the film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7o_QRfmNIk

[Yellow Pinky]

I absolutely adore this movie! It is without question my favorite of all of the rivals to the Bond mantle.

For the record, I don't include the Flint movies in that category (rivals) as they are straight up parodies of Bond that also happen to be ridiculously fun adventures in their own right. "Deadlier than the Male" directly competes with (and imitates) the Bond films without being a direct satire.

Edited by Yellow Pinky, 21 November 2012 - 08:03 PM.