Casino Royale (1967)

Want to see it?

Seen it?

0
1
2
3
4
5
Rate this movie.

Buy it now on DVD

Starting at $7.61

Want to buy it?

Write a review

Discuss it

Add to lists

Recommend it

Get recommendations

Watch trailer

Directed by Val Guest, Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish.

Starring Ursula Andress, David Niven, Joanna Pettet, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Orson Welles.

Watch trailer

Retired after years of international espionage, Agent 007 is lured back into action to battle the evil spy organization SMERSH in this notoriously incoherent parody of the James Bond films. David Niven portrays the aging Bond, who atypically rejects the advances of a variety of women, and agrees to battle SMERSH's hold on the lavish Casino Royale only after organization head M is murdered. Also mixed up in the affair are several other secret agents, all named James Bond, played by everyone from Peter Sellers and Woody Allen to a chimpanzee. Despite a star-studded cast, a large production budget, and a hit score by Burt Bacharach, the film was universally panned as a muddled, overlong failure, with the occasional amusing sequence lost in the unintelligible surroundings. The participation of several screenwriters and five different directors, including John Huston, only adds to the confusion. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

[more]

Reviews and discussions

Casino Royale (1967, Great Brit ...
by CinemaRian in CinemaRian Blog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Aside from Whirlpool, I've been on a real losing streak when it comes to movies. Although I've seen a lot of bad ones latley, Casino Royale is in a class of its own. You just look at the scren and go "what the f*** were they thinking?" And despite having four of my favorite performers ever: (Peter Sellers, Orson Welles, Woody Allen and Jean-Paul Belmondo), the film wastes all of their talent and really blows. The movie belongs to one of the oddest of movie genres, the epic comedy. These gargauntuan bearers of mirth were popular in the 60's after the sucess of Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World. Although mostly forgotten now, it was fashionable to take an all star cast put them into a very long comedy with lots of stunt work. Not only did the genre die out, few of them seem funny today-which is certainly true of Casino Royale. That novel was the only James Bond book by Ian Fleming not to be bought by Albert R. Broccoli, and thus was never (until 2006) shot as a st ... " [More]

Fully Bonded
by HairyLime in HairyLime Blog

disliked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"I have to admit, I have been away from the Bond franchise for some time. The last one I saw was 'Goldeneye', and while I thought it was a cut above the previous few entries, I was getting a little tired of the concept, thinking "how long can they keep milking this?" -- Well we had heard that this new Bond Daniel Craig was worth a look, so we ventured out to our local multiplex to check him out around December. Additionally, the 'Encore' channel started running all the old Bonds around the New Year (and if you got the 'on demand' option with your cable service, you could watch all of them at your leisure in widescreen no less!), so around here, we've been thoroughly drenched in Bond for the past few months. This weekend, we were snowed in and watched one of the more recent Pierce Brosnan entries, so with all this is mind, I thought I'd do an overview of the 007 pantheon (at least the ones I've seen, who knows how many times by now).I have to start ... " [More]

1967 - Year of the Definitive J ...
by smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema

loved it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Hopefully the recent release of the new Casino Royale will prompt some to watch the 1967 version. Considering that so many Bond "fans" try to cover up the existence of this old classic, it may be that it stays buried. What a tragedy.You see, the 1967 production of Casino Royale is actually an art film. But it's an art film that is under no circumstances to be taken seriously. Every step of the way, the film is a strange combination of comedy, surreality, and just plain confusion, all built upon the improbability of the James Bond mythos. But, that's actually the point of the film. The whole thing is an exercise in craziness. The goal was to take the user from the comfortable convention of the English gentleman spy into a world that completely fails to hold any coherency. It does so slowly, at a walking pace. The layers of incomprehension are slowly added and woven in, all using the suspension of disbelief needed to enter into Bond's world in the first place.All too often C ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

is neutral about it.

Casino Royale is the original ultimate spy spoof, setting the precedent for the Austin Powers movies of the late '90s. The presence of five directors coupled with the overly complicated plot makes the movie nearly impossible to follow. A satire in the highest degree, this was the first unofficial James Bond movie, but its unnecessary to compare it to any other Bond movies because it is such a hideous, zany disaster. The celebrity cast -- including big talents like Orson Welles, Peter Sellers, and Woody Allen -- are embarrassingly involved in ridiculous gag after ridiculous gag. For the theatrical release, it even used an appropriately silly marketing campaign that even developed into "The Casino Royale Fun Movement" complete with promotional buttons reading slogans from the movie. Besides these classic pop art images, Casino Royale is most valuable for its musical score, featuring Burt Bacharach, Herb Albert, and Dusty Springfield. The wacky kazoos and harpsichord arrangements, along with the pop gem "The Look of Love," are the perfect accompaniment to the vibrant images in this bizarrely constructed mess of a movie. Completely incoherent, Casino Royale remains a psychedelic absurd masterpiece. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Tags: gentleman , spy , art , Classic , Great
View all