Have You Seen This James Bond 007 Film?
Look at the poster: the pose, the gun, the name: Connery! Look familiar?
The raised gun, the pose, the suit…yes, it’s Bond alright – but which one?
It’s the prefect time to ask this question! I’m taking part in a “We Are Family” blogathon, where the stars of a film have to have a connection to another star – and boy, did I find one!
Thanks go to the terrific blog “Taking Up Room”, which is hosting this three day blogathon – I will share a link for you to go and see all of this year’s entries…including mine, which has one of the wildest “cash grabs” in movie history!
Sean Connery was the first, and some say most iconic James Bond 007 of all time…after the fourth Bond film, “Thunderball” was released, someone had an idea: why not take advantage of this massively successful franchise by hiring Connery’s BROTHER to make a film? Is he an Actor? Who cares!
As you can see, the brothers have a strong resemblance – who exactly was Neil Connery?
Not an Actor, that’s for sure, but that didn’t stop savvy Producers from coming up with this film!
“Operation Kid Brother!”
In 1967, this film was released with a poster very similar to 007’s, a title that makes it obvious who’s kid brother he is, and even more obvious, the lead character is the kid brother of a spy!
Yes, the plot is all about “the civilian brother of Britain’s best spy” (nudge nudge wink wink) who must use his skills in plastic surgery, hypnotism and lip-reading to stop a crime syndicate’s bid for world domination!
The “We Are Family” Blogathon – Two Ways!
Of course, the blogathon topic is fulfilled by Neil Connery being Sean Connery’s brother, but there’s another family at play here: the 007 one!
Neil was 8 years younger than his brother Sean, and yes, this was his only film – but the other family I will highlight is the Bond “family”, as the film is loaded with members of the 007 franchise!
Check out all of the people who come from the world of Bond: “Thunderball” bad guy Adolfo Celi appears as the bad guy here, and look who else is in the movie!
Yes, that’s Bernard Lee – “M” in the 007 films, here as “Commandant Cunningham”! And Bond’s “Miss Moneypenny” Lois Maxwell is also here as “Miss Maxwell!”
“From Russia With Love” Bond girl Daniela Bianchi is in the film as well! OK, get ready for a bit of a movie stinker – check out the trailer:
As you can see, it’s trying very hard to be a James Bond film – because to elaborate on the plot – thanks to IMDB.com:
The evil crime syndicate Thanatos is bent on taking over the world, using a magnetic wave generator that will cause all metal-based machinery to grind to a halt.
An evil bad guy taking over the world – pure Bond!
The conceit of the film is that the “well-known British secret agent normally assigned to such tasks isn’t available” ( you know: James Bond 007)!
So, as IMDB explains:
“they engage his civilian brother, Neil, to help. Neil, played by Neil Connery, is a world-class plastic surgeon, hypnotist, and lip-reader, which turn out to be precisely the skills required for thwarting Thanatos!”
You can see a better resemblance with brother Sean in this shot – in fact, how about this IMDB.com trivia!
“When Sean Connery left the official James Bond series after appearing in You Only Live Twice, producer Sabatello apparently offered the services of Neil Connery to Eon Productions who rejected the offer.”
HA! Lose Sean Connery as Bond? Just put his brother in the role! Sadly, that never happened!
Oh and as for “Miss Moneypenny”, she shares a fascinating fact about appearing in “Operation Kid Brother”:
According to Maxwell, she made more money for her role in “Operation Kid Brother” than for all her Bond films combined! Wow!
Check out the entire blogathon here!
Let me know if you’ve ever seen this cinematic oddity, and as for Sean Connery, he did indeed leave the series after the film “You Only Live Twice”:
So how good was it? Why did he leave the role? And what was the films connection to Dwayne Johnson? All is answered in my review here!
The story of 007 got its start with here:
Click here to see my review of “the birth of Bond!”
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Categories: Action Films, British Cinema, Cult Movies, London, Movies, Obscure Movies, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities
johnrieber 
Wow, this does look fun. It’s too bad Neil didn’t get to do something different than a Bond parody, though. Thanks again for joining the blogathon–this was fascinating!
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Thankyou I loved seeing all of the different projects highlighted – a lot of fun!
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Oh, good–glad you enjoyed it!
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This looks terrific!! Thanks so much, John!
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woah, I’m going to see this! can’t wait. and I watched Moonraker this morning and went back and read your review. what a campy, over the top, fun bond film! it looks like some of the scenes were shot in Portugal at places I visited
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I love that! Thanks for reading!
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I REALLY MUST SEE THIS!!!!
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I’m not even sure if you can find it anywhere but perhaps YouTube has it…they had the trailer!
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Fascinating!
I’ve never heard of Operation Kid Brother and I didn’t know Sean Connery had one! I’m not really a James Bond fan, but it was fun to hear about this strange little film!
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Thank you for reading…it is definitely an obscurity which is why I wanted to share it in the blogathon! Thanks for the comment!
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Lots of familiar names…..never heard of this film…..thanx for turning me on to it. chuq
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Shared on Twitter for you, John.
Best wishes, Pete.
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