OK Connery
Encyclopedia
OK Connery is a 1967
1967 in film
The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....

 Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Eurospy spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 series of films. It was retitled Operation Kid Brother in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and is also known as Operation Double 007 and Secret Agent 00. The basic plot of the film is that England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

’s best secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...

 is not available, so his younger brother is brought in to defeat the evil crime syndicate "Thanatos
Thanatos
In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the daemon personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person...

".

Neil Connery
Neil Connery
Neil Connery is a Scottish retired actor and is the brother of the actor Sean Connery. Neil is known for his role in the movie OK Connery, a James Bond satire and the 1969 film The Body Stealers.-External links:...

, who plays the younger brother (Dr. Neil Connery in the film), is actually the younger brother of the then-current portrayer of James Bond, Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...

, and strongly resembles Sean, except that in this film he sports a beard
Beard
A beard is the collection of hair that grows on the chin, cheeks and neck of human beings. Usually, only pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard...

. Neil Connery’s voice is dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...

 by an actor with an American accent. In an interview in Cinema Retro
Cinema Retro
Cinema Retro is an English magazine devoted to "celebrating films of the 1960s & 1970s". Founded in 2005 by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, it is subtitled "the Essential Guide to Cult and Classic Movies"...

, Connery said that he was undergoing medical treatment for appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...

 when voice dubbing of the film was in progress, leading another person to voice his lines in the English version. Although the "kid brother" of the title — who is actually referred to by the name Connery in this film — has little in the way of secret agent skills, he is an expert at hypnotism and archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

 as well as some deadly martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

.

Production

The producer Dario Sabatello read a story of Neil Connery losing his tools during his job as a plasterer
Plasterer
A plasterer is a tradesman who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls...

 in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 and decided to use him to make one of the many imitation James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 Eurospy films that flourished in European cinema at the time. Sabatello also hired many actors who had appeared in the Bond series to support Connery, with Lois Maxwell
Lois Maxwell
Lois Maxwell was a Canadian actress.Maxwell began her film career in the late 1940s, and won a Golden Globe Award for the New Actress of the Year for her performance in That Hagen Girl...

 claiming that she and Bernard Lee
Bernard Lee
John Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...

 were paid more for their roles in this film than their respective roles as Miss Moneypenny and M in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 films. Maxwell claimed that Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...

 was initially upset with her and Lee for allegedly exploiting his brother but later thanked her for supporting Neil. The film also featured Bond girl Daniela Bianchi
Daniela Bianchi
Daniela Bianchi is an Italian actress, whose best known part was Tatiana Romanova in the 1963 James Bond movie From Russia with Love....

 and Bond villains Adolfo Celi
Adolfo Celi
Adolfo Celi was an Italian film actor and director.-Life and career:Born in Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 movies, specializing in international villains. His most famous role was as Emilio Largo in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball...

 and Anthony Dawson
Anthony Dawson
Anthony Dawson was a Scottish-born actor, best known for his supporting roles in British films.Born in Edinburgh, he made his film debut in 1943's They Met in the Dark, going on to appear in such classic British films as The Way to the Stars , The Queen of Spades , and The Wooden Horse , before...

.

Sabatello initially had plans, which subsequently fell through, to star Neil Connery in several spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...

s. When Sean Connery announced he was leaving the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 series, Sabatello offered Neil Connery's services to EON Productions
EON Productions
Eon Productions is a film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom...

 who furiously refused to consider the idea.

OK Connery was essentially designed to profit from the spy craze of the 1960s fueled by the James Bond series of novels and films. In September 1993, as Operation Double 007, it was featured as an episode of movie-mocking television show Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....

.

The film has never been officially released on DVD, though a number of professionally produced bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...

s have appeared on eBay. The soundtrack by Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...

 and Bruno Nicolai
Bruno Nicolai
Bruno Nicolai was an Italian film music composer, orchestra director and musical editor most active in the 1960s through the 1980s...

 was recently released on CD with several cues that weren't heard in the film along with two English and one Italian versions of the title song by Christy. Plans to release the soundtrack album at the time of release were shelved and only 45 rpm recordings of the title song by Christy were released in Europe.

Cast and characters

OK Connery is notable in that a number of actors from the James Bond series appear to play similar characters.

Bernard Lee
Bernard Lee
John Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...

 — Commander Cunningham: Lee played the role of M
M (James Bond)
M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...

 in eleven Bond films, beginning in 1962 with Dr. No
Dr. No (film)
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film, starring Sean Connery; it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...

until 1979’s Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...

.
Lois Maxwell
Lois Maxwell
Lois Maxwell was a Canadian actress.Maxwell began her film career in the late 1940s, and won a Golden Globe Award for the New Actress of the Year for her performance in That Hagen Girl...

 — Miss Maxwell: Lois Maxwell played the role of Miss Moneypenny
Miss Moneypenny
Jane Moneypenny, better known as Miss Moneypenny, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M, who is Bond's boss and head of the British Secret Service...

 in fourteen Bond films from 1962’s Dr. No until 1985’s A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", the film is the fourth Bond film after The Spy Who Loved...

. Maxwell’s character in this film, though superficially similar to Moneypenny, is more proactive, carrying and using a submachine gun, and at one point abducting another character by force.
Daniela Bianchi
Daniela Bianchi
Daniela Bianchi is an Italian actress, whose best known part was Tatiana Romanova in the 1963 James Bond movie From Russia with Love....

 — Maya: Bianchi portrayed Tatiana Romanova
Tatiana Romanova
Tatiana Romanova is a fictional character in the James Bond novel, film, and video game From Russia with Love. She is played by Daniela Bianchi in the movie. According to William F...

, a Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...

 in the second James Bond film, From Russia with Love
From Russia with Love (film)
From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond spy film series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1963, the film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the...

.
Adolfo Celi
Adolfo Celi
Adolfo Celi was an Italian film actor and director.-Life and career:Born in Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 movies, specializing in international villains. His most famous role was as Emilio Largo in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball...

 — Thayer (Beta): Adolfo Celi portrayed Emilio Largo
Emilio Largo
Emilio Largo is a fictional character and the main antagonist from the James Bond novel Thunderball. In the novel he is depicted, according to the British stereotypes about Italians, as a large, heavyset, olive-skinned, powerful man exuding animal charm, with the profile of a Roman emperor, and...

 in 1965’s Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...

.
Anthony Dawson
Anthony Dawson
Anthony Dawson was a Scottish-born actor, best known for his supporting roles in British films.Born in Edinburgh, he made his film debut in 1943's They Met in the Dark, going on to appear in such classic British films as The Way to the Stars , The Queen of Spades , and The Wooden Horse , before...

 — Alpha: Anthony Dawson played two roles in the James Bond films, the first being Professor Dent in Dr. No. He later took on the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and is arguably...

 in both From Russia with Love and Thunderball, but only Dawson’s hands were seen in these films.

The film also featured Ana María Noé as Lotte Krayendorf, who strongly resembled Lotte Lenya
Lotte Lenya
Lotte Lenya was an Austrian singer, diseuse, and actress. In the German-speaking and classical music world she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language film she is remembered for her Academy Award-nominated role in The Roman Spring of Mrs...

's portrayal of Rosa Klebb
Rosa Klebb
Colonel Rosa Klebb is a fictional character and the main antagonist from the James Bond film and novel From Russia with Love. She was played by Lotte Lenya in the film version...

 in From Russia With Love
From Russia with Love (film)
From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond spy film series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1963, the film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the...

.
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