Casino Royale Details

It is perhaps wise not to think of this unwieldy spy caper as a James Bond movie at all. Though nominally based on Ian Fleming's first 007 novel (originally a 1954 TV show starring Barry Nelson), it is in actual fact a proto-Austin Powers spoof, in which David Niven's retired Bond rounds up assorted 007 agents (among them Ursula Andress and Peter Sellers) to avenge the death of “M” (John Huston). A surfeit of screenwriters (eight, including Billy Wilder) and directors (five, including Huston) lends the whole a chaotic, disjointed air, but there is much fun to be had along the way. In the all-star cast, Orson Welles plays villain Le Chiffre and Woody Allen appears as James's neurotic nephew, Jimmy.

Woeful all-star kaleidoscope, a way-out spoof which generates far fewer laughs than the original. One of the most shameless wastes of time and talent in screen history.