SPOILERS ahead!
You have been warned.
I watched the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice last night on Hulu, basically to see the performance of Donald Pleasence as Ernst Stavro Blofeld who was parodied as Dr. Evil by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers movies.
I had no clue what I was getting into. Had I seen the movie before? Possibly when it was in theaters, but I was only 11 at the time. Maybe later somewhere? But I have no memory of seeing it before.
Perhaps my conscious memory was protecting me, having blocked out this dreadful film. Yes, Pleasance did a fine acting job, but didn’t appear until halfway through the movie and had only maybe 10 minutes of screen time.
Other than a memorable showing by Pleasance, it’s Just So Bad. Perhaps not on the level of Plan 9 From Outer Space, but it’s one of those movies where you really have to wonder How did they ever think this was a good idea? A piece of crap script by Roald Dahl (an otherwise gifted writer, albeit a loathsome person). Absurdly sexist, even by the standards of sixties Bond films. Sean Connery disguised as a Japanese bridegroom??? For a wedding that did nothing to advance the plot? Four helicopters armed with machine guns can’t shoot down Bond’s little copter even though they’re behind him and all four are firing on him?
Add to that huge plot holes and jaw-dropping continuity errors. Not long into the movie, it becomes a train wreck. But you can’t stop watching it.
As awful as it is, if you’ve got Hulu (or perhaps another streaming service depending on what country you live in) go ahead and watch it, ideally with adult beverages at the ready. Laugh at it, groan, wonder why James Bond gets ninja training, and marvel at how 007 just happens to have suction cup knee pads at the ready when most needed.
Don’t read the trivia and goofs pages at IMDB.com until after having watched it.
True fact: I have downplayed just how bad the movie is.
You have been warned.
Movie poster from Wilkipedia