Could there ever be a bigger icon of male sexuality in the film world than British secret service agent James Bond? He basically defined the sophisticated, tough, smart, sexy “ladies man” of action that has made nearly every man envious for over half the 20th Century (and still going strong into the 21st as well.) And with an icon as big as Agent 007 could there ever be a better target for comedy?
Everybody from David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen (Casino Royale), Don Adams (Maxwell Smart), James Coburn (Derek Flint), Dean Martin (Matt Helm), Mike Meyers (Austin Powers), Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English) and many others have been fairly successful with their Bond parodies. So now here’s one from Emmanuelle producer Alain Siritzky and director Rolfe Kanefsky and would you believe it’s right up there with the flicks I just mentioned? (I’ll even take it over some of those Matt Helm movies.)
Times are tough for the British Secret Service. They’ve had to cut costs and downsize their staff at a disturbing rate. So Rod Steele has to meet his boss in some back alley and only gets one gadget for his mission. His mission and the plot of Balls Of Thunder goes like this: Rod is sent to Europe to stop Ms. Tangerina (De’Ann Power) a devious rich woman from taking over the world with her cloning device.
En route to Europe his gadget and Dr. Fez’s Clicker device get mixed up and switched at the airport. So Fez chases after Steele to get his Clicker back. Along the way sexual situations occur (who knew?) Okay fine, now why is this film so good?
For starters, the film knows its subject and parodies it well. Agent 007 is spoofed to perfection by Agent 0014 Rod Steele (Robert Donovan). Donovan is basically imitating Sean Connery era Bond and doing a damn good job of it. How Rod can be so cocky, dumb and suave all at the same time is beyond me. Even more funny than that Rod has virtually NO sex in this film until the VERY end when he and Agent 0013 finally get together. The opening credits and song for Balls Of Thunder are also hilarious.
Second, the cast is an attractive mixture of new and old. It’s always great seeing Jacqueine Lovell (this time playing Tangerina’s devious, sexy henchwoman), Gabriella Hall (as a belly dancer) and Kira Reed ( in an unbilled cameo as a telephone operator).
But check out Sita Thompson as Steele’s partner Agent 0013 and Delphine Pacific as Ms. Moneypenny parody Ms. Pennyworth. Both are talented, hot and funny and I hope to see more of them in the future (in fact, Sita has a hot scene in Legally Exposed).
Third, while the sex and comedy are mixed closer together in this film they STILL work better than they did in Sex, Lies and Politics and Legally Exposed . Both those later films sure could’ve used director Rolfe Kanefsky’s expert touch.
Now what about the sex? Thankfully, most of the scenes are good. My personal highlights here are Pennyworth’s scene at the airport bar/lounge, Agent 0013′s scene at the brothel and Rod and 0013′s shower scene at the very end.
And of course, the pure hell that is the 360-degrees-Merry-Go- Round-”Lovecam”-camera shot during some of the sex scenes retuns to make sure we’re not having too much fun. With Click Studios gone bankrupt this is probably the last ride for the Clicker device (if you care, this was the 2nd film released but is actually the 4th story sequenced after the other 3 “Click” films I’ve reviewed).
But STILL Balls Of Thunder and The Ultimate Attraction are THE BEST in the “Click” series so far. Kanefsky’s directing and writing, the talented cast and the spicy (and sometimes comedic) sex on hand are just too good to miss.
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