1980 #50 - The Nude Bomb

GENIOUS!
Is a word I'd use to describe the original Get Smart! TV show. Unfortunately, The Nude Bomb doesn't even come close.

I won't be too worried about giving away any spoilers in this post because, well, I don't think there's enough of a plot here to give away.
The story follows Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) as he tries to stop KAOS from bombing the world with bombs that will make everyone nude. And that's about it.

The film starts out with some decent puns and one-liners, but soon falls into a cheesy action comedy. Don Adams is great, even with sub-par writing. He seemlessly picks up the role from ten years ago, and nothing ever seems forced from him. His comedic timing is perfect, like most of his work.

The rest of the cast was okay, but you definitely miss having Barbara Feldman as Agent 99. They bring in a few girls to replace her part for the movie but the main character is 22. I'm not sure who's daughter Andrea Howard is, but she should not have been given this role. She simply can not act. While the film was filled with a number of small smiles and maybe even a chucke, the only time I laughed out loud was seeing Howard's attempt to act surprised by the revealing of the bad guy. I think I may have to find a clip of that somewhere to post.

My hope to revisit the original TV show with this movie could not be satiated. The biggest fault, besides falling flat n the laughs, seemed to be a lack of new gadgets. The show always did a great job of coming up with worthless gadgets, and this movie seemed to recycle a few and come up with nothing original.


The Verdict:
2 stars (out of 5)
Don Adams saved this film from being completely worthless, but just barely.

Awards:
Nominated for Razzie – Worst Movie
Agree. This is definitely on my short list for worst movie of the year. I hope the year gets better.

Memorable moments and quotes:
Talking about the desk-car
Caruthers: “Be sure to change drawers every 6,000 miles.”
Max: “Mine or the desk's.”
Caruthers: “Depends on who's chasing you.”

Norman Saint Sauvage: “Your bogus ingenousness is straining my equanimity.”
Max: “Could you put that another way?”
Norman Saint Sauvage: “You're Pissing Me Off!”

The clone fight scene.
This scene was pretty well done. Max and Sauvage keep multiplying as they go through an instant clone machine until the entire room is filled with pairs of them fighting each other. It was pretty funny when a child came through as one of Max's clones, too, and he had to send him back in.

Box Office:
Flop
I am guessing this was a flop. I couldn't find the budget, but my guess is it was higher than the 14.6 million it brought in. I can see why this flopped. Probably grabbed people trying to relive the television show, like myself. But my guess is bad reviews killed most of the momentum for it.

Overall:
Unless you feel the need to see everything Don Adams has ever done, leave this one alone. It may also be worth a watch if you come across it late one night after heavy drinking. Alcohol would have made this much funnier I'm sure.