Is The Nude Bomb Treasure or Trash?

Blu-ray Distributed By Kino Lorber / December 10, 2019

Join Don Adams as Maxwell Smart (aka Agent 86) of the original Get Smart TV series in The Nude Bomb! Agent 86 is assigned to battle an evil villain who is threatening to drop a “nude bomb” capable of destroying all the fabric in the world. With only 48 hours, some voluptuous assistants, and his questionable spy skills to help him, Maxwell Smart certainly has his hands full trying to save the world from severe nakedness. Directed by Clive Donner (What’s New Pussycat?) and featuring a hilarious cast that includes Sylvia Kristel (Emmanuelle), Rhonda Fleming (Inferno), Dana Elcar (The Sting), Pamela Hensley (Rollerball), Norman Lloyd (Saboteur) and Vittorio Gassman (Big Deal on Madonna Street). The Nude Bomb is a hilarious spoof that is sure to leave you in stitches!

Jamie’s Take  (3.5 / 5)

“Missed it by that much.” 

Well, maybe not. I actually really like this return of secret agent Maxwell Smart from the 1960’s T.V. series Get Smart. While it may have been a box-office dud in 1980, the return of the beloved T.V. character in his first (and sadly only) feature film is a pretty decent comedy, still holding up after 40 years since it’s release in May of 1980.

I grew up watching Get Smart re-runs after school along with Batman and Star Trek. I got a kick out of the James Bond spoof with this bumbling secret agent who never cracks a smile and was always so sure of himself. I actually first heard of Don Adams and his Maxwell Smart character on an old Scooby-Doo T.V. episode and fell in love with this character. There is no question that Maxwell Smart inspired the Leslie Nielsen character of Lt. Frank Drebin on the T.V. show Police Squad and the more successful The Naked Gun trilogy. While The Nude Bomb is nowhere near as funny as The Naked Gun films, it still made me laugh more than a few times.

While the original title (and in some TV prints) was called The Return of Maxwell Smart, the theatrical release was called The Nude Bomb as the producers thought more people would see the film with this title. In fact the movie poster shows Maxwell Smart popping his head out of some cleavage, thus enforcing the silly title.

I first saw the film on T.V. and caught the title in the TV Guide which blew me away. “There’s a movie called The Nude Bomb?!?” My pre-pubescent mind went apeshit, thinking I was going to see some movie where bombs are going off making people’s clothes fly off with boobs and butts on display. What I didn’t know was that it was PG and the nudity is done (unfortunately) tastefully. Would you believe…? 

For those who have no idea what Get Smart is and only know of the Steve Carrell remake (which was surprisingly not bad) the movie is about our favorite secret agent being pulled back into service as there is a super villain named Chaos who has bombs that can destroy fabric, thus threatening to make the world nude. That’s your plot. If that doesn’t make you laugh or smile or giggle, you won’t like The Nude Bomb. This is pure slaptick stupid humor and frankly, that’s how I like my comedies. I like my comedies…well, funny. I don’t need dramatic moments. The greatest comedies in my opinion ever made was Airplane, The Naked Gun, Blazing Saddles, and Caddyshack. I also have no shame in admitting I am a big Police Academy fan so you dear readers now have an idea what makes me laugh or what I find humorous.

The Nude Bomb does have some great gags with Maxwell having a desk car or shooting bad guys inside Universal Studios where he confronts Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. The “shushcopter” is so dumb but made me laugh to the point where I went back to see it again. Adams is absolutely hilarious to me and for every joke that is not funny or goes on too long (there are a few of those) there is another joke that follows that works. If I was going to complain, I would say that a few of the original characters from the TV series don’t make an appearance or are even mentioned. New viewers won’t be bothered by this but for us Get Smart fans, it’s odd not seeing at the very least Barbara Feldon. I also thought they could have made the cloning machine sequence at the very end of the movie funnier. Seems like they missed some opportunities there. Again, not all of the jokes work but one would hope the climax of the film would be a laugh-riot (while the one joke that made me burst out laughing was in a way copied in the second Austin Powers film).

Kino’s blu ray looks lovely and seeing this old film in HD for the first time looks fantastic. No complaints from me here, this transfer is great and I’m loving it. The blu ray has an abundant amount of special features with two commentary tracks (the one with Alan Spencer is far better), deleted and extended scenes, trailers, etc.

If you like dumb, stupid, silly humor and enjoy slapstick spoofs – check out The Nude Bomb. You won’t be sorry.

Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?

Jamie says: Hidden Treasure!

Jamie's Take:	(3.5 / 5)
Blu-ray Extras:	(4.5 / 5)
Average:	(4.0 / 5)

• Special Features: 
  • Audio Commentary by Sledge Hammer! Creator Alan Spencer
  • Audio Commentary by Film Historian and Film Critic Peter Tonguette
  • Deleted/Extended and Alternative Dialogue Scenes
  • Textless Opening/Closing Credits
  • TRAILERS FROM HELL with Alan Spencer
  • Behind-the-Scenes/Promotional Image Galleries
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Radio Spot