Fighting the Food Fight - the James Bond movie that caused a riot
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(Credits: Far Out / United Artists Releasing)
The James Bond movie that caused a riot with free food
Mon 22 July 2024 14:30, UK
Movies can often cause strong emotional reactions in audiences, both positive and negative. Throughout film history, viewers have been shocked, overjoyed, heartbroken, and angered by the events of the silver screen. Back in 1967, however, one unsuspecting film proved to be so emotionally affecting that it caused a full-scale riot in the American city of Boston, leading to widespread destruction and multiple arrests.
After the intense success of the James Bond franchise during the early 1960s, in which Sean Connery embodied the Ian Fleming character in works like Dr. No and Goldfinger with his usual charm and wit, spin-offs were something of an inevitability. In 1967, however, another production house had the idea of creating a Bond film, entirely separate from the cinematic world of the Cubby Broccoli productions.
Featuring an ensemble cast consisting of Woody Allen, David Niven, Peter Sellers and even Ursula Andress – a bonafide Bond girl of the Connery films – Casino Royale was a spoof of the spy genre, loosely based on Fleming’s Bond novel of the same name. The film was divisive among fans of the character, and its popularity certainly did not live up to the colossal success of the Broccoli-produced films. Worse than bad reviews, though, a screening of the movie in Boston soon became the scene of a riot.
Admittedly, the riot that ensued during the Savoy Theater’s screening of the James Bond spoof Casino Royale was caused largely by severe mismanagement by the theatre rather than the content of the film itself. In a misguided attempt to bring more people into the cinema, Colombia Pictures publicist John Markle conjured up a promotional offer in which attendees wearing trench coats would be granted free admission to the film, along with free food and drink.
While Markle was successful in his aim to bring more people to the 2am premiere of the film, he grossly underestimated the allure of free food. Over 15,000 people showed up, most of them students from the nearby colleges in Boston. Obviously, the Savoy Theatre was unable to house all of these hungry youths, and so many of them missed out on their opportunity to watch Casino Royale with refreshments free of charge. A mixture of anger and hunger soon set in, and a full-scale riot developed outside the screening.
In the ensuing chaos, around 30 people were injured, and 15 arrests were made. The exact figures of police on the scene are unclear, but it is thought that the majority of Boston’s police force were in attendance to calm the crowds. On top of that, those who managed to get inside the theatre were then unable to watch the James Bond spoof, as multiple fires were set off inside the Savoy, causing the sprinkler system to soak attendees – although, luckily, most of them had trench coats.
Needless to say, the free food promotion was never again enacted at Boston’s Savoy Theatre. Casino Royale went on to be a modest success, despite the violence in Boston, but those of you who have seen the Sellers film can confirm that, as far as films go, it certainly is not one that is worth rioting for.