James Bond in film Deighton together with Sean Connery to work on a script. The script ran into difficulties after accusations from Eon Productions that the project had gone beyond copyright restrictions, which confined McClory to a film based on the "Thunderball" novel only, and once again the project was deferred. Towards the end of the 1970s developments were reported on the project under the name "James Bond of the Secret Service", but then producer Jack Schwartzman became involved and cleared a number of the legal issues that still surrounded the project and licensed the rights from McClory. With Connery still committed to the
O.K. Connery contemporary reviews, Bosley Crowther writing for "The New York Times" referred to the film as "a wobbly carbon copy of the James Bond thrillers" "Variety" described the film as so "unbelievably inept", that "many viewers may find it hilarious fun." The "Monthly Film Bulletin" stated that "O.K. Connery" was a "grotesque parody of a parody" noting endless allusions to Neil Connery's brother Sean Connery. The review concluded that "the film as a whole is bad enough to be hysterically funny." "The Cleveland Press" referred to the film as a "dreary and dismal espionage movie" stating that the film lacked the