Ben Hecht's contribution to the project, if not the final result, was in fact substantial and he wrote several complete drafts. "Time" magazine reported in May 1966 that Hecht had "three bashes" at completing a script, while his papers contain material from four surviving screenplays by Hecht. His treatments were almost entirely "straight" adaptations, far closer to the original source novel than the spoof which the final production became. A draft from 1957 discovered in Hecht's papers – but which does not identify the screenwriter – is a direct adaptation of the novel, albeit with the Bond character absent, instead being replaced by a poker-playing American gangster.