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1970s The Golden Age of the Car Chase Movie (plus lead in 1960s and fade out 1980s)
Reviews
Le spie amano i fiori (1966)
From Superseven With Flowers
Mannix clone Roger Browne returns as Martin Stevens, this time sporting a posh English accent, rather than a gauche American one (only kidding), at least in the dubbed version I watched.
This is the second of Umberto Lenzi's collaborations with Browne ("Last Man To Kill" would be the 3rd) and improves on the first, by having a plot that is a somewhat of a departure from the usual Eurospy template, making it more intriguing.
Roger has just returned from retrieving a stolen McGuffin, but is immediately sent back out to again to murder 3 people, only one of whom is actually guilty of memorising vital information about said McGuffin. Roger initially shows some reluctance to kill apparently innocent men in cold blood, but eventually he gives in and accepts that orders are orders and there is no room for fair play or sentimentality in the spy business.
This got my attention and I was looking forward to seeing how they would handle the moral dilemma of Roger killing an unsuspecting and possibly innocent person in cold blood, however it never comes to that, as it turns out the three men are all professional assassins themselves, and they all seem to be aware that Roger is coming, and try to kill him first. So Roger can claim self-defence and rest easy with clear conscience. On the other hand, after the third near fatal encounter, Roger begins to smell a rat and becomes suspicious that everything is not as he had been led to believe...
Exotic locations visited via the wonders of Stock footage include Madrid (for the initial recovery mission), London (for debrief and reassignment) and Paris (first assassin), before we move on to actual shooting locations, Geneva (second assassin) and Athens (third assassin and the rest of the mission).
There are a colourful assortment of henchmen, including Spaghetti stalwarts such as Fernando Cebrian (with the musketeer beard), Sal Borghese (with the chin dimple) and Claudio Biava (the balding blond). Of the beautiful women, Emma Danieli is engaging and feisty as the photo journalist inadvertently caught up in the espionage machinations, Pilar Clemens is particularly sensual as the "Moneypenny" and Yuko Tani adds the archetypal inscrutable oriental touch. Daniell Vargas and Marino Mase are also effective in their roles.
The same level of technical competence is on display as in the original "Superseven" film, briskly paced, with a good mix of action interspersed with conversation, and with a soundtrack that supports the onscreen action rather than undermining it.
The henchmen in goggles and the strange red light from "Superseven" (that make anyone without the googles pass out), make a second appearance, apropos of nothing. I mean I like the goggles gimmick, as they look creepy, but they just bare no relation or relevance to anything else in either movie.
Roger doesn't have as much luck with the woman as he did on his previous outing though, he actually turns down Pilar, because work comes first, then he runs into another old girlfriend from a previous mission, but she gets knocked off before he can rekindle that relationship, and Chinese agent Yoko also departs, just as she is succumbing to Rogers charms. However he and Emma do get together in the rom-com epilogue and this time there are no interruptions. I'm not sure if the dialogue was actually any better or if it was just the new posh accent that made Roger seem more suave, but the final scene also felt like an improvement on the previous edition.
Above average this time around.
Superseven chiama Cairo (1965)
Mediocre Five Calling
Roger Browne is another Eurospy "heavyweight", making 6 films which can be considered part of the Eurospy genre in a general sense. "Operation Poker", "Password - Kill Agent Gordon", "Rififi In Amsterdam", "Last Man To Kill" and two as secret agent "Martin Stevens", "The Spy Who Loved Flowers" and this one.
Although all the Eurospies I seen have been romantically inclined, none of them has come close to challenging the alpha male bedroom exploits of Sean Connery era James Bond, in fact most of them are lucky if they manage to bed even a single lady over the course of a movie. That changes here, as when we are introduced to Roger, he is already in bed with a female of the species and, soon after, he kills her with his trusty fountain pen gun (before she can shoot him). Ten minutes in and he's bedding his second, after the obligatory "what are you doing in my room" scene. He's busy working on his third prospect when he comes across an old girlfriend, so he has to forgo a possible reunion there. However the third one never quite works out for him, so he comes up short of attaining the level of sexual prowess achieved by Connery-Bond or Moore-Bond (usually 2 or 3, occasionally as high as 4)
I think Roger is the first pipe smoking "International Man of Mystery" I've come across, but alas, it has no alternative function. However he does have a radio transmitter in his shaver, in addition to the trusty pen gun, both of which get plenty of use over the course of the movie.
This a polished production, sturdy and dependable, but somehow uninspired, missing some spark of energy which allows the better Eurospys to punch above their weight. The dialogue is functional but lacking any particular wit or sophistication. They have an occasional stab at "Avengers" style whimsy (with the Napoleonic mannequins) or "Swinging 60s Psychedelia" (when the henchmen put on swimming goggles and overpower Roger with infra-red light in some unexplained way) but those moments seem out of place with the rest of the film, which is a bit more "grounded".
The McGuffin is a sample of a newly discovered element called "Baltonium", which was hidden inside a camera lens, that has accidently been passed on to an unsuspecting tourist, while in the process of being smuggled.
There are plenty of exotic locations on show. Stock footage takes us to Paris (for the prologue), London (for mission assignment and fight training), Cairo (for all the expected spy movie activities), Locarno, on Lake Maggiore (in lieu of the Riviera) and finally Rome (although, in fact, none of the outdoor events in "Rome" take place in the historic city centre). I think the production probably did actually pay a visit Cairo and the lake in order to supplement the stock footage.
The casting provides a decent villain with a suitable array of distinctive henchmen and beautiful women.
Action arrives at suitable intervals, but is more enthusiastic than well-choreographed. The music performs its function, supporting the mood of onscreen events. However the ending is a bit of a disappointment. The villains' boat breaking down out of the blue, for no good reason, is very lame. The rom-com epilogue is clunky, like much of the rest of the movie.
Overall this is competent but unremarkable.
Tecnica di una spia (1966)
Target Goldseven aka Spy Technique
Tony Russell looks a bit like Rock Hudson and only ever made one Eurospy, which is a bit of a pity, as I think he's better than many.
The movie seems to have been put together by ticking off a check list of scenes from James Bond movies, which comes as no surprise, it just seems a little more obvious in this one, but that's not necessarily a drawback.
Only 13 seconds into the movie the audience is given an indication as to what sort of budget they have to work with, when the observer on the bridge of a freighter calls out "small boat dead a head", followed by a shot of what is, very obviously, a model boat bobbing and burning on a pond, a small boat indeed! Fortunately there are not too many other instances when they feel the need to adopt quite such a threadbare "special" effect.
In fact the next several scenes are well put together and much more promising. The villains high-jack a shipment of some type of uranium, killing all the crew, and bring the freighter back to their private island, equipped with interesting underground lair (reminiscent of Dr No). Supervillain Conrad San Martin, equipped with a cravat / ascot, has a multitude of henchmen, dressed in matching black skivvies and trousers, and a lab full of scientists, where a man is tied to a table with a large beam weapon angled down toward him (reminiscent of Sean Connery in Goldfinger). Sadly the weapon itself is never seen in action, either to dispose of the agent on the table now (it happens off screen), nor when Tony is tied to it later (budget constraints again).
Via the magic of stock footage, we fly over New York City and find Tony on a luxury golf-course flirting with a woman. Tony's boss arrives in a Roller to interrupt him and sends him off to find the missing uranium. Next stop is the Copenhagen docks, but the stock footage shows the San Francisco Bay Bridge in the background. However the sign on the warehouse door definitely says "Copenhagen" so who am I to argue. The warehouse is also clearly in a marina, not on the docks, as we can see private pleasure craft outside, up on the hard to be cleaned, not commercial trawlers. However there is nothing wrong with the action scene that ensues, so all is forgiven.
More stock footage takes us to Lisbon, Portugal. We get down to business in the modernist hotel, where Tony first encounters "International Woman of Mystery" Erica Blanc, in the "what are you doing in my room scene", and comes under surveillance by the sinister assassin Fernando Cebrian. This is another sequence in the movie which is very nicely done, the chemistry and interplay between the two seems of a higher quality than in most Eurospy, perhaps the dialogue is bit better, or perhaps its Tony's acting or perhaps it's just because I personally find him more "Bond-like" than most.
Then there's another well-choreographed fight with a henchman, involving pseudo karate moves. I particularly enjoyed the moment when Tony, after being thrown across the room and over the back of a chair, picks himself up and takes the time straighten his lapels and brush off his suit jacket before returning to the fray.
Later, in the nightclub scene, Tony is introduced to Franco Cobianchi, who plays the Portuguese equivalent of Mathis or Felix Leiter, and has some clever gadgets of his own. Time for a car chase and shootout, during which evil Fernando is captured. One of the aspects of this film I most enjoyed was the way they struck a nice balance in intermingling the action with the glamour and dialogue.
Franco also has an attractive female operative, who has infiltrated Conrad's luxury coastal mansion. He and Tony are able to listen in for a while, until she inevitably gets found out and is a killed, by way of a small poisonous eel. So now Tony has to put on a disguise and go in himself. The villains plan involves threatening to use an atomic accelerator to kill anyone who won't pay up for an immunising serum. There's also another secret organisation up the line who call themselves "The Snakes", however we never learn anything more about them (perhaps they were being saved for a sequel which was never made?)
The film continues along in a very satisfactory manner, apart from a motorcycle chase which begins in the dark and suddenly switches to daylight, until eventually Tony heads out alone in a fizz boat to invade the island lair single handed. However he doesn't get far (spotted through a "Dr No-like" underwater window) and ends up tied to the table with the radiation beam weapon pointing at him. This proves to be a bit of a drawback, as Tony spends most of the finale tied to the table, when he should be up and about, kicking ass.
Next Franco and his valiant men arrive, in their own fizz boats, apparently dressed as waiters (at least that is what their white jacket with black trouser ensembles reminded me of). Some also approach the island in scuba gear (a la Thunderball). The customary "Battle Royal" ensues, but poor old Tony remains tied to the table through all of it.
As is also customary, evil Conrad forgoes the obvious option of shooting Tony in the head from point blank range, in favour of setting a timer switch for the radiation weapon and departing. Eventually Erica shows her true colours and turns it off. So this time we get a reversal of the "customary" gender roles, with Tony as the helpless "damsel in distress" tied to the railroad tracks, and Erica gets to save the day (With an assist from her friend Antonio Pica).
Conrad manages to escape in a fizz boat, with Franco and his merry men in hot pursuit. Later Tony and Erica also join the fray, and Conrad is disposed of in suitable fashion, although the choreography of the ultimate struggle between Tony and Conrad proves to be "a bridge too far" for the stunt team budget and is staged in a very unconvincing fashion.
During the flight home it looks like Tony and Erica are going to get together, but she slips him a Micky-Finn and gets off the plane while Tony is asleep. When he wakes up the air-hostess tells him "she was a Russian lady". Not exactly the way it turned out for Roger Moore and Barbara Bach then.
Overall I found this to be rather enjoyable, for the moset pat the script was decent, the cast were decent, the mix of action and talking was good, the music was fine, but sadly the budgetary constraints let it down at times, leading to some frustrating and jarring lapses in quality.
Assignment K (1968)
Assignment Zzzzzzzzzzz... I mean "K"
Imagine a James Bond movie without 95% of the action, or a Hitchcock movie without 95% of the tension and suspense, and you have "Assignment K".
This is a polished "A" grade production which fails to grasp the fundamental principles of the genre it is working in.
In the first third of the film, affable Stephen Boyd romances the beautiful Camilla Sparv around the ski fields and Gashauses of Kitzbuhel, while various interested parties watch them, and otherwise pass microfilm around amongst themselves. And that's it. No chases, on foot or by car, no dramatic confrontations of any sort. The tradecraft on display is nice, but it's just not enough.
Things pick up a bit after that, with Camilla being abducted by the villains, but the soundtrack is not helping things along, being either non-existent or overdoing the cocktail jazz aspect, at the expense of helping to generate any suspense or tension.
The villains want to pressure Stephen into revealing the other members of his information smuggling network, however, before Stephen swept her off her feet, we know Camilla was socialising with "Rolphie", a man who we have subsequently seen exchanging glances with, and participating in surveillance activities for, the villains, therefore, as seasoned spy movie fans, we must give some consideration to the possibility that Camilla could be a "honey trap". Stephen's London handler, Michael Redgrave, tell Stephen she's been cleared by security, but somehow I remained unconvinced. On the way out the door, Stephen himself remarks, "Oh, thanks, not that it matters anymore, I've lost interest". At this point viewers may find themselves wholeheartedly agreeing with him.
Leo McKern makes for a memorable villain and if you look in the dictionary under "henchman", you'll find a picture of Jeremy Kemp (you may also find him if you look up "German Officer"). John Alderton also makes an impression as an undercover courier, as does Jane Merrow as the female henchperson. However Michael Redgrave seems wasted in his role as the "MI6" handler, stuck in a bare office.
Despite having a double twist ending, the movie never really takes off or manages to cause the heartrate to increase, so the downbeat ending seems entirely fitting.
Furia a Marrakech (1966)
Death Pays In Dollars aka Permission To Kill
Once upon a time in the 1960s a handsome young Canadian with no discernible acting ability called Stephen Forsyth, arrived in Europe seeking spaghetti movie stardom. His career lasted 10 movies before he gave up and returned to his homeland, where he enjoyed greater success as a photographer and composer. In 1983 he even composed a theme song for Sean Connery's James Bond comeback movie "Never Say Never Again" (sung by Phyllis Hyman), however it was rejected.
This movie stands as a tribute to the ingenuity of the human spirit and a demonstration of what can be achieved even with a shoe string budget. Some productions that have small budgets manage to disguise that limitation in such a way that the audience hardly notices, this is not one of those. The lack of money is always glaringly obvious, yet I can't help but admire the effort.
The story, such as it is, revolves around a stash of Nazi era counterfeit dollars and pounds, which are so good no-one can tell them from the real thing. The villains have got hold of it and plan to make a bundle disseminating it. Dominique Boschero steals some of it from them and begins passing notes at the World's Fair in New York. Her activity is spotted by the CIA, who decide to assign Stephen, their least experienced agent, to the case (that's not a typo, they assign their "least" experienced operative). Later, better known performers, veteran French actor Jack Ary and former Bond girl Mitsouko, turn up to help him out, in significant supporting roles, and boy does he need helping out, being one of the more inept secret agents I've come across.
The alluring "Mitsouko" was a model of French / Chinese ethnicity, who also had a brief career as an actress, mainly in Eurospy movies and generally in very minor parts. She appeared in "Mission Bloody Mary" with Ken Clark, "Code Name Jaguar" with Ray Danton, "Thunderball" with Sean Connery, "Challenge The Killers" with Richard Harrison and "Z7 Operation Rembrandt" with Lang Jeffries, but this is the by far the largest role she ever got the opportunity to play, as attractive rival agent and ally, who gets plenty of screen time and action, most of it involving skiing, and memorably includes wearing a belt holding sticks of dynamite, which she throws at chasing villains causing havoc. This also turned out to be her Swan-song on the screen. Presumably she went back to modelling.
And so away we go, from Guadeloupe, to the New York World's Fair, to Marrakesh, Morocco, and finally on to the slopes of the Matterhorn outside Zermatt, Switzerland. The one thing this movie is not short of is exotic locations, which are all quite well utilised (perhaps that's what used up most of the budget).
The director achieves mixed results in his attempts to hide the lack of quality fight choreography, by the use of editing. Also foot chase scenes are clearly of the actors gently jogging through busy locations among the general public, who are unaware what is going on. Car chases are also filmed slowly and then "cranked" a bit, in order to create the illusion of speed, with only some minor side to side bumping of the vehicles. One shed is demolished by driving through it early in the film and later one car is rolled off a cliff and blown up. More often the real vehicles are substituted with mock-ups before cutting to explosions. During the finale further editing is used to create the illusion of an aerial duel between a plane and a helicopter, but the technique is often amateurish and clumsy.
The script is complete nonsense, with more holes than Swiss Emmental cheese, but now and again a random scene pops up that may contain some entertainment value for the viewer. One of these highlights is the extended "Q Branch" scene, which is of the "so bad it's good" variety.
As Stephen enters the room a man in a lab coat is launching firework rockets, which give off showers of sparks as they wobble through the air, at some human silhouette targets. Laster (i.e. "Q") is up on some scaffolding testing a balloon harness which can be inflated instantaneously and acts like a parachute. He then proceeds to demonstrate a pen which fires a heat seeking missile around corners (in reality another firework skyrocket, which ricochets of a door and down into the floor), a car with a flame thrower in the exhaust pipe, a more compact flame thrower in a cigarette lighter, a radio capsule for a tooth, which you use to communicate by clicking your teeth to make Morse code (but the same tooth also contains cyanide, so don't bite down too hard!), bullets that contain radio transmitters, a shoe that contains a bomb in the heal and a missile in the toe, and, best of all, an infrared viewer that somehow allows you to see though surface coverings (such as women's dresses) in order to reveal the presence of objects of interest beneath. All credit to the screenwriter for also managing devise opportunities for Stephen to deploy most of these items later, during the course of his mission.
The musical theme is also worth noting, boisterous and memorable, suitable for a spoof movie, which is probably what this film is trying to be, although deliberate humour is hard to spot in amongst the unintentional mirth. The standard of acting is such that everyone appears to be playing things straight and serious most of the time. The epilogue is definitely meant to be funny, but is so unconnected to anything that has gone before that it is more bemusing than amusing.
This one is only to those enjoy sifting for tiny granules of obscure pleasure amongst the dross.
Banco à Bangkok pour OSS 117 (1964)
Dr Sinn aka All Bets Are Off In Bangkok
Those are both just alternative titles I made up. The original French title is "Banco a Bangkok pour" and looking up the different possible contextually dependant meanings of the word "banco" I decided on the one above. On the other hand "Dr Sinn" is the name of the main villain and could have been used as the title, in imitation of "Dr No". "Cardinal Sinn" would have been even better, but as he actually existed in the real World (representing the Phillippines) that would be inappropriate.
OSS-117 takes the form of Kerwin Mathews in this one, the first to be shot in colour.
Bangkok is the first exotic location for OSS-117 outside of France, an indication of increasing popularity reflected in the budget? No shortage of colourful locations to choose from here. One thing that struck me as a bit odd though, was the lack of traffic on the city streets, the Bangkok I have visited was always bustling and crowded with traffic, shoulder to shoulder and bumper to bumper. Perhaps that wasn't the image the local government wanted to present to the outside World back then?
The Villain and his followers feel that mankind is destroying the planet with nuclear energy, pollution etc. And the only way to stop them is to wipe them all out, using bubonic plague, apart from a worthy few (selected by themselves of course) who will get the antidote. An evil scheme which still resonates today, possibly more so?
OSS-117 is always cool, calm and collected, with a dash of dry wit, and Kerwin plays this aspect of the character very well, probably better than Fred Stafford. The screenplay does a good job of allowing him to demonstrate his "trade craft" and careful, calculating nature.
Perhaps a bit too calculating in one early scene? Kerwin jumps in a taxi and some of the villains henchmen follow, with the idea of strafing the taxi with machine gun fire. Kerwin spots them and decides to lose them by jumping out of the taxi after it goes around a corner. But before doing that he gives the driver some extra money and instructs him to drive on as fast as he can after Kerwin decamps. Kerwin roles out the door and takes cover. The baddies drive past, continue their pursuit, strafe the vehicle, killing the driver and crashing the car. Kerwin then catches lift with a passing truck, and as they pass the site of the crash they stop and look at the wreck, where locals are standing around (and there is no sign that the driver has survived). Kerwin smirks at his own cleverness in eluding assassination, no sympathy shown for the fate of the innocent taxi driver. Now that is some cold-blooded merde!
As usual the soundtrack is often inappropriate, playing cheerful ersatz Asian flavoured Bosa-Nova jazz, which does little to generate suspense or tension during what should be exciting dramatic scenes.
The fights are well choreographed, but rather poorly executed (they would be performed much more convincingly in the Fred Stafford films that followed). Overall the film could do with some editing, with several car and boat rides going on far too long.
Robert Hossein looks the part as "Dr Sinn" and has a suitable "Ken Adam-esque" underground lair beneath a crumbling temple ruin. The elfin Pier Angeli plays his misguided sister, who eventually sees the light and falls for Kerwin, and Domenique Wilms is the villain's faithful mistress, who also eventually has a change of heart and pays the ultimate price.
After this one Kerwin decided to jump off the OSS-117 train to become "The Viscount", but the transfusion didn't take and his Eurospy career was over.
Deadlier Than the Male (1967)
Richard Johnson Rules!
Many UK and American Bond imitators of the 1960s seemed to feel that camp was the only way to go for some reason, and for a while the Spy Spoof came into vogue, with films like the Casino Royale, The Liquidator, Hot Enough For June, the Flints and the execrable Matt Helm franchise. (I love Matt Helm in book form though)
Of all the cinematic ersatz James Bond's I think Richard Johnson is easily my favourite, he has the dark looks of Connery and plays it straight, even while those around him are hamming it up. His nuanced performance is really all that saves the movie from being another ill conceived "Swinging 60s" misfire.
"Deadlier Than The Male" plays out in the style of one of the more serious episodes of "The Avengers" circa Mrs Peel, or one of the less serious episodes of "The Avengers" circa Mrs Gale, which is to say a bit too "whimsical" for my taste.
This tendency increases as the movie progresses until it all becomes too rich for my blood during the finale, which I think fails to generate any real excitement, due to being constantly undercut by the humorous aspects.
The movie starts off in London and then moves to Castellammare del Golfo, which provides the requisite glamorous Mediterranean seaside setting. Accommodation with views of the harbour, luxury launches decorated with beautiful women and a cliff top Castle lair (decorated with beautiful, but deadly, assassins)
Someone is killing off businessmen for a fee in order to facilitate business deals and Richard plays an insurance company agent tasked with getting to the bottom of it. He is also saddled with a youthful American nephew, as a comic relief sidekick.
The screenplay has some nice dialogue and the plot is sound, but the direction is pedestrian and the action is underwhelming. There are several standard fist fights, but no car chases, in fact not very much of the customary chasing and following and ambushing and escaping. At one stage Richard inadvertently rescues the nephew, after not even being aware that he was missing, then later Richard goes out to Sicily, is almost immediately invited up to the villain's castle and happily walks into the "trap", if you can call it that.
The only element of the fantastical in this movie is the giant radio controlled chess set, which rises dramatically out of the floor apropos of nothing. It's a colourful touch, but was not foreshadowed (For example, in other films or shows I've seen, the hero might come across a friend playing chess and offer him good advice, indicating he is interest and proficiency at the game, then later the villain might also be shown to like chess, and finally the villain challenges the hero to a game, with a wager of some lives to raise the stakes.) and is completely unconnected to the villain's evil scheme (As a moment of "shock and awe" it hardly ranks up there with the likes of a lair inside a volcanic cone, or a ship swallowing tanker, or even a nuclear weapon, giant rocket or deadly laser beam).
Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina head up the cast of female assassins, forming a deadly double act and Nigel Green makes for a suitably charasmatic lead villain. Apart from a troup of female assassins, he also has the archetypal hulking bald henchman (called Chang, although he doesn't look remotely Chinese) He looks the part, but he is never allowed any opportunity to to establish his credentials, he just gets repeatedly beaten up and humiliated by Richard. (Compare that with the likes of Odd Job or Jaws, who get to demonstrate their threat level before encountering Bond). There are also plenty of familiar faces from UK film and television amongst the cast, including Leonard Rossiter (Rising Damp and The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin) and it was interesting to note that Richard's boss in this one went on to play Judge Fulton, the boss of Roger Moore in "The Persuaders".
During the course of the movie Richard dates, and beds, his boss's secretary, but remains faithful to her thereafter, at least as far as he's able. He manages to resist the advances of a younger woman and evil Elke, but after being drugged into a stupor he is unable to resist evil Sylva. So his behaviour is not very "Swinging 60s Bond", more like "AIDS epidemic era Bond".
Worth watching for Richard's outstanding performance alone and particularly if you enjoy the "Avengers style" of espionage capers.
Bondian moments
Richard drives a Bentley S2 Continental (the marque that Bond drives in the novels)
During the final shootout with the villain Richard quips "That's six Peterson, you only get seven with a Berretta"
Earlier, upon arriving at the villain's castle lair
Peterson - "Yours for the asking Drummond" (indicates attractive henchwoman)
Richard - "Well, thanks a lot, but I prefer to roll my own.
Il raggio infernale (1967)
Nest of Spies (aka Danger Death Ray)
This is another of those Eurospy films which doesn't understand the role of the soundtrack in setting the mood, with the opening scene being a prime example. What should be a dramatic, violent scene, where a motorcade in ambushed and the original people replaced by imposters, is completely undermined by "Swinging 60s" Bosa-Nova jazz. This pattern continues throughout the film, whenever the music should be helping to create drama or excitement, there is almost always a jaunty tune playing behind it to suck out all the tension.
Special effects are at the level of a Gerry Anderson show of the "Stingray" or "Thunderbirds" variety, and so is most of the acting and dialogue. Gordon Scott brings his boyish good looks and genial nature, but, as usual, doesn't really display the level of sophistication expected from an "International Man of Mystery".
Silvia Sollar is probably the pick of the villains and Delfi Mauro is suitably endearing as the love interest. The rest of the bad guys do what they can with what they are given to work with, which is not much. I did learn that a "chin strap" beard makes for a surprisingly effective disguise, I'm not kidding, in some way it really does change the look of a face quite effectively, despite the fact that the face is still visible. I must remember to use one next time I'm on the run from the police.
One undoubted highlight of the movie is the Alpha Romeo Giulietta Sprint Special which Gordon gets to drive in the car chase scene, a fabulous supercar from the golden age of the European sports car. Sadly, as is so often the case in this genre of movies, it ends up going off a cliff (or at least the Matchbox version does). Later he enjoys a romantic interlude in a Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports.
Barcelona is the exotic location but the Director doesn't make very good use of it, we could be in any generic Mediterranean coastal city. The special or distinctive features of the location are never highlighted or incorporated into the action, for example we never even get a glimpse of Sagrada Familia.
A scientist has developed a powerful radiation that can be used to cure illness, but also as a weapon, which he hopes can be used as a deterrent against nuclear war and create World peace (oh those scientists, will they never learn?). Of course he is soon kidnaped by a group of villains set on World domination. After that the rest of the movie consists mostly of round after round of the villains trying to kill Gordon and him beating the crap out of them, which becomes rather monotonous and tiresome after a while.
Eventually everything is resolved satisfactorily and Gordon throws his Agency's two way radio communicator watch out of the hotel window, so that he can enjoy some quality time with the lovely Delfi.
This movie does have occasional inventive moments and is certainly not short of action, but in the end the Bosa-Nova and the half-baked script drag it down.
Das Geheimnis der drei Dschunken (1965)
The Secret Of The Three Junks
Stewart made a seies of Spy movies in mid 1960s, this was the first (aka"Red Dragon"), quickly followed by "The Killers Carnival", a tryptic where he starred in one segment out of of three, "Target For Killing", "Requiem For A Secret Agent" and "The Zygon Factor", all 4 of which were made in 1965-66 and were just about the last gasp of his movie career.
I think Stewart would have been a strong candidate to play James Bond back in the late 1940s early 1950s, so for anyone yearning to see what an older James Bond might be like, over a decade before Sean Connery and Roger Moore did it, he's your man.
This one has a serviceable script and direction, played straight, with a decent amount of action, though not as much as one might expect from a Bond movie (or a typical Eurospy film)
Materials used in the creation of nuclear weapons are being smuggled via Hong Kong and the local agent has been killed, so the Americans send in an Englishman to sort it out (He's referred to as being an FBI agent, which makes no sense, as the FBI only handle domestic matters, so it should be the CIA).
Stewart plays a suave, cheerful "Roger Moore" type secret agent in this one, and the rest of the lead cast also manage to make an impression; - Rosanna Schiaffino as Stewart's female agent partner, Sieghardt Rupp as the #2 villain, Margit Saad as the female villain, Paul Klinger as Norman and particularly Horst Frank as the nasty henchman.
The director makes the most of the exotic location of Hong Kong, which is used extensively and could be a major reason for watching the film.
The first half is pretty quiet, action wise, but the second half picks up the pace and provides plenty.
Twice Stewart survives having his car strafed by gunfire and run over a cliff, by diving out the door. That could be considered one time to many for a single movie?
The finish gets a bit messy, including several attempts by Stewart to save undeserving bad guys from fires and bombs, but he doesn't succeed, so by the end all the villains are dead and he gets the girl (in fact even his comic relief sidekick, Harald Juhnke, gets a girl).
Fans of Stewart Granger should enjoy.
Bersaglio mobile (1967)
Sergio does a Eurospy
Ty Hardin only made one Eurospy movie, but more importantly so did Sergio Corbucci, rated by many the next best Spaghetti Western director after Sergio Leoni. Corbucci created the legendary "Django". This one was filmed during his peak period, after "Django" but just before "The Great Silence", "The Mercenary" and "Companeros".
You quickly become aware that this director has a much higher level of technique, superior to any Eurospy director in my experience. This is less glamorous and more gritty than most Eurospy, in fact you could argue that, apart from being made in Europe and being about spys, it has more in common with Cold War espionage films like "The Ipcress File", "Funeral In Berlin" or "The Quiller Memorandum" with a story more grounded in real World of spying, being related to a microfilm list of agents that various groups want to get hold of. But it also has a lot more action than most Cold War movies, so I guess it sits somewhere in between.
The screenplay, also by Corbucci, has some clever reveals and twists, which also lift it above most other films in the genre. The soundtrack is full of music designed to punch up the tension and drama. Greece is the exotic location this time, so we spend quite a bit of time at the Acropolis and driving around Athens in a fine array of classic 1960s vehicles, a Fiat 850 Coupe, a Citroen DS, a Mk II Jag, a Merc 190B, a Roller and even a 2CV. (Apologies if I got some of the models wrong, I'm not an expert).
Ty Hardin reminds me of a better looking version of Stacey Keach and his acting is also better than most Eurospys, but he never really made the big time (or even the "B" grade big time). Michael Rennie brings the "International Man Of Mystery" character that he played in the TV series of "The Third Man". The supporting cast are all memorable; - Vittorio Caprioli as Ty's wily old pal "Pizza". Gordon Mitchell ("The Albanian") and Remo De Angelis ("The Bulgarian") are suitably menacing as the leaders of two rival gangs. Graziella Granata is vivacious as "Rumba", the dancing girl of ill repute, Paola Pitagora is sympathetic as "Greta", the girl who is forced to work for the villains against her will, and Hum Silvers is good as the resourceful street urchin. There are also a number of other colourful cameos, reminiscent of the type viewers are accustomed to seeing in the Spaghetti Western genre.
Someone else on IMDB commented "I heard Leo's (de Caprio) character in "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" would be partially based on Ty Hardin's". I.e. Quinton Tarantino has watched this film and enjoyed it (as did I)
PS - other interesting information about the real Ty, who was a true "International Man Of Mystery"
In 1958, he had his name changed legally from "Orison Whipple Hungerford Jr." to Ty Hardin.
He married the 1961 Miss Universe, German beauty queen Marlene Schmidt. At the time of his death, Hardin lived with his eighth wife.
In 1974, he was arrested in Spain for drug trafficking and spent time in prison
In the 1980s, after difficulties with the Internal Revenue Service, Hardin founded a tax protest movement known as the "Arizona Patriots".
While appearing in a TV series called "Riptide" in Australia, he memorably told a journalist, "I'm really a very humble man. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for my looks, my stature and my talent."
Le spie uccidono in silenzio (1966)
High Body Count
This is a polished Eurospy production played very straight and serious, in fact it could do with a bit more wit and humour.
The screenplay and direction are both decent, there is always plenty of going on and the body count is unusually high, which helps distract from possible plot holes. In that way it reminded me a bit of "Goldfinger" or "You Only Live Twice", in that there were a number of events which didn't seem to make much sense, however some of them were adequately explained later, while others remained a mystery, and I was left wondering if that was just because I overlooked something.
The soundtrack is top notch, understanding which scenes need to be punched up with tense or dramatic music and which will benefit from a shot of cool jazz or breezy travelogue style music
The action zips back and forward across the Med, from Beirut to London to Madrid and back to Beirut, giving TWA plenty of product placement plugs along the way.
Lang Jeffries looks the part, but rarely cracks a smile. Even with the beautiful women he is all business, no time for flirting until the very last villain has been dispatched. Only then, in the final scene, does he loosen up and reveal a lighter side (and a romantic interest in the girl he has saved). Admittedly, in this regard, he's not given much to work with, as the script is very dry, dialogue wise.
Andrea Bosic gives a convincing performance as the villain, although he's easily identified as such from the beginning. He delivers his lines with suitable arrogance and authority, although, as with Lang, the script doesn't provide much in the way of memorable byplay between him and the hero during the several scenes where he expounds on his master plan and what he's going to do to Lang and the girl. He has an impressive classical mansion with a mod "Ken Adam-esque" underground lair below.
His master plan is to rule the World using a mind control drug he has developed, and later to project his commands into people's minds over long distances using a "special ray" (which appears to be no more than an ordinary movie spotlight). However exactly why he has been drawing attention to himself by using his mind controlled assassins to threaten and murder leading scientists, who are working on projects which might benefit humanity, remains a mystery, because, at the moment Lang asked him that question, the copy of the movie I have switched from English to German and by the time it reverted to English he was talking about the mind control drug. (Perhaps a German speaking person out there who has seen the movie can enlighten me?)
Female characters get little to do, although one does take the pivotal action which eventually saves the day.
Possibly the closest attempt to a "From Russia With Love" style Bond movie I have seen in a Eurospy.
Estambul 65 (1965)
Chico Is The Man
A top notch Eurospy in the "Roger Moore" vein, that is to say, mainly played straight with the odd lapse into broad comedy, which, depending on your personal point of view, may be regarded as ill advised. Apart from that there is a decent script, plenty of good action and a sound-track which seeks to help crank up the drama and tension.
Istanbul is an excellent exotic location and the director makes the most of it, both as a background setting for conversation and as a foreground setting for action.
An American nuclear scientist has been kidnapped in Istanbul and ransomed for a million dollars, but there was a double cross. The CIA are told to stay out of it by the politicians, however one of their female agents wants to take a look into it. She's spotted someone she recognises in the background of one of the photos and persuades her boss to allow her to go over "on holiday".
Sylva Koscina plays the agent and she gets a several opportunities to demonstrate she can look after herself and even save the day on occasion. Later Perrette Pradier is also effective as the kidnapped heiress.
Horst Buchholz plays a Rick Blaine type, a disillusioned ex-pat American, who feels his country let him down. He runs a casino and seems to know every girls in town. Horst comes on brash, confident and streetwise, an impression which is somewhat undermined by his eternally youthful looks (although he was 32 at the time) and he doesn't sound remotely American. He refuses to help her, but she uses her "womanly wiles" to change his mind.
Horst also gets to drive a classic E Type jag and it gets plenty of screen time before its inevitable demise, going over a cliff into the sea.
One of the strengths of this movie is the casting. Horst has two reliable and resourceful sidekicks, both of whom make a memorable impression, Gustavo Re as "Brain" and Alvaro de Luna as "Bogo".
The villains are even better, creepy Klaus Kinski and beefy Mario Adorf have charisma to burn, but while Mario plays a significant role in much of the movie, Klaus is somewhat underutilised, although, when it finally arrives, his big scene is a very good one. Augustin Gonzalez is also good and Gerard Tichy gets a metal hand with a pop out blade to enhance his character. However the mysterious leader of the gang is a twist I won't spoil.
The Chinese are also involved, as they would also like to have the scientist, but their characters never rise above the level of cyphers.
There are two action scenes which I felt were inappropriately comedic, the police raid on the casino, which was played for slapstick laughs, and a similar bust up in the Turkish Baths later on, where Horst also dresses up as a woman to gain entry to the female area. About as convincing as Sean Connery playing a Japanese fisherman or Charles Gray in drag as Blofeld. Horst also breaks the 4th wall a couple of times, but it's just not that sort of a movie. For me breaking the 4th wall should be reserved for movies where the main character is the whole focus of the story, as is the case with Michael Caine in Alfie. Here it's just kind of random.
In the end we learn that the gang have been preparing to set up a nuclear lab on a ship and extort money from various governments. Ultimately they plan to rule the World from a private island base. The ending seems to go on a bit, after the main villains are defeated, next the Chinese turn up and are dealt with in a perfunctory way, then Horst has to give the authorities the slip and then there is a further quite long action sequence involving a train and a helicopter before Horst gets the girl and the credits finally role. All fine and dandy as individual scenes, but perhaps one wafer thin mint too many when taken together.
Recomended.
Segretissimo (1967)
Top Secret aka Segretissimo
This is another Eurospy which doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be taken seriously or be a comedy, and thus fails to do either.
Did they start out wanting to make a serious Bond knockoff, only to have a change of heart and try to switch to a spoof? Or did they just realise that what they had made was sub-par and decide that their only chance was to and try to dress it up as a spoof, in the hope of salvaging something from the wreckage? Or is it just an attempted spoof that isn't very funny? Movie spying before Bond was generally a serious business and Bond still took itself seriously, but also introduced more glamorous and fanciful elements. However many also felt the franchise crossed the line into parody and the "Spy Spoof" became a fad.
The opening credits of this one strongly suggest it is going to be a comedy, but after that proceedings are mainly played straight, apart from a frequent and annoying "boing" sound effect in the sound track. There are other random moments which might be interpreted as humorous, but they are few and far between.
The MacGuffin is a pile of Nazi secret documents from the war that could contain information which may either be useful or just embarrassing to various parties. Someone has smuggled them out from behind the Iron curtain, but now they have gone missing and everyone wants to find them. The Americans assign Gordon Scott to the task.
Gordon Scott has boyish good looks and a genial nature, but doesn't really display the level of sophistication expected from an "International Man of Mystery". Magda Konopka does better, as the woman who is not what she seems, on the other hand Aurora de Alba's character starts out promisingly but is then underutilised and fades into the background. The villains are numerous but largely undistinguished.
Exotic locations include Casablanca, Rome and Naples, none of which are used particularly imaginatively.
At first the plot develops adequately enough, however eventually it becomes apparent that the makers only have half a script and don't know what to do with the middle section of the film.
Some of the individual action scenes are top notch, but taken together do not add up to a satisfactory whole. The characters end up going around in circles much time, without really moving the story forward. Over and over Gordon leaves the hotel, gets ambushed, fights his way out (or not) and eventually returns to the hotel dishevelled. Moments later he is off again, eventually with the same result. The villains get the drop on him, then he turns the tables and so it goes on, like deja-vu all over again. The villains also deploy several versions of the customary "over-elaborate method of executiing the hero" gambit.
The ending is something of a "The Spy Who Loved Me" scenario. It turns out there's only one competent agent in this film and it's not Gordon Scott, its International Woman of Mystery, Magda Konopka, who's been representing Russian interests. It is she who really succeeds in carrying out her mission, leaving Gordon in the dust in the process.
However she takes pity on him in the end, and is waiting patiently in bed in his hotel room when he finally makes his way back to the hotel for the umpteenth time, looking much the worse for wear, as usual.
No wonder Gordon decide to retire after this one!
Le spie uccidono a Beirut (1965)
Message From 077, The Spies Kill In Beirut
This is a top of the range Eurospy with a decent script, direction and action, involving a good mix of fists, guns and cars, plus a fizz boat and a helicopter for the finale. There is some humour, but for the most part everyone plays it straight, the balance achieved being similar to that of a Bond movie.
Note that the music is on point from the opening scene, aiming to assist in creating the air of mystery and apprehension, not the breezy travelogue or cocktail jazz that many other movies in this genre mistakenly use.
The MacGuffin is a microfilm containing Russian H-Bomb secrets which have been stolen by a scientist (or scientists) for sale to the highest bidder. The Russians want it back and the Americans also want to see what it contains, so they assign the mission to their best agent - Bob Fleming.
The locations are a mixed bag, a little bit of Paris, quite a lot of Hamburg and then on to the titular city of Beirut. Hamburg is a dreary location, it always seems to be grey and damp looking, with few if any picturesque landmarks to use as backgrounds. The City Council must have been offering a bit of money, in order to promote tourism, because later Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn also came to town to film their heist movie "Dollars".
Here the film makers do their best, visiting a club on the Reeperbahn, one of those with phones on the tables, so patrons can phone strangers at another table (The table number is also the phone number and is displayed on a number holder flag, tourists phone each other for amusement, while the regulars phone prostitutes to arrange an assignation) and making use of the vehicle elevator and tunnel under the river, as "Dollars" did. Plus they manage to incorporate some amphibious cars into the action, that were actually being used by the Hamburg Wharf Police at the time.
Richard Harrison, who looks like a blond Ben Affleck, is armed with several electronic gadgets before he heads off (laser beam pen, microwave detector pen, tracking devices inside aspirin (along with a watch that is also a receiver) and the script ensures that they all come in handy, but the best thing he has going for him in Beirut is a very resourceful little taxi-driver / agent and his tricked out vehicle.
Luciano Pigozzi is the pick of the villains, very creepy, but Aldo Cecconi isn't far behind him, as the Russian leader. However neither of the women are given much to do. Wandisa Guida, on the Russian side, gets to cast a few malevolent glances but little more, while Domenique Boschero is merely a damsel in distress, whether fending of Richards clumsy advances or those of the Russians.
All the usual following and chasing and being captured and escaping is present and handled competently, although I can't recall seeing an agent who gets sapped on the back of the head during a mission as often as Richard does.
However during the climactic scenes the script does appear to lose its way in my opinion. The sudden spit between the Russian agents makes no real sense, It seems like a surprise twist for the sake of reducing the number of opponents for Richard to overcome, or It's a case of real World political reality intruding into the fantasy Eurospy World, because this was made during the height of the Cold War, only a few years after the Khrushchev UN shoe banging speech, Berlin border confrontation and wall, Bay of Pigs and Cuba missile crisis, when movie makers were unofficially warned not to make movies that might provoke the Russians (China was often substituted as the villain instead). Later the reasons for not initially firing at each other, during the boat versus helicopter chase, are unconvincing, particularly on the Russian side.
However on the whole, it's a superior effort by Eurospy standards
NB; - Richards level of "charm" is particularly debatable to modern eyes and he won't rank very high on anyone's "suave-o-meter". I particularly enjoyed this piece of dialogue on the plane ride to Beirut where he encounters the scientist's daughter for the first time
Richard - "Wolf whistle"
Liz - "Do you often break out into bird calls?"
Richard - "That's my mating call, when I see a beautiful bird I can't help reacting instinctively... you mind if I..." (Indicates empty seat next to her)
Liz - "I do mind, I like to be alone"
Richard - "You're making a mistake, you'd have had a lot more interesting trip with me there. Anyway the offers still open" (Turns away and reads his book)
Liz - Coldly examines his profile, but says nothing
Richard - (Turns back toward her) "Um, one final question, are you always so nice to people?"
Liz - (Shakes head) "Only to the vulgar ones"
Now that never happened to the other fellow!
Kommissar X - Drei grüne Hunde (1967)
Kill Me Gently aka Three Green Hounds (And Three Heroes'!)
The fourth edition of this free-wheeling franchise is still full of energy and vitality, although I found the plot progression was a bit ragged at times, with some components not always fitting together as smoothly as one might hope for.
Turkey provides the requisite exotic locations this time, firstly history soaked Istanbul, and later, via the magic of cinema, the spectacular rock formations and cave dwellings of Cappadocia are suddenly within easy driving distance.
Istanbul has always been a classic location for espionage stories and has become almost overused in recent times (Skyfall, Taken 2, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare etc.) but back in the 1960s, it was still relatively fresh, particularly from an action movie standpoint. The famous heist movie "Topkapi" that came out in 1964, may have attracted the producers' attention.
The action scenes continue to make inventive use of the locations, whether running across the rooftops of Istanbul, zig-zagging between the domes, sliding down the channels between the wind-scoured rocky spires or chasing dirt bikes along the steep ridges and around the bases of same.
The fight scenes continue to be well choreographed, although now trending toward the more comedic style familiar to the English speaking World as "Trinity" or "Terrence Hill & Bud Spenser" style, which began to emerge about this time, however Tony and Brad were doing it first.
Instead of just the customary bantering duo, this time around they add a third likeable hero, who contributes just as much as the regulars to defeating the villains. Tony and Brad are joined by Rudolf Zehetgruber who played Barrett, the animal collecting landowner in "Three Golden Cats". He returns here, with a significantly beefed up role. His name is now Almann, a vet who lives on a boat, so he still loves animals and has a few around, including the bear cub from his previous appearance.
As usual there are numerous beautiful women, which are sometimes quite hard to keep track of, I must admit I found "Jenny" (Rossela Bergamonti) and "Leyla" (Olga Schoberova) hard to tell apart, but I think Jenny ended up in hospital for the duration just about the time Leyla first appears. They are both involved inadvertently, after witnessing something they shouldn't. Sabine Sun is one of the main villains, while Christa Linder, who shows up to drag Tony out of trouble a couple of times, is out for revenge, having had the customary sibling killed by the villains (in this case a brother). As usual Tony flirts a lot, but never gets the girl, although once he returns to his room to find Rossela in his bed, however she has been drugged unconscious by the baddies, and later he shares a bath with a naked Olga, but it's only to help him hide from the police and he remains fully clothed.
The MacGuffin is a container of LSD which the villains want to steal and sell to a buyer, who may or may not want to use it to disable NATO forces. The main villain is of the surprise twist variety, so I won't say anymore, which means the three henchpersons do most of the heavy lifting action wise. As in "Death Be Nimble" there is a big powerful one, played this time by the appropriately named "Samson" Burke (born Samuel in real life) who is shown to be an expert oil wrestler, a crafty, slippery one, played by Herbert Fux and the third is the aforementioned Sabine Sun. All make a colourful impression in their roles.
With the help of Turkish NATO forces (and a donkey) the traditional mass battle with the Villain's tribe of bandit allies is won and the baddies all get their just desserts
Recommended.
Kommissar X - Drei gelbe Katzen (1966)
Death Is Nimble Death Is Quick (aka Three Golden Cats)
Tony Kendall and Brad Harris ride again, in the second edition of Kommissar X, this time in exotic Sri Lanka.
The camaraderie has developed, with Tony and Brad, by turns bickering and bantering, now frenemies who grudgingly respect each other's abilities. The beautiful girls are plentiful, although, as usual, Tony doesn't get any further than first base with any of them (at least on screen) and Brad is all business.
The early scenes in the film flow very nicely and set things up perfectly, re-establishing the nature of Tony and Brad's characters for those new to Commissar X, and reminding and reinforcing them for those already familiar with the boys from "Kiss, Kiss, Kill, Kill".
As usual there is plenty of great action, but about half way through the plot gets a bit too tangled for its own good. Someone tries to kidnap a rich American land owner's daughter (the Lincolns) and when that fails they threaten to destroy his land in some fashion. Either way the main thing is they want a million dollars. Tony is hired by the landowner and Brad is there to investigate the death of an American embassy guy (Baker) who was killed in the kidnap attempt.
There's a mysterious secret society called the "Three Golden Cats" involved, a nephew who's playing both sides (Dawson), a police chief who may or may not be under their evil influence (Khamar), a woman who wants revenge for her sister's death (Michelle), a friend of hers (Champa), another landowner who has left the country (Farrell?) and just for good measure, yet another local landowner (Barrett) who owns a menagerie of animals. It all becomes rather difficult to keep track of.
In the end, it turns out there is also a mad scientist (Dr Flynn) involved, who is working on a deadly bacteria that even the Americans are not interested in developing further, so he has teamed up with the "Three Golden Cats" to extort some funding from his neighbours. The deadly bacteria is a bit of a McGuffin and never forms a significant part of the story, it's all about grabbing the million bucks.
As far as the villains go, the henchmen are really the stars of the show, Dan Vadis (who later went on to work with Clint Eastwood in 5 films) is magnificent as "King", the bald-giant-martial artist, and Siegfried Rauch as "Nitro" the American assassin who likes to carry vials nitro glycerine around in his jacket pockets (like James Coburn in "A Fist Full Of Dynamite"). The Kung Fu craze in the West was still a few years away when this was made, so it is leading edge stuff for 1966.
The first and best climax in the film is the much foreshadowed martial arts showdown between Brad Harris and Dan Vadis, which fittingly takes place inside a cave temple on top of the spectacular Sigiriya, the monumental rock which towers 180 feet over the surrounding land. It has been the site of everything from a monastery, to a fortress, to a palace, over its timeless history. It reminded me of the finale of "Way Of The Dragon" at the Coliseum, however it is clear that the local authorities weren't prepared to let the film crew loose on a site of such cultural significance, which would have made the fight scene even more impressive, but I can understand their reluctance to do so.
After a second climactic action scene, at a jungle airfield, we have the customary comic epilogue, where the girls love Tony and Tony loves the girls, but somehow he doesn't end up with either (but wins over an elephant instead)
The standard in this sequel remains high so I recommend it.
A 077, sfida ai killers (1966)
A077 - Challenge The Killers
Richard Harrison, who looks like a blond Ben Afflek, plays a different Agent 077 to Ken Clark.
The villain's motivation is one which still has resonance today; - some scientists have developed an alternative energy source to fossil fuels and someone whose fortune depends on fossil fuels is determined to have them killed to stop them.
However the producers only seem to have half a script. The dialogue is bland and although Richard Harrison does his best to charm, he's not given much to work with. The action scenes range in quality from mediocre to disappointingly comedic.
One thing the film isn't short on is beautiful women, Susy Anderson, Wandisa Guida, Janine Reynaud and Mitsouko all bring something distinctive to the table and are there for more than just decoration. This is an unusual number of significant female characters for the 1960s; - there is one who appears to be bad but turns out to be good (sort of), one who appears to be good but turns out to be bad, one who starts out bad but has a change of heart, and one who is just bad.
The wheelchair bound main villain is quite memorable, reminiscent of Raymond Burr playing Ironside, only with the pallor of a corpse.
Thanks to Humphrey Bogart and co, Casablanca has a famous name, but although it's Morocco's largest city, it is also one of the blandest and not nearly as picturesque as Marrakesh, Tangier or Fez.
After all the usual following and chasing and getting knocked out and escaping, the Director finds himself short of a climax and decides to pad out the running time with 10 minutes of comedic bar room brawling apropos of nothing.
Richard participates enthusiastically in the slapstick fight between two groups of wharfies (half inexplicably smudged with grease or coal dust and the other half with flour), along with several sailors and a dwarf. Meanwhile the main villain leaves his wheel chair and drags himself slowly and painfully across the floor to the doorway for no good reason (he could wheeled his way over and taken his shot through the curtain of beads from his wheelchair just as easily, and far more quickly).10 minutes is a long time in a movie and the fight long out says it's welcome, while the change in tone is jarring and inappropriate.
Then the film gets back on track,, with the main female assassin, who escaped in the confusion of the brawl, heading off to Geneva, with Richard in hot pursuit. However the second finale is also a bit of an anti-climax, very downbeat, rather than providing an emotional payoff for the audience.
The epilogue is a satisfactory "The Spy Who Loved Me" scenario where Richard gets the last girl standing.
Overall, as Douglas Adams put it, "Mostly Harmless".
Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117 (1965)
Fury In Bahia (And Fun In Rio)
According to Frederick Stafford "I married an Austrian girl in Bangkok in 1964 and among the bouquets at the wedding was one from a French film producer. He said "How would you like to make movies with me?" and I replied "Why not?"
"I was rushed off to Brazil to make my first film in Rio de Janeiro, and have been busy ever since."
So here we are then
This is another polished OSS production, with a decent screenplay and Rio as a great exotic location, but somehow lacking a certain "je ne sais quoi" (as the French might say).
There's seems to be a feeling of "ennui" about many of the proceedings for me, a lack of "panache", which seems surprisingly thing to say about something French. They are following the formula established by the Bond franchise, perhaps even trying to be more "realistic" than Bond, but, in doing so, losing some of that element of the "fantastical" which made the Bond movies such a huge success.
However, after some consideration, I have decided that the fault lies with the soundtrack, which consists of either jaunty Samba inspired travelogue music or laid back Bosa Nova style jazz. Don't get me wrong, those styles definitely have their place in a movie set in Brazil, but in this case the makers don't seem to know when to stop. Although the standard of on screen action is excellent, the music rarely provides any assistance to help generate suspense or tension before, after, or during. Other Eurospy sound tracks are often melodramatic and overwrought, but they at least bring some energy and help set the appropriate mood for dramatic moments, while the music in this one is often either non-existent, played too quietly, or in a style inappropriate for the moment and lacking the punch and drama required.
Fred does pretty well considering it's his first acting gig, cool and suave. There are three beautiful girls, one bad, one dies and one for Fred. There is a nasty blond henchman with a prominent scar and the fight choreography is exceptional (in particular the operating room scene and the blow torch scene).
The villain wants to become the Dictator of the whole of South America (the ultimate "Junta"? A form of government which South America was infamous for in the 1960s and 70s). His lair is located in the jungles of Bahia and I found it a bit drab and underwhelming. Now, if they had located it on San Martin Island, in the middle of Iguasu Falls, it would have been much more spectacular and "Bondesque". As it is, they do attempt to make use of the falls in the finale, but in a very cliché and underwhelming way. I mean why would anyone try to escape by paddling a canoe toward the edge of the largest waterfall in the World when the guy's has had his secret base located there for some time? He's hardly going to be unaware of its existence )It's just a Eurospy movie, I know, but the OSS films aspire to be better than that.)
Bondesque moment
Fred is dining with a beautiful girl on a terrace overlooking Rio
The waiter arrives with the ice bucket
Fred - "Oh, what's that?"
Waiter - "Mexican champagne sir"
Fred - (Giving him a look of distain) "Have you any whiskey?"
Waiter - "We have Portuguese Scotch sir"
Fred - (Frowns, then looks away and ponders for a moment) "Bring us two Brazilian vodkas then"
Se tutte le donne del mondo... (Operazione Paradiso) (1966)
Our Man Mannix
Apparently this was intended to be a Bond "spoof" rather than a more serious Bond clone, but who knows.
Some people say Bond movies have at times become self-parody's that deliberately spoof themselves, which they may have done to some extent in the 1970s, starting with "Diamonds Are Forever" and later, in many of Roger Moore's outings, but not in the 1960s. Even "You Only Live Twice" is played dead straight and serious at all times, not as deliberate comedy. Back in the day many people seemed to think that just because incredible things were happening, that made it a "spoof", but these days does anyone regard movies like the "Fast & Furious" franchise as "spoofs", despite all the physics defying CGI stunts?
For me the dividing line is usually in the way the actors play it, i.e. Straight or comic. For instance, to me, the Flint movies are "spoofs" because much of the acting is hammy and many of the scenes are clearly played for laughs. Whereas, even in the Bond movies that contain considerable silliness, there are still moments of gritty violence (e.g. The elevator fight in "Diamonds are Forever") or spectacular action (The pre credits scene in "Octopussy") and most of the actors play it straight at all times (Which, to me, doesn't preclude Bond from making amusing quips at the villains or engaging in flirting banter with the ladies).
But in many films it's not always so clear cut, as some producers may try to have a bob each way, in order to have two chances of finding an audience. Such films usually end up falling between the two stools. Which brings us to "Kiss The Girls & Make Them Die"...
For me, this is a film that can't seem to make up its mind whether it wants to be a spoof or be taken more seriously, and this split personality is never more clearly on display than in the opening two scenes.
The first features Terry Thomas, hamming it up to the hilt, as intrepid, pit helmeted, explorer, Lord Aldric (although someone else does the voice over) in a noble savages in the jungle scene, all very reminiscent of "Benny Hill".
This is immediately followed by an exciting action scene in the stunning setting of Christ the Redeemer, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which includes a chase and shootout inside the famous statue, with views looking along one of the statues arms and also from the top of its head (these shots were not fake, the statue is hollow inside). Very reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's use of the Statue of Liberty at the climax of "Saboteur" (one of his lesser known classics, b/w and without a really big name star, but I can highly recommend it) or Mt Rushmore in "North By Northwest". It's like we have jumped into a completely different movie.
Mannix plays a secret agent with a penchant for bananas, he's investigating the theft of some top secret radiation research information, but, at first, he thinks he may be on the wrong track, because Raf Vallone appears to be more interested in pretty women, and Mannix surmises he may be a high end white slaver.
Raf Vallone makes for a great charismatic villain and comes equipped with an impressive semi-circular desk that revolves, so that he can watch the battery of screens he has on the wall, in order to spy on his bevy of beautiful girlfriends (who are unaware of the cameras planted in their apartments). However it turns out he is not a white slaver after all, just a very jealous voyeur.
He has a couple of suitably sinister henchmen, a creepy blond "Peter Lorrie" type (played by Sandro Dori) and a bald "Eric von Stroheim" type (played by Oliver MacGreevy).
Plus a luxury yacht, an amphibious car, an airplane, a helicopter and an underground lair out in the jungle (with entrances that pop up out of the ground and give away its position to passing secret agents).
One of the women Raf is fascinated with is Dorothy Provine, who appears to be a English upper crust airhead armed with a wardrobe which is consistently a crime against fashion. I kid you not, her clothes are some of the most misguided "haute couture" ever captured on celluloid. However it turns out to be just an act, she's really a British agent, and reveals herself as capable of playing it straight and serious when in the company of Mannix.
I particularly enjoyed the scene with she and Mannix sparing over who has the drop on who, which was apparently later cribbed by the Bond franchise itself - if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then that is high praise indeed. Her character is somewhat reminiscent of Lady Penelope from the TV series "Thunderbirds", as she has a posh valet / driver and a tricked out Rolls Royce full of useful gadgets.
The valet / driver is played by Terry Thomas, who does much better in his second role in the film. On the surface he plays the architype British "Butler" character, competent, unflappable and very fussy about details of appropriate etiquette, dress, food and drink etc but above all keeping the Roller spotlessly clean.
However later he is also revealed to be a man of violent action, who can be relied upon to defeat multiple henchmen or mop up any other minor loose ends that his mistress or Mannix have somehow managed to overlook (like disabling the radiation generator inside the rocket, which was going to orbit the earth and make everyone below impotent.).
Terry must really have enjoyed re-watching himself (or possibly his stuntman) in this one, heroically beating up the bad-guys for a change, rather than doing his usual specialty - the "Dick Dastardly" pantomime villain. Here, while still undoubtedly being a comical figure, his performance stays within the bounds acceptable for a "Roger Moore" style Bond film, and that's true of the rest of the movie itself, played relatively straight with a level of humour no worse than that of one of the lighter Bond films. In fact, if only all of Roger Moore's Bond humour had been as good as the slow burner running gag with the banana and its eventual payoff, I'd have been much happer.
Finally, after all the usual spy shenanigans, being followed or chased, chasing or following, getting knocked out, being threatened with a horrible death (in this case by piranhas), escaping, attending a posh function etc. Mannix teams up with "Lady Penelope and Parker" to save the day (with an assist from the Brazilian army).
We eventually find out that, rather than "kissing the girls and making them die", Raf has been preserving his "harem" in suspended animation, so those who expressed concern about the title can rest easy. (It seems he may have been intending to repopulate the planet with his and their progeny)
And the real name of one of the actresses in "Raf's Angels" is Nicoletta "Machiavelli". Wow, surely she should have been cast as a villain herself, perhaps advising Raf on what his next move should be?
On the whole then, whether by accident or design, I found this production by the "infamous" Dino de Laurentiis to be a worthy addition to the Eurospy genre and recommend it to those who like a bit of Roger Moore-esque flavour to their Spy movies
NB - Several reviewers have remarked that the title of the film, "Kiss The Girls And Make Them Die" is very distasteful to them, but I don't really see why that should be.
Distastefully cheesy or corny maybe, but other than that, it's just a simple pun on a line from the old nursery rhyme "Georgie Porgy" so what's wrong with that?
If the title of the movie was "Kiss The Boys And Make Them Die" instead, would that still be offensive? Or "Kiss The Politicians And Make Them Die"? Not to me anyway.
A Twist of Sand (1968)
What if Bulldog Drummond was DD?
Ok, firstly I'd like to take a moment to correct a few things from another review headlined "All For Nothing". Firstly, Richard Johnson's character does not "botch the mission". After the U-boat has been hit by the torpedoes, the flare is fired deliberately, in order to set fire to the leaking fuel and burn the crew (His orders were "no survivors"). There are no "native folk" on the shore, the Skeleton Coast is uninhabited, due to the reefs off shore and the desert on shore. The people he murders with machine-gun fire (not a pistol) are also crew from the U-boat, who have gone ashore (again, "no survivors")
And secondly, later, Jeremy Kemp does not "run into" Peter Vaughn's flick knife after "attempting to calm him down", Kemp is distracted by seeing the diamonds being washed away into the sea and Vaughn takes the opportunity attack and stab him, having previously been shot in the shoulder by Kemp, who was trying to kill him.
Now back to the actual film itself
The story has two main aspects, firstly the gradual revelation of Richard Johnson's dark secret and how it has affected him and secondly a routine treasure-hunt scenario, which plays out in predictable fashion.
If you enjoy the character study side of the story then you'll probably forgive the lack of originality in the adventure story side of proceedings.
On the other hand even if you don't find either aspect to be all that well executed, you may watch the film just because you like the cast involved, as I did. Richard Johnson, Honor Blackman, Jeremy Kemp, Roy Dotrice and Peter Vaughn are all actors I enjoy watching and don't see enough of, so I'm prepared to forgive the movies shortcomings.
Richard Johnson plays a former WW2 submarine Captain, whose daring but maverick exploits result in him being given an important, but very distasteful, secret mission by the Admiralty. As a result of carrying out his orders, he has destroyed himself as a man and this leads him into an empty criminal life, wallowing in guilt and self-loathing (and so he should). I developed a liking for Richard Johnson after seeing him play Bulldog Drummond in "Deadlier Than The Male" and rate him as the best of the B movie James Bonds of the 1960s. However his career as a leading man was disappointingly brief (only 4 movies in the action adventure genre) so I have to take what I can get. (Pity he couldn't have found more work across the channel in Eurospy films).
Roy Dotrice plays his loyal sidekick, a fellow submariner who is good with engines and rarely wears a shirt.
Jeremy Kemp plays a chancer with a dodgy accent, who was also a former member of Johnson's crew. Scheming and not to be trusted, but also the catalyst that brings the other characters together. Kemp's accent sounds more like German than anything else (which would be ridiculous for a man who served on a Royal Navy submarine in WW2) but I'll be charitable and assume it's meant to be Africaaner.
Peter Vaughn plays his sinister and psychotic sidekick, with a traumatic past that is also gradually revealed.
And Honor Blackman plays a woman who was married to a man who stole diamonds in order to impress her and give her the high life she desired. He was eventually caught and died in prison, but she knows where he hid the diamonds - in the wreck of a Galleon half buried in the sands of the Skeleton Coast. She also feels somewhat responsible for his death, for not trying to dissuade him, and that feeling of guilt serves as an emotional connection to Johnson, although it doesn't appear to amount to anything in the end.
Somewhere along the way the widow Blackman met Kemp, and Kemp had surmised Johnson's dark secret from meeting Vaughn, and also learned that the secret mission had involved navigating the treacherous waters of the Skeleton Coast, so that completes the circle.
To sum up, I think the first half of the film is pretty convincing, but the second half is less so, let down by the execution, which might be partly due to budgetary constraints, and partly due to lazy direction.
Things like, after navigating through the treacherous reef with waves constantly breaking on jagged rocks and the sea frothing with foam, the next minute they are parked up next to the sunken U-boat conning tower in a sea that is dead calm and devoid of rocks or waves all the way to the far horizon.
And a number of other minor continuity issues, like the inflatable boat is not seen when they first go ashore, leaving the audience to wonder what they are using, after previously seeing the ships tender lost among the rocks of the reef, and some of what happens in the desert and inside the galleon doesn't seem quite right, in terms of where people are in relation to each other at different times.
The ending may also be somewhat unsatisfying, if you were hoping that the characters would salvage some intangible moral lesson or emotional benefit from their experience. Richard and Honor are not allowed to have any epiphany of mutual salvation and fall into each other's arms, but that's a matter of artistic preference and that aspect of the film is perfectly acceptable as it is.
Very much worth a look if you like the cast then, and if not it's still an adequate way to pass the time.
Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 (1966)
OSS 117 Torpor In Tokyo
Polished but lacking some vital spark of energy, or perhaps it was just that I found it tiring having to read subtitles, as there doesn't appear to be a dubbed version available, unlike most of the Italian and German ones. I much prefer dubbing because it means I'm free to use my eyes for fully appreciating the visual aspects of the film. I'm just not much of a multi-tasker I guess.
However after a second viewing, I think I've put my finger on the problem, it's with the sound track. The on screen action is fine, but the music rarely provides any assistance to help generate suspense or tension. Even if most Eurospy themes are melodramatic and overwrought, they at least bring some energy and help set the appropriate mood, while the music in this one is either non-existent or more like travelogue music, lacking the punch and drama required (the scene where the Combi van is crashed being a classic example, with a cheerful tune played during what should be a moment of great peril.)
Japan provides suitable exotic locations (a year before "You Only Live Twice") and a somewhat stylish super-tanker makes for a decent villain's lair in the finale (although it only has a medium size door in the side, big enough for a launch size boat, rather than a ship swallowing front maw like the one in "The Spy Who Love Me"). There are several excellent fight scenes, the screenplay is good with a decent plot and adequate dialogue.
Frederick makes friends with a couple of attractive women. Marina Vlady brings the beautiful ice queen who eventually melts, and Jitsuko Yoshimura brings the cute and perky, yet sensual local flavour (as when she playfully bites Fred's finger while bidding him farewell).
Eventually, after all the usual spy shenanigans, being followed or chased, chasing or following, getting knocked out, escaping from traps and ambushes, Fred identifies the bad guys, locates the lair and saves the day in suitable fashion.
Overall a solid, if unexceptional, effort
Best quip
Marina - "Have you ever been called a cad?"
Fred - "No. I kill people before they have time to say it."
Missione speciale Lady Chaplin (1966)
Thunderball II
Superior Eurospy movie with a plot that is "Thunderball"-esque. Screenplay, direction, locations, actors - all are of a higher standard than most entries in this genre. The film is paced more like a real James Bond movie, with no rushing between action scenes in order to disguise shortcomings in the script.
The casting is also very good, particularly the villains. Daniela Bianchi, as the titular character, the deadly Lady Chaplin, who gets most of the gadgets and achieves her many nefarious ends by using her brains and cunning.
Jacques Bergerac, as Kobre Zoltan, has just the right smooth look and slippery charisma to play the criminal mastermind with a penchant for scorpions.
Philippe Hersent does a good job as the main henchman, who has a metal claw instead of a hand (predating Tee-Hee in the movie version of Live & Let Die).
Helga Line, Mabel Karr and Ida Galli are also given the screen time to make their mark on the movie.
As for Ken Clark, he's ruggedly handsome but rather wooden, even by B movie standards, convincing in the action scenes, not so much when delivering his "suave" lines.
One thing I found a bit odd, Ken doesn't get to drive a decent sports car until almost the final scene, and even then, only briefly and almost incidentally. For most of the film he's seen in boxy family sedans, although one of them is fitted with a nifty escape route, where, after reclining the seat, the driver is propelled backwards on rails and out via the boot / trunk (after the back seat and boot lid automatically fold out of the way)
Two villains die by accidental electrocution, is that one too many?
There is the usual melodramatic, overwrought theme song, this time reminiscent of Tom Jones, of course (as Thunderball came out the previous year, in 1965).
Highly recommended.
Kommissar X - Jagd auf Unbekannt (1966)
The Hunt For Unknown People
Eurospy fun with a "Dr No" meets "Goldfinger" plot, plus an army of beautiful women (who behave like Fembots, but are actually only drugged to make them obey orders), and another army of expendable red shirted henchmen (pre Star Trek).
Apart from the "Fembots" aspect, it's played pretty straight, with plenty of well choreographed and well executed action.
Tony Kendall looks like a mashup of Gene Kelly, John Saxon, Dirk Benedict and Scott Bakula, with a little Jon Hamm on the side. With cheerfully mobile features, he tugs on his ear-lob a lot and employs plenty of nods and winks and other broad facial expressions to communicate his confidence and charm, and he needs to, in lieu of the script providing him with anything notable in the way of suave dialogue or decent humorous one liners.
Brad Harris, as his police sidekick, has a gruff demeanour and rough-hewn looks, a much more impressive physique and is a more convincing fighter, also features strongly in the action.
The production appears to have had a bigger budget than most Eurospy efforts, with the requisite ingredients needed to create the appropriate "Bondesque" ambiance, Riviera scenery, beautiful women, luxury yachts, sports cars, opulent interiors and convincing underground lair on a private island, all present and correct.
However, despite what the theme song claims, and although he flirts industriously at every opportunity, Tony doesn't actually appear to achieve much in the way of romantic results. In fact in the final scene he comes up short with three women and ends up being thrown into the pool, while Brad Harris flexes his muscles and a bevy of beauties gather around to laugh at him. Hardly the payoff we have come to expect from an International Man of Mystery!
The theme song itself is pseudo Shirley Bassey, and sounds great unless you actually listen to the lyrics, which are cringingly bad, but I guess that's all part of the fun.
Recommended.
Agent 505 - Todesfalle Beirut (1966)
Agent 55, The Trap Door Falls In Beirut
Among the better Eurospy B-grade James Bond knockoffs, and the best movie of Frederick Stafford's career as a secret agent, in my opinion (although the "OSS 117" films are more well-known and "Topaz", the film he did with A-list director Alfred Hitchcock remains the most prestigious artistic high point)
Briskly paced and played straight, yet with a liberal sprinkling of humorous one liners, well-choreographed action (although the execution is sometimes not quite as sharp), some decent gadgets, loads of pretty girls, including several who are not just there for decoration, modernist Beirut as an exotic location, and a sound track from the great Ennio Morricone.
This version of "Stafford-Bond" flirts with all the girls, but they don't always go for it, and when they don't he shrugs it off with good grace and moves on.
Another reviewer suggested there were no "good" gadgets". But there is the booby-trapped phone gun, the ice bullets, the gun in the light projector, the amphibious car, a large, stylish, silver rocket etc. Remember this is the 1960s, when helicopters, and even shots of airliners taking off and landing, were still considered novel and glamourous by most viewers.
One bit of unintentional humour is that, before his true identity is uncovered, one of the main villains is described as a man who has "only four fingers on one hand". As, in English, we don't regard the thumb as a finger, this clue doesn't appear to narrow down the field of suspects much!
Frederick Stafford is one of those actors that stumbled into the movie business by accident, rather like Errol Flynn, spotted incidentally by a producer rather than coming from an acting background. His looks and charm carried him to the brink of stardom, the lead role in "Topaz", but for various reasons (Hitch was off form, Fred's acting wasn't up to it) the film did not succeed and it was largely downhill from there. These days the industry doesn't seem to operate in such a haphazard way and we rarely see actors appear out of nowhere in this way. His potted background biography is colourful and varied, and I'm sure at least half of it is made up fantasy by the man himself...
"By some accounts, Stafford claimed to have played water polo at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was the son of a Slovak factory owner. He studied chemistry and spent time in Switzerland. He was worried about the Russians taking over Czechoslovakia and in 1948 decided to leave.
He went to Australia in 1949 and changed his name to "Frederick Stafford". "I always liked the name," he later said. While there he worked as a taxi driver, a lumberjack and a businessman, until he qualified as a Doctor of Chemistry. He was fluent in five languages.
In the 1950s he held a series of positions in the pharmaceutical industry and by 1962 he was a regional manager for Bristol Meyers, headquartered in Hong Kong. He travelled for them in the Middle East and Far East. Two years later in Bangkok he met a German actress Marianne Hold and married her seven days later.
In 1964, while on holiday in Bangkok, Stafford met French director André Hunebelle at a hotel and he asked him "How would you like to make movies with me?" Stafford replied, "Why not?"
Or, according to another account Stafford claimed "I married an Austrian girl in Bangkok in 1964 and among the bouquets at the wedding was one from a French film producer. He said he wanted me to star in his films. That's how it all began. I was rushed off to Brazil to make my first film in Rio de Janeiro, and have been busy ever since."
In March 1970 Stafford claimed that Harry Saltzman wanted him to play James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service but he was unable to accept due to his commitment to make Topaz. He said "although at first I thought no one could take over from Sean. But after seeing the latest Bond film... I know I can." He added "I certainly didn't realise this film business would keep my interest like it has. It is a real change from chemistry, and at present I can't see myself going back to that."
Well, he was a true "International Man Of Mystery" after all!
The Equalizer 3 (2023)
Denzel Does Amalfi
There are two main categories of action movie and Denzel has done both during his career.
Firstly, there are those which are the larger "blockbuster" action movies, of the type Arnie, Sly and Bruce Willis specialised in, which rely on spectacle and usually include several gun battles, car chases, explosions and extended personal combat sequences, if the actor is capable of it.
Then there are the more low key ones, which may still include some or all of the elements above, but in smaller quantities, and, instead, tend to rely more on creating suspense to help generate the emotional payoff. Many of Liam Neeson's later movies are examples of this.
As far as Denzel goes, "Ricochet" and "Two Guns" would be examples of the former and "Man on Fire" and "The Equaliser" series examples of the latter. (In fact Denzel's "Equaliser" character reminds me a lot of the one he played in "Man on Fire" but that guy didn't survive the movie, so there could be no sequels. Coincidentally Dakota Fanning also appeared in MoF).
However in this edition they didn't manage to get the balance right, of interspersing the action between character development interludes, or provide satisfactory emotional payoffs.
There is often a point in the life cycle of an action franchise where the creators have either run out of ideas and exhausted the possibilities of the character, or become too bored and lazy to bother doing the basic ground work anymore, so the character ends up becoming a two dimensional "Superman", a parody who no-longer seems to be in any real jeopardy.
Antoine Fuqua and Richard Wenk seem to have arrived at that moment with "The Equaliser 3". There is not enough action, and when there is some, Denzel prevails all too easily, whereas he had to work for it in the earlier movies.
Back then, they showed us Denzel had some "tradecraft", now he just appears out of thin air and takes out multiple enemies, one at a time, with little effort, like shooting the proverbial fish in a barrel. The only scene which nearly gets it right is in the restaurant, and even then Denzel disposes of the villains far too easily (and also far to publicly and messily, if he thought things through, like the professional he is supposed to be, then he would know what the Camorra response will be, and the collateral damage his friends in the villager will suffer as a result.)
Instead we have plenty of gore, but that is not an adequate substitute
The character development is also very two dimensional and cliché. The villagers are unusually helpful and seem to take an instant liking to Denzel, but the script doesn't demonstrate why or how that happened. Then an attractive woman, young enough to be Denzel's daughter, becomes fascinated by him, but why? (Other than that the only other black male in the village is young enough to be Denzel's grandson, the reason for the attraction isn't apparent) For me he would need to do some sort of good deed, and be seen doing it by the community, in order to justify this emotional connection with the towns folk, but nothing like that happens until much later.
Instead we get plenty of charming Italian scenery, but that is not an adequate substitute
To top it all off, most of the dialogue is in Italian... well, thanks all the same, but if I want to spend an evening reading subtitles I'll go to a film festival.