Crossplot (1969)

Director: Alvin Rakoff

Writers: John Kruse, Leigh Vance

Composer: Stanley Black

Starring: Roger Moore, Martha Hyer, Alexis Kanner, Claudie Lange, Derek Francis, Ursula Howells, Bernard Lee, Francis Matthews, Dudley Sutton, David Prowse

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  This playboy has killer instincts.

Plot:  A successful London ad-exec hires a beautiful Hungarian girl to pose for some modeling shots, little realising that she has overheard an assassination plot and is now being hunted by some dangerous killers.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I'm a huge fan of Roger Moore and that's a big help in enjoying this picture.  He's fun and charismatic as hell.  It's pre-Bond, post-Saint Moore and it's all groovy.  He had four more years before his first Bond picture and this one even has his future boss, M (Bernard Lee).  This picture has moments of Bond-lite and it's set in and around London of the late 60s so the locations are fabulous and fun.  The supporting cast is fun but it's Moore's show all the way.  Forget the convoluted story.  It's disposable...really disposable but it serves its purpose of getting our players from here to there which is all that matters in this movie.  It gets silly but it's also fun in a few spots.  Lange is very easy on the eyes (her main purpose for this picture) but she also does a fine job as Finn's (Moore) partner in crime.  There are some REALLY bad rear projection shots.  One is so horribly composed that Moore's skin is grey-ish.  He's just been in a fight so his face is bloodied up, making him literally look like a zombie.  It's dumber than the dumbest Bond film but then it's not pretending to be a great movie.  It's light fare with one hell of a charismatic leading man that would soon become instantly world famous upping his spy game.  The MGM DVD presents the film in non-anamorphic widescreen with only the non-anamorphic widescreen trailer for an extra.