Target for Killing (1966)

Original title: Das Geheimnis der Gelben Monche

Director: Manfred R. Kohler

Writer: Anatol Bratt

Composer: Marcello Giombini

Starring: Stewart Granger, Karin Dor, Rubert Davies, Curd Jurgens, Adolfo Celi, Scilla Gabel, Klaus Kinski, Molly Peters, erika Remberg, Luis Induni, Jose Marco Rosello, Demeter Bitenc, Allen Pinson, Slobodan Dimitrijevic, Wilbert Gurley, John Bartha, Andrea Fior

More info: IMDb

Plot: A secret agent battles a secret brainwashing organisation.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

This Eurospy flick hit at the height of the genre and it's got some Bond villains to boot.  Adolfo Celi was in THUNDERBALL (1965) and Jurgens (who plays the master villain in this picture) got he moment in the Bond sun in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977).  Stewart Granger pours on the charm in the Bond-like role here and he's fun to watch.  I'm a big fan of his when he's in this mode.  He and Jurgens make this a fairly fun ride.  The music is groovy as shit.  The opening credits grabbed my by the short and curlies and smacked my soft bottom all over the place.  The opening song is performed by an Italian psychedelic rock band called The Bumpers and the song is called Cupidation.  Check it out.

From the first few seconds I was instantly thinking about one of my current favorite bands, Temples (a recent psychedelic rock band from England that has their feet firmly planted in the mid-to-late sixties).  Their sound is much too close not to feel they must have known about The Bumpers before forming their own group.  The first track of their debut album, Sun Structures, gives you a little taste.  Listen to this one for comparison (and keep going for the rest of this groovy album (or jump to Sand Dance for the best track):

The copy I watched was from a shitty fullscreen VHS.  The story is fine and the pacing is much better than average for these 60s Bond knockoffs, so much that I'd be willing to watch it again if I came across a nice widescreen copy.