Director: Don Sharp
Writers: Harry Alan Towers, Peter Yeldham
Composer: Malcolm Lockyer
Starring: Tony Randall, Senta Berger, Herbert Lom, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Terry-Thomas, Gregoire Aslan, John Le Mesurier, Klaus Kinski, Margaret Lee, Burt Kwouk
More info: IMDb
Tagline: Strange girls in his room...Loaded guns in his back...Looks like it'll be a bang-up vacation!
Plot: One of six travelers who catch the bus from Casablanca airport to Marrakesh is carrying $2 million to pay a local operator to fix United Nations votes. But which one?
My rating: 7/10
Will I watch it again? Probably not.
This was cute in a fun way. This US / UK co-production was filmed in Morocco. Tony Randall's Andrew Jessel is the comedic relief. There's very little about the film that suggests it's a comedy besides him. Achmed (the driver Andrew and Kyra hitchhike with, played by Aslan) has the biggest laugh with the timing of one of his lines in a conversation with the pair. Everybody else plays it straight which works wonderfully. It would've been nice had Randall toned down the antics a little more, but it's not a deal killer by any stretch. He just stands out because he's the only one doing it. I didn't find him annoying because he doesn't go full ridiculous, thankfully. I liked the budding romance between Andrew and Kyra. It was handled well by letting it play out more smoothly and naturally than what you'd usually get in a major motion picture.
The cast is fantastic. Just having any of these big names is enough to get my attention. I loved how the rest of the cast played their roles seriously and didn't resort to anything resembling going even a little overboard. Herbert Lom kills it as the big villain of the piece, Mr. Casimir. He's not cartoonish in any way and that's a fucking blessing. So often when he played the heavy in comedies he'd go over the top. Here he's an intelligent man on a mission solving unexpected problems on a dime, as they occur. What's even better is the way he treats his girlfriend, Samia (Lee). She adores him and she's genuinely rooting for him to win and wants to be helpful even though she's a borderline young, dumb blonde (or maybe she's not, yet another well-written and performed part). The beauty of their relationship is that he doesn't seem to mind her piping up with ideas. He digs her and he's looking forward for this transaction to be complete so they can be off. This type of dynamic is incredibly rare in popcorn movies like this. I loved it and I want more of characters behaving like this! Here's Samia in action where Andrew introduces himself...
And here's a little something for those looking for some beefcake...
Day-um, Tony! Who knew?
It's also nice to see Senta Berger in a beefier role that doesn't rely on her looks as much as her intellect. She's got the biggest role in the picture along with Randall and she's great. Besides leaning a little too heavy on the comedy (and it's not really bad at all), and being how it's great that this was filmed in Morocco, the locations aren't all that special but they are varied. The movie mostly takes place in Marrakesh. I'm not saying all spy movies have to have location shooting like on a Bond picture (let's face it, few spy movies had the budget of a Bond movie) but maybe having a little more exotic spots would've been nice. If this is all I have to bitch about then it's not a bad movie at all. Look, I really enjoyed this and I would've loved to have seen this on the big screen. It's not a great movie but it's fun and charming. Get the widescreen version and play it on the biggest screen you can. It's not going to bring anything new to the genre but it succeeds in what it wants to be and that's entertaining.
Man, I watched this back to back with another mid-60s Eurospy flick that I liked. That's two good ones in a row. Should I chance it with a third? Fuck it! Why not?!
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