Bang! Bang! You're Dead! (1966)

Original title:  Our Man in Marrakesh

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?!

Our Man in Jamaica (1965)

Original title: A 001: Operazione Giamaica

Directors:  Ernst Ritter von Theumer, Peter Jacob

Writers:  Kurt Vogelmann, Antonio del Amo

Composer:  Marcello Giombini

Starring:  Larry Pennell, Margitta Scherr, Roberto Camardiel, Barbara Valentin, Linda Sini, John Bartha, Raf Badassarre, Nando Angelini, Wolfgang Kieling, Brad Harris

More info:  IMDb

Plot:  The FBI sends agents to Jamaica to investigate arms smuggling to revolutionaries in Santo Domingo.

My rating:   6/10

Will I watch it again?   Nah.

Well, it's another middle of the road Eurospy picture and, like so many others, the main character (the James Bond type) has a wisecrack for EVERYTHING.  I hate that shit.  Ken (Pennell) is so flippant that's it's refreshing when he drops the bullshit and gets down to kicking some ass.  The story is just an excuse to move Ken from location to location and to give the picture some action scenes.  It's not a bad flick but it's marred by aloofness of Ken.  By the end of the film I was growing rather fond of actor Larry Pennell.  I still didn't like how light in tone his character was (which may not have been his fault).  He's got a striking physique which is a shame they didn't show it off more.

That's Hercules/Samson/Goliath actor Brad Harris in the shirt.  That man is equally buff.  When this came out in '65, the Bond craze was at its peak and a lot of imitators tried riding those coat tails and a lot of them fell by the wayside.  This was likely one of them.  The locations are lovely, as are the numerous hot Euro-broads, and Marcello Giombini's score has a Bond feel to it at times so there's enough ear and eye candy to keep you occupied but there's no escaping that this doesn't come close to the seriousness of a Connery Bond flick (yeah, I know the Bond pictures got sillier as they went on but this was in '65 when there were only four of them).  The print I saw was a lousy fullscreen one.  I definitely won't see this again but I probably would if a nice widescreen copy turned up someday. 

The Killer Likes Candy (1968)

Directors: Federico Chentrens, Maurice Cloche

Writers: Maurice Cloche, John Haggarty, Adam Saint Moore, Giovanni Simonelli

Composer: Gianni Marchetti

Starring: Kerwin Mathews, Marilu Tolo, Venantino Venantini, Ann Smyrner, Riccardo Garrone, Werner Peters, Gordon Mitchell, Bruno Cremer, Lukas Ammann

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A Paid Assassin Stalks His Prey.

Plot: Shrewd and evasive ex-Nazi and top assassin Oscar Snell is determined to rub out the King of Kafiristan. Snell's sole weakness is his sweet tooth; he leaves candy wrappers at the scene of his every crime. It's up to no-nonsense CIA agent Mark Stone to find Snell and stop him before it's too late.

My rating: 4.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Ugh.  This is yet another boring Eurospy with barely anything memorable or positive to talk about.  The story is passable, the acting (the version I saw was dubbed in English) isn't all that bad but the dub acting choice on one of the main characters was strange, and the action is ho-hum.  Gordon Mitchell's not in it that much which hurts the picture I think.  But the one thing that excels is Gianni Marchetti's wild and often fun score.  Watch the video above for a little taste.  Maybe the picture bored me and the music was different enough to keep me awake or at least pull me back in.  That much I enjoyed.  Everything else is hanging out on the wrong side of OK.  This is for Eurospy completeists (like myself) only.  For everyone else I'd say get the soundtrack for your next groovin' 60s dance party.

Tip Not Included (1966)

Original title: Die Rechnung - Eiskalt Serviert

Director: Helmuth Ashley

Writer: George Hurdalek

Composer: Peter Thomas

Starring: George Nader, Yvonne Monlaur, Horst Tappert, Heinz Weiss, Ullrich Haupt, Walter Rilla, Helga Schlack, Christian Doermer, Birke Bruck

More info: IMDb

Plot: A delivery truck is hijacked from the U.S. Mint with over $10M in diamonds and it's up to G-Man Jerry Cotton to crack the case and bring the bad guys to justice.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This is the third of eight Jerry Cotton pictures George Nader made from '65 to '69 and it ain't pretty.  It's probably best to go into this one looking for cheese because that's what you'll get.  It's easy to look at a movie from that long ago and pick apart a movie for the special effects (although a bunch hold up very well) but this one is low hanging fruit because it wasn't good to being with.  The story is OK and, compared to the Bond pictures, it's akin to a gas station stick up.  It's nothing more than a high dollar robbery and the FBI man that solves the case.  It's not clever in any way.  The B&W photography isn't used in a way that gives it style but it only adds to the cheapness.  The rear projection is laughably bad.  Nader, the good looking bastard that he was, does as good of a job as you can with the material and the rest of the cast does as well.  But it's not without a brief moment of eye candy...

It's not a good picture by any stretch but there is the rare moment where a smile showed up.  I think DEATH AND DIAMONDS (1968) is the only other Cotton picture I've seen.  It was better and I recommend that one over this one, easily.

Secret Agent Fireball (1965)

Original title: Le Spie Uccidono a Beirut

Director: Luciano Martino

Writer: Ernesto Gastaldi

Composer: Carlo Savina

Starring: Richard Harrison, Dominique Boschero, Wandisa Guida, Luciano Pigozzi, Aldo Cecconi, Carla Calo, Franco Freda, Clement Harari, Jean Ozenne, Audry Fisher

More info: IMDb

Tagline: This Man Has No Name....Not Even a Number....but in his inside pocket rests the fate of the world!

Plot: An American CIA agent must find the whereabouts of valuable microfilm that was smuggled over by two Russian scientists who had been hoping to defect.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

This Italian James Bond wannabe has better than average production values but there's no escaping that Richard Harrison plays Agent Fleming (ugh) too silly.  Roger Moore could pull off the aloof side of Bond but Harrison and his dialogue go way over the top.  He's got a bad quip for everything and he looks like he's the most badass dude on the planet and he expects everyone to bow down to his greatness.  Really.  It's that bad but in a silly, campy way.  Connery just needs to show up to look and feel badass.  Harrison's got a way about him that feels like he's got a continuous smirk (whether we see it or not).  It was a total turnoff and it hurts the picture.  As a spy movie goes there's more going on than usual for these lower budget 007 knockoffs which helps a little but it's not enough.  Even if the story were better there's no getting past how cocky Fleming is, going through life like everything is a joke and we owe him something.  Geez.

Death and Diamonds (1968)

Director: harald Reinl

Writers: Gustav H. Lubbe, Rolf Schulz, Christa Stern

Composer: Peter Thomas

Starring: George Nader, Heinz Weiss, Silvia Solar, Claus Holm, Marlies Drager, Karlheinz Fiege, Gunther Schramm, Dieter Eppler, Kathe Haack

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Vorsicht Jerry, sonst gehst du hoch

Plot: Agent Jerry Cotton infiltrates a big crime syndicate that is planning a major diamond heist.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

George Nader is charismatic and I can see why this series lasted 8 films.  This is the 5th.  It's by no means a classic but with a bouncy score, good camerawork and Nader as the suave badass FBI super agent you end up with something that's pretty fun.  The plot serves the picture well enough but it's not reaching for stars with great dialogue or an egotistic super villain.  The bad guy here is just a super criminal wanting to steal some diamonds but in a ridiculously crazy way.  The action is sprinkled throughout and not once was I bored but there was one time where I about lost my shit.  Watch this!

Holy shit, right!  There's a big car chase at the end and that scene is just the beginning.  It's a good looking picture and it plays better than some Eurospy movies.  I'm thinking Eurospy because Cotton is a super agent going undercover.  This also qualifies for Eurocrime.  These over the top pictures were all the rage in the 60s.  I rather like them.

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. 

When Eight Bells Toll (1971)

Director: Etienne Perier

Writer: Alistair MacLean

Composer: Angela Morley

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Robert Morley, Nathalie Delon, Jack Hawkins, Corin Redgrave, Derek Bond, Ferdy Mayne, Maurice Roeves, Leon Collins, Wendy Allnutt

More info: IMDb


Plot: A British agent, Philip Calvert, is on a mission to determine the whereabouts of a ship that disappeared near the coast of Scotland.

My rating:

Will I watch it again?  No.

This rather dull spy adventure has enough going for it to justify giving it a watch.  It's neat seeing Anthony Hopkins (in his first top-billed role) as a secret agent ala James Bond.  He's a down and dirty, no frills man of action.  It's odd seeing him in light but fun just the same.  Stunt legend Bob Simmons is the main stuntman on this picture who also played Hopkins' stunt double.  Simmons is most famous for being the stunt coordinator and double for Connery and Moore in nearly every Bond picture from '62 to '85.  The rest of the cas does fine and having Robert Morley and Jack Hawkins in the mix never hurt anyone's picture.  I learned something about Hawkins that I never knew.  He was dubbed in all of his roles after surgery for throat Cancer in 1965.  He was dubbed by Charles Gray (as he was in this film) or Robert Rietty.  Angela Morley's (as Walter Stott) score sometimes works well.  Her main theme is outrageous and outdated for what this movie is (but I really dig it).  It would be perfect for an over the top Eurospy film from say 1965 but one that would have the action to match it.  This film is at odds with the theme as there's rarely any moments that compliment the brashness of the music.  Most everything about this picture is low key and is void of the bright, outdoor settings and action you'd find in the Bond pictures.  It's probably the story and drabness of the locations that hurt this movie more than anything else.  There's not much excitement and considering MacLean's other work, this one is a low point for sure.

Super Seven Calling Cairo (1965)

Original title: Superseven Chiama Cairo

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Writers: Umberto Lenzi, Piero Pierotti

Composer: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino

Starring: Roger Browne, Fabienne Dali, Massimo Serato, Andrea Aureli, Dina De Santis, Antonio Gradoli, Stella Monclar, Mino Doro, Franco Castellani, Claudio Biava

More info: IMDb


Plot: Super 7 looks for a piece of a new metal hidden in a camera.

My rating:

Will I watch it again?  No.

This is the first of two pictures Browne played as super spy Martin Stevens.  The other came the following year, THE SPY WHO LOVED FLOWERS (1966).  While SUPER SEVEN doesn't fare much better, it's got its moments.  The location shooting in Cairo, Switzerland and Italy are very nice and provide some lovely scenery.  The score is cheesy as in it often sounds like it belongs in a cartoon (no joke).  The acting is OK and the dialogue sometimes silly but it's the story that's rather lame.  It's another cat-and-mouse, always on the hunt/run type of spy film with nothing of substance.  It's nowhere near the quality of the Bond films of the 60s in any way.  This Bond wannabe has Browne in the title role looking like a Bond...

and trying to be like Bond.  The think is, though, he's no Bond.  There's even a silly joke in the picture where he's flirting with a hottie telling her he's a spy and his name is James Bond.  Ugh.  HA!  This is pure middle-of-the-road spy nonsense with about the only thing going for it is the sometime scenery.  Also, I was neither bored nor entertained much so I guess that could be a little something in the plus column.

The Defector (1966)

Original title: L'espion

Director: Raoul Levy

Writers: Robert Guenette, Raoul Levy, Paul Thomas, Montgomery Clift, Peter Francke

Composer: Serge Gainsbourg

Starring: Montgomery Clift, Hardy Kruger, Roddy McDowall, Macha Meril, David Opatoshu, Christine Delaroche, Hannes Messemer, Karl Lieffen, Uta Levka

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  Slowly, fantastic shapes begin to appear on walls.  Then strange sounds - water dripping - muffled sobs and then a beautiful woman moves towards Bower's bed.  And then a voice..."kill Bower!"

Plot: American scientist James Bower (Clift) is approached by CIA agent Adam (McDowall) who wants him to perform an official mission while visiting East Germany. A Russian scientist who has defected to Germany has brought with him a cache of top-secret material on microfilm, and Adam wants James to retrieve it from one Dr. Saltzer (Messemer). However, James's secret plan is discovered by Peter Heinzman (Kruger), a Russian intelligence agent determined to keep the microfilm out of American hands and turn James against his American comrades.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

There was a point halfway or so in where I was ready for this to end but I always stick it out and I'm glad I did.  The final act beginning with Bower's (Clift) escape is fantastic.  The dialogue is considerably less than the rest of the film and it's exciting and suspenseful.  Then there's the turn of events for Heinzmann (Kruger).  This French/West German spy flick has a lot more going for it than against it.  The performances are very good and whenever Roddy McDowall is on screen he's a breath of fresh air.  His voice brings warmth to a cold story.  No exaggeration.  Montgomery was looking pretty rough for a man of 45 but he had a reason.  He was sick and would be dead three months after shooting the picture.  The director would follow a few months later but by his own hand.  As I mentioned the acting is very good.  For as much as I like the fantastical Bond picture, I really enjoy the more realistic side of spying like the excellent THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1965).  East Germany during this period feels like it was a very bleak place and THE DEFECTOR plays on that.  The locations used are very grey and similar giving it a cold look and feel.  When you add that kind of environment to a slow-paced film it's a good recipe for boredom and that happens a bit here but it sure picks up with that last twenty minutes.  Oh, boy!  The Warner Bros. Archive Collection DVD has a great looking anamorphic widescreen print with no extras. 

The Spy Who Loved Flowers (1966)

Original title: Le Spie Amano i Fiori

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Writer: Umberto Lenzi

Composers: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, Armando Trovajoli

Starring: Roger Browne, Emma Danieli, Daniele Vargas, Marino Mase, Salvatore Borghese, Fernando Cebrian, Pilar Clemens, Tulio Altamura, Giovanna Lenzi, Yoko Tani

More info: IMDb


Plot: After retrieving an electronic device that can shut off the power of entire cities, a secret agent is assigned to eliminate the only 3 remaining persons who have knowledge of the device. His first two missions (in Paris and Geneva) are accomplished easily enough, but the third (in Athens, where the rest of the film is set) turns out to be more complicated. His target seems to be aware of his every move, and it is likely that there is a traitor within the agency.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

 Lenzi's films are generally watchable and there are some really good ones in his catalog.  This one's mediocre and it's an average EuroSpy flick at the height of the James Bond craze but it's got its moments.  Granted, some of them are rather silly (intentional) like a quick swivel to machine gun a guy that comes out of nowhere.  The print I watched was a good but sometimes dirty (the way I like it) widescreen print.  That really helps sell the location shooting in Paris and largely Athens (nice!).  There are a lot of spies in this picture and there's a quick quip that gets tossed out near the end when things are looking bad when one of them says about another, "He's no James Bond.".  The actors all do a decent job but there's nothing in this picture that comes close to matching any of the Bond pictures of the era.  The EON Bond films were pretty much the best out there in every aspect.  The jazzy score is serviceable but it pops in and out at odd times which feels like somebody not the composer was responsible.  The dialogue is sometimes silly (unintentional) but then this isn't art we're talking about.  Besides all of that, the pacing is rather slow and the lack of really good music to help zip the picture along is obvious. I dig this genre and I'll go to my grave attempting to see every 60s EuroSpy flick (and Spaghetti Western and Krimi, etc.) even though I'm sure most of them are poor time killers. 

Shots in 3/4 Time (1965)

Original title: Schusse im 3/4 Takt

Director: Alfred Weidenmann

Writers: Ludmilla Kirsch, Herbert Reinecker

Composer: Charly Niessen

Starring: Pierre Brice, Heinz Drache, Daliah Lavi, Jana Brejchova, Charles Regnier, Walter Giller, Terence Hill, Gustav Knuth, ANton Diffring, Senta Berger, Daniel Sola, Walter Regelsberger, Hans Unterkircher, Karl Zarda, Erica Vaal, Paola PItagora

More info: IMDb

Plot: Tissot (Brice) is French secret agent No. 11011 in this James Bond-style spy thriller. He is sent on a mission to retrieve stolen plans for a newly developed steering mechanism for rockets.

My rating:  4.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm a huge pre-Brosnan Bond fan and I'm more in love with the idea of 60s EuroSpy movies than the films themselves.  This becomes more apparent the more of them I see (and I've got a lot more to go).  It's hard to judge acting sometimes when you're watching a dub.  Sometimes the line deliveries are strange, especially from whoever dubbed Brice.  It's no secret that these leading men are trying to be Sean Connery and there's only one of him.  The locations are nice for us here in the States that have never been to Europe but some of it is hindered by the fullscreen VHS copy I watched (with Dutch subs burned in to boot).  Did you see that video above of the opening credits?  The first couple of gunshots are cute but then it quickly slides into annoying.  Fortunately that effect isn't used anywhere else in the picture and unfortunately that theme is played ad nauseam.  It's a good theme but not so good that you can stand hearing it 20 or more times in 79 minutes.  As the story goes, it's OK and it serves its intended purpose of getting our hero from one place to another but it's as bland as everything else.  Seeing this in a theater with a proper print would help but it's certainly no cure. 

Funeral in Berlin (1966)

Director: Guy Hamilton

Writers: Len Deighton, Evan Jones

Composer: Konrad Eifers

Starring: Michael Caine, Paul Hubschmid, Oskar Homolka, Eva Renzi, Guy Doleman, Hugh Burden, Heinz Schubert, Wolfgang Volz, Thomas Holtzmann, Gunter Meisner, Herbert Fux, Rainer Brant, Rachel Gurney, John Abineri, David Glover

More info: IMDb

Tagline:  It was going to be a lovely funeral. Harry Palmer just hoped it wouldn't be his...

Plot: A British agent is sent to Berlin to receive a Communist defector, but the true situation turns out to be rather more complicated.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes!!!

Here's a sequel that tops the previous film, THE IPCRESS FILE (1965).  The intricately layered story is compelling and fun.  There are a couple of moments of levity that I could have done without, like his sexual quips with the office secretary ALA Bond, but it's early on and stuff like that doesn't permeate the picture.  Thankfully it's an engrossing and serious alternative to the James Bond series that was currently at its zenith in spy-mania.  FUNERAL is essentially two short films woven together as one.  It feels a little weird finding what feels like the main story ending with the other taking over but it works.  While I miss having John Barry back to score this one, I really dug what Konrad Eifers brought to the table.  His music brings a little of the exoticism of some of the early Bond scores and makes it seem more personal and dangerous without forgetting it's a movie and we should enjoy it.  Caine, as always, is great and the supporting cast is marvelous as well.  Bond producer Harry Saltzman brought some of his Bond alumni with him like the last picture.  Production designer Ken Adam is back and he brought in GOLDFINGER (1964) director Guy Hamilton to helm it.  It's a top-notch 60s spy thriller that's a great compliment to the Bond series while doing its own thing.  It's been a few years since I last saw it but it seems to be growing on me with age.  I watched a friend's DVD and I immediately went to Amazon to buy it but the $22 (plus tax) price keeps me from pulling the trigger.  It's a Warner Bros. Archive Collection release so at best it might only have a trailer for an extra.  That's too steep to pay for so little.  Hopefully the price will drop by the time I'm ready to see it again/  In the meantime it might even come out on Blu-ray but I'm not holding my breath.

The Ipcress File (1965)

Director: Sidney J. Furie

Writers: W.H. Canaway, James Doran, Len Deighton

Composer: John Barry

Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd, Gordon Jackson, Aubrey Richards, Frank Gatliff, Thomas Baptiste, Oliver MacGreevy, Freda Bamford

More info: IMDb


Plot: In London, a counter espionage agent deals with his own bureaucracy while investigating the kidnapping and brainwashing of British scientists.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

After watching the disappointing Michael Caine vehicle,  THE ITALIAN JOB (1969) the night before, I wanted to rectify that with watching a Caine flick I hadn't seen in years but I knew was a real peach of a flick.  This is how you make a spy picture in the mid-60s amidst the James Bond phenomena and not go for spoofing or aping it.  Caine is great, as usual, and so is the rest of the cast, especially Nigel Green.  The story is pretty good, too, but it's the stuff with Palmer and his superiors and co-workers that really works for me.  The storyline with the scientists is good and interesting but I really dig how Palmer interacts with others and how he's not your typical spy.  It's been ages since I saw the two sequels (one I remember was pretty good and the other was dreadfully boring) but it won't be much longer before I revisit them, too.  Oh, and John Barry's magnificent score does wonders to help the tension in this picture.  The camera angles, too, are fantastic.  There's some really neat artistry at work here.  It's really interesting that several Bond alumni worked on this picture including producer Harry Saltzman, composer John Barry, editor Peter R. Hunt, and production designer Ken Adam.  Find this one and soak it up.