The director of this film also directed the very good "Coffin From Hong Kong." This movie has a lot of action, ranging from what you might call big action with many characters, to plenty of one-on-one battles between our hero, the handsome and suave Frederick Stafford, and various glowering bad guys. You know who comes out on top in those contests, ha! This film will have a special appeal to fans of Euro-spy because of the colorful scenes of the lively 1960's in Beirut, especially around the big hotel pool, where plenty of young lovelies are lounging in bikinis. Those scenes are absolutely classic 1960's Euro-spy!
Some other pluses for this movie: Stafford has some cool spy equipment; the plot makes sense; there are some interesting surprises and reveals. There was a big one, that I didn't see coming, at all. As I've noticed is often the case in these 1960's Euro-spy movies, the hero has a funny sidekick guy to help him out. These helper-guys are much more involved in the story than I recall ever being the case in a Bond movie, but I don't find that a drawback. The version I saw was dubbed in English--there were a few lines in German, no big deal--and the print looked simply terrific--strong, vibrant colors. Good use was made of some historic ancient ruins in Beirut, or near there, I suppose. The score was by the famous Morricone, who scored some big movies. The music was good at times, but too often I thought it rather over-dominated the scene; I wish the director had dialed that down more often.
One point I want to make: this is a totally fun movie to watch! In terms of 1960's Euro-spy, this is a home run. No one should come to any Euro-spy movie with the idea of comparing it to a Bond movie. The 1960's Bond films had: big budgets; a uniquely charismatic lead actor, in Sean Connery; perfect, exciting music; and they had that great run of five top movies in the 1960's, where you felt like you were part of the Bond "family," with the beloved familiar characters of M, Q, Moneypenny, and of course "James" himself. No lower-budget Euro-spy movie could compete with all that, but at their best they do provide good entertainment, with humor, action, twists and turns, beautiful women (does anyone doubt that Rosalba Neri--not in this movie, by the way--would have made an outstanding "Bond girl"?) and intrepid heroes. Fortunately for those who enjoy unpretentious, fun entertainment, there are plenty of good 1960's Euro-spy movies to see; and there are also a fair number of outstanding ones that are excellent in every way--like this one.
Some other pluses for this movie: Stafford has some cool spy equipment; the plot makes sense; there are some interesting surprises and reveals. There was a big one, that I didn't see coming, at all. As I've noticed is often the case in these 1960's Euro-spy movies, the hero has a funny sidekick guy to help him out. These helper-guys are much more involved in the story than I recall ever being the case in a Bond movie, but I don't find that a drawback. The version I saw was dubbed in English--there were a few lines in German, no big deal--and the print looked simply terrific--strong, vibrant colors. Good use was made of some historic ancient ruins in Beirut, or near there, I suppose. The score was by the famous Morricone, who scored some big movies. The music was good at times, but too often I thought it rather over-dominated the scene; I wish the director had dialed that down more often.
One point I want to make: this is a totally fun movie to watch! In terms of 1960's Euro-spy, this is a home run. No one should come to any Euro-spy movie with the idea of comparing it to a Bond movie. The 1960's Bond films had: big budgets; a uniquely charismatic lead actor, in Sean Connery; perfect, exciting music; and they had that great run of five top movies in the 1960's, where you felt like you were part of the Bond "family," with the beloved familiar characters of M, Q, Moneypenny, and of course "James" himself. No lower-budget Euro-spy movie could compete with all that, but at their best they do provide good entertainment, with humor, action, twists and turns, beautiful women (does anyone doubt that Rosalba Neri--not in this movie, by the way--would have made an outstanding "Bond girl"?) and intrepid heroes. Fortunately for those who enjoy unpretentious, fun entertainment, there are plenty of good 1960's Euro-spy movies to see; and there are also a fair number of outstanding ones that are excellent in every way--like this one.
