22Jun07 Firefox (1982)

Country: United States
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Freddie Jones, David Huffman, Ronald Lacey, Nigel Hawthorne
Music: Maurice Jarre
Based upon the novel by Craig Thomas

In 1982 Clint Eastwood had to re-invent himself again. Although he had massive success with Every Which Way But Loose (1977) and Any Which Way You Can (1981) and increased his fan base considerably, smartarse western characters weren’t as popular in the eighties as they had been in the seventies (Burt Reynolds career, apart from a few bright sparks, never really recovered). Eastwood chose to go hi-tech. The result was Firefox, an espionage thriller based on the novel by Craig Thomas.

Briefly, the film concerns Mitchell Gant (Clint Eastwood), a Russian born retired USAF pilot. Because he was born in Russia, he thinks in Russian, rather than thinks in English and then transposes it (if you know what I mean?). Why is this important? The Russians have just developed a new war plane, the MIG 31, codenamed: Firefox. The plane is the most advanced ever built, and features a thought controlled weapons system, can travel at Mach 6, and is invisible to radar. Naturally enough, the West is very eager to get their hands on this aircraft. There plan is to steal it. And that is where Mitchell Gant comes in. His Russian background makes him the perfect candidate to attempt the theft of this fantastic new weapon. There is a slight problem though. Gant suffers from a severe stress disorder, which cause him to blackout. This is the legacy of his days as a pilot in Vietnam. Apparently he was shot down and captured by the Vietcong.

Despite this disorder, the Agency behind this mission, decide to proceed, and Gant is launched into a whirlwind training regime. His controller is Kenneth Aubrey, played by veteran British character actor, Freddie Jones. Jones’ eyebrows, which have a character of their own, almost steal the movie from Eastwood.

After his training, Gant is sent off on his mission, which he knows very little about. His first port of call is Moscow. From there he is guided along by a network of dissidents and sympathizers until he finds his way to Bilyarsk, a military post where the Firefox is housed.

Firefox is a film that time has changed. I am not saying that it is better now than it was then. But it is different. But to understand how it has changed, first you must understand that it is a film of two very distinct halves. The first half is a Cold War spy story, and has a KGB – Big Brother is watching – style feel. The scenes are mostly shot at night, and are very claustrophobic.

The second half of the film is after Gant has stolen the MIG 31 plane and is racing through the clear blue skies. This is where the special effects and pyrotechnics take over.

Now, back to my point about the film having changed with time. When Firefox was released at the cinema in 1982, it was really at the tail end of a cycle of spy films. The first half, with it’s Cold War, Harry Palmer wannabe ethos, was very tired an dated. Many people considered it downright boring. The second half, however, was cutting edge visual effects, courtesy of Richard Dykstra, who had worked on Star Wars. When the Firefox flew through the Ural mountains and clouds of snow erupted into the air, there was a real feeling of speed and power.

But here we are in the next century and twenty five (plus) years have passed since the Firefox flew, and special effects have leapt forward at a tremendous rate. The models used in Firefox look rather ‘fake’ today. The whole airplane chase seems rather small and unimpressive.

But now that the Iron Curtain has come down, the Cold War story seems far more interesting. The world is a very different place. Now, the first half seems like a solid, good old fashioned, espionage thriller (the type that they don’t make anymore). I may be being a little generous in my appraisal there, but none-the-less, the passing years have freshened up the start of this movie.

Does that make Firefox a good film? I’m afraid not. However you look at it, then or now, the sum of it’s two distinct parts do not add up.

The character, Mitchell Gant, would turn up in a few more novels by Craig Thomas. These are the ones that I am aware of:

• Firefox Down (1983)
• Winter Hawk (1987)
• A Different War (1997)

And another character, Kenneth Aubrey (Gant’s controller), also has appeared in numerous novels.

This review is based on the Warner Brothers Australia DVD

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22Jun07 Breakheart Pass (1975)

AKA: Alistair Maclean’s Breakheart Pass
Director: Tom Gries
Starring: Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna, Jill Ireland, Ed Lauter, Charles Durning, David Huddleston
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Based on the novel by Alistair Maclean

Breakheart Pass is a weird hybrid, partly Western, partly ‘whodunnit’, and finally spy thriller. But mostly it is pure old fashioned seventies entertainment. But not quite like you’d expect.

By the mid seventies the spy film had become quite jaded. Bond-mania, which had driven the genre along during the sixties had died down, and even the serious anti-Bond films, like Scorpio, or Permission To Kill, had worn out their welcome. Writer Alistair Maclean, a veteran of the genre, decided to move into different territory, whilst still keeping all the espionage elements that had become his trademark in place. He moved towards the ‘western’. At the time, even the western film was suffering. The Spaghetti Westerns from Italy had breathed fresh life into the tired old genre, but even they had run their course. So in Breakheart Pass, in which Alistair Maclean wrote the screenplay, based on his novel, we have two tired genres rolled into one.

I am pleased to say that the idea really works. Maybe the traditionalists may be up in arms, saying that it is not really a spy film, but I beg to differ. I could explain why, but to detail the plot would give away a few of the surprises this movie has in store, but in simplified terms it is the story of a few characters in the old west who are on a steam train, as it winds through the Rocky Mountains to Fort Humboldt The cavalry fort is in the middle of a dipheria plague. The train contains medical supplies and troops who will replace the sick and dying men, as well as Governor Fairchild (Richard Crenna) who is leading the ragtag band to the fort. Along for the ride is Major Claremont (Ed Lauter), the cavalry officer in charge of the replacement troops, John Deakin (Charles Bronson), a gambler and a murderer, and Ben Johnson as Nathan Pearce, the US Marshall who is escorting him to trial.

Breakheart Pass features another great score by Jerry Goldsmith. For each Goldsmith soundtrack I come across, I am constantly astounded at the high quality and diversity of his work. This score may not be Goldsmith’s most subtle work, but essentially we have a movie about a train, and in keeping, he gives us a powerful, brassy, driving theme and motifs throughout the movie. It’s a good one.

I am going to go out on a limb here. Bronson made many great films as a part in an ensemble cast; The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, and Once Upon A Time In The West to name but a few. But in films where he solely carried the story, the success rate is considerably lower. I think of Bronson’s solo efforts, Breakheart Pass is his best film. It’s a big call, but if you stack up the Death Wish movies, Mr. Majestyk, The Evil That Men Do and it’s ilk, for pure enjoyment, and a great performance, Breakheart Pass is the one!

This review is based on the MGM Home Entertainment USA DVD

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16Jun07 A View To A Kill (1985)

Directed by John Glen
Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, Patrick MacNee, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell
Music by John Barry
Title song performed by Duran Duran

A View To A Kill was the fourteenth official James Bond movie, and the seventh (and last) film to feature Roger Moore as agent 007. Quite frankly, Moore was too old for the role by this time. He knew it and the producers knew it, but there was no logical successor at the time. The producers had considered casting American actor James Brolin in the role before filming began on Octopussy (the preceding movie in the series) but decided against it. Footage of Brolin’s screen tests can be seen on the recent MGM/UA 2 disk DVD of Octopussy. Octopussy ended up being one of Moore’s better films, which is probably why the producers stuck with Moore again. But for A View To A Kill, the team went to the well one time too many. Let’s look at why A View To A Kill doesn’t work:

The casting, with the exception of Patrick Macnee, is uniformly weak. I have already mentioned Moore’s age. He is really showing it here. Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), after 23 years of service, she appeared in Dr. No in 1962, is looking slightly out of place too. But you can almost forgive the aging Bond family regulars because they are faces you have grown to love. The major casting blunders are the female leads. Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton is so vacuous she barely registers as a human being. She spends most of the film shrieking and squealing. Often in Bond criticism, the Bond girls are given short shrift by the media. Most of the time, I think this is unfounded. Most of the female characters are intelligent and capable women who happen to be rather attractive. Not just mere window dressing. Many are equals to Bond. But Robert’s character comes off as a dumb blonde. He acting is so stilted, she destroys any dramatic scene in which she appears. Just don’t let her speak. She is the reason for any negative Bond girl criticism.

Similarly Grace Jones is rather wooden as Mayday. Her delivery of lines is very forced, but thankfully she doesn’t have many to deliver. She is very eye catching though, and certainly has a presence on the screen.

Next we come to Christopher Walken. Walken is an actor I really appreciate. I can sit through most of his B-grade movies and smile due to his performances. But here, he is simply miscast. Not that he gives a bad performance here; far from it. He does ‘psychopath’ very well. But his character is supposed to be an Anglo-French multi-millionaire industrialist, who was born in Germany. So the character is very European. Yet Walken is so New York. He doesn’t belong in a French chateau, or at Ascot in a top hat and tails.

As I briefly mentioned earlier, the one successful bit of casting is Patrick Macnee. The fact that Moore and Macnee were friends from their early television days, and appeared together in the movie The Sea Wolves, may count for the chemistry between them. But despite this (or maybe because), Macnee has an understated grace that makes it seem like he belongs in these opulent surroundings. And acting wise, his is the only character to have any emotional impact in the film.

The next weak element of the film is the script. Admittedly the writers have tried something new. Rather than a megalomaniac for a villain, they have a Max Zorin (Walken’s character) played as a psychopath. Interesting idea on paper, but on screen it doesn’t work. For example, when Zorin kills all his henchmen in a gleeful psychotic display, it leaves him isolated and alone (well practically) against Bond in the final showdown. And let’s remember that Bond has taken on armies in volcanoes, on oil rigs, and on space stations. No matter how creative the backdrop (atop the Golden Gate Bridge, no less), Bond is essentially going up against one man – it’s not impossible odds. And really with the way the plot has unfolded, Bond, with a little help from Mayday, has already saved the day The only reason to go after Zorin is to rescue Stacey Sutton, and you already know my opinion of that character. Do you think I care? The way the whole denouement unfolds is clumsily written.

The story is a fairly simple one. Wealthy industrialist, Max Zorin own’s a company that makes microchips. Unfortunately for Zorin, most of the world’s microchips are made in Silicon Valley in the USA. Zorin (I have already mentioned that he is psychotic), plans to cause an Earthquake, unlocking the San Andreas and Haywood faults. That will cause the destuction of Silicon Valley, which will simply disappear into the sea. His company will then have a worldwide monopoly. Naturally James Bond has to stop him.

To the music now: When the film came out in 1985, Duran Duran’s theme song was a massive hit, even though it sounds a little dated today. The theme ties in nicely with John Barry’s score, which is one of the more evocative one he has composed for the series. I am particularly fond of the music when Bond carries Sutton down a fire truck ladder to safety, while the San Francisco City Hall burns behind them. The music is rousing and heroic, combing the ‘dance into the fire’ motif from the title song with the ‘Bond sound’. The score is universally good except for one minor quibble. During the pre-title sequence, Bond uses a ski from a snow mobile as a snowboard. As he glides down an embankment of snow and across a small pond, instead of the John Barry score, which has been working a treat through the previous action, we are slapped in the face with an annoying cover version of The Beach Boys ‘California Girls’. It is simply not necessary, and it is certainly not funny!

While I do not believe A View To A Kill is quite as bad as Die Another Day, it is one of the weaker entries in the series. It is an unworthy swan song for Roger Moore, who despite a recent dip in popularity is truly one of the great Bond actors. He brought a great deal of enjoyment to many people, and most of all he filled the shoes of Sean Connery.

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13Jun07 From The Orient With Fury (1965)

AKA: Fury In The Orient, Agent 077 Operation Istanbul, Fury In Istanbul, Fury On The Bosphorus, Storm Over The Bosphorus
Director: Terrence Hathaway (Sergio Grieco)
Starring: Ken Clark, Fernando Sancho, Margaret Lee, Philippe Hersent, Franco Ressel, Vitorrio Sanipoli, Mikaela
Music: Piero Piccioni
Songs ‘Before It’s Too Late’ and ‘You Wonderful You’ sung by Lydia Macdonald

From The Orient With Fury (or any of the myriad of other names that this film goes by), is the second in the Ken Clark 077 series, and while being a slight step down form the first, Mission Bloody Mary, it is still a fairly slick Eurospy production. The film opens with a nice pop art rotoscope title sequence and Lydia Macdonald singing ‘Before It’s Too Late’.

In Istanbul, Professor Franz Kurtz (Ennio Balbo) arrives at a hotel, with a coterie of reporters at his heels. He has just invented a Beta Ray that disintegrates metal. Accompanying the Professor is C.I.A. agent McFlint, whose job is to protect the Professor. As they pass through the hotel lobby McFlint is called to the telephone. As he takes the call, the Professor makes his way up to his room. Waiting for him inside are a handful of burly gorillas dressed as the house band. The Goons kidnap the Professor, smuggling him out, hidden in a case for a double bass.

When McFlint finally makes it up to the Kurtz’s room, all he finds is a dead body slumped in an armchair. As McFlint investigates, the bomb goes off destroying the hotel room. Naturally, the authorities believe the dead man in the armchair was Professor Kurtz, and the newspapers of the world are filled with reports about his demise.

Meanwhile in Paris, the Head of the C.I.A., Heston (Philpe Hersent) is meeting with Kurtz’s daughter, Romy. He explains that he had the fingerprints checked and is positive that her father is alive. Now he intends to put his best man on the case to find the Professor. That man is Dick Malloy – Agent 077 (Ken Clark).

When we catch up with Dick Malloy, he is involved in a bar fight. For what reason, we never find out. As he is on holidays, maybe that is how he relaxes? Mid fight he is interrupted by a telephone call from Heston, and is sent to Paris for a briefing.

Malloy’s mission is to pick up the trail of the kidnappers and the Professor. His first task is to meet with one of the Professor’s colleagues, Preminger, at a night club called Martignon. Malloy is at the club at the allotted time. But unfortunately Preminger is followed by the hoods who kidnapped Professor Kurtz. Before he can talk to Malloy, he is silenced by a poison needle. With his dying breath Preminger says to Malloy, ‘Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony’.

With barely a lead to go on, Malloy proceeds to Preminger’s house in a black Chevolet. Naturally enough for this sort of film, the villains of the piece, follow Malloy and a car chase takes place. As it is a spy film, Malloy’s car comes equipped with rear machine guns, and he disables his pursuers vehicle. And since we are talking about cars, one thing puzzles me about the appearance of Malloy’s black Chevy. I realise the 077 films do not have the budget of a Bond or a Flint, and sometimes things have to be done on the cheap. What I find strange though, is that the film-makers were too lazy to clean the bird-shit off the car windows before shooting the scenes. It is quite strange to see an urbane, sophisticated secret agent driving with two giant ‘splats’ on his driver’s side window, next to his head – classy stuff!

A spy film like this, would be complete without a bevy of beautiful women, and this film has three. The first, I have already mentioned, is Romy Kurtz (Evi Marandi). She’s also a scientist like her father, but unlike him, she has been completing her work in Moscow, and she is not so keen for her father’s work to be handed over to the American’s if Malloy should succeed.

Next we have the evil villainess, Simone Coplan (Fabienne Dali). She gives as good as she gets, and for her trouble she gets slapped around a little bit. Not only does she have to put up with some violent treatment, she has to put up with Malloy saying clumsy dialogue like: ‘Out with it, baby!’ as he crudely tries to interrogate her.

After two thirds of the film have passed, a favourite for fans of Eurospy films, Margaret Lee makes an appearance. Her character is also a secret agent called, Evelyn Stone. When we first meet Stone, she is in Malloy’s hotel suite and taking a shower. She teams up with Malloy at the end to track the villains to their lair and find the Professor. But mostly, she gets to play her signature role, another ditzy blonde. But hey, that’s why we like her!

What makes this film the weakest of the three Ken Clark, Dick Malloy films is that the villains role and character are hardly defined. Goldwyn (Franco Ressel), the architect of this evil plot is barely seen throughout the picture till the very end, and then he is hardly menacing. In fact, Simone Coplan would have been better as ‘the chief’.

From The Orient With Fury is not a complete waste of time, and is a fairly slick Eurospy production, but it does seem to lack direction and a climax worthy of the preceding hundred minutes.

It is not my policy to endorse any particular company or product, but if you searching for a copy of this film, rather than scouring the grey market, Dorado Films Inc, in the United States have released a nice clean copy on DVD.

This review is based on the Dorado Films Inc. USA DVD.

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17May07 Scorpio (1972)

Director: Michael Winner
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Paul Scofield, John Colicos, Gayle Hunnicut, Vladek Sheybal, Joanne Linville
Music: Jerry Fielding

Scorpio, while being far from brilliant is an interesting examination of a spy who has outlived his usefulness. Burt Lancaster is Cross, a C.I.A. operative who used to be their number one assassin. But now he is old and ‘thinks’ too much. More so, a life time’s accumulation of knowledge means he knows too much! And as we all know, dear reader, there is no retirement plan for secret agents.

The film opens in Paris where a Middle Eastern colonel (from the fictional country of Ritria), Selon Zim, disembarks from a plane amidst tight security. This is to no avail, because as soon as he hits the tarmac he is killed by Jean Laurier, AKA: ‘Scorpio’ (Alain Delon). Lurking in the shadows is Cross, who is Scorpio’s mentor. Cross has trained him in the art of espionage and, most importantly, killing!

In some confusing political mumbo jumbo Zim was pro-American, but killed because his allies would blame his enemies and become more powerful and useful to the United States. All this introduction does is show us that spying is a very dirty business and the men who operate within it’s realm are just pawns in the game. Good and bad do not exist.

Both Cross and Scorpio head back to Washington. Cross’ wife, Sarah (Joanne Linville) lives in Washington, so it’s a happy homecoming for him. Scorpio chooses to take an extravagant suite at a hotel. The room he chooses already houses a cat which Scorpio takes a shine to. Before Scorpio has had a chance to unpack, C.I.A. Controller, McLeod (John Colicos) contacts Scorpio. At this point it is revealed that in Paris, once the mission was complete, Scorpio was meant to kill Cross. Why? Because Cross wants to retire. He wants out of the game. Being an assassin is a game for young men and Cross realises his time is running out. Scorpio doesn’t want to kill Cross. He wants to be left alone and refuses to go into headquarters.


Meanwhile Cross realises something unusual is going on. He notices his home is being watched. The next day he drives to headquarters but is being tailed as he does so. He disables his pursuers, by leading them into an alley and then deliberately crashes his car into theirs. Then Cross allows one of the men to follow him on foot to the bus station. Hiding in the men’s room, Cross gets the jump on his pursuer after he blindly follows Cross into the gents. Cross then asks some hard questions, but doesn’t like the answers he gets. Apparently the agency wants him dead.

Cross goes on the run. He buys multiple plane tickets to blur his trail, and then takes multiple planes and trains passing through Pittsburgh, Toronto and finally landing in Vienna. In Vienna, Cross seeks out another old-timer, Serge Zharkov (Paul Scofield). Zharkov is a Russian agent, who tries to convince Cross to defect. But Cross simply tells him, ‘I want out, not to change sides!’

Back in the states a drug raid on Scorpio’s hotel room lands him in hot water. Naturally enough, Scorpio had nothing to do with the drugs being there, but that doesn’t matter to McLeod, who promptly blackmails Scorpio into performing the sanction on Cross. And now the cat and mouse game begins.

Scorpio was directed by Michael Winner, who at this time was at the peak of his powers (and not the hack B-grade director that he would later become). He had just come off the success of his incredibly dated but subversive thriller Death Wish, with Charles Bronson, and needed another thriller to cement his reputation. So it had to be violent and provocative, and for the time, Scorpio was. But today’s audiences may find it hard to stifle a yawn.

What may come as somewhat of a surprise is the lack of empathy created by either Burt Lancaster who appears to be sleepwalking, and Alain Delon who plays an icy character in a cold aloof manner. Then again, maybe that is the point. These are not nice men. Both men are professional assassins, and I’d guess it takes a certain amount of emotional detachment to be a contract killer.

Look, it isn’t a bad film but time has overtaken it and the themes it encompasses. I must sound like a parrot, comparing old films to the Matt Damon version of The Bourne Identity. But clearly shows what happens when an agent is no longer wanted, and in a far more impressive and entertaining style than The Bourne IdentityScorpio. This may sound like I am saying, ‘ignore the old’ and only concentrate ‘on the new!’ Far from it. Many of the old films still have a powerful story to tell. But Scorpio is more of a seventies time capsule, and while it’s story of an aging secret agent, is played out quite truthfully, more so than Innocent Bystanders (1973) or even Never Say Never Again (1984), it never fully connects with the audience.

If you are a spy completist who loves to look at the evolution of the spy film over the decades, Scorpio is a must have addition to your collection. But if you are a viewer who likes to watch spy films for pure escapism, I’d suggest this film isn’t for you.

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1May07 Who’s Got The Black Box (1967)

AKA: The Road To Corinthe
Director: Claude Chabrol
Starring: Jean Seberg, Maurice Ronet, Christian Marquand
Music: Pierre Jansen

Some films have a good personality. Like a close friend, they make you smile and you enjoy spending time with them. Who’s Got The Black Box is one of those films. It may have a thin story, and could be considered light on for action and laugh out loud jokes, but none-the-less it is one of those films that is easy to immerse yourself in, and enjoy. For those who have seen the Pathfinder Entertainment DVD cover, and have noticed the intense red packaging, which features a monochrome hero with one arm wrapped around Jean Seberg and the other holding a machine gun, don’t panic. The film is nowhere near that intense or violent. It is essentially a gentle paced spy comedy from French film-maker Claude Chabrol. Chabrol had previously ventured into spy territory with Le Tigre Aime La Chair Fraiche (The Tiger Likes Fresh Meat) and Le Tigre Se Parfume A La Dynamite (Our Agent Tiger), both featuring Roger Hanin as agent Louis Rapiere – two films which I haven’t tracked down English language versions of yet.

Black Box opens with the self proclaimed ‘World’s Greatest Magician,’ Socrates (Steve Eckart) attempting to cross the border into Greece. As his vehicle is inspected at customs, the officials find a small black box filled with electronic components.

The discovery is reported back through the chain of command. When the heads of OTAN hear about the device, they fly into a panic and demand to know what it does. (I am sure you have worked out, that OTAN is NATO backwards!)

The magician is forced to talk. That is, he is taken to a small room and pummelled to within an inch of his life by a burly man wearing sunglasses. Finally the magician breaks his silence. He confesses that he has already brought fifteen of the little black boxes into Greece. And that other couriers have brought in more.

And what does the black box do? Each black box interferes with radar and launch of OTAN missiles. Before the authorities can find out anything else, the magician swallows a cyanide capsule.

Sharps (Michel Bouquet), the local head of the CIA in the Mediterranean is an inept fool. He doesn’t believe that there are any more black boxes. But he does assign two agents to look into it. The first agent is Dex (Maurice Ronet) who is experienced and professional. The other agent is Robert Ford (Christian Marquand), who is a dreamer.

Sharps has another reason to send away Ford. Ford has a beautiful wife, Shanny (Jean Seberg), and while he is away on assignment, Sharps, hoping to instigate an affair, moves in on her.

Ford, whose ideas are never taken seriously, stumbles onto a lead and finds out who is behind the black boxes. Rather than return to headquarters, he returns home and celebrates his success with Shanny. As she leaves the room to get a bottle of Champagne, Robert is assassinated. She returns to the bedroom and finds him dead. In turn, she is hit from behind and rendered unconscious. The killer then puts the murder weapon, a gun, in her hand. He also gets her other hand and drags her fingernails down her murdered husbands chest, to indicate that there was a struggle.

The evidence is stacked heavily against Shanny and she is imprisoned. Naturally, the lecherous Sharps arranges for her to be released. Now free, she sets off to find out who killed Robert, and the truth about the black boxes. Along the way she teams up with Robert’s partner, Dex, who is unsure if he should trust Shanny. All the clichés are in place, for slick little spy thriller.

Jean Seberg is likeable in the part of Shanny, but doesn’t quite ooze the sex-appeal required for the role. In places, it is hard to believe that men, both good and bad, are throwing themselves at her. Then again, that may just be the nature of the ‘dirty old men’ in the film. They’d throw themselves at anything in a skirt.

The weaknesses of the film are a couple of uneven comedy sequences, which ruin the flow of the film, and the music in some places. The music generally is fairly unobtrusive, and considering the setting, it does feature some Greek styling. But it does get annoying when the music gets loud and fast. It is supposed to sound Greek and exotic, but instead sounds like music for a slapstick routine. Obviously it does not reflect the action taking place on the screen, and would probably be more suited to a Benny Hill skit.

The film, as I mentioned at the outset is very likeable, without being brilliant. The star of the film is the cinematography, which is very good and utilises the Mediterranean backdrop to great effect. It is a warm film; a friendly film. It is not going to change your life, and it is not going to end up on your list of favourite films of all time, but if you take the time to watch it, you are in for a pleasant ninety minutes.

This review is based on Pathfinder Home Entertainment USA DVD

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10Apr07 Detonator: Death Train (1993)

Director: David S. Jackson
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Patrick Stewart, Christopher Lee, Alexandra Paul, Ted Levine
Music: Trevor Jones
AKA: Death Train, Alistair MacLean’s Death Train

This film is often referred to as Alistair MacLean’s Death Train. Writer Alistair MacLean has a solid track record when it comes to espionage movies with successful versions of Guns Of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra and Puppet On A Chain based on his novels (to name a few). But be wary of Alistair MacLean’s Death Train. In fact it is Alistair MacNeill’s Death Train. Alistair MacNeill was the author who wrote a series on novels based on outlines left by MacLean at his death. So to begin with, we have a counterfeit MacLean story which the producers have chosen to base their film on.

As the film opens we witness a nuclear bomb being constructed. While this is happening, we hear the resonant tones of Patrick Stewart announce:

Plutonium…the key ingredient in nuclear bombs.

This plutonium was stolen, gram by deadly gram, from a German power plant.

My organization, the United Nations Anti-Crime Organization, responds to nuclear terrorism.

So when Karl Leitzig used this stolen plutonium to construct two nuclear bombs, his creations became U.N.A.C.O.’s nightmare.

Patrick Stewart plays Malcolm Philpott, head of U.N.A.C.O, and when a Russian General, Benin (Christopher Lee), oversees the creation of these weapons, Philpott has a crisis on his hands. The bombs are forcibly loaded onto a train in Bremen, Germany, by a group of mercenaries headed by Alex Tierney (Ted Levine). As well as the hijacked train, Tierney also has twelve hostages, and as the authorities try to interfere, he has no hesitation in killing them. Tierney orders the train to be re-routed across the Swiss border, and then to Belsano in Italy.

Once the train is on the move, U.N.A.C.O. prepares for action. Philpott prepares a crack team of operatives to resolve the crisis. Amongst the team members are Mike Graham (Pierce Brosnan), and Sabrina Carver (Alexandra Paul) who are the stars of the show. Other members of the team include a Russian Major, Gennadi Rodenko (Nic D’Avirro); a US/Kenyan, C.W. Whitlock (Clarke Peters), who happens to a nuclear physicist; and another Russian, Sergei Kolchinsky (Andreas Sportelli), a pilot. With such an eclectic group of team members, it will come as no surprise that one of them is not quite what they appear to be.

Philpott has his team assemble in Munich. On the flight over, he taps into the trains communications. Tierney justifies his actions this way:

We define ourselves by who we hate!
And the USSR was a worthy adversary.
This New World Order thing, we can’t use that!
No, once you know who you hate, everything works!

The first attempt to stop the train, features Carver firing a gas canister into the Locomotive’s cabin, while Graham, attempts some acrobatics hanging from the bottom of a helicopter. Tierney and his mercenaries were prepared for such an assault, and don gas masks and defend themselves with machine guns. Graham is forced to retreat with his tail between his legs. Naturally enough the team regroup and find another way to assault the train

Despite a cast that includes Pierce Brosnan, Patrick Stewart and Christopher Lee this movie is pedestrian in every aspect. And the ending is so bad, it will have you throwing things at your television set. The film may not be quite as bad as I have made out, but it is far from great. It is however, light-years ahead of it’s sequel, which is one of the dreariest spy films ever made.

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3Apr07 Fantabulous Inc. (1967)

AKA: Il Donna, Il Sesso, Il Superuomo (The Woman, Sex And Superman)
Director: Sergio Spina
Starring: Richard Harrison, Adolpho Celi, Judi West, Nino Fuscagni
Music: Sandro Brugnolini

Fantabulous Inc. is a strange little Italian film that has a bit of everything in it. It’s a thriller, it’s a super-hero film, it’s a spy film, and it’s an exploration on civil rights.

The super villain of this piece is Carl Maria Von Beethoven (Adolpho Celi), and naturally enough, whenever we hear his name we also hear a snatch of Ludwig Von Beethoven (Da Da Da Dum). He runs a clinic called Fantabulous Inc., which turns men into super-men.

The film opens in Geneva. Richard Vernon (Richard Harrison) is engaged in a bit of post-coital byplay with his girlfriend, Deborah Sanders (Judi West). But now he has to leave. He works as a banker, and has an important meeting in Milan. Leaving the apartment, he heads down to the underground carpark and to his car. Unfortunately for Vernon, it won’t start. The carpark attendant, who happens to be wearing sunglasses, refuses to help, and only laughs at Vernon’s predicament. Vernon assumes the car is out of petrol and walks around to the nearest petrol station. After an altercation with the attendant, who is also wearing sunglasses, Vernon gets his can filled and returns to the car. Upon his return he finds out that the petrol container has been filled with water.

Even though it is night, there’s a suspicious amount of men with sunglasses around. Vernon doesn’t appear to notice and phones the police to complain about the petrol station, but the police officer on the other end of the line, only abuses Vernon for his trouble. From the phone box, as he returns to his car, it is stolen in front of his very eyes. Luckily a police car happens to be passing as he chases his vehicle on foot. He lodges a complaint, but rather than pursuing the thieves, the police question Vernon at length, and then take him into custody. But rather than take him to the nearest police station, he is taken to the headquarters of Fantabulous Inc. In the Fantabulous carpark, he finds his car. Initially he is pleased, that now he can continue his journey to airport, and then Milan. But before he can do so, one of the police officers produces a hypodermic needle and injects Vernon. He wakes up in the middle of a strange medical procedure, which seems incredibly invasive and brutal (his arm appears to be shorn off).

Next we cut to Deborah, who is an aspiring actress and fashion model. She is engaged in a photo shoot, we she is interrupted by phone. It’s a call from the police. She has to go to the morgue and identify Vernon’s body. There, as his body is slid out of the drawer, it looks like Vernon’s face, but she is adamant, that the body does not belong to Richard.

And Deborah is right. Vernon is not dead. He wakes up in what seems like a hospital room. He is still in fact at Fantabulous Inc., a company that specialises in bio-chemical and bio-physical experimentation.

Behind Fantabulous Inc is Beethoven, who I mentioned earlier, who is the mastermind behind the whole operation. He arranges for the capture of appropriate physical specimens for conversion into supermen. He also is the marketing manager, who sells his creation to foreign powers to control the masses. Also working for Fantabulous is the mad Professor Cronin (Gustavo D’Arpe), who is the brains behind the process. It’s his experiments that have created the super-human beings. As with all good henchmen, Cronin has a physical deformity; he has metal pincers for hands.

Beethoven aside, the music and songs, by Sandro Brugnolini throughout Fantabulous Inc. are catchy and infectious; from gutsy soul based numbers that remind you of Ray Charles or Sammy Davis Jnr to piano driven conga-line numbers. The music certainly helps this film press forward when visually things slow down. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find out the name of the vocalist on the soundtrack.

The first half of this film is incredibly entertaining and I challenge anyone to guess where it is going. But the second half gets pretty silly. There’s some not so subtle symbolism and quasi-political mumbo-jumbo about the misuse of power. To give the film it’s due, I am looking at it from twenty-first century perspective, rather than 1967, and maybe the ‘message’ in the last half, was more important back then. But as far as narrative and entertainment go, then or now, the second half veers very wildly from silly super hero cartoon heroics to rhetoric about discipline and authority.

Unfortunately this film only appears to be available on the grey market, (with copies that appear to be of a very poor standard) which is a shame, because I think it is film that will divide people. As I said above I didn’t like the end, but other viewers whose viewpoint is slightly more anarchististic than mine, may think this film is, er sorry, Fantabulous. But without a good DVD of the film on the market, for everyone to view and decide for him or herself, I am afraid it’s a little hard to debate the merits, or lack thereof, of Fantabulous Inc.

This review is based on the Video Search Of Miami USA video cassette transfer

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3Apr07 Blue Ice (1992)

Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Michael Caine, Sean Young, Ian Holm, Alun Armstrong, Todd Boyce, Bobby Short, Bob Hoskins,
Music by Michael Kamen
Featuring music by Charlie Watts and the Big Band

Blue Ice is a routine spy thriller from Australian director Russell Mulcahy. It is far from the worst film that Caine has done, but for a man that spy films are his bread and butter this is a token effort. In Caine’s autobiography, ‘What’s It All About’, he makes mention of how great it was to be working with Bob Hoskins again. But don’t believe it. Hoskins’ role is barely more than a cameo.

The film starts with a young American agent, Kyle (Todd Boyce), poking around the docks in London, but he is spotted by an unseen quarry driving a red mail van. He quickly flees and phones his ex-lover, Stacy Mansdorf (Sean Young). She answers her mobile phone whilst driving and ploughs into the back of Harry Ander’s car. Harry (Michael Caine), a jazz club owner, is not too enthused by the vandalism of his classic Jaguar Mk II, but still invites Stacy back to his club for a drink. It doesn’t take long for Stacy to get her kit off, and before you can say ‘Honey Pot Trap’, Harry has fallen for her, hook, line and sinker. Oh, did I mention that Harry used to be a spy? Of course he was, but he was forced out after a bit of unsanctioned rough-housing with a Czech agent.

As he explains to Stacy:
HARRY: “…..I took him up to the roof.”
STACY: “What happened then?”
HARRY: “The Czech bounced!”

Hardly subtle, but good fun. Now, coincidentally, Stacy needs a man to discreetly track down her ex-lover, who has gone missing, and an ex-spook like Harry seems just the man for the job.

Harry starts his investigation with a visit to Scotland Yard and an old friend Osgood (Alun Armstrong). For a fee, three hundred pounds, ‘Ossy’ is willing to help. Later at the jazz club, Harry receives a phone call. Osgood has tracked Kyle down to a seedy hotel in South East London. Harry whizzes over there. ‘Ossy’ points out Kyle as he enters the Hotel. Harry asks ‘Ossy’ to keep watch while he makes a quick phone call to Stacy. When Harry leaves the phone box, ‘Ossy’ has disappeared. Cautiously, Harry enters the hotel and goes up to Kyle’s room. There’s still no sign of ‘Ossy’ but Kyle is in his room, but with a bullet hole in his forehead. The window is open, so Harry steps outside and up onto the roof. The killer is fleeing the scene. He fires a shot at Harry, who takes cover behind a chimney stack. Behind the chimney, Harry also finds ‘Ossy’s’ dead body. Harry is pretty upset at the death of his friend, and relentlessly pursues the killer.

Down on the street now, after a near miss on the railway tracks, Harry catches up with the killer, and hopes to get some answers. As Harry starts his line of questioning, out of nowhere, the dreaded red mail van appears and clips Harry, sending him crashing into a pile of garbage. The killer gets away, and Harry has no answers, but a lot of trouble.

Now Harry is up to his neck, not only with a double homicide, but also with something far bigger that may or may not involve Stacy Mansdorf.

Caine seems to be enjoying himself, even though he is clearly too old for the role. Sean Young, on the other hand is as cold as ice. She is undeniably attractive, but hardly register’s on the human emotion scale. It’s almost as if she is recycling her android character from Blade Runner.

The film’s tone shifts very wildly at the end, and it just doesn’t fit in with the scenes that have gone before. The problem is not the usual espionage twist at the end, but a poorly acted character twist. One of the players flip and becomes a psychopath. It is a shame, because up until that point, the film had been half decent – far from perfect – but enjoyable.

The soundtrack to Blue Ice by Michael Kamen is pretty good if you like Bee-Bop jazz. It doesn’t really follow the film, but it is pretty cool anyway. And it features Charlie Watts (from The Rolling Stones) and the Big Band. Musicans include Bobby Short (who plays Buddy in the movie – Piano), Dave Green (Bass), Anthony Kerr (Vibes), Gerald Presencer (Trumpet), and featured musicians Pete King (Alto Sax), and Steve Williamson (Tenor Sax). Oh yes, and Charlie Watts (Drums).

At the end of the day, Blue Ice isn’t a great spy film. It tries hard, but fails due to an uneven script. Any joy that comes from the film, is derived from watching Michael Caine in a role that he has been playing for years (another Harry), This film is for Caine fans only.

The credits claim that Harry Anders is based on a character created by author Ted Allbeury. I have tried to do a little research, but this is as much as I have ascertained.

Allbeury created a Polish-British agent called Tad Anders who appeared in three novels, Snowball (1974), Palomino Blonde (or Omega-Minus in the US) (1975), and The Judas Factor (1984). I have never read these books. Maybe ‘Harry’ is a son?

Please feel free to drop me a line or post a comment if you know more about the history of Harry Anders!

This review is based on the HBO Video DVD USA

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1Apr07 Requiem For A Secret Agent (1967)

Directed by Sergio Sollima
Stewart Granger, Daniela Bianchi, Peter Van Eyck, Giulio Bosetti, Maria Granada, Gianni Rizzo, Georgia Moll
Music is credited to Antonio Perez Olea, but in fact was composed by Piero Uniliani
The song, ‘Don’t Ever Let Me Go’, is performed by Lydia McDonald

Requiem For A Secret Agent is a pretty good Eurospy production, which stars Stewart Granger as John ‘Bingo’ Merrill, an agent for hire. The film is good, but it won’t be everybody’s cup of tea. You see, ‘Bingo’ is a cold-hearted bastard, and as such it’s hard to cheer for a character you don’t like. But he is human and does make mistakes. It’s one of these mistakes, involving Evelyn Bressart (Daniela Bianchi) that will turn some people off his character and ultimately off the movie. Sean Connery never acted this way!

The film opens in Tangiers, and Agent A139, John O’Brien is whizzing through the streets in a sporty blue convertible. His car is being tailed by a group of thugs in a red and white saloon. O’Brien stops, gets out of his car and walks to the crowded city square. Along the way, he purchases a rug form a street vendor, which he folds over his arm, and discreetly, hides his pistol underneath it. Then he joins a crowd of people who are watching a musical troupe performing. One of the thugs has followed O’Brien and sneaks up behind him. As the music reaches a crescendo, O’Brien fires his discreetly hidden firearm, and the thug slumps to the ground dead. In the commotion, O’Brien disappears into the crowd.

Next we cut to Betty Lou (Maria Granada), who is a strip tease artist. She is performing in front of a projected image of a bullfight. As she removes each layer of clothing, more of the projected image is revealed (as well as her body).

At this point, only a few minutes into the film, I can’t help but thinking I have seen these scenes before. Maybe slightly different, but similar none-the-less. The death of the thug as the musical troupe performed, reminded me of the death of Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) in Thunderball. And the projected images (for a spy movie, at least), look no further than Robert Brownjohn’s title sequences for From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. But I’ll talk more about this later.

But back to the synopsis. As the stripper retires backstage, a middle aged man, Felix Bressart (Luis Induni) is waiting for her in her dressing room. Felix showers Betty Lou, who is obviously a lover, with jewellery, before telling her that he has to go away. It appears that Felix has gotten himself into a spot of bother.

But before Felix leaves, he has arranged to meet agent O’Brien back at his house. O’Brien turns up at the designated time, but finds the door to the house open, and Felix dead. Before O’Brien can act, the lights go out. An unknown assailant stalks O’Brien as he tries to make it out alive, and as he tries to escape through a window, the assailant guns him down.

Moran, the Section Chief for Intelligence in this part of the world needs a replacement for O’Brien. For his trouble he is assigned a free-lance S.O.B., John Merrill, also known as ‘Bingo’.

When we first meet ‘Bingo’ he is in Berlin helping a Professor and his family over ‘the wall’ and into the West. It’s here that Moran meets ‘Bingo’, pays him off, and sends him to Tangiers.

After his flight, as he passes through customs, he meets Evelyn (Daniela Bianchi). Foolishly, she is trying to smuggle a pistol into the country. Ever the professional, ‘Bingo’ smuggles it through for her – albeit without her even releasing that he has removed the gun from her. Little does he know that Evelyn is Felix Bressart’s ex-wife, and she has arrived in town to track down his murderer. Naturally enough, their paths cross again later in the film; – the cold-hearted professional, and the naïve amateur – it can’t end well!

I liked Requiem For A Secret Agent and I think it is well worth seeking out, but only if you are prepared to watch a spy film, where the hero is not suave and sophisticated, and on occasion treats the female characters quite disrespectfully. But that a reflection on real life, I’m afraid. I am sure you have met people who don’t treat women right, or at least have read about them in the newspapers. Then again, maybe that’s why you wouldn’t want to see this film. There’s enough degradation of women in real life, without it being served up to the viewing public as entertainment. But I am please to say, the film does not glorify the misogyny it depicts. The other characters in this film, who are privy to ‘Bingo’s actions are all equally appalled as the viewer is.

Earlier in the review I mentioned how I thought some of the opening scenes appeared to be very similar to scenes in a few Bond movies. The spy film genre is a strange beast that seems at times to feed upon it self. For the projected image sequence, I could have easily mentioned Operation Kid Brother (O.K. Connery) and for the killing of the thug I could have mentioned A Shot In The Dark (although it’s not really a spy film). But what I am clumsily saying is a lot of set pieces in spy movies get repeated again and again. There’s a scene towards the end of Requiem For A Secret Agent that fans of the new Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale may find familiar. One of the characters, Rubech (Peter Van Eyck) walks into his office. Hiding in the shadows is ‘Bingo’ Merrill. He surprises Rubech. Rubech then makes his way to his desk and sits down, all the while keeping ‘Bingo’ talking. As the conversation continues, Rubech discreetly open his desk drawer and retrieves his pistol. He then levels the gun at ‘Bingo’ and then fires. Nothing. ‘Bingo’ then shows Rubech the clip he had removed from the gun earlier. Once upon a time, the knock-offs imitated the Bond films, now days, the Bond films imitate the knock-offs. It has all come full circle.

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