Eurospy

Swedish settings? Was it actually filmed in Sweden?

[quote=“Bad Lieutenant, post:40, topic:2250”]Clark is good as always in this type of role.[/quote]Agreed, Clark is much more suited to Eurospy than Westerns.

Yes it has some nice genuine Stockholm locations

I’ve seen the avi from CG, english fandubbed TV rip, not great quality

Dorado Films were gonna release a proper dvd of this, but it’s been announced for a couple of years now ::slight_smile:

[quote=“Bad Lieutenant, post:40, topic:2250”]Entertaining stuff by Grieco. Clark is good as always in this type of role. This time he’s forced to act like a spy by the CIA, even though he’s a professional racecar driver. Entertaining throughout with a good amount of action, solid camera work and some great oneliners. The Swedish settings are a nice change.

7/10[/quote]

The movie has a great Eurospy soundtrack as well, and the lovely Beba Loncar in the cast

I think it’s definitely one of the better films of this type I’ve seen, it’s also a relatively late one, from 1969

Yeah, nice jazzy stuff. Very catchy.

Not quite ‘Eurospy’ since it’s American, and also a TV series, but anyway the cult TV series Honey West from 1965 is in my opinion the best of the 60s spy television shows

More entertaining than I Spy, Man from UNCLE, Mission Impossible etc

30 black & white episodes were produced, and although Honey is a detective the whole thing is fairly spy influenced, with gadgets etc

There is a dvd box of the complete series, and you can also get a few episodes off the net (torrents) if you want to check it out first

[url]HONEY WEST - YouTube

Amore e Sangue a Esfahan (1967, Tony Zarindast )

Time to resurrect this thread with a super obscure flick I viewed. Not as good as it is unknown, but this is an ok Iranian/Italian timepasser. As the title gives away it’s set in Esfahan and for the rest features all the basic ingredients of your standard 007 knockoff. Different is the fact that it’s an oil company employe who must act like a spy, rather than a professional secret agent. But the guy gets entangled in chases, fights and intrigue just the same. Most famous is probably belly dancer Jamileh, who provides some folklore. Directing isn’t grand and the plot is standard fare, but the film is not worse than the average Eurospy effort.

Anybody else seen? I’m particularly curious about all the unknowns in the cast.

The version I viewed was an ancient Dutch rental tape, on Empire. It was also released in Denmark, if I’m informed correctly.

My, Dutch language, review here:

Watched OSS 117: Mission for a Killer and thought I’d resurrect this thread to give my thoughts on it only to discover that Scherps seems to have already written them almost exactly a year ago.

But to recap, Mylene Demongeot looks good enough to eat, Stafford is uber cool and the fight scenes are very and somewhat surprisingly effective. The blow torch cum flame thrower set piece in particular is excellent and worthy of any Bond film in my opinion. I enjoyed this far more than I expected and will be seeking out some more OSS 117 as a result.

OSS 117 also went to Japan, even before 007 in You Only Live Twice in 1967, in Terror in Tokyo in 1966

I kinda liked Vince Edwards as London-op, Charles Hood, in Hammerhead. -A UK-production filmed in Portugal. I wish he would’ve done a couple sequels. This one features English sex-goddess, Diana Dors.

The Mike Caine/Harry Palmer-series is exceptional.

Been running my own little Kommissar X festival over the past week.

Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill (Parolini / 1965)

The first of the series and sets up the likeable partnership of Captain Tom Rowland (Brad Harris) of the New York Police Department and uber cool Joe Walker (Tony Kendall), the most expensive private detective in America. The love hate relationship between this duo is at the heart of all the KX films and is a big key to the series’ success. Rowlands is the uptight, play it by the book man while Walker is so laid back he’s almost horizontal and only gets really animated when checking out a girl or being punched in the face. Together they are mutually antagonistic and always entertaining. In this opening film they are faced with an amalgam of Bond rip off plot devices (Gold hoarding and contamination, underground lair, evil mastermind, gadgets etc) as well as an army of automaton girls a la Dr Goldfoot but overcome it all without messing up Kendall’s hair. These films are great fun and are of a skilful blend of action and ironic comedy that Parolini managed well throughout his career.

So Darling, So Deadly (Parolini / 1966)

This time Walker and Rowland are in Singapore where the villains are different but oddly mostly played by the same actors. The plot is almost non existent but equally almost irrelevant as the likeable duo chase about between one action scene after another. Not as good as the first but still entertaining enough.

Death is Nimble, Death is Quick (Parolini / 1966)

This one has Rudolf Zehetgruber credited as director in the German print but it seems pretty regular Parolini stuff to me. It also has Dan Vadis with a shaved head as a karate expert bad guy which was a nice bonus and is set in Ceylon (Sri Lanka these days) which added some great colour. These films are almost a spy travelog series as much as anything else which is good for the exotic content but always made me wonder if Rowland ever actually did any work in New York. Lots of chasing about as usual but one of my favourites of the series.

Death Trip (Parolini 1967)

This time we’re off to Turkey where local hoods are peddling LSD and trying to get their nefarious hands on a million dollars worth of the drug delivered by Rowland to the local ambassador for god only knows what pseudo scientific military purpose. Again the plot is thinner than an anorexic whippet but who cares. It’s fun all the way and possibly the best of the series.

Kill Panther, Kill (Parolini / 1968)

It’s Canada this time around with the Montreal Expo acting as the central backdrop and the Calgary stampede shoehorned in for no obvious purpose than to allow for a truly awful fake rodeo ride for Brad Harris. The boys also get to wear some crappy western based disguises to help them blend in (Kendall in Mexican sombrero and poncho is outrageous) while attempting to locate some stolen jewels. They obviously did some shooting in Canada but it made me smile when the close up shots at the waterfall were clearly done at the ever familiar Monte Gelato park outside of Rome. If you’ve seen more than 3 spaghetti westerns chances are you know the ones I mean.

Island of Lost Girls (Mauri / 1969)

A noticeable drop in quality and budget as Roberto Mauri takes the helm for the sixth film in the series. Some of the actors in this one seem to have been literally lifted off the street and the plot, always the weakest link in these films, becomes positively swiss cheese like. The backdrop of Thailand is the films only real positive to be honest.

I’ve still got Operation Pakistan to go, my only version currently is in German so I’m waiting on an English version to arrive, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the ride with these flicks and am looking forwarding to completing the set. They are all no brainers but if you’ve only experienced Kendall and Harris in westerns (a genre that neither were really suited to imo) then I recommend you give these a try. They show them both at their best.

Tony Kendall as Kommissar X

Ennio Morricone also composed a few soundtracks for Eurospy movies

Here is a great little tune from Slalom a spy movie from 1965 starring Vittorio Gassman and Daniela Bianchi ( who btw were in a number of Italian spy films after FRWL)

[url]- YouTube

Agente Z 55 missione disperata (1965, Roberto Bianchi Montero)
(Desperate Mission)

Agent Z55, see also Blueprint for a Massacre, has been sent on a hopeless mission in Hong Kong. Another agent got killed during the task to recover a kidnapped nuclear scientist. Z55 goes undercover as a jewel thief and gets entangled with Communists and a judo gang who have their respective plans with the scientist…

Actor Germán Cobos is the secret agent, but makes little impression in this capacity. It is only because he somewhat resembles Sean Connery that he is not complete rubbish. The briton Milton Reid, who played small supporting parts in Dr. No and Casino Royale, is not bad as a heavy, but especially the ridiculous fact that his character is supposed to be Chinese is funny.

Roberto Bianchi Montero directed among others the giallo So Sweet, So Dead and the spaghetti western Two Faces of the Dollar. This spy entry is pure routine. The film lacks nice ideas and has a very long buildup towards the action. Up till the action Desperate Mission comes across especially static and dull. The pace is sluggish, and the nice location of Hong Kong is not nearly used to the fullest. Fortunately in the second half there’s some decent action and the film picks up almost enough to get a sufficient mark.

5/10

In Dutch:

Our Man In Jamaica, 1965… Wonderful action-er about an intelligence-agent, Larry Pennell, busting-up a weapons-smuggling operation while investigating the death of a former agent, by electrocution. The film’s editing outpaces the script a bit, but no harm to the story. Lush outdoor-locations in Jamaica, with an apt score by Marcello Giambini, though the title song sounds more like a Frank Zappa/Benny Hill homage. Pennell’s performance is fine, as are the women. The ‘convenient availability’ of Pennell’s airplane is a minor flaw, as well as its nerve gas, but I’d rate the movie as 7.5-out-of-10. With an above-average rewatch factor.

Y’know, always looked to give the Eurospy genre a try, where’s a good place to start? The Kent Clark films? Kommisar X?

I think either of those would as good as any but I would also recommend the OSS117 films. Some of my favourite Eurospies.

And as far as releases go? I did some looking, the Dorado releases look to be the best as far as R1 goes. There’s a Kommisar X box that seems to be of questionable quality, and OSS 117 is only down to the remakes. What are good foreign releases to look out for? I saw Koch released some KX films, anything else?

I must admit, I’ve got almost all my Eurospies via trades and downloads. Not much on offer elsewhere it seems.