Just like riding on the "Psychotron," the thrills never stop down here in The Dungeon, so without further adieu, it's time for another rousing round of our Wednesday Number Seven Spy Guy Series, so B.Y.O.B. and let's get this partito rolling with this little jewel from 1966 called "077, Killers Are Challenged!"
I've still got two more spy movies here to watch with the word 'Seven' in the title, but I thought I was done with 077 after tonight, but after a quick search, I soon realized I still need to track down a couple of more titles like "077, Dalla Francia Senza Amore"(Operation Snafu) from 1961, and "Agente 077 Dall'oriente Con Furore"(From the Orient with Fury) from 1965, and the Jess Franco "Agent 077 Opération Jamaïque" from 1964, and possibly even an Indian movie from 1968 called "Golden Eyes Secret Agent 077!!" Wow!
Tonight's version of 077 is played by Richard Harrison as C.I.A. agent Bob Fleming! We last saw Richard in "Fantabulous, Inc," but his career has run the gamut of almost every manly genre imaginable! His first ever movie was "Kronos" where he played a pilot, and he was in a bunch of Spaghetti Western and Sword and Sandal flicks in the 60's, and them reemerged in the 80's in a buttload of Ninja movies, and even as last year was in something called "Fallen Angel!"
Since I just made it up, you probably don't remember the olde legend about how if you see your shadow on a tombstone, you're most likely the next person to die! Well, it's true, luckily it wasn't our hero!
So if you get right down to it, I'm willing to say that "077, Killers Are Challenged" is not the best of the lot of 077 flicks I've seen so far, but DAMN, it's got a fine bunch of gals in it that's pretty hard to beat! Off the bat, here's two Dungeon faves, on the left is the magnificent Mitsouko, and on the right is the Harvest Holidays Queen of The Dungeon, Janine Reynaud! So I could stop right here because, what more could you want, and what else do you need to know? Two thumbs up!!
Yeah, there's other stuff too, like this guy needed a new identity, and a new face!
In Morocco, it appears you can get high legally! No, they're not in a plane!
It's a spy movie, right? You have to have a shot like this!
This is a fun part where this slick cat thinks he's cool enough to pull something over on Bob Fleming!
Bob Fleming wasn't born yesterday jerkoff! Baldy waits for the mini-bomb he slipped into Bob Fleming's coat pocket to go off, but he finds out too late that Bob replanted it back on him!!
Here's another short but interesting take on the club scene with music supplied by Maestro Carlo Savina that starts out with a belly dancer, and then without warning......
.....The music turns to cinematic Italian Rock N Roll, and all the kids and the belly dancer start dancing in a less than traditional style! Here's a little sample to better illustrate what I'm trying to say with a lead-in of Savina scat that was so popular at the time!
Bob Fleming is cool! He can get totally schnockered, and still do his job!
I honestly didn't know that the doorknobs in Morocco are in the middle of the door!
Naturally Bob Fleming comes in contact with various dastardly characters who don't know how to play fair and fight clean! I mean, in a nutshell, isn't that exactly what's wrong with the world today?
Button pushing time!! I find moronic comedy relief characters like this cab driver as played by Giovanni Di Benedetto to be totally useless in quasi-serious movies! I can't tell you how many great Edgar Wallace movies I almost stopped watching because of Eddie Arent's characters. It's like putting Jerry Lewis in a James Bond movie! (The funny Jerry, NOT the serious Jerry)! It's not Giovanni's fault, and this isn't all that bad, but what the Hell, just have another fight scene!
You didn't think I was raving about the women in this movie just because of Mitsouko and Janine did you? Here's the wicked Wandisa (Miss Eurooppaa Metsästämässä) Guida! Dyn-O-Mite!!
One more time, there's going to be a test later, from left to right, repeat after me, Janine, Mitsouko, and Wandisa!! Three words that if you're depressed enough, just might save your soul some day!!!
It's a personal problem that I probably should have dealt with years ago, but I've really got a thing about patterns, hence, this is my favourite shot in this movie! The only thing that would have made it more perfect would have been a wildly patterned carpet on the floor!
I asked for a fight scene instead of the stupid cabbie scene, but what do you get but more unneeded slapstick comedy, this time delivered by a midget who gets involved in the melee, and a drunk who is oblivious to the whole fight going on around him! Why, why, why? I'll never get it!
I'll not let the midget idiocy bring me down because there is still one more beauty in this film, with exactly 13 acting credits to her name that include "Thor And The Amazon Women" and "Black Sabbath," the elegant Susy Andersen! Is it just me, or is she freakin' beautiful? "A 077, Sfida Ai Killers" is worth watching for her if nothing else, and in fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do! (But I will be fast forwarding through a few scenes!) Wanna see it? Where else you gonna find it? Cult Action! That's right!
I've always liked this one, and its sort of "companion" movie, SECRET AGENT FIREBALL (at least, that's what it's usually called in English). I just wish that one had an all-out "Bond / Bond Girl" romantic kind of scene between Richard Harrison and Wandisa Guida like this one does, because in both films they have real "chemistry."
ReplyDeleteIt's partly a SPOILER, but I have mixed feeling about Guida's big "comeuppance" at the end. It's definitely dramatic, but I prefer the one in the movie I just mentioned, which is a genuine showdown between her character and Harrison's. So to me, each one has something the other is missing.
Thanx Grant! "Fireball" was off my radar, so now I'll have to track down a copy!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that. I really think you'll like it.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Grant, I'm sure I will, and I found out that it is available from Cult Action, so it's a no brainer. Thanx buddy,
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