OPERAZIONE POKER - Piero Umiliani - "Nice Pair" (1965)

Roger Browne was off my radar at first because he was mostly a 'Sword and Sandal' guy for years, but after watching a couple of his spy guy films like this, I'm starting to really like the guy, and that brings us to tonight's feature, "Operation Poker!" The instrumental genius once again responsible for the swingin' swanky music is the "Mah Na Mah Na" man himself, the Maestro Piero Umiliani! What a phenomenon!

This is pretty interesting, the word operation is seen here four times, with four different spellings! Operation, Operacion, Operazione, and Operatie, but no matter what language you're talking in, Poker is still Poker! The universal way to lose your ass!

Not exactly Tex Ritter's "Downtown Poker  Club!"

So here he is, Roger Browne as secret agent S1-14, aka Glen Foster on the prowl! Don't know why, for some reason on IMDB, they have his name as Glenn Forest.

This is a unique way to get your girl to go with you, knock her out cold! I've watched this a couple of times now, and I'm still not sure why he did it!

The heartbreaking Helga Liné is Diane, Glen Foster's girlfriend! Yabba Dabba Doo!!

Suddenly people like this agent start dying in all kinds of strange ways! There was a trip wire hooked up to the accelerator pedal and I'm not sure he didn't get shot right square in the crotch!

And this woman is always round whenever it happens!! Carla Calò aka Carol Brown as the twisted Russian agent responsible for all the executions!

Then every once in a while when the sub-titles kick in for a few minutes, you get stuff like this, arguably the worst pickup line of all time!

Here's a little scene featuring one of the best gadgets I've seen in a while! When Glen hits the button, the whole ass end of this '56 Chevy ejects, and the would-be assassin is thrown over a cliff to his well deserved death!

There's way too much going on in "Operation Poker" for me to try and attempt to explain much, and it's awfully twisted too. Glen's got his girlfriend Diane, and he's got orders to get friendly with this Austrian Ambassador's daughter Helga! They are both beautiful and to me can look very similar at times, and if that's not bad enuf, Diane's played by Helga Liné, and Helga is played by José Greci! It would have been a whole lot easier if Helga could have been Helga!

Glen gets some good help from his muscleman pal Omar as played by Bob Messenger (Roberto Messina)!

I'm not sure, but this might be the first time I've ever seen somebody in a fight scene put a real piledriver on his opponent! Roberto is pretty tough!

 

"Operation Poker" is supposed to be set in Malaga, London, Vienna, Geneva, Copenhagen, and Casablanca, but I think it was all filmed in Spain and Italy. This looks like North Korea's vision of the future!

 

Omar gets shot in the back, and you think it's curtains for him, but as you can see, he's doing fine!

Glen finally gets to the root of the problem. This is the device that enables his poker playing friend Parker to win all the time, and is also why the Russians, Chinese, and Vietnamese are all at each other's throats!

When this little x-ray camera hidden in a tie clasp is combined with a special pair of contact lenses, the wearer is enabled to see through not only cards, but walls!

Naturally Glen Foster puts them to good use immediately!

The reason that selfies never existed until just a few years ago, was that it was something that was virtually impossible to do with a camera like this!

The bonus feature is you get a free mini-tour of the Tuborg Brewery!

The last laugh is on the pig in the tank that these three are peering in on!

I just had to add this other version of the poster for it's classical use of four aces! "Operation Poker" is a winning hand in a world of mediocre jacks or better, and the jokers are wild! Where's the place to find it? Cult Action, or The Trash Palace, Of Course! Actually, just go ahead and get one from each place, and give one to friend! They'll love you forever!