CORRIDA POUR UN ESPION - Ray Danton - "Code Name: Jaguar" (1965)

 

It's time to dig back into The Dungeon vault of spy and secret agent flicks for tonight's feature, "Corrida Pour Un Espion" released in the U.S. as "Code Name: Jaguar!"

To set the mood, here's just the smallest taste of the music in "Code Name: Jaguar" written by the brilliant French composer Michel Legrand! Three years later, Michel would win the Academy Award for 'Best Original Song' for the tune "The Windmills Of Your Mind" from "The Thomas Crown Affair" starring one of my favourite actors, Steve McQueen, who we haven't had a chance to talk about since "The Blob!"

 This is a film about sneaky cameras, big and small!

 And the star is Ray Danton as Jeff Larson! If you're not a big Ray Danton fan like me, then don't waste your time on this movie, because it's nothing but a showcase for Ray! He just does his thing, and if you and anybody else doesn't like it, then that's just tough!

 The Russians have a big hidden spy camera that is creating lots of problems, and it's up to Jeff to sort it all out!

German tough guy Horst Frank is in there causing all kinds of havoc!

Jeff Larson is not shy, so when he gets out of the shower and is told to hold his hands up, that's exactly what he does!

There's nothing politically correct about Jeff Larson! If he's not pulling a woman's skirt up over her head in scuffle, then he's burning guys with cigarettes to get them to answer questions!

As it turns out, she was on his side anyway! The woman in question is Pascale Petit! I used to always have a penchant for blondes, but the more Euro spy movies I watch, the more I find brunette women provocative! The other female lead in the film is the equally gorgeous Helga Sommerfield! Pascale and Helga spend quite a bit of time bickering over Jeff! My favourite dark haired actress today is Annet Mahendru in "The Americans," as Nina Krilova! She's got a look I really like!

No matter what he does, it's still always hard to take Ray Danton serious!

 This whole scene looks pretty science fiction!

There's a landmine hooked up to the Russian spy camera to keep anybody from messing with it!

Even though the mine itself is booby-trapped, that's not enough to stop the likes of Jeff Larson!

 Now if this shot doesn't convey lonely, I don't know what does!

Nice Mustang convertible!

 Awww! Poor little Jeffy is tired!

Too bad for her that the maid opened the cigarette case triggered to send poison gas into Jeff Larson's face before he did!

The Russians try to brainwash Jeff Larson after they finally capture him, but they're going to need some strong detergent to launder a whacked out brain like that!

And you're right, they ran out of quarters!
Tabonga will be back on Friday with Lord knows what, and I'll be back on Saturday with yet another Jaguar adventure featuring the other most irreverent secret agent of all time, and Dungeon fave, Jerry Cotton! Until then.................

NEW YORK CHIAMA SUPERDRAGO - Benedetto Ghiglia - "Secret Agent, Super Dragon" (1966)

Hey everybody, welcome to The Dungeon Secret Agent Super Dragon Saturday Night Special! Most folks have a tendency to poke fun at movies like this and "Agent For H.A.R.M."  but I don't get it! "Secret Agent Super Dragon" is a great movie, and I'm here to tell you why! Okay, maybe it's a little ridiculous, but what the Hell? It's a movie, it's fun and it's very entertaining!

First off, let's thank the people over at "Sinister Cinema" for keeping movies like this alive! There have been so many that have slipped through the cracks, and are all but impossible to find, thank goodness somebody makes these funky old movies available at a very affordable price! "Sinister Cinema" rocks!!

Super Dragon is played by Ray Danton, one of the weirdest actors you'll ever see on the big screen! The last time we saw Ray, he was playing the character of "Lucky, The Inscrutable!"  There's just something about the way he delivers his lines that makes him hard to take serious, but you gotta love him just the same!  Super Dragon is able to go into a deep meditative sleep where he cuts off all outside influences, a talent that will come to good use later on in the movie!

I would have given Tabonga's left root to be able to interview Ray Danton, but he passed away way too early at the age of 60 back in 1992! Super Dragon's cell phone was obviously ahead of it's time!

Time to head on over to the bowling alley in the little college town of Fremont, Michigan. There's been some weird shenanigans going on there, and all the agents that have gone there to investigate have ended up in the local morgue! They need Super Dragon to come out of retirement and get to the bottom of this mess!

Here's about two minutes and one second of some toe tapping music from the bowling alley scene that proves that white girls can actually dance! Composer Benedetto Ghiglia just passed away last year at the age of 90! Benedetto was also responsible for the music in some swell flicks like "Adiós Gringo," "Psychout For Murder," and "Pigpen!"

Ray, what are you doing, man? The first thing you learn in film class is don't wave at the camera!

CATFIGHT!!!

That guy to Ray's left, your right, is obviously double F'd big time!!

Super Dragon can't pursue this case any further without some technical assistance, so he arranges for his old pal "Baby Face" to be sprung from Sing Sing prison temporarily! Baby Face was played by American born Jess Hahn, who was basically never in any films made in the U.S. but was revered in France and Italy for his film and TV work!

Super Dragon has a weird habit of taking cigarettes from people around him, taking a drag or two, and then putting them out!

Super Dragon does some major ass kicking when it is necessary! This set might just possibly be the grungiest looking place I've ever seen in a movie!

Seems to me that Cinematographer Antonio Secchi had an incredible sense of humor!

The evil henchmen seal up Super Dragon in a coffin and sink it to the bottom of the sea, but thanks to that meditative state I spoke about earlier, he is able to maintain long enough for Baby Face to find him with the aid of a miniature submarine, and get the coffin back to the surface safely!

Here's a couple of beauties for you, Margaret (Venus In Furs) Lee as Cynthia Fulton, and Marisa (Danger: Diabolik) Mell as Charity Farrel!

It's a big masked charity auction, and nobody suspects Super Dragon will be there, because they all think he's dead!!

Cynthia is almost forced to take an electric bath, but Super Dragon shows up just in the nick of time and turns the tables on the evil bastards!

Just simply a fine portrait of the man of the hour, Ray Danton!!!

Always the lady's man, after the case is over, Super Dragon decides to remain in Amsterdam and familiarize himself a little better with some of the local colour!!

THE BEAT GENERATION - "Way-Out Parties Beyond Belief!" (1959)

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is the result of my reinvigorated interest in Vampira and her very cool career, and the path led me here, because in 1959 Albert Zugsmith, produced four movies that were all very fascinating for a number of reasons, but what I found most interesting was how they used a large number of the same actors in all four movies (Ala Roger Corman), and then each film also had it's own group of other special individuals.

Let me try and explain.
No slouch in the production department, Albert Zugsmith had already produced three of my favorite movies, "Written On The Wind," "The Incredible Shrinking Man," and "Touch Of Evil," before this, and in 1958 he produced "High School Confidential," starring Russ Tamblyn, but also in the cast were Mamie Van Doren, Ray Anthony, Jackie Coogan, Charles Chaplin Jr., and Norman Grabowski who would all be in his next three or four movies too, along with a lot of other notable names like Vampira!

The first movie of the 1959 series was "Night Of The Quarter Moon," and the second one was "The Beat Generation."
The third movie was called "The Big Operator," which I'll tell you more about on Wednesday, and the fourth was called "Girls Town."

So rather than try and explain all the complex intricacies of this movie called "The Beat Generation," I'm just going to introduce you to some of this crazy amazing cast!
Steve Cochran has the lead role in this film, and is the co-star of "The Big Operator."
He was also in the "Twilight Zone" episode titled "What You Need."
At the age of 48, Steve sailed off in his yacht to Guatemala, but died of a lung infection before he ever got there.

 Looking as good as ever, in this film, the versatile Mamie Van Doren plays a slutty tramp, but in "The Big Operator," she's Mrs. Everyday Housewife. She was also in "Girls Town."

 Ray Danton is a nasty serial rapist in this film, and in "The Big Operator," he plays an evil hit man called The Executioner. Personally, I like Ray better when he plays more humorous characters.

Jackie Coogan, aka Uncle Fester, is in three of the four movies. In this one he's a cop, In "The Big Operator," he's a crook!

 At this point in time, no one knew what an impact the cartoon character's of Charles Addams' world would have on pop culture. Did you know that when Maila Nurmi developed her Vampira character, one of her main influences was the wife in The Addams Family cartoons, who at that time, wasn't even known as Morticia yet? 

In "The Beat Generation," Maila was a beat poetess, and in "The Big Operator" she plays a hip gallery owner! She doesn't get enough screen time in either movie in my humble opinion!

 I also find it fascinating that in both movies, she is billed as Vampira. That would be kind of like billing Bela Lugosi as Dracula I think.

 
Trumpet playing band leader Ray Anthony is in all five of Albert Zugsmith's 1958-59 films!
Ray also performed the original theme song in Zugsmith's "The Incredible Shrinking Man."


Famed accordionist from Fresno, Calif, Dick (Daddy-O) Contino is also in "Girls Town."

 Just like me, Albert Zugsmith must have been a big music fan, because all of these films have music in them. Cathy Crosby performs a song in all but
"The Big Operator."

 
Margaret (13 West Street) Hayes was also in "Girls Town."


 Bill Daniels is also in three of the four movies, but he was also better known as a singer!


One of the characters working in all four of the 1959 Zugsmith films was the comedy relief guy Norman Grabowski. Not exactly a household name, Grabowski as they call him, is one of the most important people in this movie, especially to hot rod fans around the world since he was literally the creator of the T-Bucket style of hot rod. He also designed Kookie's hot rod in "77 Sunset Strip." That bit of information makes this pose a lot more understandable! Four to the floor and pedal to the metal!!

That brings us to another category! Charles Chaplin, Jr. was not only in all five of the 1958-59 films, he was also one of many actors used by Albert Zugsmith who were children of other very famous stars, in this case, Charlie Chaplin!


Robert Mitchum's son James or Jim, who has a stunning resemblance to his Dad, was also in "Girls Town!" Not in this movie, but other actors like this are John Drew Barrymore and Harold Lloyd Jr.


Albert Zugsmith either really liked music, or he knew that it really gave a film that extra punch, so when he wasn't using musicians as actors, he was using musicians as musicians, like Louis Armstrong.
In "High School Confidential," there was an appearance by Jerry Lee Lewis, and The Platters show up in "Girls Town."
Also, the main soundtrack for "The Beat Generation" was written by the guy who also did most of the music for Mr. B.I.G., the swingin' Albert Glasser!


And that brings us to a list of all the various and sundry actors and musicians of all ilks who make up the balance of very interesting characters in these movies like Fay (Hercules Conquers Atlantis) Spain!

Irish (Sheena: Queen Of The Jungle) McCalla!

Professional boxer turned actor, Slapsie Maxie Rosenblum! And the list of characters in the five films goes on and on with names like Michael Landon, Nora Hayden, Mel Welles, Julie London, Dean Jones, Agnes Moorehead, Nat 'King' Cole, Frank Gorshin, Mickey Rooney, Mel Torme, Jim Backus, Jay North, Leo Gordon, Paul Anka, Elinor Donahue, Gloria Talbott etc. etc. etc.
If you watch "The Beat Generation" and "The Big Operator" back to back, it can surrealistically seem like it's a continuing story. Steve Cochran quits his job as a cop and divorces Fay Spain, and Steve and Mamie Van Doren get married and have a kid, while Ray Danton goes from serial rapist to hit man, and Vampira never notices any of it because she's way too cool!!