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!!

NABONGA - "Weird Loves" (1944)

I think it's about time for another Gorilla Suit Saturday Night Special in The Dungeon, so tonight I've got one of the true classic gorilla suit movies, from 1944, it's Tabonga's third cousin on the primate side......

......"NABONGA" also known as "GORILLA."

An  African Airways plane full of stolen Jewelry has gone down in the jungle! The only passengers are a man and his young daughter.

After the plane crashes, the devious man shoots the pilot, and the girl is whisked off into the deep dark depths of the jungle by a large gorilla!

 The next thing you know it must be about eight years later, and all the local people know about the white witch of the jungle who has powers over some of the animals, especially one gorilla in particular!

A few days ago he was drinking martinis with Ray Danton, and now he's back in the jungle where he belongs! Barton MacLane is Carl Hurst, but he reminds me a lot of George Bush!

Buster (Flash Gordon) Crabbe as Ray Gorman needs to find that treasure, and Prince (South of Suez) Modupe as Tobo is more than happy to help him, since Ray just stopped another man from stabbing him.

Fifi D'Orsay as Marie was actually Canadian but you'd never guess it from the her accent or this outfit!

She's Carl's little henchwoman!

Tobo draws this very detailed map that shows how to get to the downed plane wreckage!

Ray Gorman has no idea what he's getting himself into!

Julie London was only 18 when this film was made!

If you spent as much time in thrift stores as I have looking at records, you would have seen Julie London's whole catalogue of music at some point. The smokey, sultry, sexy singer was probably only outdone by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in the 'donated to charity' department!

Buster does a good job of looking genuinely terrified by Ray Corrigan, the man inside the gorilla suit!

Ray Gorman and the white witch have a tentative relationship. He kind of likes her, but he really only wants the jewels, and she kind of likes him, but she's not giving them up because they're hers!

Somebody should have remade this film a few years ago, and used Drew Barrymore as the white witch! Asking who does her hair or where she gets her clothes would almost make as much sense as asking.......

......How Ray and Marie put this gorilla trap together in about 15 minutes!

Carl and Marie end up getting their just rewards!

Dig deep folks! We still needs it!!

More not truth in advertising! Her picture isn't even in this one, and in all the other posters Julie London has the smallest credits, but then Ray Corrigan has no poster credits, and is known only as Nbonga, so I guess it all works out!!