Agent 3S3 kennt kein Erbarmen

This exciting but so-so picture turns out to be a mediocre European co-production dealing with secret agents taking on a dangerous Organization and an international conspiracy. The film concerns an American agent (George Ardisson) assigned to a deadly operation . The film starts with US Major Taylor (Tom Felleghy ) , meets with his counterpart in Soviet Intelligence, Colonel Dolukin (Fernando Sancho), to discuss the previous death of an American agent . The real culprit seems to be a private spy association nicknamed ¨The Organization¨ that has knocked off both , C. I. A and KGB agents . American HQ chooses the most qualified agent to undertake this risked mission from Third Special Division : Agent 3S3 Walter Ross (George Ardisson) who can shoot and kick his way out of any tight spot and efficiently demonstrates it . The hero's mission is to discover and take down the head of a sinister worldwide spy organization . Another agent Ahmed (José Marco) will equally help him to find out the killer gang . The clues lead to Irmgard von Wittstein (Barbara Simon) , that's why she is Henry Dvorak's daughter. According to high-command , they suspect Dvorak is the mastermind behind the 'Organization.'

This is a nail-biting and messy thriller with plenty of emotion, noisy action , car crashes , pursuits , twists and turns . The movie is a Spanish-Italian co-production about secret agents , a sub-genre called ¨Euro-spy¨ , very usual at that time in the 60s . The origin of this sub-genre results to be the ¨James Bond¨ series , especially : ¨Terence Young's James versus Dr. No¨, ¨From Russia with Love¨and ¨Thunderball¨ that caused an authentic flood of copies, imitations and rip offs , each time more and more awful . The film is fast-movement ; besides , being developed in various scenarios , though specially on Lebanon and a snow-swept Austria . However, the movie is a bit boring and there are situations and images that are ridiculous and embarrassing . The film, in its entirety , is a kind of nonsense , George Ardisson does not impress with anything, Georges Rivière in the role of villain is a little better . In the picture appears habitual actors of co-productions : the great Fernando Sancho , Francisco Sanz and José Marco , all of them were players of numerous Paella Westerns . Furthermore , two gorgeous Eurotrash actresses : Barbara Simons and Seyna Seyn . In addition , appearing other prolific secondaries such as Sal Borgese, Tom Felleghy, Ugo Sasso, Jeff Cameron, Dakar , Pietro Torrisi or Peter McCoy , all of them customary actors of this kinds of genres as Spaghetti Western , Peplum , Giallo or Euro-spy . Followed by a sequel in similar style : ¨Agent 3S3, Massacre in the Sun¨ (Sergio Sollima 1966) in which our starring set out in rescue a scientific (Eduardo Fajardo) abducted in Saint Felipe Island (South America) by a tyrant named Siqueiros (Fernando Sancho) , being also starred by Sal Borgese, Luis Undini, and Luz Marquez .

Agente 3S3: Passaporto per l'inferno (1965) displays a thrilling and fitted to action musical score by Piero Umiliani . As well as an atmospheric cinematography by Carlo Carli , though a perfect remastering being necessary . The evocative on-location lensing in international countries as Lebanon, Beirut , Austria, Vienna and Balcazar studios, Barcelona , Spain. The motion picture produced by Alfonso Balcazar was regularly directed by Sergio Sollima who made some classic Spaghetti Westerns as the ¨Cuchillo¨ trilogy starred by Tomas Milian . Sergio Sollima's direction is regularly crafted, here he's less cynical and more inclined toward violence , fights and too much action . Sergio wrote and directed all kinds of genres such as Pirate films as ¨ Sandokan ¨ and the ¨ Black Corsario ¨ ; Peplum : ¨Rocha¨ , "Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators" , "Triumph of the Ten Gladiators" , ¨Ursus¨ "Goliath Against the Giants" ; Euro-spy : "Requiem for a Secret Agent" , "Agent 3S3: Hunter from the Unknown" , ¨Tanger 67¨ ; being especially known for his ¨Cuchillo trilogy¨ : ¨Run Cuchillo run¨, ¨Face to Face¨ , ¨The big Gundown¨ and a Poliziesco : ¨Revolver¨ at his best . This is a mildly satisfying and thrilling Euro-spy flick that only avid fans of the sub-genre will love . Average but entertaining.

George Ardisson appeared in 4 Eurospy movies, this was the first and the others were "Operation Counterspy", "Agent 3S3, Massacre In The Sun" and "Countdown To Doomsday".

This is another one where the director, Sergio Sollima, has some ability and the scriptwriters are competent, but sadly, as is often the case in the Eurospy genre, the production is hamstrung by budgetary restrictions. The plot has interest and the dialogue is decent, but there is no money for any big set pieces or a spectacular climax, which is a shame. Plenty of fisticuffs, one slice of car v truck carnage, but no big explosions and no Battle Royales.

George makes for an agreeable hero. His mission is to hunt down and kill Mr "A", the head of "The Organisation", a private spy network, who have been knocking off both American and Russian agents. Half way through the movie he beds two women in quick succession, one we were expecting and building towards, the other completely out of the blue, thus proving his secret agent sexual prowess credentials satisfactorily.

The director shows some flair in filming of the fight scenes, almost modern in terms of the camera angles employed and the quick cut editing, but unfortunately they also come across as abrupt and disjointed, as this was Sollima's first feature length movie and he was still learning his craft. (Alternatively, sensors or distributors may have had a hack at the version I was watching?)

Everyone else is also well cast, Jose Marco, inspires "friend of the hero" competence as the "Mathis" / "Felix Leiter", Georges Riviere is sinister as "B", #2 man in the villainous secret organisation, Franco Andrei as his lieutenant / rival, reminded me of a thick set Tony Kendall, while Bruna Simionato as the good girl and Senya Seyn as the bad girl were both engaging and alluring.

Vienna and Beirut (plus a village and a rocky island, supposedly also in Lebanon, but probably somewhere in Spain) serve as the exotic locations, nicely contrasting snow and ice with sun and sand.

The music is always dramatic and very good at times. But at other times atrocious (at least to my ears)

One of several I've watched recently that I think could have been top drawer, if they had only had some money to spend on spectacle.

First part of the trilogy about agent 3S3 with Giorgio Ardisson

After his particularly raunchy episode in the erotic episodic film "Erotica" (1962), Sergio Sollima (1921-2015) directed a feature-length film for the first time. He had previously been a screenwriter, for example, for the Brad Harris sandal films "Die Irrfahrten des Herkules" (1961) and "Samson: Befreier der Versklavten" (1962). Sollima's most famous works would be "Brutale Stadt" (1970) with Charles Bronson and "Revolver - Die Perfekte Erpressung" (1973) with Oliver Reed and Fabio Testi.

With the invention of Walter Ross, the agent 3S3 (3rd agent from the 3rd special unit), Sollima followed on from the successful James Bond films and became a co-founder of the EuroSpy wave.

The main actor was the Italian actor Giorgio Ardisson (1931-2014), who was previously known from sandal films such as "Vampire gegen Heracles" (1961). The well-trained sports ace was able to film many fight scenes himself and was nicknamed the "Italian James Bond".

In the first use, things get off to a good start for 3S3. His car is basically crushed like a sandwich by two truck drivers. Of course the hero escapes safely. From then on, Agent 3S3 has adventures in Beirut, Vienna, Rome and Spain. He is after a mysterious criminal organization that will of course stop at nothing. He meets beautiful women (Seyna Seyn, Liliane Fernani and Barbara Simon/Bruna Smionato), who of course cannot resist his charm. He happily beats up other men (such as Sal Borgese and Pietro Torrisi in a Viennese bar) until he meets the beefy Dakar (1920-2004, was also there alongside Steve Reeves in "Die schwarzen Piraten von Malaysia") as his toughest opponent . The well-deserved happy ending with the beautiful Barbara Simon is of course in jeopardy due to another mission. The hero just has to move on. Other roles include Jose Marco, Georges Riviere, Fernando Sancho, Jeff Cameron and Franco Andrei.

The spy thriller is by no means reinvented here. You can also tell that this film is basically the enjoyable B-side to the elaborate James Bond productions. But the fights are good, the locations are varied and the enormous wear and tear on women is wonderfully raunchy. Sergio Sollima did a lot of things right in his feature film debut and was rewarded with a sequel.

American secret agent 3S3 is assigned to "blackmail, torture, maybe even marry" the daughter of the head of an international crime organization in order to locate his present whereabouts. His mission ultimately takes him to Lebanon, where most of the action is set. This is one of those spy films that could only have been made in the 1960s (and I mean that as a compliment). I appreciated its "feel" in general and its Oriental-flavored music score in particular, but I was also bored sometimes by its slow pace. George Ardisson actually looks a bit like Sean Connery from certain angles, and is pretty good with the karate chops, but the fight scenes are often clumsily staged and poorly edited. Barbara Simon is pretty but rather bland, while Seyna Seyn is a way cool, but also way underused villainess. ** out of 4.

This is the first of George Ardisson's spy flicks and it's a darn good beginning. He followed this up with Inferno in Caracas, Operation Counterspy, and another 3S3 adventure, Hunter of the Unknown, all released in 1966. Ardisson made his share of spaghetti westerns, was in several of Mario Bava's costume epics and even had a bit in Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits! Here he plays Walter Ross, agent 3S3, a designation meaning secret agent number 3 of the 3rd Special Division, and he pretty much kicks butt. Ardisson was an excellent fighter and he has plenty of chances to show off those skills including a particularly brutal match up against Dakar, a man twice his size.

We are treated to a terrific Piero Umiliani jazzy soundtrack that kicks in with the cool credit sequence and barely lets up the rest of the way. This was also director Sergio Sollima's (credited here as Simon Sterling) first spy flick and he keeps things tight and on the move throughout. Sollima also directed Hunter of the Unknown and Requiem For a Secret Agent with lesser results.

Fun things include the winter Vienna locations, the unusual geographical and architectural locations in Lebanon, arm wrestling with a glass of beer between the combatants, litmus paper that can be used to detect poison in one's drink, a pendant transmitter with the receiver in a pair of eyeglasses, and a needle-shooting compact case. The script is good without a lot of nonsense and one line that sticks with this viewer is spoken by Jackie Yen: `I hate violence when it's used against myself.' Don't we all.

The real attraction here is of the tailor-made role for Ardisson. He's a snappy dresser and doesn't come across as your typical smarmy secret agent. Rather, he's in control and doesn't need a lot of gadgets to get the job done. He's worth watching the film for even if it wasn't as good as it happens to be. Recommended.