Atom-Alarm Planquadrat goldene 7

When a shipment of uranium gets stolen, with the entire crew of the ship killed in the process, a top American agent is sent to track it down. While this Italian-Spanish spy film gets a lot of the ingredients of the formula right (fight scenes, tricky gadgets, worldwide locations, scientific breakthroughs that may be used for evil purposes, etc.), it fails to put its own spin on the formula, and ends up "one lost in a crowd" of similar products. Erica Blanc is mostly wasted; in fact, no other character apart from the hero makes much of an impression. It's a rare film that's not really worth going out of your way to find, unless you want to see the classic hero-bound-and-looking-at-the-wrong-end-of-a-laser-beam scene from "Goldfinger" recreated, on a smaller scale of course. Trivia note: the song "You Play To Win" was used in at least one more Euro spy film, "Kill Agent Gordon". Goof note: obvious night-to-day discontinuity between a party scene and a chase scene that follows. ** out of 4.

It begins when a secret criminal organisation attacks an English freighter and steals its cargo of uranium . American secret agent Alan Milner (Tony Russel) is charged to get back a lot of uranium being transported to an enemy power by a criminal gang led by Otis . The agent must follow a number of leads until getting aboard a merchant ship off the Moroccan coast, where he will have the last of a number of fights . Using information provided by Mitzi (Dyanik Zurakowska), who is working undercover in the villain's organisation , agent Milner gets some tracks that lead him to Copenhagen and then Lisbon . Suspicion falls on shipping line owner Otis (Conrado San Martín), whose pet scientist (Giuseppe Fortis) is working on a cure for radiation at the tycoon's secret island base. Meanwhile, a skin diver has just swum into the protected zone without giving the required signal and Russel infiltrates the installation . Unfortunately, he's soon captured, and San Martin decides to use him as a lab rat in the experimental radiation process. The forces of law and order are preparing an attack on the island, but can they arrive in time, or might rescue come from a source much closer at hand?.

Typical Italian/Spanish Euro-spy film dealing with an American secret agent and his adventures , misfortunes , dangerous investigations and sexy romances . Copying or following some scenes from James Bond films , such as : ¨Dr No¨ , ¨Goldfinger¨, ¨From Russia with Love¨, ¨Goldfinger¨ and ¨Thunderball¨. Colorful and acceptable rendition about European spy subgenre , an usual genre during the sixties , not taking any situation seriously and with budget enough which allow director to mount some spectacular set pieces that are a little more ambitious than many of his cash-strapped companions at the era . There are spectacular motorcycle pursuits and , struggles , including one karate fight between Russel and Antonio Pica , are okay but unremarkable and his later lovemaking with female lead Erika Blanc is charming enough . As if to make up for the underwritten nature of the lead female's role, Blanc's character gets to be a little unpredictable at film's end , escaping Milner when he makes the mistake of lowering his guard. This week's 'Bond on a Budget' is American actor Tony Russel . Here Russel juggles the standard selection of 'Guns, Girls and Gadgets' in the name of freedom and democracy everywhere. Stars the American Tony Russel giving an acceptable acting as a top secret agent assigned to recover the precious mineral , and his investigations suggest it's the work of 'The Snake', a notorious criminal mastermind as his arch-enemy well played by Conrado San Martin. Russel is charming when needed but he's far from the most impressive of the Eurospies . Russel entered the world as Antonio Pietro Russo but was American born to an Italian immigrant family. After a stint in the US Air Force, he began studying drama at the University of Michigan and scored several uncredited bits in major productions such as 'The Silver Chalice' (1954) and 'King Creole' (1958) with Elvis Presley . Tired of the Hollywood grind, he packed his bags for the old country and then he emigrated to Italy to seek fame and fortune starring Peplum like others compatriots : Dan Vadis , Rock Stevens , Gordon Scott or Steve Reeves to star Peplums and he found almost immediate success leading to Sword and Sandals and adventure movies as 'The Last Charge/La leggenda di Fra Diavolo' (1962) , La rivolta dei sette , Thief of Damasco , Il terrore dei mantelli rossi , The Invincibles and The oath of zorro . Similar swashbucklers followed, but Russel also found gainful employment in many other genres. There was the international crime thriller of 'Secret of the Sphinx' (1964), the romantic comedy 'Honeymoon, Italian Style/Viaggio di Nozze all'italiana' (1966) and the science-fiction adventure 'The War of the Planets/I diafanoidi vengono da Marte' (1966). While his contender was the Spanish Conrado San Martin who starred several international coproductions in all kinds of genres as Peplum/historical : La rivolta dei gladiators (1958), Colossus of Rodes , The Mercenaries , King of Kings ; Spaghetti : Winchester Bill , In a colt's shadow , I lunghi giorni della vendetta and thriller/Eurospy : El Cobra, The Spy Who Went Into Hell , Contrabando .

The writers giving the audience a fair amount of sex and violence early in the picture . Co-author María del Carmen Martínez Román did work in Spain/Italian films for about a decade, though. She provided a lot of scripts as the original story for Christopher Lee vehicle 'Crypt of Horror/La cripta e l'incubo' (1964) and did script duty on the rather shabby 'Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun/Ercole contro i figli del sole (1964). Her other Eurospy projects included 'Goldsnake 'Anonima Killers' (1966) and some uncredited work on 'Operation Poker' (1965) . She enjoyed greater success with Spaghetti Westerns as 'Joe l'implacabile' , 'Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!' , 'Fury of Johnny Kid' and 'Winchester Bill' , but quit the film business in 1971. And from unknown director Alberto Leonardi, I'll credit one-shot director Alberto Leonardi , perhaps the true director was producer Spanish Santos Alcocer who made some B-films , and directing under pseudonym Alberto . Goldseven is a little better than the worst but nowhere near the best of its kind.

MASTER PLAN: steal that Uranium and develop an anti-nuke serum. Another among the innumerable cheap European James Bond knock-offs (see also the Italian "Danger! Death Ray" and "OK Connery") of the sixties, this one, like many of these, recalls "From Russia With Love" - but imitation is not a form of flattery here. This features a lead actor resembling Mike Connors (who starred in "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" around the same time). We're introduced to him on a golf course (shades of "Goldfinger") and immediately thrust into some of the most awful, cheesy dialog (dubbed?) of the decade. The plot involves a freighter crew getting massacred and uranium stolen; the secret agent is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark to sort things out or "before it gets too explosive" as his boss states. "The persons in possession of the uranium are going to use it for purposes which are not peaceful," the hero says with a straight face.

The pace is choppy at best and, with the exception of one movie-style karate combat scene in a hotel room, most of the action scenes are fairly lackluster. As in "Dr.No" and "From Russia With Love," the agent needs to acquaint himself with a new locale, avoid assassins and connect with the local law-enforcement bigshot. The criminal organization is named 'The Snake' - not quite as creative as Spectre. The climactic action involves the invasion of the villain's island base and now rips off the similar underwater action scenes in "Thunderball." I also got the uneasy impression that the sets in the climax are merely re-used from the other Bond imitation-films, such as "OK Connery" and the "Kommissar X" films. The only other plus I could see at this point is that the movie is pretty short (the version I watched was 85 minutes) and so the ending isn't dragged out. But, "it doesn't take much imagination to dope that out." Hero:4 Villains:3 Femme Fatales:3 Henchmen:2 Fights:3 Stunts/Chases:3 Gadgets:3 Auto:3 Locations:4 Pace:2 overall:3

A typical Italian Bond rip-off starring Tony Russel as an agent called in to get back a shipment of uranium stolen by a criminal gang. What this all leads to is a wealth of action in the form of knock-down, drag-out fist-fights, typically taking place in hotel suites and the like. Erika Blanc shows up as a glamorous femme fatale while a wealth of sun-drenched international locations keeps it looking nice, even if it is no great shakes as a film.

This same exact story was used in many other Euro-Spy movies also made in 1965. Same ideas, same sets and the very same grotto and pill box seen in other Bond-Like movies. Even the Night-Club song was re-used. Erica Blanc had such a small part you had to be careful not to miss her. She usually has a lot of seductive encounters but just walks through this one. There were so many of these imitations made in the year 1965, you wonder hoe they managed to complete them all. Watch this for the entertainment and relax. AKA: Technique For A Spy.