My review was written in September 1983 after watching the movie on a Catalina video cassette.
"The Man from S. E. X." is a failed British imitation of the James Bond films, lensed in 1978 and marginally released in America before its current video cassette availability. Pic, a sequel to the 1976 "No. One of the Secret Service", was originally titled "Licensed to Love and Kill" and circulated under the alternate moniker "Undercover Lover".
Indie filmmaker Lindsay Shonteff, best known Stateside for his 1964 classic "Devil Doll", is actually lampooning his own work here, particularly the 1965 Bond imitation "The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World", which starred Tom Adams as agent Charles Vine.
In "S. E. X.", Gareth Hunt portrays Charle Bind, a well-tailored British agen sent out by his boss, Stockwell (Geoffrey Keen, who coincidentally has had similar roles in recent Bond pics) to fetch Lord Dangerfield (Noel Johnson) from the U. S., presumed missing.
The enemy is Sen. Lucifer Orchid (a naturalized U. S. citizen born in England, played by Gary Hope), bent on taking power in America by substituting doubles for the U. S. veep, agent Bind and others. Working from an Atlantic island base, he hires a mercenary Jensen Fury (Nick Tate) to carry out his dirty work.
Shonteff errs in stretching the Bond formula tongue-in-cheek sex and violence beyond the breaking point, adopting a live-action comic strip style familiar from his more successful 1973 picture, "Big Zapper". People blow up in a puff of smoke at will, fight scenes are likely to have fists crashing through solid walls, and the requisite special effects gimmicks are similarly hokey. Shot in England, the half of the film set in America is unconvincing, as are several lame attempts at American accents.
As Jensen nicknames him in the film, Gareth Hunt as Bind is indeed "Stiff", whether playing this role or the interchangeable double. Rest of the cast is routine, with various pretty girls (including Ingmar Bergman's daughter Anna) delivering occasional nude shots but falling wide of the mark expected in an R-rated (and thereby more liberated) Bonder.
Though there are some outlandish scenes, Shonteff doesn't deliver the sci-fi overtones of his similarly plotted "Second Best..." 1965 picture. Tech credits reflect a low budget.
