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.
