I’m finally getting a hold on work and family life, so 2026 is bound to be a more regular year for Gotham Calling, but, for now, I’ll just keep throwing in some idiosyncratic stuff I’ve been digging into…
Last time I did a proper post, I wrote about 1930s’ spy novels in the shadow of wars. Now I’m bringing you a couple of posts with a whole other take on the genre in form of colorful spy films from the 1960s that don’t take themselves seriously at all. This is not to say they cannot be the object of in-depth analysis, but, on the surface at least, they’re all about fast cars, futuristic sets, and sexy secret agents – you know, the kind of flicks that must’ve inspired Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and were cheerfully lampooned by Austin Powers.
Sure, only some of the humor actually seems intentional – and things can definitely get pretty goofy or even downright *strange* – but the general vibe is one of espionage as groovy FUN!
Agent 077: From the Orient with Fury (1965)
aka Operation Istanbul
As you can probably guess by the first of the titles above, this is an utterly barefaced knockoff of the James Bond movies – albeit of the earlier, less stunt-driven ones. The confusing plot revolves around a missing physicist forced to develop a disintegrating raygun, whom the eponymous American super-agent (Ken Clark, having a blast) tracks down by following game-like clues (while trying to avoid all those poisoned darts being shot around him), but the story essentially comes off like a springboard for a barrage of gadgets, slugfests, beautiful women, and touristic vistas from France, Spain, and Turkey. While certainly cheesier than the original 007 franchise, the result is still a slick Eurospy with its tongue firmly lodged in its cheek.
Angel with the Iron Fists (1967)
The Europeans weren’t the only ones riding the 007 wave… Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio also put out their fair share of swinging spy flicks, including a whole subset starring female protagonists, known as Jane Bond pictures (of course). One of the smoothest entries was Angel with the Iron Fists, where Lily Ho plays agent 009, tasked with infiltrating the criminal gang that killed her predecessor. Unlike their counterparts, most of these films didn’t even pretend to engage with geopolitics, so part of the fun is recognizing familiar elements – the tradecraft, the musical cues, the constant deception, the droll devices disguised as everyday items – put in the service of a different kind of thriller. Hell, the result isn’t entriely unlike some episodes of the original Mission: Impossible TV show, despite the cartoony villain lair worthy of Ken Adams and a baffingly gratuitous swimsuit show.
The Exterminators (1965)
aka FX-18 Superspy
The Exterminators belongs to a very loose series about the ruthless French secret agent Francis Coplan, also known as FX 18 (and always played by a different actor – in this case, Richard Stapley). The movies varied greatly: the first one to come out in the sixties (FX 18) was juvenile and largely awful, the second (The Spy I Love) was cerebral and noir-like, and this third installment hit a sweet spot of swinging sixties mayhem! Sure, the story is convoluted, if ultimately generic, with an investigation into an Egyptian plot to nuke Israel ending up in a very different place… Yet the movie has a great grindhouse attitude, with a neat touch in every single scene, whether it’s an original camera angle, a sudden twist, a damn crazy action stunt, or an outburst of catchy music. (These pictures tend to have multiple cuts, with different titles and dubs, so I can’t vouch for every version out there… I saw a French cut, whose title literally – and quite appropriately – means ‘Coplan FX 18 breaks everything’).
Hunter of the Unknown (1966)
aka Agent 3S3: Massacre in the Sun
Agent 3S3 (a commanding George Ardisson) is sent to investigate a Caribbean island where a coup has recently taken place… and which packs so many clichés about Latin American military dictatorships that it may as well be called Santa Prisca, not least because those clichés are outlandishly exaggerated and spliced with eccentric touches (including a bonkers harem that has to be seen to be believed). Director Sergio Sollima, who would become better known for his politically charged spaghetti westerns, basically fuses Zapatist and Eurospy adventures into a bizarre epic full to the brim with entangled plotlines and characters. The film verges wildly between cool-as-hell and utterly baffling (that spanking scene…), but it’s never short of entertaining. Most rankings place Hunter of the Unknown below Ardisson’s and Sollima’s previous collaboration, Passport to Hell, but I couldn’t disagree more – and I assume this is simply due to people having watched this movie’s botched American cut. If you can feast your eyes on the French or Italian versions, though, you’ll find a substantially richer picture. For instance, an early gag about peasants doing martial arts, absent from the US release, provides an awesome character introduction and it becomes even funnier later on, once you witness all the jiu-jitsu that’s actually taking place in the island!
Killer 77 Alive or Dead (1966)
Rod Dana plays a sophisticated private spy (subcontracted by the MI6) investigating dollar bills with mysterious coded messages in what has got to be continental Europe’s answer to Harry Palmer. Not only does the direction evoke the offbeat visuals of The Ipcress File, with its tilted angles and intrusive foregrounded objects, but the script pushes the sardonic secret-agent-as-working-man motif even further, especially in a nifty little scene where the protagonist meets a fellow freelancer and they cynically mock the villain for having an ideology. Mixing mundane environments with a pulpy vibe, the whole thing eventually culminates in Dana fighting Nazis in Barcelona… and later blowing them up with a bazooka! Like spaghetti westerns, which often shared the same directors), these flicks are best appreciated on a moment-by-moment basis. It’s style over substance, but what style – the true hero of the piece is the camerawork, constantly coming up with curious shots to frame the action, often accompanied by a jazzy rhythm. (Plus, we get an answer about JFK’s assassination.)
O.K. Connery (1967)
aka Operation Kid Brother
aka Divided Evil
This Italian mockbuster where Sean Connery’s real-life brother plays James Bond’s sibling is an amusing lesson in how to shamelessly exploit a hit, with a bunch of actors from the main franchise more-or-less reprising their roles. For instance, Adolfo Celi, who played SPECTRE’s Number 2 in Thunderball, here plays THANATOS’ Beta (he’s no longer one-eyed, although, in a typical bit of cheekiness, a monocle evokes his former patch). A spirited, globetrotting affair with a full-on Bond-esque plot (in which SPECTRE… I mean, THANATOS tries to take control of the world’s gold reserves by using an ultra-magnetic wave to blackmail the richest governments), Operation Kid Brother – like Neil Connery himself – knows it’s only a lesser relative of the big guy, but it nevertheless commits to the mission! The result certainly has its moments and it even finishes with a fantastic free-for-all in the style of the 007 formula at the time.