Operation Bloody Mary

The early sixties brought the best James Bond films ,thanks to Sean Connery's incomparable charisma and humor.In their wake ,a countless spate of sub-007 began to appear:OSS 117,Coplan,and the nadir of them all:O77(sic) Dick Maloy.This one was the first featuring this two-bit spy and it's really a poor man's James Bond;to give you an idea of what's waiting for you,the hero and the villains carry an atomic bomb in a simple case!The plot is a cock and bull story ,where the characters appear and disappear,without bringing anything to the story.actually,the purpose of every scenes is to put up a fight so as to show the hero's steel fists.If you find some logic in the sequence of events ,you are a genius.

Another Trafalgar.

Ken Clark and his first mission as Agent 077

Yes, what is the name of the James Bond imitator directed by Sergio Grieco and produced by Edmondo Amati, which was released in West German cinemas in November 1965? In the original version he goes by the name Dick Malloy, the German dub changed it to Jack Clifton, for whatever reason. Filming took place in Paris, Barcelona and Athens.

When the pretty secretary (Erika Blanc) of his boss (Philippe Hersent) asks him to go on a new mission, the smart daredevil Jack Clifton (Ken Clark) is with a big-breasted girlfriend (Franca Polesello, who could already be admired in "Il sorpasso") ) busy. But of course duty comes first! After all, it's about a new type of nuclear weapon that was stolen by the "Black Lily" criminal organization. Jack Clifton should therefore absolutely prevent this weapon from being sold to the Chinese. He gets support from the attractive Elsa Freeman (Helga Line). Together the two also have to deal with Soviet agents, who are of course also interested in the "Bloody Mary". But that won't be the only surprise...

The American actor Ken Clark (1927-2009) had previously had to be content with supporting roles. In Hollywood he was marketed as a "beef cake" supporting actor because of his impressive physique. As Agent 077, he was finally able to showcase his qualities as a heartthrob who can repeatedly show off his magnificent upper body, and as an action actor whose powerful upper arms the competitors hardly have a chance against. The concept was well received, "Bloody Mary" attracted 836,000 viewers to West German cinemas. The two successors (Vollmacht für Jack Clifton": 777,000 viewers / "Im Netz der Goldenen Spinne": 822,000 viewers) were similarly successful at the West German box office.

The life story of the female lead, Helga Line, is also very interesting. She was born Helga Lina Stern in Berlin in 1932. Luckily, she was able to flee the National Socialists to Portugal with her parents as a small child. She later became a star on the Iberian Peninsula. She even appeared in two films directed by Pedro Almodovar in the 1980s. The great actress celebrated her 90th birthday in 2022.

Worth seeing offshoot of the EuroSpy wave that was started by the success of the James Bond films! And the start of a three-part series with Ken Clark as Agent 077 Jack Clifton!

Ordinary Euro spy movie coproduced by Spain/Italy with usual trappings : thrills , chases , shootouts and sightseeing . Eurospy movies unite more countries than a World War . The first Euro-spy of 3 that Ken Clark as Agent 077 starred in the 60's , here he's on a search and destroy mission to take back Bloody Maryc, a portable nuclear weaponc, from the Black Lily crime syndicate. As he's assigned by CIA Chief Heston (Philippe Hersent) to carry out the ¨Mission Bloody Mary¨ .

This is a Spain-Italy-France financing , made in 1965 resulting to be a typical Euro spy movie with ordinary ingredients : thriller , noisy action , crossfirec, cool gadgets , gorgeous women, exotic locations, fights , twists and turns . Although in 1965 the Eurospy craze was already running a bit thin , but this is a passable stuff , with its ups and downs and plot holes . A fashion and run-of-the-mill spy film at the time , meaning it stuck to a lot of what was currently popular , but here displaying some embarrassing and non-sense scenes . Stars Ken Clark who is still at his most agile and deft style , in fact he performs his own stunts . He acts in his usual style as a hard-boiled US agent .This charming leading role was played by Ken Clark as American secret agent Dick Malloy who had three cinematic adaptations , as Ken starred some Euro-spy movies such as Agente 077 missione Bloody Mary , Fury in the Bosphorus , Agent Secret FX 18 (1964) , among others . Ken Clark was one of many American hunk men as Steve Reeves , Gordon Scott , Reg Park, Mark Forest , Reg Lewis, Dan Vadis , Rock Stevens , Lou Ferrigno, emigrated to Italy to play a Sword and Sandals or Peplum movies , though none of them topped in popularity to Steve Reeves . As Ken Clark getting a certain success in Peplum , Spaghetti Western and Euro-spy genre .

It has attractive outdoors with Greek scenery handsomely shot , explosive women and including some top-notch fights . Action-packed and violent film in which our seductive agent Dick Malloy travels throughout various European countries in pursuit the nasty murderous, including an exciting final with a surprising twist . Formula thriller deemed to be an ordinary copy to James Bond films at the time such as ¨Dr. No¨ , ¨Thunderball¨ and especially ¨From Russia with love¨in which copies the train fight. The European answer to the Bond films in the 60s makes this title a must watch for spy afficionados . Stars Ken Clark as the two-fisted agent Dick Malloy , as he is the search and destroy mission to retrieve a Nuclear Bomb from a radical crime syndicate called the Black Lily commanded by a smart criminal mastermind . This is the first of three Eurospy films that Ken Clark starred in as Dick Malloy, Agent 077 . Being well accompanied by a charming Spanish actress who's in this as well , the beautiful Helga Line (Horror Express, So Sweet...So Perverse) , Maryse Guy Mitsouko (who would later be in Thunderball), Mirko Ellis (A Bullet for Rommel), Umberto Raho (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), Andrea Scotti (The Fifth Cord) and Erika Blanc (The Night Evelyn Came Out of Her Grave), adding some notorious Spanish secondaries such as Alfredo Mayo , Félix Fernández and Tomás Blanco.

It contains an atmospheric cinematography by Juan Julio Baena shot on location in Paris , Athens , Barcelona , Monaco and other European cities . However, being extremely necessary a perfect remastering because of the film copy is washed-oot. The soundtrack is also heard very loudly and adequate by composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino , adding catching songs . This run-of-the-mill Euro-spy movie co-produced by Italy/Spain/Italy was regular but professionally directed by Sergio Grieco . He was a good Italian artisan who made a lot of adventures, action and thrillers movies such as ¨Sergeant Klems¨, ¨SOS agent 017¨, ¨The mysterious swordsman¨ , ¨Lucrezia Borgia¨, ¨La regina dei Tartaro¨, ¨Il Capitano di Ferro¨, ¨Pirates of the Black Hawk¨ and he would also make the Eurospy films ¨Agent 077: From the Orient¨, ¨Password: Kill Agent Gordon¨, ¨Special Mission Lady Chaplin¨, ¨Argoman the Fantastic Superman¨ and ¨The Tiffany Memorandum¨and several other genres . Rating : 5/10 . Acceptable and passable Euro-thriller , but mediocre.

This film essentially begins with a special nuclear bomb codenamed "the Bloody Mary" being stolen off of an American bomber by a mysterious criminal organization known simply as "Black Lilly." Naturally, wanting to recover this nuclear device as soon as possible, the CIA dispatches its best secret agent by the name of "Dick Malloy" (Ken Clark) to Paris to follow up on an important lead. Once there, he meets an attractive colleague by the name of "Elsa Freeman" (Helga Line) who has been sent to assist him. Likewise, another colleague by the name of "Lester" (Antonio Gradoli) is there to assist him as well. Unfortunately, every time Agent Malloy gets closer to finding out where the bomb is located, he is met with any number of thugs and ruffians who thwart his every move. Even so, Agent Malloy somehow manages to extricate himself from these deadly situations and continues to uncover vital clues along the way. What he doesn't realize, however, is that the Chinese aren't the only ones wanting to acquire this nuclear device--and time is not on his side. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an adequate international spy film which was clearly intended as the European answer to the incredibly popular James Bond films of that time. And while this was certainly not a bad film by any means, it didn't quite seem to capture the same intensity of its more popular rival. For that matter, neither was Ken Clark able to duplicate the on-screen presence of Sean Connery. Be that as it may, I still found it to be somewhat entertaining, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I saw this film as an 11 year old as a 10:30am morning show at the local cinema in Bangalore, India. At the time, there were a lot of Italian spy movies about with Ken Clark or Kerwin Matthews and to us under-age kids these 'Adults only' type films were enjoyable forbidden fruit! Of course, it was the post-McCarthy era with the ethos still firmly on the "Red under the bed" attitude and most of us thought the spies were heroes. Among our group, having seen "Bloody Mary" was the 'in' thing and just about everybody was 'in'.