Unser Mann aus Istanbul

Germany's answer to James Bond is not that much bad :handsome Horst Buchholz has plenty of go and of humor ; his acrobatics (hats off to the stuntman!) are impressive and makes you giddy .

Actually the secret agent is statuesque Sylva Koscina , but ,as the macho hero says to her while he locks her in the cupboard "it's a man job" ,and her role is boiled down to a decorative one ; French Perette Pradier ,herself a spy thriller habituée ("Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117""le judoka agent secret" "house of cards" )provides the obligatory second female "Bond" girl .....

There are several nods to OO7 : Istambul will remind you of "from Russia with love" ;the scrapyard of "Goldfinger" ;and the fight in the pool under water is pure "thunderball" ,though the latter movie was not yet released .

The cinematography is fine, the screenplay knows only one tempo :accelerated,and there's never a dull moment.

Buchholz and Koscina would team up again the following year in Yves Allégret's "Johnny Banco " but this once great director was only the ghost of himself and it was a fiasco.

This movie is funny, if campy. Think Peter Sellers meets Sean Connery. It's sometimes serious, sometimes satirical, always a little odd. If you're in the mood for something a bit off-key, this is your movie. "What, me worry?" Classic!

I have always been nostalgic about this Euro-Spy film. When very young, I picked up the soundtrack (which is still available if you look for it) and used to listen and dream about exotic locales, adventure, and of course about that special woman that would be a part of it all. I especially like(d) the Ray Anthony song "Love was Right Here all the Time" which plays at the end against a dark screen when the audience is supposed to leave the theater. Just minutes earlier the leading man, Horst Bucholz, had given his heart to the leading lady, then winked at the audience and confided verbally: "It happens to everyone sooner or later." Many in the audience must have smiled and left the matinée filled with no little amount of delight and renewed hope! Also available are lobby cards and a few B&W photos from the movie. If this movie was ever released on VHS in North America, I'm totally unaware of it. In Europe, yes, but apparently many years ago. I finally acquired a copy of this film, dubbed in English, and with Greek subtitles in DVD which had either been taken off Greek television, or a European VHS. My nostalgia was only increased by spending a week in Istanbul myself, as part of the People-to-People Program for "Student Ambassadors," five years after the movie came out. It is Istanbul as I remember it. Twenty-six years later I again journeyed across Turkey and can say that old, freer, almost magical feel that once was Istanbul was largely gone, and the same can be said for all the islands and seacoasts of the Eastern Mediterranean region. So, for me the movie is a fun and romantic snapshot in time.

This is one of the best action spy thrillers I saw, and believe me I've seen a lot.

Even by today's standards, it would be good, provided someone cared to restore it's brightly colour, perfect editing, and natural sound. The alternate soundless shots of a knife fight inside the hotel swimming pool, where he can see each detail of two athletic actors actually going at it, and the merry sounds of tourists on the esplanade above while still unawares of the drama close-by, has NEVER been recreated in any film, possibly because it was too much trouble, or there were no Horst Buccholz and Mario Adorf around.

The dialog was OK, and true grit, real lines, and delivered with realism. In that not only Buccholz was good, but the other actors, too, therefore grabbing the spectator into a quite realistic scenario. The story develops from a predictable ending into something quite different, therefore we miss the presence of Koscina in the later part of the story, but it is all for the best of the film.

The director was defending his name and career, but also his money in more ways than one, as he was one of the producers investing in the project through Isasi (Barcelona, Spain). It is a pity that there was never a VHS around that I know of, and that no DVD is made of such a precious B jewel.

Yes, it's one of those so many Eurospy made in the '60s, which amounts to a decent level, acceptable to a demanding spectator. Horst Buchholz (dead in 2003), one of the seven gunmen in "The Magnificent Seven"(1960), is here the beautiful boy who beats and shoot everyone and stays with the girl in the end. The girl is the beautiful Sylva Koscina(dead in 1994), the woman-killer Penelope in "Deadlier Than the Male", here an American agent. Klaus Kinski(dead in 1991), as a villain, as usual, appears too little. Gérard Tichy(dead in 1992), another villain, appears more than him. Last but not least, Mario Adorf, the best actor in the whole film, as in all the movies he played, a living legend, is another villain. Him and the director, Antonio Isasi, are the only still alive. The plot is cheap, as usual, a kidnapped nuclear expert, a lot of ransom money, a lot of Chinese spies, stupid Turkish policemen, etc. But is well done, not bad!