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This movie essentially begins with an agent for the British Secret Service named "Charles Vine" (Tom Adams) being assigned to guard a Swedish nuclear physicist by the name of "Professor Henrik Jacobsen" (Karel Stepanek) who has developed a new technology that has the potential to disable incoming nuclear missiles. That being the case, although he plans to sell this technology to the British government, the Soviet Union has other plans and are willing to do everything at their disposal to either capture or kill the professor first. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had the potential of being a really good spy movie except that the decision was made to turn it into a spoof of the "James Bond" franchise rather than a more serious and solid picture in its own right. In that respect it resembled the "Matt Helm" (starring Dean Martin) or the "Flint" (James Coburn) films than the actual James Bond movies. And like the other two spoofs this particular film wasn't too bad. But again, with a little bit of thought or effort it could have been much better. In any case, I have rated it accordingly. Average.

If you've ever seen Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and wondered, where on earth that song the cast starts singing at the party comes from, the answer is this. Despite the US edit of this movie boasting a brilliant title song by Sammy Davis Jr, something the UK version desperately lacks, it doesn't stop Licensed to Kill from being a rather lacklustre 007 homage from unconventional Canadian genius Linsday Shonteff. Even with the dubious connections to Bond, he's name dropped many times throughout with clear references made to past adventures, it's extremely by the numbers in terms of its plot and characters despite the best efforts of Tom Adams as leading man Charles Vine and the rest of the cast. The film just gets lost in its own plot, about some device that can reverse the effects of gravity all the while it tries to add Cold War politics, counter-espionage and many many kidnappings into the mix. Licensed to Kill is on the lower tier of Shonteff productions but is still worth a watch to see how low-budget UK cinema can still deliver a fun time.

Tom Adams appeared in three Eurospy movies as Secret Agent Charles Vine, this one, "Where The Bullets Fly" and "OK Yevtushenko", plus a heist movie called "The Fast Kill". He also appeared in supporting roles in Rachel Welch's espionage movie "Fathom" and another called "Subterfuge" starring Gene Barry and Joan Collins.

On the tele he was a regular in a show called "Spy Trap" and put in guest appearances in "The Avengers", "The Persuaders", "Ghost Squad", "The Strange Report" and a series called "The Spies", of which all but one episode was wiped during the BBC's tape wiping holocaust, but he was possibly most well-known, back in the day, for his role as arch rival Daniel Fogarty in the "Onedin Line".

Filmed in the UK as a serious Eurospy, repackaged for American audiences with a more spoofy title and a matching title song by serial Sinatra collaborators Sammy Cahn and Jimmy van Heusen, with a vocal from fellow rat packer Sammy Davis junior.

As I say, the film is played about 95% straight, which does not preclude some respectable attempts at Bond-esque one liners relating to, and during interactions with, women, plus a handful of references to James Bond himself, who is treated as a more senior agent and colleague.

Tom Adams looks the part, but there's something missing. Perhaps he's a bit wooden, or perhaps he's been instructed to under play, but just doesn't have the skill or charisma to pull that off. Whichever, he is far below Richard Johnson level, not even able to reach Ray Danton level in my opinion. But the rest of the cast is populated with familiar characters from UK productions, who all contribute suitably colourful performances

The only gadget Tom is provided with is an eeny-weeny, teeny-tiny gun, from Y branch, which is rather underwhelming. Fortunately he still has his regular pistol, a "broom handle / box cannon" Mauser C96, which he keeps in a special holster on the small of his back. However he does manage to bed three woman across the course of the movie, so his sexual prowess credentials are not in question.

The film has two major faults

Firstly its hugely overcomplicated plot, which is such that the director felt the need to have an entire long winded scene at the end of the film in order to explain it to Tom (and the viewer), and the amount of screen time devoted to the theory and nature of the Macguffin ("regrav" - reverse gravity), is quite un-necessary.

Secondly, and more significantly, the dull and lifeless direction, which is completely without imagination or flair, on a level acceptable for a television show, but not the big screen.

The same goes for the action scenes, which mainly involve lots and lots of shooting. (OK, to be fair, I should acknowledge he makes a couple of nice moves with his guns, in amongst the dross). There's only one hand to hand combat scene, which is a mess, and one car chase, which is very run of the mill, but no less than three vehicle-blocking-the-road ambushes. Clearly there was no budget for car crashes or explosions either, as the helicopter scene at the climax is embarrassingly inept.

However enough people liked it to make someone believe that sequels were viable.

Bondian Banter

Rockwell - "I'll give you one man"

Pickering - "Alright, one man, but he must be your best... how about that boy who settled that gold conspiracy, what's his name? Bondson...?"

Rockwell - "I'm afraid he's otherwise engaged, but I've got a good man for you..."

(Tom is in bed with a beautiful girl, phone rings...)

Tom - "Hello"

Rockwell - "Is that Charles Vine"

Tom - "Yes, of course it is"

Rockwell - "Its Rockwell here"

Tom - "Oh, good morning sir"

Rockwell - "Are you tied up at the moment?"

Tom - "No, I've nothing on at present..."

Rockwell - "Ah, could you possibly drag yourself away from her?"

(At the airport)

Prof Jacobsen - "This is my assistant, Miss Lindberg"

Tom - "Miss Lindberg, it will be a pleasure having you"

Miss Lindberg - "Having me where Mr Vine?" (smirk)

Tom - (smirks and turns back to the professor) "Your car is waiting..."

(Later, in the car, where Tom and the cameraman have been leering at Miss Lindberg's legs)

Prof Jacobsen - "You are a scientist Mr Vine?"

Tom - "Yes, in a way"

Miss Lindberg - "In which field?"

Tom - "I studied mathematics, why?"

Miss Lindberg - "I'm sorry, I assumed it was physiology, you seem to have an obsessive interest in anatomy"

Tom - "I am interested in certain areas of the subject" (smirk)

Miss Lindberg (smirk)

(At the research facility)

Tom - "You enjoying yourself?"

Computer Girl - "I am. I have an aptitude for figures."

Tom - "So have I. Tell me, what does this machine do?"

Computer Girl - "It gives general information, depending on the questions it receives."

Tom - "I see. Ask it for your telephone number, will you?"

(Later, in bed)

Computer Girl -"Why, what's your name?"

Tom - "Charles Vine"

Computer Girl -"It's funny, I met someone like you in Florida"

Tom - "Oh really, who was he?"

Computer Girl -"James, James something"

Tom - "Oh, ah, what did he do?"

Computer Girl -"He told me he was a vacuum cleaner salesman"

Tom - "Ah, isn't that a coincidence, so am I" (clinch)

Unexpectedly decent spy flick. I think it would have been a whole lot better if it had just been played straight. It is listed as a comedy - parody might have been a better description - but it holds up much better on its own merits. The Russians are the bad guys and the dialog among them gets a bit silly but the rest of the plot and the action is exciting. The storyline involves a scientist that has invented a device that produces anti-gravity when aimed at certain objects. He needs protection from the Russians while visiting the Brits to sell them the invention. Tom Adams is good as the unflappable 2nd Best Agent assigned to protect him. The rest of the cast is fairly nondescript. The ending has some unique twists. A decent watch.

Let's be frank. This is one damp spoof. I'll go into the details of this deadly dull affair if, for some reason, you're interested. Tom Adams is Charles Vine, an inexperienced agent whose assignment is to keep an eye on a scientist (Karel Stepanek) as he prepares his formula for Regrav, a process that reverses gravitational waves. Vine is `a double 0 number, licensed to kill' and he certainly does make use of that particular privilege. During the course of the film Vine kills more than a dozen people. It's not the number that gives one pause, it's the callous and somehow nonchalant way he goes about it that is perturbing. Vine is, by his own confession, in it for the money but one suspects he gets a certain pleasure out of taking lives as well.

Stepanek (Our Man in Havana), as the Swedish scientist, gives the best performance of the movie but that's not saying much. The entire production is so lifeless that the actors seem to just want to get it over with, and one can hardly blame them. The film starts off with a bad taste killing when a nanny pulls a machine gun out of her baby buggy and slaughters a man in front of her two infant charges. Then we are treated to a lame theme song by Sammy Davis Jr. and it's all downhill from here, folks. The film suffers from poor pacing, badly choreographed gun battles and worse fight scenes and the whole thing feels much longer than its 95 minute running time.