Coplan, agent secret FX-18

By dumping the original opening song and replacing it with a more up beat number and changing the title to FX-18, SECRET AGENT, USA for the North American release in 1964, this movie was an instant hit with Spy fans everywhere. Ken Clark, who is American, and stands 6 foot 4 inches, was perfect as secret agent Coplan. There is lots of action and exotic locales (the warm beaches of Corsica were well used), this movie shows a true glimps into the exiting life of a secret agent. (That is the fictional view in the mid 1960s). Margit Koscis is absolutely beautiful and is a true sweetheart of that era, who unfortunately died at the young age of 43. (I can't find a cause of death on the internet). Watch the entire movie on YouTube and you won't be disappointed. Also look for the "missing scenes" version on YouTube as well. Larry Anderson.

Ken Clark was a second or even third hand actor, always non-convincing, exclusively casted for his look. Daniel Ceccaldi is not inspired chosen as a negative character, he was an excellent performer of sweet and very nice characters. All the other actors equally unconvincing, in a boring story. Not even sexy girls, not even a bit beautiful, the two feminine characters are ugly. Stupid unattractive song too.

Did these guys know editing had been invented when they shot this? Some euro spy bond knockoffs can be quite fun, but this is one of the worst. Worse than bond not just at the things bond is good at but even at the things bond is bad at. It manages to make explosions of all things feel dull. I've also never seen a movie so fond of finding excuses to slap women, and I've watched plenty of the more misogynist films of this era. FX-18 finds a way to tick just about every box of being weird about women- portraying as childlike, enjoying touching them without consent, mocking the idea of any sort of agency or role beyond the man's love interest.

The French producers ,noticing (it did not take'em long to notice),that James Bond was becoming a huge blockbuster ,began to look for a French counterpart:in the sixties,lots of movies were made :OSS 117,Coplan,Le Vicomte and more ,each one lousier than the one before (with the eventual exception of "Coplan Sauve Sa Peau" which was directed by Yves Boisset) Enter Maurice Cloche: needless to say,his previous career had nothing (and I mean nothing) to do with the spy thriller.He began his career in 1937 and there are only two good movies in his career :"Monsieur Vincent" and" Le Petit Chose" an acceptable adaptation of the Daudet novel.The rest of his movies are either Saint-Sulpician edifying works ("Un Missionnaire" ) or melodramas dealing with the prostitutes' plight,which put him in the same league as his colleague Leo Joannon for that matter.

What can be said for this first effort in the cloak and dagger field?(two more "works" were to follow ,in the same "vein" so to speak)There's a horrible song during the cast and credits (which is heard again at the end) performed by yeah yeah boy Frank Alamo called "Copain Coplan" ;a Z-movie actor who obviously does not speak French at all (anyone can't be Jodie Foster ,can they?),and who is dubbed in French Mediocre starlets ,who are not even that beautiful ,compared to Bond's girl's canon;an earnest FRench thespian,Daniel Ceccaldi,as the villain,who wish he weren't here;and a story the average viewer has seen one hundred times or more.

One of those clones made in the sixties from the James Bond movies. There is action, drama, and love.. but everything is so bad made that you will be laughing all the time. Kaplan, the secret agent, is a James Bond mixed with Austin Powers. The script in fact is quite boring, but the dialogues are really stupid, the direction is more than awful and many of the scenes that take place in the film are not strange, there are often unbelievable. But I recommend watching this movie, because you will have a great time, wonderful, wonderful... it´s not supposed to be a comedy, but I kept laughing all the time.