Le Liquidateur

I just saw "The liquidator". I think it is one of Rod´s worst pictures.

There is a funny and promising beginning but after ten or fifteen minutes it only is boring. Rod is fun to watch but his character is badly developed.

The rest of the movie is very weak. That is a pity because there are talented actors in it, a capable director and a nice basic idea.

"The Liquidator" was such an amusing film. I loved the fact that Shirley Bassey sang the theme song a la James Bond. It was great to see a spy whose hormones were far more potent than his efforts with a gun. A particularly funny part occurs when Trevor Howard is rescued by Boysie, as Paris is being liberated. Howard thinks that Boysie is a killing machine when, in fact, he is a hopelessly clumsy young man. Rod Taylor is deliciously sexy in the film and displays his flair for comedy.

One reviewer here wrote that this film was a poor excursion for the lead actor, Rod Taylor. I do honestly believe it to be one of his best comedy outings in his career. True, the film does lag a bit about two thirds of the way through, but its premise is solid.

One simply has to regard the film in the light of the the times it represents; which is the social environment of the late 1940's to the mid 1970's when the Cold War eventually ended. And one has to have some sense of how the Cold War era was, in itself, an exercise in the futility of bringing a major war to an end on a slow boil.

Therefore, I regard such claims as it not being humorous, or a lame attempt at such, being the inability of someone too young to have experienced the times.

Keep in mind that my generation (born in 1939) participated in 'take-cover' drills in our elementary classrooms, as serious protection from a nuclear bomb blast.

When given the signal, we kids were instructed to dive under our classroom desks, and to cover our heads with our hands until the all clear was given.

In reality, if the bomb was indeed dropped anywhere nearby, all 'take -cover would have accomplished was to yield - all gone! Yes, it was taken seriously by just about everyone.

Knowing this, it is easily understood why actual spy agencies on our side, and behind the Iron Curtain countries actually generated such extremes as history reveals of this era - as serious exercises.

Knowing this, simply sit back, relax your serious muscles, expose your humor muscles and enjoy this delightful film in the vein it was intended.

Not serious enough to be an action movie, not funny enough to be a comedy. Apparently they were going for a James Bond-type spy movie and missed spectacularly. I'm not sure if there is a plot, if there is, it isn't interesting enough to make the viewer care. Rod Taylor has all the intrigue of a mall shoe salesman. Watching this movie is sheer tedium. I recorded it on Turner Classic Movies and tried three times before I was able to complete it. Save yourself 119 minutes and avoid it at all costs. At least it answers the question, "What would James Bond be like if he was a dullard?". Of course, this probaly means Hollywood is working on a remake but it's hard to imagine it could be even worse.

Tanker Sergeant Boysie Oakes (Rod Taylor) trips and shoots two men trying to kill British Intelligence officer Mostyn (Trevor Howard) in WWII Paris. Mostyn assumes that Boysie is a skilled killer. Some two decades later, British intelligence is struggling with a media leaker. The Chief orders Mostyn to recruit an outside assassin to eliminate the leak. Mostyn lures Oakes into the job. The non-killer Oakes is stuck as Agent L, The Liquidator. Iris MacIntosh (Jill St. John) is Mostyn's secretary.

This really needs to try harder to be a spoof of Bond rather than being a lesser Bond. Rod Taylor is wrong for the part. He's too much the Bond type. They need an overweight bumbling fool comedian. The concept has that potential. This is just wrong-headed.