Nid d'espions à Istambul

Iron-jawed British actor Stanley Baker was "considered" for James Bond... ironically he resembles Sean Connery and starred in HELL DRIVERS that a young Connery began in...

Skip over a decade later, after a now-legendary Connery left the role, Baker starred in a movie so Bondish that, by hearing the flauntingly jazzy, repetitive score, you'd think INNOCENT BYSTANDERS was yet another 007 entry...

Including power-hungry villains, led by the most famous of Bond foes, Donald Pleasence, danging a carrot to lesser corporate heavy Dana Andrews...

The first who Baker's agent/assassin John Craig works for, sent on what's basically a suicide mission to retrieve a Jewish scientist, making the action-packed scenes where he's in the dark the best...

And ITALIAN JOB director Peter Collinson wields enough signature 1970's zooms to put a dozen Kung Fu flicks to shame... BYSTANDERS even includes a few karate fights between "Craig" and scene-stealing mercenary couple Darren Nesbitt and Sue Lloyd, who call him "old man" and needed more overall screen-time...

Instead, the INNOCENT character in Geraldine Chaplin's mousy ingenue, conveniently kidnapped and along for the ride, from England to Turkey, slows both the pace and Baker's no-nonsense tough guy, who ultimately becomes so pitifully vulnerable, anyone expecting daring-do adventure from a daring-do adventurer will soon tire of the poor guy getting captured, and recaptured.

I think Stanley Baker was starting to show some of the ravages of the cancer that eventually killed him. Still as always he's tough as nails starring in Innocent Bystanders.

Baker stars as a compromised spy who spymaster Donald Pleasance feels will crack under the pressure. So he sends him out as a sort of decoy while a couple of other agents are to do the real assignment which is getting a hold of a defecting Russian scientist who has escaped from a Siberian gulag and is now in Turkey somewhere.

Of course when Baker finds out he's a British version of a Bashi- Bazook, expendable troops you put in the front line expecting them to be killed, he doesn't take it kindly and goes into business for himself. Along the way Baker acquires Geraldine Chaplin who is in the title role of the Innocent Bystander.

I'm told in the book that Innocent Bystander the lead character does have the exaggerated mustache that Baker sports. I really can't buy that since part of espionage is the ability to blend into the background.

Pleasance who is always in his films having evil intent is no different here. Dana Andrews makes an appearance here as the American spy chief who has contracted out this assignment.

As it turns out there are others who want the scientist for more than matters of geopolitics.

Fans of Stanley Baker will like Innocent Bystanders.

This one came in kind of late in that period of all the 007-imitation movies. Some of them were terrible, like "Operation Kid Brother" (which starred Sean Connery's brother Neil!). And some were pretty good, like "Innocent Bystanders". It is well-directed and its cinematography is excellent. Its rapid editing is really neat at first, but it gets kind of annoying after a while. Baker is excellent as a cold-blooded agent who has been double-crossed by his own people. I was amused by the constant bickering of Baker's two rival agents. "Innocent Bystanders" also has a couple alumni from the 007 movies: Donald Pleasence from "You Only Live Twice" (the original Dr. Evil!) and Vladek Sheybal from "From Russia With Love". If you in the mood for a dark spy adventure, "Innocent Bystanders" is for you.