Plus féroces que les mâles

Saw this one when it was originally released in '67 and immediately fell in love with the curvy assassins. Well typecasted; actors are very believable. One of the few super spy movies that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the James Bond movies.

This above-average Bond knockoff deserves to be better known. It's too imitative of the Bond pictures of the time (especially "Thunderball" - minus the underwater scenes), and the plot slows down at times, but Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina make a terrific pair of sexy, teasing assassins (with Sommer being the sexier one and Koscina the more teasing one). Nigel Green also makes a smooth villain (although he should have hired more guards!). This picture should become more widely available, because although it's not perfect, it's much better than, say, the atrocious pseudo-spoof "Our Man Flint". (**1/2)

If you watch this 1960s spy film without thinking of it as a spoof you will enjoy it more.

Reviewers say it is low budget but it look great to me.

Fun plot,pretty girls,nice cars,good cast.

Johnston is handsome and tough.

There is a lot of humour.

Great locations,Northern Italy wish I was there now.

Compared to Modesty Blaze or Matt Helm this is a much better watch.

If you are into spy movies and have never seen this I would seek it out.

Perhaps the best of the escapist superspy movies spawned by the James Bond phenomenon,"Deadlier than the male" benefits by taking itself more seriously than the leering and campy approach found in,for example,the "Matt Helm" series and the 2 "Derek Flint" films.Richard Johnson-who could well have played James Bond,and would have brought more humanity to the role than any of the actors who played 007 managed,is excellent as Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond(a character featured in a series of books in the 20s and 30s and a number of "b" movies,reborn here as a secret agent for the swinging 60s).Nigel Green is also perfect,as a suave and very dangerous master criminal.The female assassins,played by 60s stunners Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina,are allowed to be despicably evil,and without any redeeming features(they are as keen to sadistically torture people as they are to kill them),and the sight of the murderous pair in bikinis emerging from the ocean with harpoon guns,should be as iconic as the "Ursula Andress hits the beach" moment in "Dr No".

Unfortunately the sequel to this movie,"Some girls do"(1969),though not without interest,adopted the over the top camp "Deadlier than the male" avoided,and ended the franchise.

Director Ralph Thomas, whose credits include DOCTOR comedies, NO LOVE FOR JOHNNIE, HOT ENOUGH FOR JUNE, produced a masterpiece as rarely as a dud. His films tend to be quite enjoyable and DEADLIER THAN THE MALE certainly fits that description.

To that end, it is greatly enhanced by the presence of such sensational beauties as Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, Suzanna Leigh and Virginia North, the first three all assassins of the highest refinement and tariff. Sommer, in particular, is absolutely to die for. Lovely legs, eyes, everything.

Richard Johnson delivers a highly polished private detective, Hugh Drummond, who is every bit as stealthy and classy as James Bond, who had been firing his way around the globe since 1962 in the figure of Sean Connery. Drummond is accompanied by his young and innocent nephew, Bob Drummond (Steve Carlson), who hampers more than helps.

However, in terms of acting the cherry on the cake comes courtesy of Nigel Green, who hides his hand until emerging as the cold, classly nasty villain who pulls the strings of the three beauties, much like the inverted precursor of Charlie and his angels in the 1980s.

Great photography, beautiful locales, and a script with sharp dialogue, repartee, and light humor.

I loved it! 8/10.