Circolo vizioso

Although I know that this film not meant to be like a prelude to Roger Moore playing James Bond, it sure looked like one...though the Bond role would come several years later. Like Bond, there are lots of hired killers, a murder plot involving a head of state as well as lots of adventure and a sexy woman. But unlike Bond, this character played by Moore is NOT so perfect. He often gets the snot beaten out of him, gets framed for evil stuff he never did and bumbles his way into all this! The results are fair--worth watching but a trifle too long.

When the film begins, like Bond you see Gary (Moore) in the arms of a sexy woman. Unlike Bond, however, he has a day job and soon realizes he must leave for work...leaving a very frustrated woman behind! You then learn that Gary is a playboy who works for an advertising firm. He's late for a big meeting and doesn't take time to go through his materials. And so, when he presents a big advertising campaign to the bosses, he suddenly discovers someone has substituted a woman for the model he had in mind. But the big boss (Bernard Lee of all people) is thrilled when he sees a picture of this mystery woman and insists they sing her asap. The problem is no one seems to know WHO she is! So, like a private eye, Gary goes in search of her--which is exactly what some unknown people want. They want him to do all the work and find her for them. Because she apparently knows something that could get her killed...or at least they think she knows something and they are more than willing to silence her for good.

In addition to going on just a bit too long, my biggest complaint was the extensive use of cheap and unnecessary rear projected scenes. For example, instead of going to a horse race, this is projected behind Moore and he acts in front of this screen. This is sloppy and it clearly looks as if he's acting in front of a screen...which is weird, as they later DID do a horse racing scene on site! Regardless, several times they employed this...and each time it was sloppy. There also is a VERY sloppy helicopter stunt that just looks bad. Overall, the film is worth seeing...but not nearly as good as a Bond flick.

It was great to see Roger Moore in his post-Simon Templar pre-Bond role. He wasn't fighting off the guys in his usual spy-guy image. It was rather refreshing also to see him get into situations like this. Plus, the charm and beauty of Martha Hyer was always a pleasure to watch. There is a scene where he falls in the water trying to save her. Simon Templar would not put himself in such a way like that. Also when he fights off the bad guys you'll notice the sequences seem not so much as a spy-guy karate-chop image but he still ends up being the hero. There was a vulnerable side of him I enjoyed. I would also like to see this movie on video. It was on cable a couple of days ago.

Following his turn as the infamous Simon Templar but before the likes of Lord Brett Sinclair and 007, Roger Moore starred in the little-known Crossplot. A hugely entertaining late 60s Bond-esque clone that plays like a feature-length ITC drama crossed with a Hitchcockian thriller even if the writing is nothing special and often exceptionally convoluted. Still, the film has an undeniable charm to its antics, largely thanks to Moore's natural panache and delightful cast; on a personal note seeing Francis Matthews in anything delights me greatly. Ripping along at a breakneck pace, Crossplot is certainly a product of its time but with noble ambitions by director Alvin Rakoff, an upbeat Barry-esque score by Stanley Black and hilarious moments of havoc, the film is a mild-mannered mini triumph from Moore's then ongoing bid to play 007.

Gary Fenn (Roger Moore) is a talented advertising executive who finds the perfect target and calculates the events which mean that only one girl will be good enough for his bosses. Things go wrong, when Gary meets a Hungarian refugee, Marla Kugash (Claudie Lange), and he is innocently entangled in an assassination attempt. Gary meets her among the anti-war movement in the bohemian depths of swinging London. She is in the company of a young man, Tarquin (Alexis Kanner), who is extremely protective of her and overtly aggressive to Fenn. Marla accompanies Fenn to a photo-shoot; however, she admits she is in fear of her life, and seems unsettled by the presence of her aunt Jo Grinling (Martha Hyer). When the mysterious Hungarian model begins to work for Gary's modeling agency, and he becomes romantically involved with her, the most disastrous events precipitate. This playboy has killer instincts !. He had to stop a murder - and someone had to stop him!

British thriller full of political intrigue, blackmail, murder, action-packed, chases and professionally directed by Alvin Rakoff, a specialist in productions for the small screen. This film with a modest budget is part of the fashion of films inaugurated by Sean Connery's James Bond in the early 60s. That's why 'Crossplot' falls into the 'Euro-Spy' genre that was very common in that decade and early seventies. Roger Moore and Bernard Lee are ironically cast as an advert exec and his client in this comedy thriller, four years before they meet again as Bond and his boss. They starred together: Live and Let Die (1973), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and Moonraker (1979); this Crossplot (1969) is the only theatrical movie, outside of the Bond movies, that the two acted in together. Starring Roger Moore gives a likeable acting as a London modeling agency executive who involuntarily becomes an instrument of a terrorist organization that intends a political assassination. This film was the first top-billed lead starring role in an English language production for Sir Roger Moore. While the beautiful Belgian Claude Lange -who worked a lot in the Italian cinema- plays a young Hungarian, an illegal refugee who becomes involved with Moore and eventually falls in love for him. There's also various familiar faces from British cinema, among which the following are worth highlighting: Francis Matthews, Dudley Sutton, Ursula Howells, Michael Culver, Gabrielle Drake, Bernard Lee and the Hammer queen Veronica Carlson. Apart from its tense finale and some action set pieces as the helicopter relentlessly chasing the protagonists, the script is commonplace. There's some nice Eastmancolor cinematography by cameraman Brendan J Stafford a veteran -and one time director- of movies whose career went back to the earliest days of British soound cinema.

The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Alvin Rakoff and nothing special. Alvin directed episode of The Saint, titled: ¨The Ex-King of Diamonds¨ (1969), that's why he was hired by the producers, as well as several production personnel who had worked on Sir Roger Moore's television series. Alvin is a craftsman filmmaker, he's Canadian director both cinema and television. He directed more than 100 television, film and stage productions. As well as a producer of much of his screen and stage work, Alvin is also a prolific writer of original screenplays, adaptations, theatre musicals, plays, and three novels. He made all kinds of genres in films as: ¨Dirty Tricks¨ , ¨Death Ship¨, ¨Hoffman¨, ¨The Comedy Man¨,¨ The anniversary¨, ¨Long Distance¨, ¨Room 43¨, ¨Crossplot¨, and several others. ¨Crossplot¨ (1969) rating: 4.5/10. An average film, only for the very fans of Roger Moore and Euro-spy genre.

Crossplot rattles along at a breakneck pace and is a smart, ingenious and enormously entertaining adventure film. Roger Moore is great in a pre-Bond role as an advertising executive who hires a beautiful Hungarian girl to pose for some modelling shots. What he doesn't realise is that she has eavesdropped on an assassination plot and is the target of some killers.

The film reminds me a lot of a John Buchan novel, brought up to date in the swinging sixties. Moore runs from the villains and takes every conceivable route to escape their grasp, fleeing in a classic car, deliberately causing havoc at a wedding, and finally tracking his prey to the scene of their planned atrocity. It's a fast-moving ride!

The film has never been available on video in the UK, and I'm pretty sure that it's never been released in the States. Come on guys, what are you waiting for? Get this movie released! It's a corker!