A 077, sfida ai killers

This is one of only two spy flicks that prolific genre director Antonio Margheriti made in the sixties. His other one was Lightning Bolt made the same year and that one is easily is the lesser of the two. At least there are some actual locations used here and Richard Harrison is a more appealing leading man than Anthony Eisley.

Harrison plays Bob Fleming, an all-American CIA agent impersonating a scientist, who's developed a new form of energy that would make all other types of fuel obsolete. There's also a female agent who keeps saving Fleming's butt in this film. She's Velka, a Russian no less, played by Susy Anderson. It's kind of funny the way she keeps chasing after Fleming saving his life time after time and he's sort of oblivious to the whole thing. She's after the formula too but is a gracious loser in the end.

Killers has a good, fun score by Carlo Savina with lots of jazzy na-na-na's and in one scene after Fleming asks a cab driver to take him somewhere with local charm, the belly dancing sequence we see next suddenly turns into a go-go fest with lots of hip dancers! There's a few gadgets used in the film too, like a ring that detects poison and little transmitters about the size of a button.

The original title of the film points to this being a 077 adventure but there is no mention of this in the English-dubbed print (Killers Are Challenged). Here you have a middle-of-the-road espionage flick (written by Ernesto Gastaldi) with a few more ups than downs, just enough to keep things interesting.

Coleman, a top scientist, has developed a new form of energy that will effectively make oil useless. Fearing that his life may be in danger, Coleman goes in for plastic surgery to alter his appearance. The CIA sends in Agent Bob Fleming (Richard Harrison) to take the place of the now unrecognizable Coleman. The big stumbling block will be convincing Coleman's wife to go along with the plan. Posing as Coleman, Fleming's life is in constant peril. Fleming heads to Morocco to meet with the wife, but which side is she on and who can he trust?

Overall, The Killers Are Challenged (or Bob Fleming: Mission Casablanca) is a reasonably entertaining, but ultimately not great Eurospy. It's easily the weaker of the two films in which Harrison played Bob Fleming - the other being 1965's Secret Agent Fireball. This one does have a few things going for it. Harrison makes a solid lead. He's likable enough to create a character I actually cared about. The Killers Are Challenged is filled with a cast of gorgeous women - Susy Anderson, Wandisa Guida (also in Secret Agent Fireball), Janine Reynaud, and Mitsouko. All have terrific parts and most aren't forced to play the stereotypical Bond girl type role. In fact, it was a real treat to see a woman play the villain in one of these movies. The movie includes plenty of action. From fistfights to car chases, things don't stay still for very long. The movie moves at a fairly good pace which is always a positive with a spy film. Finally, I did enjoy certain elements of the plot. The idea of killing to ensure that oil remains king was a good one. There's really a lot here to enjoy.

On to the negatives, while there is a lot of action, sometimes it felt like people were running around needlessly just to pad out the film. The movie suffers from the lack of a big set-piece - not uncommon in these low budget Eurospy films. Also, the ending was a real letdown. The villain, whom Fleming has been chasing the whole movie, just sort of slowly runs off the road and into the water - roll credits. I really wanted something more. With all that being said, the worst part of The Killers Are Challenged has to be the big bar fight scene near the end of the film. It just didn't fit the tone of the rest of the movie. It didn't belong here. And talk about padding - that's exactly what it felt like.

In the end, The Killers Are Challenged is a harmless enough Eurospy. Not great, but now awful either. I was going to rate this a 5/10 until I remembered the really cool jazzy soundtrack. That's worth at least a point, right?

Fun film with a horrible script matched with pretty bad acting but good musical score and great on-location photography. There's not much of a story-line - the CIA(?) trying to save the last of three scientists that have developed an alternative fuel to oil from an oil baron. Lots of pretty women, well-choreographed fight scenes, steady well-paced action, and the 60s European flavor make this an okay viewing.

And those elements are: 1) The still-topical plot concerning the search for alternative sources of energy, and the lengths that people who base their wealth on oil production will go to in order to stop any developments that might gradually make it obsolete, 2) The vital roles given to the women - there is a female Russian agent working undercover, a couple of henchwomen, and even an ice-cold villainess who is given top status by the script. Apart from those aspects, "Killers Are Challenged" (the title of the English version) is a rather routine 60's spy flick. The best scene is probably a hotel room fight between the hero and a hired killer - it may remind you of the pre-credits fight in "Thunderball". The worst scene is a barroom brawl near the end, complete with a comic-relief midget, that goes on far too long and may remind you of the Bud Spencer / Terence Hill comedies. All in all, the film is watchable for fans of the genre. (**)

Richard Harrison, who looks like a blond Ben Afflek, plays a different Agent 077 to Ken Clark.

The villain's motivation is one which still has resonance today; - some scientists have developed an alternative energy source to fossil fuels and someone whose fortune depends on fossil fuels is determined to have them killed to stop them.

However the producers only seem to have half a script. The dialogue is bland and although Richard Harrison does his best to charm, he's not given much to work with. The action scenes range in quality from mediocre to disappointingly comedic.

One thing the film isn't short on is beautiful women, Susy Anderson, Wandisa Guida, Janine Reynaud and Mitsouko all bring something distinctive to the table and are there for more than just decoration. This is an unusual number of significant female characters for the 1960s; - there is one who appears to be bad but turns out to be good (sort of), one who appears to be good but turns out to be bad, one who starts out bad but has a change of heart, and one who is just bad.

The wheelchair bound main villain is quite memorable, reminiscent of Raymond Burr playing Ironside, only with the pallor of a corpse.

Thanks to Humphrey Bogart and co, Casablanca has a famous name, but although it's Morocco's largest city, it is also one of the blandest and not nearly as picturesque as Marrakesh, Tangier or Fez.

After all the usual following and chasing and getting knocked out and escaping, the Director finds himself short of a climax and decides to pad out the running time with 10 minutes of comedic bar room brawling apropos of nothing.

Richard participates enthusiastically in the slapstick fight between two groups of wharfies (half inexplicably smudged with grease or coal dust and the other half with flour), along with several sailors and a dwarf. Meanwhile the main villain leaves his wheel chair and drags himself slowly and painfully across the floor to the doorway for no good reason (he could wheeled his way over and taken his shot through the curtain of beads from his wheelchair just as easily, and far more quickly).10 minutes is a long time in a movie and the fight long out says it's welcome, while the change in tone is jarring and inappropriate.

Then the film gets back on track,, with the main female assassin, who escaped in the confusion of the brawl, heading off to Geneva, with Richard in hot pursuit. However the second finale is also a bit of an anti-climax, very downbeat, rather than providing an emotional payoff for the audience.

The epilogue is a satisfactory "The Spy Who Loved Me" scenario where Richard gets the last girl standing.

Overall, as Douglas Adams put it, "Mostly Harmless".