Le spie vengono dal semifreddo

My wife will be happy to tell you that I watch a lot of bad movies, but usually in the genre of "so bad that they're good." The first movie in this series fell into that category, but this sequel moved the "bad" needle way past the "camp" point to the point of no return.

The plot is paper-thin, the dubbing is awful, the sets, rear projections, models, and special effects are grade-school level, and most of the actors are unbearable. The "funny" Italian duo (who I guess were big Italian stars...the short one reminds me vaguely of Larry Storch) never even APPROACH funny, especially with their dubbed voices. (Why do bad movies like this always use voice actors who use cartoon voices rather than normal speech?) You know the movie is in trouble when the director calls for sped-up action (a la Benny Hill).

Vincent Price, who would do anything for money, floats above the cesspool to some degree, especially when he's hamming it up straight to the camera. The other saving feature is Les Baxter's generic 60s score, with whiffs of the Tijuana Brass. If you survive to the end, you'll hear one of the worst closing themes since "The Green Slime."

This is the second Dr. Goldfoot movie. What can I say about this film? It is a second rate sequel. Instead of Frankie Avalon, they got Fabian. The film was shot in Italy with a couple of goofy Italian comics. This one was played more for laughs. (Not that they got them.) Vincent Price is the ONLY reason to see this film. He has alot of gleeful fun as the evil doctor.

The final chase scene takes place in an Italian amusement park and is reminicent of an H.R. Puffinstuff episode. Lots of running around and unneccesary amusement park rides.

Fans of Austin Powers and/or Vincent Price will want to see this. Everyone else might be warned to see better films.

The first Dr. Goldfoot movie seemed like a lot of fun in theory - a campy, spy spoof starring horror legend Vincent Price as a mad scientist with an army of beautiful female robots. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to expectations. It's pretty awful, and REALLY unfunny. This sequel, believe it or not, is even worse. To add insult to injury it was directed by the (usually) brilliant Mario Bava, and released in the same year as his classic shocker 'Kill, Baby...Kill!' What went wrong exactly is hard to say but EVERYTHING about this movie stinks. Price really plays it for laughs but the script is rotten. Instead of Frankie Avalon, this time around it's Fabian. And most of the "comedy" is supplied by a couple of atrocious Italian comedians called Franco and Ciccio. Man, they are just SO bad, you won't believe it! The only thing that stopped me from switching this garbage off was perving at the gorgeous Laura Antonelli, who I had previously seen in Massimo Dallamano's 'Venus In Furs', which I highly recommend. 'Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs' is an all time low for Mario Bava, and the worst movie I've ever seen Vincent Price appear in. It's an awful sequel to an awful movie, and my advice is AVOID.

MASTER PLAN: blow up key U.S. generals with booby-trapped girl robots. The diabolical Dr. Goldfoot is back, in this sequel to "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine"(65). No lie! How they talked Vincent Price into this, I'm not sure, though he was already hamming it up in the previous movie. Here he's joined by a couple of comics who were Italy's answer to Abbott & Costello. Teen heartthrob Fabian replaces teen heartthrob Frankie Avalon as an agent of S.I.C., oh, yes! Rather than simple theft, which he indulged in previously, here Goldfoot teams with the Chinese for probable world domination (those dastardly Chinese - see also "Battle Beneath the Earth" which came out around the same time). Goldfoot explains all this by speaking directly to the audience, breaking that 4th wall. He still uses a machine which manufactures female robots, all dressed in golden bathing suits and boots, which he sends to kiss various generals; an intense enough smooch sets off an explosion. The only general left standing is Goldfoot's double. All this is kind of incidental; the main plot has the two main leads/buffoons improbably/accidentally join up with S.I.C. as agents.

Goldfoot, of course, is a broad parody of the outrageous villains from the James Bond films. He has a swimming pool of killer fish, probably something like piranha, so, every now and then, a skeleton turns up, freshly cleaned. This also copies "Our Man Flint" a bit, with the latest IBM computer (Rita) sabotaged by Goldfoot when it selects the best agents for the job. The two comedians are not very subtle, with over-the-top mugging, and a lot of the action is sped up (undercranked) to give it that slapstick silent comedy feeling. Otherwise, much of the humor falls flat, though it does pick up near the end. I've written that the previous Goldfoot movie was the most ridiculous parody of the Bond craze, but this Italian take on the whole thing takes it to yet another level. The final half-hour gives a new meaning to the term 'absurdity,' involving a balloon trip by the heroes which touches off of heaven at one point and then chases down a supersonic jet plane! Laura Antonelli figures prominently in these last few scenes; she became a somewhat famous sex symbol in Italian sex farces in the seventies. My DVD version was in Italian, with optional English subtitles. Heroes:3 Villain:4 Femme Fatales:5 Henchmen:2 Fights:2 Stunts/Chases:3 Gadgets:3 Auto:2 Locations:3 Pace:3 overall:3

Although his car plunges over a cliff at the end of the previous movie, "Dr. Goldfoot" (Vincent Price) does not die. Instead he reappears in this sequel and begins using female robots with bombs attached to them to blow up NATO generals all over the world. His goal is to start a war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact so that he and his Chinese partners can take over the world. Fortunately, a disgraced agent for S.I.C. (Security Intelligence Command) by the name of "Bill Dexter" (Fabian) recognizes something sinister is afoot and with the help of a young woman named "Rosanna" (Laura Antonelli) sets out to investigate the matter. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I didn't particularly care for this movie for a number of reasons. First of all, for a comedy it just wasn't that funny with the two bumbling Italian agents "Franco" (Franco Franchi) and "Ciccio" (Ciccio Ingrassia) being especially annoying. Likewise, the script was equally horrid as well. To make matters even worse, although this movie proudly boasted of having a number of sexy, young ladies in skimpy bikinis, only Moa Tahi (as "Hardjob") and the aforementioned Laura Antonelli were even remotely attractive. In short, this movie turned out to be a very poor sequel and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.