TOM DOLLAR (1967). Director Marcello Ciorciolini, Cast: Maurice Poli Georgia Moll , Erika Blanc, Franco Ressel and in his one and only film appearance Sojiro Kikukawa! Tom Dollar works for the CIA and is called into service to protect the daughter of a recently assassinated Prince (the assassination is filmed just like the Kennedy assassination, complete with a woman dressed like a Jackie O clone). The daughter inherits the responsibility of signing over the rights of a uranium supply to the US. A local fanatical sect, the Sihgs, don;'t want that to happen and so plan on kidnapping the Princess, thus causing the deal to fall through. The CIA enlists the help of a scientist to create a perfect double for the Princess so she can be the one in danger instead. That way, if she gets killed, the Princess can still sign the treaty. Lots of twists and turns follow, plenty of action sequences (Sojiro is an expert at kung fu fighting as is Poli, who does all his own stunts here). It all works out in the end as the US gets the deal done, the Princess who falls in love with Dollar realizes it will never work, and Dollar gets to slap his girlfriend around at the finale in the best Italian Eurospy macho tradition.
Ciorciolini also directed THE BLACK BOX AFFAIR a year later with Craig Hill. Somewhere down the road he must have pissed somebody off because he ended up directing Franco and Ciccio films. Maurice Poli actually played the character Tom Dollar two years before in a picture book fotoromanzo. The assistant director was Giuliano Carnimeo who went on to direct a lot of good Sartana westerns and also a Fenech/Hilton Giallo. Jacques Herlin plays his usual nutty type as the scientist who creates the Princess' double. He is pissed at Dollar for never recognizing his genius (his dream is to give President Lyndon Johnson the face of Mao Tse-tung! ). Erika Blanc plays Dollar's girlfriend (in a role that has more meat on the bone than usual for this type of character). Whenever you see the character actor Franco Ressel in a part, do yourself a favor, realize he is going to be the bad guy behind the scenes pulling all the strings. Like George Hilton turning out to be the bad guy in a Giallo, you can't go wrong suspecting Ressel. Georgia Moll (that's the way it's spelled in the credits) actually has the thankless role here as the Princess and her double. She has the charisma of a wax figure, showing little emotion other than fright or indifference to those around her.The score by Giosafa and Mario Capuano (2 FACES OF THE DOLLAR and CARCRASH) is full of blaring brass and wah wah guitar solos, just what I want! Too bad a rare 45 is the only soundtrack release available and good luck finding that piece of vinyl. There are a lot of extended chase scenes where Capuano can really strut his stuff. All in all, while it's not gadget laden like most other Eurospy films of the time, Poli is quite convincing in the lead, a world of difference from all those crappy parts he played in 80s horror films.
