Coplan FX-18 casse tout

Coplan,was along OSS 117 (who was on the screens again this decade in the spoofs featuring Jean Dujardin) ,one of two main French answers to the much more lucrative OO7.This one looks like,in its last part , a poor man's "you only live twice" -although this Bond episode had yet to be made in 1965).

Riccardo Freda's Coplans (there are two of them,the second being "Coplan Ouvre Le Feu A Mexico" ) are somewhat superior to the lousy "Coplan Agent Secret " (1964) by Maurice Cloche .Freda had a sense of mystery which shows in the scene in the Egyptian museum .But this is a cock and bull story .

A sinister-looking person (he is not even a Japanese !) wants to avenge Hiroshima by triggering a third world war ,so that Asia will rule the whole Earth after the USA and the USSR have destroyed each other with atomic bombs .Very original indeed.

Gil Delamare was the greatest French stuntman ever ;he stood for lots of actors in very famous movies: "L'Homme De Rio" "La Grande Vadrouille" "Fanfan La Tulipe" "the longest day" and many more .In "Coplan FX 18 Casse Tout" he is an actor ;he plays the part of a Jewish secret agent who helps Coplan fight the villains . Delamare was so popular he even became a comic strip character in motor race driver Michel Vaillant ("Les Casse-Cou" 1962)saga.Sadly he was to die four years later ,as he stood in for Jean Marais in " Le Saint Prend L'Affût" .The rest of the cast is not worth mentioning.

If you like fights with jazz music in the background, this is the film for you! Coplan is the French equivalent of Bond, James Bond. He doesn't drink Vodka Martini, he prefers Whiskey. You'll see a spectacular pursuit, Coplan on a motorcycle with the front wheel having a broken tire, shot with a machine gun by a hot brunette from a red sports car. The last half hour is the most exciting, with action in a cave similar to one of the Bond originals. Although the actual action is slow and predictable, the scenery is impressive.

This film essentially begins in Paris with the discovery that two top European rocket scientists have gone missing with all of the available intelligence pointing to the Egyptians being behind it all. That said, the Israelis have sent several special agents to investigate with one particular man by the name of "Shaimoun" (Gil Delamare) leading them all. However, since the abductions have occurred in Paris the French insist on taking charge of this extremely sensitive case and for that reason they appoint "Agent 077 Francis Coplan" (Richard Wyler) to take charge. Naturally, the Israelis welcome any help the French government can provide and agree wholeheartedly. But what neither Shaimoun nor Coplan can imagine is just how sinister their opponents actually are and how many millions of lives will be lost if the two of them fail in their mission. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be a better Eurospy film than I initially expected. Granted it didn't quite have the same expensive budgets of any of the James Bond films made during this particular time but it still managed to pass the time fairly well and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.