A 077 défie les tueurs

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.

A copy of the James Bond movies, many scenes are "borrowed" from the first movies of the '60s. Not bad, but not great, not having a solid conflict. I was very sad when the character played by the Chinese Mitsouko died, she was so sweet and sexy. Actress Mitsouko also appeared in "Thunderball", alongside Sean Connery, and in several other eurospy. Wandisa Guida is also a sexy blonde, here as a villain. Susy Andersen is also beautiful and sexy, here in the role of a Soviet spy, Velka, who protects agent Fleming 077, played by Richard Harrison. Richard Harrison has also appeared in other Eurospy plus many adventure movies with gladiators in ancient Rome. Before the end, we have a general "movie-like" fight, more comic than real. Riccardo Pallottini, the cinematographer, proves a lot of skill, and Carlo Savina's music is not bad. Antonio Margheriti, the director, was a very prolific maker of various action films.

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".

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.