Le rayon infernal

MASTER PLAN: get the death ray plans from a kidnapped scientist. Yet another in a long line of European James Bond knock offs during the swinging sixties, this piqued my curiosity due to the casting of Gordon Scott as the super agent - meet Bart Fargo! I was mostly familiar with Scott for his Tarzan portrayals of several years earlier, some of which were quite good; of course, he is also well known for his roles in Italian musclemen epics, playing mythical heroes named Goliath or Maciste. So, he has no problem depicting the physical aspect of being a hero - you have no trouble believing he can beat up a couple of henchmen. In fact, most of the entertainment value here stems from a wry sensibility developing by the time Scott is thrashing his 4th or 5th thug (Fargo is the target of several killers during the movie). By that 4th time, Fargo is barely trying - he merely taps a door into the bad guy and then starts slapping him around like a wet noodle. I thought, this is what happens when Goliath puts on a suit and pretends to be a secret agent. This was one of Scott's last leading roles after a career of over a decade and it's actually a shame he didn't get to do more of these, improving on the formula.

The plot begins with the kidnapping of a scientist - much gunplay and cars moving in the night. Fargo isn't introduced until a good 20 minutes in, awoken from his beauty sleep by a couple of babes. He has the now-familiar repartee with this film's version of M and Ms. Moneypenny - it's blatantly derivative. The problem with Italian pics such as these (such as "OK Connery" aka "Operation Double 007") is the dubbing; the voice actors obfuscate the speech patterns and you're guessing what Scott's performance was really like. The spoken dialog itself is terribly crude: a woman is painting some self-portrait and Fargo climbs into her apartment thru the roof; 'What's the matter?' she says. 'Haven't you ever seen an artist's studio?' This passes for sophisticated spy seduction talk here. Later, Fargo interrogates one of his attackers. 'Awright, talk!' Fargo demands, pointing his silencer. 'If I tell ya, the boss'll have me killed,' the guy answers, 'please try to understand!' Then, Fargo pauses and growls 'Listen, you tell me or you're gonna be in REAL trouble.' What's Fargo's threat? Kill the guy even more? Finally, the FX - oh, oh. Fargo is forced off the road at one point in his red European sportscar, falling off a cliff into the sea; only, it's obviously a tiny model car falling into a pond. I laughed out loud yet, at the same time, admired the filmmakers' audacity. They're telling the audience, hey, this is what you get; you don't like it, sue us. Hero:5 Villains:3 Femme Fatales:3 Henchmen:3 Fights:4 Stunts/Chases:4 Gadgets:3 Auto:4 Locations:4 Pace:4 overall:4-

Alright, so "Death Ray" isn't 007, and what can be? The main point to be made here is that the movie is FUN. Good fun. So, low-budget effects, corny (but oddly infecting) tunes, beautiful European women, and a muscular star are not what this film is about. It's fun! Everyone seems to have a good time hamming it up. You can see it even through the dubbed voices. Yes, MST3K riffed the film, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Give me 10 more Bart Fargo movies! I'd rather that than another overwrought post Connery/Moore Bond wannabe!!

This spy shlocker isn't that bad. Sure, the acting isn't anything to brag about or the excitement (yawn!) of guys showcasing their butts climbing down ladders. Definitely Gordon Scott is for the ladies, but he actually does a decent job. Bart Fargo (Bart Fargo, Bart Fargo, Bart Fargo!!) has got to be the most hilarious spy name ever. How can you introduce yourself as "My name is Fargo...Bart Fargo." HA HA HA!!

There's also Abe Lincoln turned wrong, European guys, cool box switches, and the best special effects ever. I was fondly reminded of Matchbox and simulated naval tub warfare (Das Toy Boat) and it always gets me laughing (Special effects by Billy!). Plus, the best soundtrack ever with the "Bap-Bah-Dap-Bah-Dah-Dah" being grinded into your skull, but it's really fun to hum along with! A great tribute to Watermelon Man just adds to the kampy fun of it. Even the actors look like they know the movie wasn't that good, so there's ham a plenty to go around.

Plus, watch this MSTified and see Mike and the bots really bust their guts laughing. They really loved the helicopter scene too!

"The ocean is beautiful in this part of the tub."

This movie has a special place in my heart in that it was my VERY first MST3K episode. I've been a die-hard MSTIE ever since. "Death Ray's" just as much fun as "Double-O, Double-O 7" and "Diabolik."

Ahh yes, who could forget the breath taking submarine/helicopter scene and the "Ribbit!" guy!

Oh yes and "Bappa-da-da dada!"

It deals with a good mad scientist who invents a death-ray in the hope of advancing world peace . A spy-ring led by Carver (Alberto Dalbés) abducts the scientist, in the hope of forcing him into re-creating the weapon for their dastardly uses. Secret agent Bart Fargo (Gordon Scott) is called in to retrieve the death ray and of course, bang a couple of European babes (Delfi Mauro, Silvia Solar) , while confronting Carver's hoodlums (Nello Pazzafini as Ted Carter and Massimo Righi as Max Dean) . Secret Agent Bart Fargo chases the kidnappers of the inventor of a death ray. It's up to the risibly named "Bart Fargo" to save the world from the barely described evil spy organization.

Run-of-the-mill setup shows us the adventures of the secret agent Bart Fargo going after the megalomaniac nasty Carver. Typical plot about a kidnap in which some bad guys steal a highfalutin death ray and abduct the scientist who invented the damn thing. In the end, Bart has to infiltrate the villain's heavily armed villa and put a stop to his nefarious plans. Though Scott is suitably dashing, even he can't inject much interest into the ridiculous and rambling plot, which mostly consists of Fargo walking into various settings and pissing off locals so that he can beat them up and get info from them. This incidents are broken up with a few liaisons with beautiful women, Delfi Mauro, Silvia Solar , no better or worse than others appearing in the Euro-spy genre. However , the film is marred by lousy maquettes, featuring some of the worse miniature effects ever seen in the history of cinema. To call the boats, helicopters, and cars in this movie "miniature effects" is to give them too much credit , they are really , plain and simple toys. Even funnier is the fact that the wielders of the ray gun have this powerful instrument of death and all they do is melt a couple of doors with it.

In addition to a bouncy musical score by Gianni Ferrio , which seems to be one of the few merits everyone agrees upon . The highlight of the movie concludes with a duel between the hero's machine gun and the villain's big but unwieldly death-ray cannon . He only parts of Danger!! Death Ray that I found tolerable were the ones that later went on to influence other spy movies. The scene where Bart Fargo punches out a man in drag was clearly the inspiration for the identical scene in Austin Powers. Gordon Scott played the hunk spy Bart Fargo in his usual style . But he was a known Peplum actor , in fact in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules , Goliath ,Samson or here Aron for U. S. viewing . Gordon was an American bouncing who emigrated Europe where starred several Tarzan movies , subsequently was to Italy and created a true star-system based on pumped-up heroes. Gordon Scott and specially Steve Reeves paved the way for others actors to seek their fame and fortune in Italy playing stocky adventurers . Other stars by the time on this type of movies are Mark Forest, Gordon Mitchell, Dan Vadis, Brad Harris, Ken Wood ; furthermore 'Gordon Scott' who made more important competence to Steve Reeves . Nobody, nevertheless, topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity . Gordon Scott played other epic characters : ¨ , ¨Gladiator of Rome¨ , ¨Hero of Rome¨ , ¨Hercules and Princess of Troy¨ , ¨Conquest of Micene¨ , though also made some Spaghetti as ¨The tramplers¨ and ¨Buffalo Bill ¨, Spy-genre as ¨Secretissimo¨and ¨Death ray¨ and of course his famous Tarzan movies as ¨Tarzan's greatest adventure¨, ¨Tarzan's Fight for Life¨ , ¨Tarzan and the hunters¨ and ¨Tarzan and the trappers ¨ , among others .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Gianfranco Baldanello . He was assistant director and subsequently directed some films . Gianfranco made several Spaghettis , such as ¨Uccidete Johnny Ringo¨ , ¨This man cant die¨ , ¨Son of Zorro¨ , ¨The Cry of the Wolf¨, ¨Black Jack¨ and ¨Blood River¨ . And ¨30 Winchesters for El Diablo" - International title- or "Gold Train" rating : 4.30/10.