What a waste of my time!!!

The greatest movie ever made..!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Entertaining spy send-up. Franciosa virtually carries the film single-handed with a forceful and ingratiating performance. Miss Welch tries to do a little more than look decorative but fails dismally. (I don't think anyone will mind). Mr. Revill is disappointingly clumsy. The action sequences are good, but tend to run on too long, however director Martinson does a much better job here than on "Batman". Of course the script is better too, and there is some fine 2nd unit direction and photography.When I saw this film in 1967 I was but a callow youth and I must admit I quite enjoyed it. Fifteen years later, it isn't nearly so entertaining. The story is so absurdly ridiculous it would strain the credulity of a new-born gnat and the characters are so forced to dance to the plot that they have more shadow than substance — with the exception of Clive Revill who comes on so over=strong as a figure-of-fun Russian as to provoke nausea rather than amusement.At least Tony Franciosa turns on the charm come what may, whether he is telling a background story that is intentionally full of holes or whether he is giving Fathom the true version (which is unintentionally full of holes). As for wide-eyed Fathom, when she is not yielding place to her stunt double on the sky-diving plane or in a speeding car or whatever, she is prancing around showing off a bit of well-turned skin here and there, trying vainly to act and displaying about as much personality as a well-rounded goldfish.Director Martinson is no help — pedestrian, heavy-handed with overuse of close-ups and about as much sense of pace and style as my Aunt Minnie. The action sequences are a slight improvement but remember these are the work of Peter Medak (2nd unit) and Kenneth Vos (sky-diving). Photographed in Spain but none too colorfully, not that much use is made of the scenery. Credits are merely passable (the film editing in particular displays little skill and the art director has little imagination) and production values moderate.

In 1965 a then little-known young actress named Raquel Welch auditioned for the part in "Thunderball" that eventually went to Claudine Auger. Raquel never achieved her ambition to become a Bond Girl, but two years later, and by then a rising starlet, she went one better. She became a female Bond."Fathom" is a typical example of the sort of spy comedy-thrillers that were popular in the sixties. It shares its continental European setting with the likes of "The Prize" and "Charade". Raquel plays Fathom Harvill, a member of the American national sky-diving team, who finds herself at the centre of an espionage drama while on a visit to Spain. (We are offered a number of contradictory, and increasingly surreal, explanations for the heroine's unusual Christian name, without it ever being established which one is correct).The plot is a complex and confusing one; even Raquel's co-star Richard Briers punned that he could not fathom it. At the centre of the action is a mysterious object named the "Fire Dragon", which may be either a triggering device for atomic bombs or a stolen artwork. In search of the Fire Dragon are Colonel Campbell and his sidekick Timothy Webb who may be either members of the British secret services or international art thieves and Peter Merriwether and his attractive female assistant Jo-May, who may be either private detectives or agents for Red China. (Ignore the cast list which names Jo-May as a Major in the KGB, which was of course a Russian agency rather than a Chinese one). Somewhere in the middle is Sergei Serapkin, a villainous Russian tycoon who has designs both on the Fire Dragon and on the lovely Fathom.Even though a few people end up dead, the mood is light-hearted, and even one of the corpses manages to rise, Lazarus-like, from the dead. The film's main asset is the presence of Raquel Welch herself, the most beautiful Hollywood sex symbol of the late sixties and seventies. (As most of her early films, she spends much of the time in a bikini). I cannot, however, agree with the reviewer who said that she was at the peak of her sexiness- Raquel's sexiness took the form of a plateau rather than a peak, as she remained as attractive throughout her thirties and forties as she was in her twenties. Her acting skills are never seriously tested, but she succeeds in making Fathom a likable heroine as well as a sexy one. The film does not make a great deal of sense, but then it was never intended to. It succeeds in being what it was intended to be- slick, glossy, glamorous and entertaining nonsense. 6/10

MASTER PLAN: get the Fire Dragon. The spy / secret agent craze was in full swing by this time, with several James Bond movies already dominating the decade and a few imitators (Flint; Matt Helm) getting started. They also put out a "Modesty Blaise" film the year before this. So, why not place the newest sex symbol / bombshell into a similar vehicle? Why not? The main difference with this plot is that the title character is not really a secret agent; she works in a dentist's office and her key skill is being an able parachutist, an activity she partakes in while on vacation in Spain. She's also...Raquel Welch, the poster child for feminine perfection since her role in "One Million Years B.C." the year before. Frankly, I was surprised when I found out she wasn't really a spy or secret agent - she seems such a natural for that adventurous occupation on film - she's recruited or drafted by a couple of supposed government agents for a mission. The mission involves acquiring a mysterious Chinese object known as the Fire Dragon; or, it's the 'MacGuffin,' the term Hitchcock used to describe the object that drives the plot in a story. Welch is presented as the ideal female - not silly & stupid as we might expect, since she does regard her supposed allies with suspicion (though, the reveal that they represent an organization called HADES, another word for Hell, might have clued her in somewhat... but, oh well, she's pretty athletic to complement her 'easy on the eye' great figure). This doesn't have as much of a campy tone as many other spy movies of the sixties, so you're not sure how seriously you should take it in some scenes.The story does keep you guessing as it moves along at a fairly good pace, or tries to. Poor Fathom (Welch) doesn't know who to trust, her recruiters or their enemy, an adventurer (Franciosa) who lives in a villa with some other compatriots - this is Fathom's initial destination as a secret agent, where she quickly finds a dead body. Her new acquaintance, Merriwether, claims to be a detective, but he could be a master criminal (he also refers to her as 'Poppet' in every other sentence, which drove me nuts after the first hour). Then there's Serapkin (Revill, hamming it up, as usual), some kind of Russian oddball villain and probable master criminal on a yacht whom Fathom is placed in the position of seducing. On top of that, there's a local café proprietor (Tom Adams, formerly "The 2nd Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World") who is not all he seems to be. Most of the story thrust has Fathom starting to trust a couple of these characters at some point and then getting a rude reality check. She escapes becoming a dead body herself once or twice only by luck; that, or her stunning good looks prevent the villains from taking that final step. The most memorable scene, and the one which stuck with me when I saw this as a kid and didn't understand what else was going on, is Fathom being chased by a bull. It's emblematic of the strenuous action she is put through during most of the movie. Most of it is fairly trivial and forgettable, and Welch could not win any acting awards, but yet, it's kind of entertaining, if just a bit on the dull side due to mostly bland characterizations. Heroine:6 Villains:6 Male Fatales:7 Henchmen:6 Fights:5 Stunts/Chases:6 Gadgets:4 Auto:5 Locations:7 Pace:7 overall:6

Fathom was released in 1967 during a period when the James Bond films spawned a slew of ripoffs and spoofs. Some, like James Coburn's Derek Flint series, managed to gain some success while being entertaining. Many, like the very poor Modesty Blaise and even worse Casino Royale, bombed and rightfully so.Somewhere in the middle is Fathom, a lightweight caper comedy starring Raquel Welch that, for some reason, has remained undeservedly obscure for more than 30 years. Welch, who sadly never got a chance to be a true Bond girl (she lost out on the chance to co-star in Thunderball), demonstrates that 007 clearly got the worse end of the deal by letting her go. This could be the sexiest of her 1960s-era films and her performance, while hardly Oscar-worthy, is very appealing. More the pity that she wasn't cast as Modesty Blaise -- she might have made that other spoof worthwhile.I won't try to detail the plot. It's impossible to do so without spoilers and there are so many twists and turns that you won't know who is doing what to whom until literally the last 5 minutes. The plot is perhaps a little TOO complex, and indeed there are a number of characters who are lost in the shuffle. But everyone - including, most importantly, Welch - seems to be having a good time, and there is a refreshing minimum of violence which is somewhat rare for the time.Compared to the other muddled spoofs of the era, Fathom isn't that overly hard to ... fathom. If you get confused, just give your brain a rest and stare at Welch for a few minutes that you'll be right as rain in no time!