Very well executed

It is a performances centric movie

Good start, but then it gets ruined

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Sergio Grieco's 'Mission Bloody Mary' was the first of three Eurospy pictures to star the late Ken Clark ( no, not that Ken Clark! ) as C.I.A. agent 'Dick Molloy' a.k.a. agent 077. His first assignment is a carbon-copy of 'Thunderball' - a new type of atomic bomb ( codenamed 'The Bloody Mary' ) which can fit into a briefcase has been stolen, and Dick must recover it before it winds up in China. The Russians want it too, along with a criminal mastermind known only as 'Black Lily' ( I kid you not! ). Much running, fighting, shooting, and fornicating ensues. The chase takes Dick from Paris to Barcelona and then to Greece.Nice location filming and some of the action scenes - particularly a rooftop chase and a fight in a train clearly inspired by the one in 'From Russia With Love' - are well executed, but overall I found this a disappointment. Clark has all the charm of a battered and bruised nightclub bouncer. Worse, the script does not give him any good lines. Another reviewer wonders if he might have inspired the Leslie Nielsen character in 'Spy Hard'. I'm wondering whether or not Arthur Mullard based his performance as 'Wally Briggs' in 'Romany Jones' on him. Not much gadgetry either. Dick has a knife in his watch to help him cut through his bonds, and a device for reconstructing paper from ashes but that's about it. It never moves into first gear, playing on one level throughout. There is not even a decent villain - the 'Black Lily' turns out to be as menacing as 'Matthew Lilley' of 'Get Some In!'. As 'Dr.Elsa Freeman', Helga Line is smoking hot. The beautiful Mitsouko was seen in the opening moments of 'Thunderball' as 'Madame LaPorte'.The theme song was by Ennio Morricone, a busy chap in those days.Hard to believe but Dick returned in 'From The Orient With Fury' ( 1966 ) and 'Special Mission Lady Chaplin' ( 1967 ).

Perhaps due to being more easily available on DVD than many other Eurospy movies, "Mission Bloody Mary" has a reputation of being one of the best entries in this vastly prolific genre. For the first hour or so you may find yourself wondering if that reputation is fully deserved, as it seems to be a competent but routine outing; however in the last half hour there are several clever plot twists that ultimately do make "Mission Bloody Mary" an above-average entry in the genre. There are the usual glamorous locations, including Paris, Barcelona and Athens, and some nifty gadgets, including a blade hidden inside a torchlight, and a liquid that enables our hero to reconstruct and read a message written on a piece of paper which had been burned to ashes! There is also a train fight that's very reminiscent of the Bond-Red Grant fight in "From Russia With Love". But one sequence that you will NOT find in a Bond film is agent 077's female contact baring her breasts (we don't see them) to show him her "distinguishing features"!. **1/2 out of 4.

It's Bond, and its active impact. This movie traces back the formula of the super spy who, at the moment, used to deliver one movie per year since the first explosion in (Dr. No - 1962).Actually, 1965 witnessed a blowup of many many Bonds : The American Bond (Our Man Flint), the Italian one (Berlino - Appuntamento per le spieanother) who was propagandized as (Better than Bond!), the old French one (Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117), an European one "Agent 077" with 2 movies already (Agente 077 missione Bloody Mary), (Agente 077 dall'oriente con furore), a Japanese one (Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi) which Woody Allen spoofed one year later through (What's Up, Tiger Lily?), another British one (The Liquidator), even an Egyptian one (Jassus, El). Not to mention the cinematic spoof (Two Mafiosi Against Goldfinger), the TV spoof (Get Smart), and TV shows with clear affection (I Spy), (The Wild Wild West). And I almost forgot The original Bond himself in (Thunderball)! WAW, remember ALL OF THAT was in 1965 alone !Some years huh ?! Who can hate some of action, international tours, Jazz music, spying gadgets, and – most of all – sexy chicks ?! And when it comes to the 1960s; they were The chicks! Ken Clark is great as a walking wall (who can smile occasionally!). He plays (Dick Malloy). (Leslie Nielsen) will make a Bond spoof 30 years later in (Spy Hard) under the name of (Dick) also. It makes you asking; maybe Agent 077 was a spoof itself ?!It's fluff. Nice for what it is. And despite all the fanatic lovers of James Bond's movies, I see that (Bloody Mary) isn't less good. Maybe not "as polished" but sure "as idiot" ! The problem with the clones is that they're always come secondly. And this movie is part poor and part traditional as well. However, I kind of enjoyed it. And maybe more than many of the original Bonds. But if you want to talk about the thing that I enjoyed more then let's talk about the one who played the immortal role of "a girl on the bed" (who I couldn't find her name anywhere!). This chick is marvelous. I'm definitely in love. She's the first thing comes to my mind whenever I remember such a movie, being its highest elements at all. She looks like Elke Sommer's twin. In fact the similarity is fabulous. Well, most of the 1960s' sexy bimbos were derived from (MM), or (BB), or both. This one being coquettish voluptuous with the short blond hair and the tipsy moves is no exception.Although her position in the scene seems similar to Sylvia Trench's attitude with Bond in (Dr. No) and the bed dalliance of Jill Masterson in (Goldfinger), but sorry.. this beauty wins. Frankly, the real similarity that must be found is the similarity between The sexy and The sixties ?!The second thing I loved is the title song. (Bloody Mary), written by Ennio Morricone and Maurizio Graf, is one of the best songs of Bond-era. Its music is really sticky yet in a good way. Believe it or not it still echoes in my mind after 12 years of the only watching, exactly like (Maurizio Graf)'s so serious voice and theatrical pronouncing while performing it. Sometimes I cool down myself with it, hence you can say that it's one of my happy songs. Na.. Naa..Naaaa. Na.. Naa..Naaaa.. Bloody MaRRRRYYYYYY. Sorry, but the tune is just haunting !With the light plot it's diverting. I got a place for it in my heart since it was the second movie I rented in my life (the first one was Hot Shots). FYI, I rented it before the whole collection of Mr. Bond. Ahh, the 1960s… Where I can find you again ?! Except on the video stores' shelves, the internet, and the TV. The real sad matter is : where to find the 1960s's chicks else these sources ?!!!!

I saw this film as an 11 year old as a 10:30am morning show at the local cinema in Bangalore, India. At the time, there were a lot of Italian spy movies about with Ken Clark or Kerwin Matthews and to us under-age kids these 'Adults only' type films were enjoyable forbidden fruit! Of course, it was the post-McCarthy era with the ethos still firmly on the "Red under the bed" attitude and most of us thought the spies were heroes. Among our group, having seen "Bloody Mary" was the 'in' thing and just about everybody was 'in'.