This is How Movies Should Be Made

recommended

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I love crazy 6o's films and I adore Monica Vitti so this film has had a special place in my heart over the years. I've only seen it a handful of times and now when i got the DVD I understand why... It has Vitti, it has Stamp, it has Losey and Bogard and bright colours and op-art sets, sunshine, songs, fab clothes, yet it does go on for a while... With no understandable plot it all turns out to be rather...pointless. The film is so busy being charming! I think it's sad that it wasn't better for Monica's sake. This was her break-out film into English language cinema and it wasn't very good as a spy/Bond film because it's not an adult movie!I now understand why it was not a hit when it was released. Losey didn't take Modesty Blaise seriously enough.There was even too many wigs and clothes changes even for me. Yet I still love the film and la Monica!!!!!Tina Marquand is in it and she's good even if her part is small.

Surprisingly light work coming from a director like Joseph Losey. I guess he just wanted to make fun of the numerous agent movies of the sixties and maybe insert a little comment on the values of storytelling in them. If he does, he luckily makes it in a most entertaining way and with technical ability, that certain slackening is easy to forget. Everything is made up into ultra-light eye candy and silly fun to be enjoyed in the right frame of mind. There is not even much of a plot to be mentioned about. Stolen diamonds, secret agents, dangerous missions and nice locations all in a fine mess, like the films this kind usually have. For fans of the original Modesty Blaise comic strip this naturally is a pity, because almost nothing of its real characteristics appear here. The characters are drawn very far from how they appear as originals and everything else is just about all changed too. The Modesty Blaise most of us readers know would deserve a more appropriate movie treatment. And I'm still waiting for it.So, to enjoy this version more one should maybe forget the original Modesty Blaise completely. This is a child's play, a very cruel child's, and a play for adult children. A movie like a box of crayons, really. Scenes seem to change for the sake of sets, clothes and props. And for hair color, as it is with Modesty and Willie Garvin, his male sidekick. Monika Vitti and Terence Stamp look right for their roles, but doesn't seem to have much to act and both handle the job perfectly. Dirk Bogarde, familiar from a few other Losey's films a bit deeper than this, almost steals the show as Gabriel, the bored, neurotic, gay arch criminal. A movie best recommended for a rainless brainless day.

I have been a fan of the Modesty Blaise comic for as long as I can remember, so when I stumbled across this movie adaptation a few years back, I just had to see it. I did, and I liked it a lot. Not as an adaptation, because it's nothing as it's comic and novel counterparts, but as an hilarious spoof of the whole sixties spy movie phenomena.Terrence Stamp as Willie Garvin is funny and cute, but he wouldn't stand a chance against the original. The same goes for Monica Vitti's Modesty who lacks the strenght of the real Modesty, but makes up for it in quirkiness.This movie is perfect for everyone who like the concept of a Bond-parody, but was disappointed with the crudeness of Austin Powers. It will also appeal to Modesty Blaise fans with a sense of humor, and of course to lovers of pop art.

This movie seems to be made with the sole purpose of hurting Peter O'Donnel and insulting his fans. The entire Modesty Blaise concept is completely ignored. O'Donnel is said to have cried when he saw it, and I can believe that.The choice of Monica Vitti as the heroine is disaster #1. The long, dark, strong and mysterious Modesty is played by an average blonde bimbo. It is as if Rick Moranis had been chosen to play James Bond in the very first Bond movie. It may have been somewhat amusing but no "Bond fever" would have resulted. Modesty Blaise is the perfect character for a female Bond. This movie wasted a golden opportunity.The next shock comes when we see the actors chosen as Gabriel and Garvin. The evil, short, slimy scumbag Gabriel is played by a long and handsome man, who could have done a decent Garvin. Garvin is played by someone who could have made a decent Gabriel. Was anyone thinking when doing the movie or were they simply busy wasting O'Donnel's concept?And the coffin is put firmly into the ground by the ending, where the script writer show that they understood so little of the relationship between the heroes that they had to point it out.The plot otherwise follows the book fairly well, but without the essential magic of the heroes, it is just another B-movie. To those who don't know Modesty, it may be somewhat charming due to its age. For us who do, it is painful to watch, knowing that it is the movie that blew all chances for a series of great Modesty movies.PS: Modesty Blaise fans should watch the new movie, from 2003. That's something entirely different.