Wonderful Movie

one of my absolute favorites!

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Not as entertaining as the first in the series , but stiil amusing entry in Oss 117 series with John Gavin as absolute starring . While I didn't enjoy as much as the first in the series this Oss 117 installment results to be an acceptable film into the Eurospy subgenre , whose origin was the James Bond movies and especially : James Bond against Dr. No and From Russia with love by Terence Young . In this one, our starring is posing as a ruthless crook to penetrate into a terrorist organization led by a nasty boss , Curd Jurgens who played the main villiain in Guy Hamilton's The spy who loved me , and his cohorts , Doctor Saadi : Robert Hossein and a tall henchman : George Eastman . Along the way Gavin runs into a pack of baddies who intent on stopping him .Meanwhile , John Gavin falls for 3 beautiful damsels : The Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi , Rosalba Neri , and Margaret Lee .Typical Euro spy movie with ordinary ingredients : thrills , noisy action , fights, fantastic gadgets along with strange artifacts , simple helicopters and explosive women . It has some flaws and gaps , as it does tend to get a bit old , including repetitive nature of some fight scenes , but it has big fun , so it cares . John Gavin gives a passable acting as a brave secret agent who infiltrates an criminal organization that especializes in political assassinations by assuming the identity of one of its top killers . Gavin has an easy going air about him that makes him great to see . Gavin starred two classics for Douglas Sirk : Imitation to life and A time to love and a time to die . However , he followed to play secondary roles in Spartacus , Throughly Modern Millie and Pycho , TV series , until his death at 86 . He is well accompanied by a brilliant enemy , Curd Jurgens , and a suitable villain doctor , Robert Hossein. Along with a plethora of Italian secondaries , usual in Spaghetti and Peplum , such as the hunk George Eastman , Renato Baldini , Emilio Messina , Roberto Messina and the always present Piero Lulli . And 3 luscious , bombshell girls : Luciana Paluzzi , Margaret Lee , Rosalba Neri.It packs a cololorful and evocative cinematography in terrific locations from Tonino Delli Colli, Pasolini' s ordinary cameraman . And atmospheric musical score in jazzy style of the sixties and seventies by Piero Piccioni . This motion picture titled OSS 117 murder for sale or No flowers for OSS 117 (or one of the other half dozen names this movie goes by) was regular but professionally directed by Andre Hunebelle , and it definitively worth checking out if you are a fan of Euro spy genre . Andre was a craftsman who used to direct to Kerwin Matthews , Jean Marais and Louis De Funes in various films ; as he made several watchable pictures of all kinds of genres as drama , comedies such as : Casino de Paris , Massacre Dentellos ; adventures , Swashbucklers , many of them starred by Jean Marais : 3 musketeers , Return 3 Musketeers , Mysteries Paris , The hunchback , The captain , Les Charlots mousquetaires , Adventures Cadet Rouselle , Mission Tanger , and especially known for Fantomas Trilogy : Fantomas , Fantomas returns and Fantomas vs Scotland Yard .The series based on novels written by Jean Bruce begin with "0SS is not dead"1955 by Jean Sacha with Ivan Desny , Magali Noel. " 0ss 117 unleashed" by Andre Hunebelle with Kerwin Matthews, Irina Demick . " Panic in Bangkok" 1964 by Andre Hunebelle with Kerwin Matthews , Robert Hossein , Pier Angeli. "Oss 117 Fury in Bahia" 1965 with Frederick Strafford , Raymond Pellegrin, Mylene Demengeot. "Oss 117 Terror in Tokyo" 1966 by Michral Boisrond with Frederick Stafford, Marina Vlady ."Oss117 Vendetta of spies" 1979 by Pierre Kalfon with Luc Merenda ,Elsa Martinelli , Genevieve Grad. "Oss117 Tue Le Taon" 1971 by Andre Leroix with Alan Scott. And "Oss 117 El Cairo nest of spies" and "Oss 117 lost in Rio" by Michael Hazanavicious with Jean Dujardin , Beatriz Bejo.

The fifth entry in the official French "OSS 117" movie series is yet another entry that's nothing to get excited about. Even the presence of European cult actors Curd Jurgens and George Eastman add very little to the movie, mainly because they are given very little to do that could make them stand out and give the movie a little oompth. Obviously, the script is the main offender to be found in the movie. It's a really slow-moving story, with so much padding that it's clear the story could easily have been condensed to fit in a hour long time slot (with commercials) on a television show. Also, huge chunks of the movie go by with no action or anything else particularly exciting to keep the audience interested and paying attention. And when the action does make a rare appearance, it is mostly very forgettable. The production values are serviceable, as always, but it does very little to keep the audience awake. Having now seen all the movies in the series, I can safely say these movies are best left unwatched, even if you are deeply into Eurocult movies of the 1960s.

This is one of the later entries in the Eurospy, and more specifically in the OSS 117, cycle, and it's probably one of the better ones as well. The two main reasons for that are: 1) The cast. John Gavin is one of the most capable "pseudo-Bonds" of the era, with a good comic flair; you can see why he actually came very close to being the REAL Bond once, in 1971, before Sean Connery changed his mind and came back for "Diamonds Are Forever", Margaret Lee is playfully attractive, Curt Jurgens makes a suitable villain (just like he would a decade later in "The Spy Who Loved Me"), Robert Hossein plays another soft-spoken evil doctor (just like he did in "OSS 117: Panic In Bangkok"), and even the luscious Luciana Paluzzi of "Thunderball" fame is around, though only for about 10 minutes and then she vanishes. 2) Unlike many Eurospy films, this one is not driven by fight scenes at every opportunity. There are some fights, to be sure, and they're pretty good, but most of the time the film is just trying to tell a story. Admittedly the climactic fall of the criminal "Organization" should have been more spectacular - maybe the producers ran out of budget by that point? **1/2 out of 4.

Once again, I shall warn you that this comment contains a lot of spoilers.When a "serious" adaptation of OSS117 contains less actions, makes less sense than the recent pastiche with Dujardin, there's something really wrong about it.The first scene of this movie shows good promises though, with the eponymous spy going through a window and escaping while shooting two bystanders an a guard. You think you're in an action movie.However, the 40 next minutes prove you wrong : the 3 victims proved to be faking, and after letting himself be captured (twice, by the police then by the Organisation he's supposed to infiltrate), he doesn't do much more than hitting on a female doctor, who simply disappears halfway through the movie. A girl also gets infatuated with him after he rescues her from a false attack, but he doesn't seems inclined to tell her the truth.That sums up the movie : a lot of fraud, a lot of (bad) romance, very little action.The movie is ridiculous from A to Z :The main villain's lieutenant is sent from Europe to middle east to kill the hero, and comes back without even trying to get near him.Travels from Europe to Middle East are accomplished in the blink of an eye.-The main female character sees her father getting shot in the back and left dying, however, when rescued, she shows absolutely no concern over him.-The hero is poisoned and has to take an antidote before 5 o'clock. He however waits until 4.55 to enter the office it's locked in.-The hero has to kill a diplomat : he replaces him by another corpse. however, while the diplomat is a tall, thin man with red hair, the hero replaces him with a short, fat guy with black hair. Though he detonates the place, the guy is supposedly identified by its remains...-when O.S.S. 117 abducts the said diplomat, he's supposed to keep him off the game for a few days. However, he manages to lose him by letting him without surveillance, unrestrained and next to a car with its key on.-the house of the organization, which is supposed to be the home of dozens of professional killers, has about half a dozen inhabitants at most, with barely one showing while the house is invaded.