Deadlier Than The Male/Review

"Bulldog" Drummond (Richard Johnson), the charming Bond-esque secret agent is hired to look into suspicious insurance cases connected to oil tycoon Petersen (Nigel Green). It seems as though business partners "disappear", so that mergers and exploitation concessions go through. What is more puzzling are the gang of sexy female killers, that do the dirty work, including Irma (Elke Sommer) and Penelope (Sylvia Koscina). While these "deadlier than the male" hotties get rid of a number of reluctant entrepreneurs and executives, Drummond uncovers the whole plot to dominate the world. He finds the villian Peterson (Nigel Green) at his stronghold in Italy, where he has to face a mighty british showdown, including a battle on a life-size chess board.

Koch Media released this just recently in their low budget segment, and it is quite a nice step by Koch Media to release more of those classic late 60s films. This particular Bond-type spy flick embodies the lighthearted spirit of the era, a decent budget and some very nice visuals. This swinging 60s secret agent flick, although high-budget, is full of exploitation kinks and steps no Bond movie would take. The dialogues are sharp, the action well-choreographed, the scenery stunning, and the women even more so. This film does not need to hide behind the "real" Bond, and offers plenty of entertainment, making it the perfect prime time presentation.

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Sebastian, co-founder and admin of the Grindhouse Cinema Database (GCDb). He also started The Spaghetti Western Database (SWDb), The Quentin Tarantino Archives, The Robert Rodriguez Archives, Nischenkino and Furious Cinema. Outside of movies, he works on the intersection of technology and policy. He lives in Berlin, Germany.