Spies Strike Silently (1966) Poster

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6/10
Typical Italian/Spanish spy film with ordinary ingredients : thrills , noisy action , fights and various international locations
ma-cortes28 May 2022
A young blonde called Jane Freeman has been murdered at the pool in Beyrouth , Lebanon . She turns out to be a daughter of Professor Freeman who has been told his daughter will die unless he gives up his research. Along the way , other international scientists have been found dead . Then , secret agent Michael Drum (Lang Jeffries) is assigned a dangerous mission to protect the important scientists , being helped by Inspector Craig (José Bódalo) against a megalomaniac mastermind . Posing as a scrounger Drum allows himself to be captured by the opposition, in order to thwart their schemes , and given a drug that changes his free will and makes him a robot ready to follow orders . After many chases and intrigue, he arranges to get away with "the secret plans". Our valiant , easy-going playboy/agent , takes on a powerful criminal organization commanded by Rashid (Andrea Bosic) and his hoodlums (Erika Blanc , José Marco) whose aim is to rule the world .

Ordinary Euro-spy movie with usual components : pursuits , crashes , struggles , chases , fantastic gadgets , strange artifacts , simple helicopters , international conspiracy , and explosive women . It borrows heavily from the OO7 series that at the time starred Sean Connery , such as : Dr No, From Russia with love , Thunderball, and Goldfinger . 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 . Lang Jeffries gives a passable acting as a brave playboy/secret agent who takes on an criminal organization that especializes in relevant assassinations . Lang has an easy going air about him that makes him great to see . He plays a two-fisted spy who even allows to be injected a poison, though himself takes an antidote . Co-stars two Eurotrash starletts as Erika Blanc and Emma Danieli . Along with a plethora of Spanish secondaries , usual in Spaghetti and Peplum , such as José Bodalo, José Marco and Jesús Tordesillas .

It packs a cololorful cinematography in Panavision and Eastmancolor by cameraman Julio Ortas in terrific locations from Beyrouth, Lebanon , Madrid, Spain , Rome, Lazio, Italy , Turkey . And an atmospheric and thrilling musical score in the seventies style by Francesco De Masi . The motion picture was professionally directed by Mario Caiano , and it definitively worth checking out if you are a fan of Euro spy genre . At his beginning , Caiano worked as a director assistant for known Italian filmmakers as Sergio Grieco, Fernando Cerchio , Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia , Vittorio Sala , Riccardo Freda, Edgar G. Ulmer and Camillo Mastrocinque . In 1962 Caiano made his film debut as a director with Ulises versus Hercules (1962). From then on he made films in virtually every genre. He directed the very first Italian western, ¨The sign of the Coyote¨ (1963), he made an acceptable western , genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career , as he directed several Spaghetti : ¨Brandy¨, ¨Avenger of California¨ , ¨Ringo, face of revenge¨, ¨My name is Shanghai Joe¨, ¨Bullets don't argue¨, ¨Lone and angry man¨, ¨A train to Durango¨. Caiano is a craftsman who has directed all kind of genres as Peplum as ¨Ulisse vs Ercole¨, ¨I due Gladiatori¨, ¨Maciste Gadiatori di Sparta¨ and Terror : the gothic horror flick¨Nightmare castle¨(1965), which starred Barbara Steele, ¨Eye in the labyrinth¨ with Adolfo Celi , Psychological thriller and Poliziesco as the detective thriller ¨A tutte le auto della polizia...¨ (1975) and even Pornonazi as ¨Nazi love camp 27¨. Although Caiano couldn't be deemed an "A"-list director, his movies had a professionalism and a verve that many of those made by his fellow B directors lacked .
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5/10
Care for some hypnotizing spy fun?
gridoon202417 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This is the second Eurospy film with Lang Jeffries as the lead that I have managed to see so far, after "The Beckett Affair", and one important thing these two have in common is that their tone is distinctly more serious and straightforward than most similar films of the era. For example, when a bad girl tries to seduce Jeffries, he doesn't even kiss her; he immediately grabs her arm and demands to know why she's there. And he rarely makes any jokes (there is one funny scene at the very end, though, when he checks if a helicopter pilot is actually the villain in disguise). Speaking of the villain, he is one of the best things in the film, especially because his long megalomaniac monologues have been dubbed into English enthusiastically. The hero may be a good agent, but the criminal organization he's up against does kill a lot of people before all is said and done. The most interesting part of the movie comes after about an hour, when Jeffries is captured and given a drug that removes his free will and makes him a robot ready to follow orders. He injects himself with an antidote, but the villains realize that, and they give him the drug again! So for a (little) while he becomes a pawn to their plans. During all this, he meets the beautiful - and also hypnotized - Emma Danieli; she doesn't really have much to do. For some nostalgic spy fun, "Spies Strike Silently" fits the bill. ** out of 4.
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6/10
Fun, fast-paced Italian spy action
Leofwine_draca29 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A fairly average Eurospy adventure film, enlivened by a liberal smattering of action, a jazzy soundtrack as per usual, and some exotic locations in which the action is based. This appears to be more expensive-looking than others and is a well-shot adventure yarn which borrows heavily from the James Bond series. It even has the cheek to make a reference to Bond! Here, the secret agent's name is Mike Drum (!) and, although his clothes are cheaper, he's obviously an imitation of Sean Connery. Notable Italian direction Mario Caiano invests the movie with a lot of style and the action scenes are well-handled, relying heavily on firepower.

After the (very '60s) colourful opening credits have finished, we're introduced to a laid back pool scene which is interrupted by the brutal stabbing of a diving girl. Drum traces the killer to a picturesque house and engages in a shoot-out with him (the first of many), finally shooting him off the top of a wall. Here we are introduced to the film's interesting plot, which sees a madman by the name of Rashid using a special drug to brainwash normal people into becoming mindless murderers. He plans to destroy all of the world's leading scientists to stop progression of any kind. Why? Well, because he's just evil.

From then on the plot twists and turns in various ways, introducing lots of characters, half of whom turn out to be traitors. The other half mostly end up getting murdered. The plot is punctuated by some cool action scenes, including a shoot-out in a garden and a fight in a hotel room with a hidden assassin (seemingly pops up in every film, that one). All of the genre staples are here, from bugged ornaments to invisible ink, lots of double-crosses and characters with secret missions, plus that old scene of the hero being locked in a room being filled with poisonous gas. At around the hour mark, our hero is captured and himself given the drug, but he manages to recover to lead an all-out assault on the enemy base at the film's conclusion.

The acting is perfunctory with nobody really giving that strong a performance. Even the bad guy isn't really made out to be that evil. Mike Drum is a pretty unmemorable hero character and doesn't even get that many one liners. The only familiar face I noted in the cast was that of Erika Blanc, who of course later popped up in many horrors like THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE. Here she plays a drug addicted criminal. I guess she just has that kind of cold, evil-looking face. While not a great film, SPIES STRIKE SILENTLY passes the time well enough and contains some fun action to recommend it.
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Did they make this up as they went along?
vjetorix4 March 2003
This half-baked spy thriller starts out promisingly enough with a cool title sequence fueled by the sounds of Francesco De Masi. If only the rest of the film measured up to this auspicious beginning. Unfortunately we end up in tepid water rather quickly and never find our way out.

Lang Jeffries does his best as Mike Drum who's assigned to find out just what the heck is happening when several of world's great scientists are killed off. Well, we never figure exactly why either but it doesn't matter much. The villain is completely scatterbrained, changing his plans at the last minute by unveiling a second super weapon with which to rule the world!

There are some decent things about the film to mention however. Jeffries is a good fighter and gets plenty of chances to show it because there's a fight every ten minutes or so. That part's okay. And don't forget the excellent score by De Masi. It's the one asset to the film that never lets up as Lang jets from Beirut to London to Madrid to Beirut and back to London before returning to Beirut for the finale. Whew!

So unless you're a Lang Jeffries stalwart or just like to hear a good score stay away from this slapdash effort.
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5/10
It's Everything Else That's Noisy
boblipton2 October 2020
Scientists are dying, so American agent Lang Jeffries is seconded to the British Secret Service in this Italian spy movie.

It's a fairly light-hearted mishmash of the usual tropes, with plenty of pretty girls, lasers that can control peoples' minds, and fighting in this noisy music with a nice jazzy score by Francesco De Masi. The story, within the usual context, actually makes some sense as it travel from Lebanon to Turkey, Spain, Britain and, of course, Italy. The scene-setting shots are effective if rather bleak.
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7/10
A quite decent Eurospy!
RodrigAndrisan21 August 2018
The film begins as other tens or hundreds of Eurospy, as the secret agent hero land at the airport, Beirut this time, a car takes him in an unknown direction where someone is trying to kill him, as usual. Then, every 2 minutes, we have a dead man, every time being involved or at least present, who else than our hero... Then the secret agent is called to London, but he will return to Beirut sooner than he or we expected. I do not want to tell you the whole movie, as others do, watch it yourself, it's free on You-tube! It's not bad, I've seen a lot of Eurospy much below its value.
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6/10
Sleek, Violent, & Bloody "Bond" Clone...Euro-Espionage Thriller...Above Avg.
LeonLouisRicci20 October 2023
"Spy" Story Following in the Avalanche of Such Things, that Started in 1962 with the 1st James Bond Feature "Dr. No", Followed by "From Russia With Love" (1963).

Before Anyone could Say "007", the "Secret-Agent" Genre in its Modern-Incarnation was Born,

and soon Everyone was Saying "Bond...James Bond", and "007" Became a Numerical Icon.

In this "Off the Assembly Line" Effort, it Globe-Hopps from Italy, Spain, Turkey, Beirut, and England.

Starring a GQ Looking, Square-Jawed Man of Mannequin Stature, Lang Jeffries.

Throw in a Couple of "Bond-Like-Babes", some Fine Cinematography Highlighting the Scenery and the Architecture,

and a "Bond-Like-Villain" who's Out to "Control Men's Minds" and the World, and the Table is Set for Gadgets, Girls, Violence (in this case very bloody), and Twists.

It's All Rather Surface and Doesn't Cut Deep Like the Other Fellows Shenanigans in Terms of Intrigue, Secrets, and Govt. Vs Govt.

But it Makes for a Good Entry in the Fad that Lasted for About 10 Years before Things become Unreliable and Morphed Quickly into Self-Parody.

Although the "James Bond Franchise" Never Stopped and is Still Alive to this Day, Over 25 Films, Multiple Bond's, and is the Longest Running Uninterrupted Series in History.

This Film Looks Good, has a Snazzy-Jazzy Score, is Fast-Paced, and...

Worth a Watch.
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8/10
Extra stars for the location
DasGlasperlenspiel31 August 2021
Of course, there are better Spy movies out there, but this film was shot on location in Beirut, Lebanon in the 1960s, which seems surreal given the sad history of Lebanon in the decades thereafter. That is exactly why the film is a nostalgic piece of contemporary history.
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7/10
Entertaining for all the wrong reasons
profkringsconsulting16 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
What I really liked about the film was that is basically a showcase for 1960s design an architecture. If you are into that sort of thing, this film is a must-see. Otherwise it's rather an odd film. Spies communicate by leaving messages in the German magazine Der Spiegel an no one wonders why the owner of the newsstand actually just lends it to people instead of selling it. The hero's suitcase is gone but it's back once he checks in. And the villain must be so rich and powerful that he can afford to bribe a middle eastern police man. Yeah right.... People get killed and by whom we may never know. There is one suspect and lo and behold he turns out to be the villain. It's entertaining but for all the wrong reasons. If you like the films of Ed Wood, this is perfect for you. I was entertained.
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