Corrida pour un espion (1965)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Maurice Labro

Writers:

Maurice Labro (adaptation) and
Jean Meckert (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

13 August 1965 (West Germany)

Genre:

Adventure

Cast

Ray Danton	...	Jeff Larson
Pascale Petit	...	Pilar Perez
Conrado San Martín	...	Cdt Luis Moreno
Roger Hanin	...	Robert 'Bob' Stuart
Manuel Gil	...	Clark
Horst Frank	...	Karl
Charles Régnier	...	Simon Walter
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Captain Parker
Carl Lange	...	Vassili Golochenko
Helga Sommerfeld	...	Lina Calderon
Grit Boettcher	...	Saskia (as Grit Böttcher)
Helga Lehner	...	Zimmermädchen

Also Known As:

Code Name: Jaguar (USA)
Der Spion, der in die Hölle ging (West Germany)
Persecución a un espía (Spain)
The Spy Who Went Into Hell

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

Spain | France | West Germany

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Company:

Hans Oppenheimer Film

No room for corrida in a sport car

This is one of those many Bondesque which Europa made by the dozen after Sean Connery hit the big time on the planet.There was OSS 117,Coplan ,and a lot of others.

It would be unfair,though,to write that Maurice Labro jumped on the bandwagon:he made a Coplan movie in the fifties ("Action Immédiate" ) and another in one in 1964,the same year as "Goldfinger".

This one takes place in Spain and is ,like the sub-Bond flicks ,terribly dated.The Russians are the villains,period.Whereas the hero is loyal ,witty (would be witty more like) ,and almost invincible (in a fight against three bulldozers ,he wins hands down),the Soviets are treacherous,they do very nasty things such as brainwashing,which makes some of the final scenes sound like a poor man's "Manchurian candidate" .As the traitor goes on repeating "I saw the light! I believe in socialism!" there's a strong anti-commie feel .Virgin Mary is more reliable though (particularly La Maquarena) Like in many spy thrillers of the era,the cast is international:the "Larson girls" are French (Pascale Petit ,whose career was on the wane at the time)and Spanish, the hero's pal is French (Roger Hanin) and the hateful aliens are often German (Horst Frank,who was almost cast as a villain ,cause he really looked the part) Those who feel nostalgic for the spy thrillers of the sixties can have a look.It's harmless.