Modesty Blaise (1966)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Joseph Losey

Writers:

Stanley Dubens (story)
Jim Holdaway (comic strip)

Release Date:

4 July 1966 (Norway)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Nothing can faze Modesty Blaise, the world's deadliest and most dazzlingly female agent!

Plot:

Modesty Blaise, a secret agent whose hair color, hair style, and mod clothing change at a snap of her...

Plot Keywords:

Diamond | Spy | Island | Sheik | Handcuffs

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Fri. July 17

3:15 AM

AMC

Cast

Monica Vitti	...	Modesty Blaise
Terence Stamp	...	Willie Garvin
Dirk Bogarde	...	Gabriel
Harry Andrews	...	Tarrant
Michael Craig	...	Paul
Clive Revill	...	McWhirter / Sheik Abu Tahir
Alexander Knox	...	Minister
Rossella Falk	...	Mrs. Fothergill (as Rosella Falk)
Scilla Gabel	...	Melina
Michael Chow	...	Weng
Joe Melia	...	Crevier
Saro Urzì	...	Basilio
Tina Aumont	...	Nicole (as Tina Marquand)
Oliver MacGreevy	...	Tattooed Man
Jon Bluming	...	Hans

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Modesty Blaise Ltd.

Trivia:

Peter O'Donnell was invited to write a novelization of this film. The book, based upon O'Donnell's original screenplay rather than this film, was a huge success and spawned a series of best-selling novels that O'Donnell wrote until 1996.

Goofs:

Continuity: Modesty's large leg tattoo is missing in the pre-credits sequence.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Soundtrack:

The End (We Should Have)

View it on it's own, not as a spoof or adaptation, and you might enjoy!

I've never read the Modesty Blaise comics. What inspired me to rent this DVD was a love of 60's kitsch fashions, and an immense respect for Monica Vitti. And while I was baffled by the events in the film -- it didn't seem to make a DAMN bit of sense the first time around -- I still found myself loving it. And on repeated viewings I love it even more.

What's to love? Primarily, the quirkiness of EVERYTHING in the film: the direction is off-kilter (so many things happen in parts of the screen that you're not looking at, and the pacing is bizarre to say the least: a constant string of anticlimaxes that I found refreshing), the acting is deadpan and weird (Bogarde's shifty, psychopathic, and slightly flaky villain...Stamp's disgruntled but cheerful anti-hero...Rosella Falk's twitchy, wide-eyed, barely-restrained violence -- she is a stand-out highlight in the movie...and Monica Vitti, expressing herself mostly through strangely-timed gestures and facial expressions...just check out her "How do you get this off?" routine), the sets are gorgeously dressed (Gabriel's atmospheric island, and the fantastic cell with the spiral staircase), and the plotting is all over the place. Who's double-crossing who? Why are they doing that? WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON? On first impression, I felt the film was just "winging it," making it up as it went along. But far from it...it's elaborately plotted, just strangely presented.

Really, I love this film, and I'm so glad it's seen re-release. It's sloppy, crazy, irreverent, and fun. If you view it as a weird little film -- not as a spoof, or an adaptation of the comic, or a reflection of the times, or as an attempt to be hip or strange -- I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

And yes, the clothes ARE fantastic.