Matchless

New York Tribune reporter Perry 'Matchless' Liston (Patrick O'Neal) is being tortured by Chinese communists for being a spy. He is given an ancient ring by a fellow prisoner. It's a ring that turns the wearer temporarily invisible but one must not wear it again until ten hours have pass. He manages to escape execution with the ring. He manages to reach New York with O-Lan to find the Americans doing the same things. They recruit him into the spy service to go against the evil Gregori Andreanu. He finds fellow prisoner Norris after him for the ring in cooperation with their former captors.

This is an Italian made movie for the English market. It's in the lesser known spaghetti espionage spoof genre. Sometimes it makes a sharp point about the world or the genre. Sometimes it's almost funny. Patrick O'Neal is not particularly funny. It takes all the premise of a 007 spoof and non of it achieves an actual laugh. Roger Moore would be funnier. O'Neal is essentially playing it straight and that could work. In the end, I don't think the humor translates except for physical comedy. The movie starts well enough but it grinds down by the non-laughs.