Starting in the mid-1950s and continuing through the 1970s, Italian filmmakers would recruit American actors to star in many of their films. The logic was that by having an American in the lead, the films would have increased marketability internationally. This notion is most associated with the so-called 'Spaghetti Westerns' in which leading men, such as Clint Eastwood, would star with a cast that was mostly Italians. The films were then dubbed into various languages and these films were very successful. However, they didn't just do this sort of thing for Italian westerns...Fellini did this, there were tons of strong man films (such as Hercules or Machiste) as well as some crime films with American leading men. In the case of "Spy in the Eye", however, they used Dana Andrews to star in an espionage picture...not exactly the typical Italian- American hybrid.
Andrews plays Colonel Lancaster, a spy who works for the East AND the West at the same time. How could this be? Is he a double- agent? Well, not exactly. It seems that unbeknownst to Lancaster, the Soviets have placed a camera within the bionic eye he's just received. And using it, they can see and photograph EVERYTHING Lancaster sees--including work on a top secret death ray! While this idea might seem crazy, it does create an interesting spin on the "Six Million Dollar Man" story...and does it almost a decade earlier.
So is it any good? Well, it certainly is creative and unusual. However, I was surprised that the film was actually as dull as it was in spite of the location shoots. It mostly just seemed to consist of folks stabbing each other and never really lived up to the bionic eye gimmick. Not terrible but surprisingly ordinary at best.
I found this film on YouTube. The big plus is that I doubt if I could have found it any other way...the negative is that the print is completely yellowed and it's hard to tell that this was once a full color picture.
Andrews plays Colonel Lancaster, a spy who works for the East AND the West at the same time. How could this be? Is he a double- agent? Well, not exactly. It seems that unbeknownst to Lancaster, the Soviets have placed a camera within the bionic eye he's just received. And using it, they can see and photograph EVERYTHING Lancaster sees--including work on a top secret death ray! While this idea might seem crazy, it does create an interesting spin on the "Six Million Dollar Man" story...and does it almost a decade earlier.
So is it any good? Well, it certainly is creative and unusual. However, I was surprised that the film was actually as dull as it was in spite of the location shoots. It mostly just seemed to consist of folks stabbing each other and never really lived up to the bionic eye gimmick. Not terrible but surprisingly ordinary at best.
I found this film on YouTube. The big plus is that I doubt if I could have found it any other way...the negative is that the print is completely yellowed and it's hard to tell that this was once a full color picture.