User Reviews

Secret agent George, code name Ace Of Spades, who also happens to be a Lord with a passion for gambling in his spare time, is assigned to crack the safe of a Russian spy before a famous safecracker who has also been hired for the same job. What he finds inside are seemingly innocent photographs of various cities, but a criminal organization is determined to get them back by any means. Now George must decode the meaning of the photos and stop the organization's plans for global destruction. "Operation Counterspy" contains a fair amount of well-handled action, but its only distinctive touch is the countdown clock that appears near the end and covers the entire screen. Speaking of the end, this whole last section of the movie where our hero enters the underground headquarters of the villain seems a bit rushed (starting with the incredibly convenient way he stumbles upon its location), but maybe it's the result of the English-dubbed print having been cut. George Ardisson is one of the most competent James Bond clones of the period, and Lena Von Martens is one of the sweetest Eurospy girls; on the other hand, Helene Chanel's belly dance pales in comparison to Margaret Lee's amazingly sexy belly dance in "Coplan Saves His Skin". ** out of 4.

The genre of the Italian spy film is an often overlooked one with good reason: 90% of the films that the Italians made to cash in on the Bond films of the '60s were, to be frank, rubbish. Any wit or humour in the Italian scripts was often transformed into typically dry, conventional dialogue with little inflection in the voices of the world-weary English dubbers and the often low budgets of these movies meant that there was no room for action set-pieces or good stunts. To make matters worse, most of the actors who found themselves in these spy movies tended to put in wooden performances and everyone looked similar decked out in a suit anyway. Whereas the spaghetti western and sword and sandal genres belonged to the Italians and were filled with native charm and wonder, the spy films always felt like cheap knock-offs, made to make a quick buck and with little passion behind them.

There are notable exceptions to this rule, of course, but unfortunately Nick Nostro's OPERATION COUNTERSPY isn't one of them, a strictly by-the-numbers affair. As is usual for the genre, this is a real multi-national production (with Spain and France) and even some filming in Turkey to distinguish it that bit for further. It's a shame that most of the plot takes place indoors in the most routine way imaginable, so the international locations count for nothing. Our secret agent hero Morrison finds himself in possession of a highly sought-after roll of film which contains an ultra-secret code and is pursued by an obese bearded bad guy who desperately wants to get his greedy mittens on it. He also has to work out the significance of a golden spider medallion. Cue lots of rolling in the sack as Morrison takes time out of his mission to romance some pretty ladies, and poorly-directed action scenes as he battles never-ending streams of the bad guy's minions in unexciting shoot-outs.

The film isn't a total failure but the good points are few and far between. Moments to watch out for include some sexy belly dancing, a cool scene in which Morrison uses an exploding bullet to take out a truck and some imaginative torture sequences which make use of electricity, water, and even cement! Things do pick up for the over-too-quickly finale, which takes place inexplicably in a science fiction setting (referencing those Bond films once more, I guess) and contains an ultra-cheesy special effect shot of a man being electrocuted and an erotic whipping in which a young blonde loses her clothing. These are the only good parts in the movie which probably take up ten minutes of the eighty-minute running time.

This time around the rather bland George Ardisson (who fared much better in his films for Mario Bava, like LAST OF THE VIKINGS) dyes his hair black and dons an unbecoming suit to play the Sean Connery-inspired secret agent hero, and fails to make much of the role. Wooden isn't the word for his performance, dire perhaps is. Much better is the tough guy playing his manservant who at least has a presence to him. The bad guys are unintentionally funny clichés, but at least on the plus side the various love interests are genuinely attractive Italian women, including the lovely Helene Chanel graduated in from her peplum days. Only real spy-film lovers will get a kick out of OPERATION COUNTERSPY, which is for the most part a charmless and mediocre movie with the moments of real magic few and far between.