I'd guess you'd call this one a black comedy, and I would almost dismiss it… except one can never dismiss Oliver Reed, (nor Diana Rigg, his lovely co-star), and the film went all awesomely cool in the ending.
The movie is set in the early 1900s, and the plot involves Diana Rigg as a feminist journalist who uncovers the titular Assassination Bureau. To destroy it, she commissions a hit – on the head of the group, Ivan (pronounced the Russian way, thank goodness) Dragomiloff, played by Oliver Reed. And he accepts and turns into a challenge to his group. What follows is a romp across Europe as he evades his corrupt fellow board members and takes them out before they can get him. Diana Rigg follows him and gets sucked into it, of course. It’s more complicated than that, with Ivan upset that the Assassination Bureau, originally created to rid the world of truly evil people, has become nothing more than a hitman squad that takes money for their work and ignores the rest. Then, there’s the true villain of the piece, played by Telly Savalas, who takes over the Assassination Bureau when Reed goes on the run. Savalas intends to use the group start a war in Europe, and Reed becomes the good guy. Curt Jergens co-stars as one of the bad guys. Interestingly, this movie was based on an unfinished story by Jack London!
Anyway, mildly entertaining with some quite amusing almost-cartoon-like parts (not a bad thing at all) – mostly because Reed and Rigg are so very good at their acting jobs they make anything do they do enjoyable. And the ending! The ending made me sit up and grin. Minor spoilers ahead...All the heads of state in Europe are meeting at one castle, and Telly's character intends to wipe them all out. How? By dropping a bomb from a zeppelin! Now, really, if you want to make a movie better, throw in a blimp. Blimps are awesome. Then let Oliver Reed loose on it. With a sword. Trying to stop the bad guys and their nefarious plan. And let him sword fight with the bad guys on the skinny little walkways inside. Oh yeah, I’m all over that. I don’t care how corny the special effects are. Oliver Reed, sword fight, a blimp... those three in the same sentence make me one very very happy girl.
So yeah, enjoyed it quite a bit in the long run! I only wish Diana Rigg had more of a part to play in the ending, though at the same time, the role she did have made sense. I just wanted more. I loved a section in the middle where she hears a persistent ticking in her hotel room and suspects a bomb is planted somewhere.
8 comments:
I recall discussing Oliver Reed before. I don't know him. I also don't know Diana Rigg. (Maybe I shouldn't be admitting that, as it seems like I've been living under a rock.)
My Net Flix queue still is mostly in "short wait" status. If I have 20 movies there, at least 14 of them are "short wait." I've been waiting on a Robert Ryan movie for about 5 weeks now. Part of the problem is that we do the 1 DVD/unlimited streaming plan. So, since I only get 1 DVD at a time, I seem to never be getting the ones I really want.
Have a great day!!
I really only know Diana Rigg from her appearance in one of the James Bond movies, and I've seen lots of pictures of her from her famous television show, The Avengers, but I've only seen 2 or 3 episodes, but I really liked those. Like Reed, mostly 60's era and on.
We have the same Netflix plan! A long time ago, I used to do two films, but really, one at a time is plenty for me. But, yes, I have quite a few things in "short wait" and even "long wait." I tend to put those at the top, figuring they won't show up for awhile, then it will surprise me when one actually arrives.
Oh - an Oliver Reed film I am yet to watch. Love him. Also like Diana Rigg very, very much! That was another great review! Thanks for posting it!
Oh - and just btw: I awarded your blog! ;")
-> AND THEN THEY START TO SPARKLE
Have a great day! And: I am looking forward for your next post! :")
Thanks, Irene! For both the comments here and the award!
You are very, very welcome..
I got one of my "short waits" today...it came from the Tacoma, Washington location. So, since they sent that, I actually have 2 discs out right now. At one time, we did the 3 discs at a time plan, but that was several years ago...before we had dish. Once we got dish, we needed to cut the cost; plus, with TCM, we didn't have time to watch more than 1 disc at a time.
Anyhow, I wanted to let you know that I have awarded you the same award Irene has given you. I look forward to reading the posts you decide to use.
Oh dear. I drafted up a post a couple days ago, but as I don't track stats, I simply explained why I had no idea how to answer any of the questions. I really have no idea how to tell. I suppose I'll have to rethink that. Good thing it's still in my drafts! LOL!
I don't track stats either. Never even looked at the stats page until that post. (Actually, never even really knew it was there, until Monty did a post about it over the weekend.) To come up with some of the answers, I just looked at the number of comments on each post...though the reality is that comments don't tell the whole story.
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