Just what this hoary old moostache needs here during the dusk of his dear existence---a James Bond copycat film made by Eyetalians in Brasilia!!!! And w/o getting into the whole schpiel spouted by not only Bill Shute but myself regarding how imitations are often much better (and much cheaper!) 'n the real thing lemme say that this DICK SMART thing is really that fun of a disc to watch even if the budget ain't as big as a BOND film and the sexiness never does develop into levels that had yer parents kicking you outta the room when the bedroom parts came on, even if they stayed 'n watched those things themselves!
I never thought that star Richard Wyler was exactly the kinda guy who would have made a good imitation Bond but he is nifty enough here, no Matt Helm mind you but still boffo, as the cooler'n any cucumber you've ever seen secret agent who not only gets to tangle with not only the bad boys out to make their fortunes in artificially-created diamonds but with those Euro-styled gals who are supposed to be bee-youtiful but just come off like animated mannequins to me. Well, at least they look much better'n those plumpos you see all over the place these days but anyway the various action scenes and surprises the pop in are enough to keep your attention even if the scripts coulda used a beef up here and there. And frankly, in no way can you hear the chief villain speaking through that weird neck-brace/voice box of his!
Cheap gadgets too, like whereas Bond always got the cream of European automobile makes souped up to specifications Smart hadda rely on this neat li'l Vespa scooter cum helicopter cum submarine! Well, I guess given all the cost that goes into spying (as well as mooms like these) they hadda keep the budget down no matter how much a threat to world safety there might have been during those rather snappy late-sixties days!
Hard to believe that at one time we could go to an actual movie theater here in the USA and see something like this----maybe not this one in particular, but things like MATCHLESS or OPERATION KID BROTHER, both of which I DID see theatrically and which are not unlike DICK SMART. And you could turn on your local UHF station after midnight (or even for the afternoon movie) and see a film like DICK SMART.
ReplyDeleteThe more I see of Richard Wyler, the more I like him. He was also in Italian westerns and of course in Jesus Franco's classic THE GIRL FROM RIO. He has that jaded playboy pose down perfectly.
BTW, this film IS available on You Tube, at least today as I'm writing this. Just look for "Dick Smart 2.007 1967 full movie" and settle back and enjoy!