Dark Mission (Les fleurs du mal)

After a few years experimenting with no-budget porn-saturated projects, prolific Spanish Director Jess Franco had returned to making more 'respectable' films by the late 80s. 'Dark Mission' has helicopters, explosions, espionage, Brigitte Lahaie and Christopher Lee ... and is mostly gloriously terrible!

Like a particularly meandering episode of (80s action adventure serial) 'Airwolf', this effort's style of filming and acting has all the hallmarks of an American daytime soap. Eurocine had by this time begun to model their films on Hollywood produce, but at a fraction of the cost. Robert Mitchum's son Christopher is the nadir of the piece as Derek Carpenter, a cocky, strutting CIA agent sent to South America to bring down drug lord Luis Morel. Christopher Lee once again plays Christopher Lee, here playing Morel. Uninspired he may be but he brings a certain gravitas to his scenes. Hearing him say 'sons of b*tches', however, will never be a comfortable experience (didn't he once refuse to say Dracula's dialogue in a Hammer film? How bad could it have been?). There's no sign of Lina Romay, but regular Antonio Mayans is briefly on hand as an uncredited Dr. Meryl Ramos, revealing the disturbing effects of drugs to Carpenter, who gleefully takes photograph after photograph of the victims.

Franco co-wrote this, but his usual personal vision is hard to detect here. There is one familiar theme though - his attitude to drugs. For a creative artist who has made many delirious, psychedelic films, he has always portrayed drugs in an overwhelmingly negative light. Incest, rape and other forms of sexual abuse is a passion of his, but drugs? Evil. This is, of course, the point of view that propels what thin story is on display here.

Louis Alborado's music score is lightly jazzy, sprightly and often inappropriate, displaying much of the bland hopelessness that cursed much of the late 1980s. And while the editing is remarkably sloppy on a few occasions, there's no denying the excitement generated by a fast moving, fairly spectacular finale. Should I mention the jeep pushed over a cliff-edge which bursts into flames well before its cue, or would that be unkind? For the destruction of such an expensive prop, there was no way they'd leave that on the cutting room floor! There's fun to be had here, but any hope of character empathy is definitely sunk by the dreadful leading man. My score is 6 out of 10.

Nothing says cult more than a film directed by Jess Franco starring Christopher Lee, Chris Mitchum, Brigette Lahaie and Richard Harrison. Only Jess Franco could mess up an all-star cast like that. CIA agent Derrick Carpenter (Mitchum) heads to an unnamed Latin American country to take on big time drug dealer and former Castro buddy Luis Morel (Lee). Along the way, he unwittingly falls in love with Morel's naive daughter (Cristina Higueras) and keeps running into the wife (Lahaie) of his recently killed partner. All this mixes to create a movie that isn't too exciting.

Richard Harrison does his one minute at the beginning and 2 minutes at the end bit. He gets the best line though at the beginning. He is the head of the CIA and says to Mitchum's character, "I don't like you. You are a drunk and a womanizer. But we need you. You are the only one here who knows Spanish." There are a other few funny bits like when Mitchum and his girl head to a hospital to check out drug addicts. They wheel one body past the girl and she says, "Oh God! It is my best friend Maria!" (a character never mentioned before this point). Perhaps the funniest bit is a dinner scene that Franco decided to do with synch sound. No problem there except someone locked some dogs in adjacent room and they bark at all the wrong (right) moments. Hilarious. There is one big action scene at the end (relying heavily on stock footage) and it appears to have been edited by a blind man. But at least we get to see Christopher Lee get blow'd up (that should make Peter Jackson happy).

An undercover C. I. A. Agent , Derek Carpenter(Chris Mitchum), posing as a reporter , embarks on a dangerous journey to South America with a perilous mission: to dismantle a menacing drug syndicate led by a wealthy person, Luis Morel (the always great Christopher Lee). Along the way, our starring meets up with Moira (Brigitte Lahaie), a woman who wants vendetta on Morel for murdering her husband, and meanwhile he falls for Linda (Christina Higueras), Morell's daughter. Why and who brings cocaine into the United States?

A gripping but very mediocre action/adventure/thriller film, starring Chris Mitchum, Christopher Lee, Richard Harrison, and Cristina Higueras. This movie takes you on a roller-coaster ride of intrigue, tension and suspense. With a runtime of 1 hour and 25 minutes, Dark Mission: Flowers of Evil, promises an action-packed experience that will keep on the edge of your seat. However, it is a very weak and boring film that does not offer the promoted thriller that it advertises. That's why it contains ridiculousness , silliness and shabby action abound in this average/inferior B-movie. This is a typical Eurociné productions run by Daniel and Maroius Lesoeur, but with a with a little more money and more ambitious feeling. Maybe they had a richer financer in the background somewhere, who also demanded more for the money. But with the time and money Franco had, and an acceptable cast, he also delivers an passable , if a bit generic action drama with showy and colorful photography from the Spanish Mediterranean coasts. The only thing that stands out in the film is the appearance of three modern helicopters -which shows a certain amount of budget- doing aerial stunts and along with some scenes of shootings, chases and explosions.

It becomes an involving thriller-drama, at times, but here's really no depth in the story, but it's easy to see where Franco put his little talent: in the interrelation between the outlandish characters: between the demanding CIA chief Richard Harrison and Mitchum , the romance between Chris and Christina Higueras and the crosses and double-crosses that they intermingle. Stars Chris Mitchum who has a lot fun and energy playing a CIA agent disguised as a reporter who goes to South America to stop a drug syndicate. Christopher Mitchum is the second son of actor Robert Mitchum destined, like older brother James Mitchum, to follow in the footsteps of his famous dad. He auditioned for John Wayne and won a small role in the western Chisum (1970) as Billy the Kid's sidekick and Big Jake (1971). Duke introduced him to director Howard Hawks, who screen-tested Chris and gave him a starring roles in Hawks' last film, Rio Lobo (1970). But the films that followed, however, were of a lesser grade and quite violent in comparison to his father's sturdy work, with such obvious titles as Savage Harbor (1987), SFX Retaliator (1987), Aftershock (1990), Striking Point (1995) and Lycanthrope (1999). He was popular in such foreign market as Spain, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Phillipines, however, so he continued to churn out product there including Master Samurai (1974), Chinese Commandos (1975), American Commandos (1985) and Dendam Membara (1986). Being his most successful the following thrillers: The Summertime Killer (1972), Clockwork Terror (1973), The Mean machine (1974). In smaller parts we have Jesus Franco's regulars: Antonio Mayans, Daniel Katz, Carmen Carrión, Antonio Mayans and even Lina Romay as film editor, all doing functional jobs with the material they have.

The film feature was directed by prolific Spanish filmmaker Jesús Franco or Jess Frank or Uncle Jess. Most people agreed that some of Frank's work was passable, but most were botched films. Jess was a Stakhanovite and restless writer, producer and director who made more than 200 films. His career spanned more than 50 years with some successes and many failures, making all kinds of genres: thrillers, adventures, action and with a penchant for horror and erotica. Jesús used to sign under a pseudonym, among the aliases he used besides Jess Frank or Franco Manera, were the following: Frank Hollman, David Khune, James P. Johnson, David Though, Clifford Brown (with whom he signs this film), among others. Franco used to use his artisanal trademarks, such as: zooms, nudity, close-ups on objects, making films in the 'do it yourself' (DIY) style and managing to work extraordinarily quickly with very low budgets, as well as frequently releasing several titles at the same time. He was a prolific filmmaker, directing many terrible films. In his early days he soon applied all his knowledge and experience as an assistant director, musician, editor to his debut as a feature film director: We Are 18 Years Old (1959). His Succubus (1968) was nominated for the Berlin Film Festival, and this event gave him international reputation. His career became increasingly consolidated in the following years, and his inexhaustible creativity allowed him to tackle films of all genres, from B-series horror films to pure hardcore sex. However, he made some passable films, such as: The Terrible Dr. Orloff, The Bloody Judge, Count Dracula, 99 Women, The Blood of Fumanchu, Faceless and a few more. And many of them with very strong cuts and double versions. Score: 4.5/10. Inferior and below average exploitation film. Only for Jess Frank completists.

Spanish exploitation vet Jess Franco directed this tiresome action thriller about American secret agent searching for big time cocaine dealers in Cuba (or something). The film is an example for the Americanization of European B-cinema that started in the 80's - Dark Mission looks like an American TV movie and nothing else. There's nothing here that reminds of whatever talents Jess Franco once had. Even French actress Brigitte Lahaie looks surprisingly bad in this awful, uninspired yawnfest.

Chris Mitchum of Santa's summer house fame is a CIA operative that all the chicks in the movie thinks he's hot and either try to or end up banging him.. Christopher Lee is again channeling his fu Manchu to play the Cuban drug lord with a thick British accent! There's bad dialogue, goofy fights , explosions and a Reagan era anti drug message that would put saved by the bell to shame. But Chris Mitchum delivers his lines like he's getting paid in socks and underwear but if you love pre cgi b movies definitely check this one out on par with Terror in Beverly Hills American hunter Any jelel merhi film.