Corrida pour un espion

This is one of those many Bondesque ersatz which Europa made by the dozen after Sean Connery hit the big time on the planet.There was OSS 117,Coplan ,and a lot of others.

It would be unfair,though,to write that Maurice Labro jumped on the bandwagon:he made a Coplan movie in the fifties ("Action Immédiate" ) and another one in 1964,the same year as "Goldfinger".

This one takes place in Spain and is ,like the sub-Bond flicks ,terribly dated.The Russians are the villains,period.Whereas the hero is loyal ,witty (would be witty more like) ,and almost invincible (in a fight against three bulldozers ,he wins hands down),the Soviets are treacherous,they do very nasty things such as brainwashing,which makes some of the final scenes sound like a poor man's "Manchurian candidate" .As the traitor goes on repeating "I saw the light! I believe in socialism!" there's a strong anti-commie feel .Virgin Mary is more reliable though (particularly La Maquarena) Like in many spy thrillers of the era,the cast is international:the "Larson girls" are French (Pascale Petit ,whose career was on the wane at the time)and Spanish, the hero's pal is French (Roger Hanin) and the hateful aliens are often German (Horst Frank,who was almost always cast as a villain ,cause he really looked the part) Those who feel nostalgic for the spy thrillers of the sixties can have a look.It's harmless.