Kommissar X - Jagd auf Unbekannt

Exciting Euro Spy thriller even if you're not sure what it's all about. A couple of underworld figures get blown up by a rival named Oberon ostensibly to eliminate them from getting a cut in a big deal he is cooking up. He instructs his right hand gal, Maria Perschy, to contact Jo Walker who's on holiday in the area. She puts Walker on retainer to find a nuclear physicist (they were popular victims and hostages in the 60s) and gives him dancer Lilane Dulovic as a lead. Following a somewhat romantic visit with Jo, she is murdered during a performance and that gets Jo reunited with old friend and fellow crime-fighter Captain Tom who is called into the case. The movie then trends in a direction reminiscent of Goldfinger. There's some great vintage cars (Jo's Porsche Speedster for one), scantily clad gals, good cinematography, and Bond-like action (Not to mention the theme song which gets replayed several times). The plot itself is fairly amorphous but who cares. It's a lot of fun especially if you like these 60's Euro spy flicks.

The first in a series of German imitation-Bond films made in the mid-60's, "Kiss Kiss Kill Kill" (now there's a catchy and descriptive title for you!) is rather confusing and meandering in its first half, and at least on the first viewing some plot details are not clear at all. It improves in the second half, when most of the action gets confined inside the villain's underground headquarters located on a remote island, and on the whole it ranks as one of the most enjoyable Bond knockoffs of its time. The basic model here is clearly "Goldfinger", from the playfight between the hero (Tony Kendall, looking a bit like Connery) and a Pussy Galore-type tough "bad" girl who knows judo and leads a female army (though here they are brainwashed via injections), but can't resist him and turns "good", to the more serious fight between the hero and the No. 1 henchman while the clock to an explosion is ticking. "Kiss Kiss Kill Kill" obviously does not have the budget of the James Bond films, but it does have its own charm, and there is a spectacular shot near the end when the camera stays focused on an explosion until the "cloud" completely dissolves. Maria Perschy is beautiful. The English dubbing is excellent. (**1/2)

I started out thinking that this was going to be yet another poorly- executed Bond clone. But once the movie got rolling, it turned out to be a lot of fun.

The two lead characters are both cool and charismatic in their own ways. There's a neat 'buddy-cop' vibe happening here; for the most part -- they're opposites. Tony Kendall's character Jo Walker resembles George Clooney (or maybe George Clooney resembles him) and Brad Harris' Tom Randall almost looks like a classic Bond villain's henchman. Of course, in these movies, he's one of the good guys.

There were moments during this film that I couldn't help but think of Cowboy Bebop for some reason.

Things progress at a good pace. There are plenty of the usual Bond tropes, including scorchingly hot girls, great locations, fast cars, witty dialog, close calls, a classic bad guy (complete with henchman, uber-lair, and nifty hardware), a catchy tune, descent cinematography, and surprisingly good fight scenes.

In short, it was better than expected and features a great dynamic between characters.

Certainly worth a look.

"Kiss Kiss...Kill Kill" (1966) was only the beginning of a popular Eurospy series teaming Tony Kendall and Brad Harris, but remained the only one to air on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, on November 11 1967, paired with second feature "Panic in Year Zero." Accurately described as a knockoff of "Goldfinger," with the female lead in the more than capable hands of Austrian-born beauty Maria Perschy, whose vast genre credits include "The Mad Executioners," "No Survivors, Please," "A Witch Without a Broom," "Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Ghost Galleon," plus one film with Peter Cushing ("Battleflag"), two with Christopher Lee ("Five Golden Dragons" and "The Castle of Fu Manchu"), plus four with Paul Naschy ("The Hunchback of the Morgue," "House of Psychotic Women," "Exorcismo," and "The People Who Own the Dark"). German-born blonde knockout Christa Linder (Miss Austria 1962) did one of the sequels, but worked a great deal in Mexico, with the distinction of appearing in Boris Karloff's final feature film, 1968's "Incredible Invasion." Tony Kendall started out in Mario Bava's "The Whip and the Body" (1963), and later appeared in a pair of horrors from Amando De Ossorio, "Return of the Evil Dead" and "When the Screaming Stops," while Idaho-born Brad Harris, a veteran of Italy's peplum films, went on to do titles such as "King of Kong Island," "The Mad Butcher," "The Mutations," and "Lady Dracula."

This is the first Jo Walker (also called 'Kommissar X') film from Germany--a land that seemed to adore adventure series books and films in the 1960s. First they started with the Jerry Cotton films- -about an FBI agent from had fists like steel and always seemed to triumph against the forces of evil in America. Then, short after, they made seven of the Jo Walker flicks.

In this first picture, Jo and his friend, the Captain, investigate some murders that point to a weirdo named Oberon. Oberon is basically a knockoff of Goldfinger, as his ultimate plan is to irradiate gold...and he has a formula to remove the radiation as well...making him a very rich man. He has an army of women who sport purple or yellow hair and Jo seems more than over-matched by these Amazons. But of course, he has his secret weapon...his astounding sex appeal!!

In some ways this film is like "Goldfinger" and an Austin Powers or Matt Helm film merged together. It obviously doesn't take itself all too seriously...and in that sense it's much different than the Jerry Cotton movies. It also features a larger budget and settings...making it look more like a Bond film. As for me, I actually prefer the Cotton films as they valued realism...and this Jo Walker certainly did not! Very much like a second-rate Bond parody...but a decent Bond parody.