The Liquidator

One reviewer here wrote that this film was a poor excursion for the lead actor, Rod Taylor. I do honestly believe it to be one of his best comedy outings in his career. True, the film does lag a bit about two thirds of the way through, but its premise is solid.

One simply has to regard the film in the light of the the times it represents; which is the social environment of the late 1940's to the mid 1970's when the Cold War eventually ended. And one has to have some sense of how the Cold War era was, in itself, an exercise in the futility of bringing a major war to an end on a slow boil.

Therefore, I regard such claims as it not being humorous, or a lame attempt at such, being the inability of someone too young to have experienced the times.

Keep in mind that my generation (born in 1939) participated in 'take-cover' drills in our elementary classrooms, as serious protection from a nuclear bomb blast.

When given the signal, we kids were instructed to dive under our classroom desks, and to cover our heads with our hands until the all clear was given.

In reality, if the bomb was indeed dropped anywhere nearby, all 'take -cover would have accomplished was to yield - all gone! Yes, it was taken seriously by just about everyone.

Knowing this, it is easily understood why actual spy agencies on our side, and behind the Iron Curtain countries actually generated such extremes as history reveals of this era - as serious exercises.

Knowing this, simply sit back, relax your serious muscles, expose your humor muscles and enjoy this delightful film in the vein it was intended.

"The Liquidator" was such an amusing film. I loved the fact that Shirley Bassey sang the theme song a la James Bond. It was great to see a spy whose hormones were far more potent than his efforts with a gun. A particularly funny part occurs when Trevor Howard is rescued by Boysie, as Paris is being liberated. Howard thinks that Boysie is a killing machine when, in fact, he is a hopelessly clumsy young man. Rod Taylor is deliciously sexy in the film and displays his flair for comedy.

Rod Taylor is "The Liquidator" -- well, his superiors think he is, anyway -- in this 1965 spoof of the spy genre, directed by Jack Cardiff.

The '60s was certainly an interesting time for films - spy films, spoofs of spy films, caper films, big historical films, and sex comedies. Here we have a spoof of the James Bond films, with Rod Taylor playing Boys Oaks, a war acquaintance of Colonel Mostyn (Trevor Howard). The British Security Services is frustrated and embarrassed as they have a number of spies in their midst. It's time to liquidate them, so The Chief (Wilfrid Hyde-White) orders Mostyn to find someone.

Mostyn remembers Boys and his impressive actions during the war and drafts him. Of course, he doesn't exactly tell Boys what he wants. He offers him a gorgeous apartment, beautiful women who hang around, a nice car, and after Boys signs his life away, Mostyn drops the bomb. Boys tries but he fails in his first assignment and instead saves the subject from the train tracks he was just about to throw her onto. The other thing is all the travel - Boys really doesn't like to travel. So Boyd has to come up with a solution or lose the perks.

I thought this was an okay comedy, nothing special. Jill St. John plays Mostyn's beautiful, sexy secretary, Wilfrid Hyde-White plays the bureau chief; the film also features Akim Tamiroff. There are some funny moments and I like the premise. Entertaining.

MASTER PLAN: Assassinations. More assassinations. There was only one Liquidator film, unlike the duo of 'Flint' films and the Matt Helm film series, but it preceded both of them in jumping on the super spy spoof trend of the sixties - a trend instigated by none other than James Bond. This one even has the familiar teaser, a quirky origin skit for the hero, followed by a bombastic song over the titles which is quite evocative of the standard Bond style - and well it should be, for the song is belted out by Shirley Bassey, she who did sing the famous "Goldfinger" song. The plot sort of re-imagines the way Bond might have started in the spy/license-to-kill business: the title character (Taylor) sort of stumbles into the killing trade at the end of the war (the Big One, in Paris), making a long-lasting impression on his future boss (Howard). Despite this supervisor's long experience in espionage, reading people and so on, his assessment of the soldier, womanizing Boysie, is completely off-base. He's convinced that the man is a killing machine when, in fact, the soon-to-be code-named L hates even the thought of killing anyone. The whole thing's a more direct satirical jab at the secret agent genre than the later spoofs because the central 'hero' is a total fraud, unlike, say, Matt Helm, who may indulge in too much booze, but can still kill effectively and even effortlessly. Unfortunately for the relatively harmless Boysie/soon-to-be-known-as-L, the head of British Intelligence, years later, abruptly decides on a new policy: dispense with the standard bureaucracy and simply eliminate enemies of the state (Queen & Country) behind-the-scenes, without the usual rules. Such a new radical procedure needs the skills of a particular individual, someone in the blunt instrument/James Bond-mold. They couldn't have selected a more inappropriate fellow.

Now, the actor Rod Taylor is actually better suited for straight action roles; he comes across as genuinely rough-&-tumble and I remember him from quite a few effective tough-guy roles in the sixties. Even here, though he's a nice, inoffensive guy, he can still beat up bad guys if he has to. But, he also projects a likable if slightly-dopey persona and you find yourself buying into this clumsy, somewhat goofy character he creates here. After the groundwork is laid out, as far the hero's new digs and requisite, if brief, training, the story really diverts into outrageous territory when the supposedly lethal L gets the idea to subcontract his assignments to a real assassin (who doesn't look nearly as heroic). Though this may be a sly commentary on the overly-involved nature of shadow operations in government, the story also slows down to a crawl, with much of the focus on L's attempts to make time with his boss's secretary (Jill St.John). Things pick up when the new couple go away to Monte Carlo for R&R and still get involved in spy intrigue. There's an amusing sequence after L is captured & locked up, and then the villains are forced to let him escape, but one of the henchmen isn't in on this change of plan. The comedy is also gallows in nature, pretty dark, since intense espionage usually involves death. The climactic action also features a revelation about who a criminal mastermind really is, though the finale also lacks any grand set-pieces, further diverting from the expected over-the-top fantastic endings of such thrillers. I admit I was disappointed when I saw this many years ago, probably because it was such a sharp deviation from an expected formula, but this film has grown on me and I thoroughly enjoy much of it now, mostly Taylor's and Howard's performances, as well as Tomlinson as a sneaky villain. Hero:8 Villain:7 Femme Fatales:6 Henchmen:7 Fights:6 Stunts/Chases:6 Gadgets:4 Auto:6 Locations:6 Pace:6 overall:6+

Tanker Sergeant Boysie Oakes (Rod Taylor) trips and shoots two men trying to kill British Intelligence officer Mostyn (Trevor Howard) in WWII Paris. Mostyn assumes that Boysie is a skilled killer. Some two decades later, British intelligence is struggling with a media leaker. The Chief orders Mostyn to recruit an outside assassin to eliminate the leak. Mostyn lures Oakes into the job. The non-killer Oakes is stuck as Agent L, The Liquidator. Iris MacIntosh (Jill St. John) is Mostyn's secretary.

This really needs to try harder to be a spoof of Bond rather than being a lesser Bond. Rod Taylor is wrong for the part. He's too much the Bond type. They need an overweight bumbling fool comedian. The concept has that potential. This is just wrong-headed.