Hammerhead

While I have not seen the Hammerhead movie, I do have the soundtrack album.

I ended up ordering it by mistake about 25 years ago, and when I got it, I opened it anyway as I collect soundtracks, and had never heard of the movie Hammerhead.

There is a catchy theme song, and some cool chase music, as well as other tunes, and even a Hammerhead 'concerto' on the record.

If this movie ever comes out on video, I would like to see it in order to associate the music with the scenes.

The music is typical of the 60s and is very light-hearted and fun to listen to.

I saw this when I was in the ARMY, a BIG waste of time what's worst the The Projectionist must have missed a reel as 1 could see it just didn't fit

Zany spy caper with an American James Bond and an assortment of British b-movie stars.

It's bookended by two crazy freak out style montages of hippie youths doing dangerous antisocial things like dancing and taking off their clothes which the cops put a stop to, but it neatly introduces Judy Geeson who repeatedly shows up in each change of location so often I was convinced she would be revealed as some sort of British intelligence operative masquerading as a nymphomaniacal socialite junkie, stealing every scene she's in by giggling and pouting. Her omnipresence is so remarkable she is the mugaffin.

The rest of it was something about missiles and piano recitals and scenes of torture, the victim of which gets moved around almost as often as Judy Geeson but happily delivers his expository dialogue before expiring giving necessary depth to the hapless stooge before killing off everyone else without worrying about the ethical quandary.

Sadly it's neither funny enough to be a spoof nor serious enough to be a thriller. The violence/ action scenes are a bit unnecessary and the diabolical masterplan seems too fantastic and risky to be plausible. Happily there was no secret underground lair but there were henchmen wearing stripy T-shirts.

A host of familiar faces play small roles including David Prowse, Diana Dors, Kenneth Cope and Veronica Carlson and there's a bit of humour involving a hearse chase but like the diegetic theme song which appears at least 3 times including the hippy dance at the end, it's highly derivative and repetitive. Our man Hood in one scene names the artists of various paintings to demonstrate his cultivation; but does it so many times in succession the he ceases to resemble a gentleman and turns into a tour guide.

Like the crazy kid/ stoner at the end, lowering his caged self into the bay water while everyone dances; it all seems kind of random, dangerous and stupid and someone really should put a stop to it.

Hammerhead is a strange mixture, blending a determination to be bang up-to-the-minute with the trends of 1967/68 with a routine espionage story. A series of bizarre 'Happenings' and weird performance art, together with Judy Geeson's groovy young thing, the latter the highlight of the movie for me, hardly fail to disguise the kind of plot that had been churned out ad infinitum on TV. Vince Edwards is perhaps best described as adequate in the lead; he's OK but not particularly memorable. Peter Vaughan was born to play a super-villain, but his Hammerhead must have been on the screen for all of ten minutes. He doesn't even get to fight the hero and his demise is pretty nondescript. Neither William Mervyn nor Patrick Cargill, excellent character players both, are seen at their best, though Diana Dors is in her element as the proprietor of a dubious nightclub. The finale with Michael Bates in a dual role tends to drag on.

Like the first commenter, I discovered "Hammerhead" via the score LP in the 1970s. CBS-TV in the US used to show a heavily-edited version regularly; later, an uncut print was seen locally. (It was also spotted on cable during the 1980s.) It's a neat movie, with some good chase scenes (one involving a large hearse). The "Chelsea Happening" music accompanies an interesting performance-art show that was typical of the era. Judy Geeson's character manages to be both kooky and sexy as she and Vince Edwards scoot all over Europe in search of Hammerhead.

Note: the music on the LP is a different recording from that in the movie; the arrangements are, however, pretty much identical. The score rather predictably conforms to visual action: for example, those five rhythmic "hits" near the end of "Villa Fight" are cut to Charles Hood slamming a car door on someone's hand! This actually bolsters the charm of this picture.

Any chance to see "Hammerhead" should be seized upon!!