Synopsis
Nothing ever hit you like hammerhead
An American agent has tracked down the stronghold of an evil criminal mastermind, determined to take over the world (what, another one ?).
Hammerhead
1968 Directed by David Miller
Cast
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Original Writer
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Cinematography
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Sound
Makeup
Hairstyling
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Alternative Titles
Trafficanti del piacere, Portugál kémkaland, Tráfico ilegal, 槌头计划
Genre
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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USA
Releases by Country
USA
11 Sep 1968
- Theatrical
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Quentin Tarantino's Swinging Sixties: Film #5
(Sony Movie Channel UK)Hip enough for a James Bond ripoff, but it runs badly out of steam towards the end. Still fun though, as Judy Geeson and Beverly Adams are captivating belles, and Vince Edwards' perpetual stiffness provides some consistent comedy: even when surrounded by several tumescence-inducing lovelies, he remains determined to maintain an icy-cool demeanour.
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Middling Bond knock-off made by people who seem to realize they're working with substandard ingredients - so they up the ante on cheesecake, with a movie that's actually kind of sexy instead of being theoretically sexy like most of the Bond movies are. A few clever sequences aside (I especially liked the game of MacGuffin keepaway in the post office stockroom, ending with the object being tossed right to the bad guy, his confused reaction before dashing out of the room is priceless), this is pretty watered down stuff, though, with Vince Edwards in the lead coming off as a slice of bland American cheese compared to Connery's Bond, or any other Bond for that matter.
Title tune is for…
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This Bond rip-off has a 1960s-overload Carnaby Street vibe that's aware of the 60s’ follies to the point of satire.
Judy Gleeson, the real star of the show, is hip and groovy, constantly popping up in one fabulous icon outfit after another. Vince Edwards couldn’t not be squarer, dressed like a bus driver or Homer Simpson at work in short sleeve shirt and clip-on tie. Rather than play with the notion of this Eisenhower 1950s spy caught in a 60s Happening, Vince Edwards seems to in a different movie.
The Bond books and movies typically are only as strong as their villains. Hammerhead is a missed opportunity Peter Vaughan is excellent as the erotica-obsesses aesthete, but there’s not enough of…
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David Miller’s thriller in which a U.S. agent is called in to defeat a criminal mastermind’s plan to steal NATO defence secrets. Starring Vince Edwards, Judy Geeson, Peter Vaughan and Diana Dors.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by James Mayo, which was published four years earlier, the story concerns a U.S. secret agent (Vince Edwards) who aims to stop a convict expert (Peter Vaughan) who is pursuing antique erotica and NATO defence enigmas.
Vince Edwards gives an okay performance in his role as the agent who doesn’t show a huge amount of determination in terms of trying to stop the criminal mastermind, while Peter Vaughan is alright in his part as the criminal man who isn’t a…
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The Hammerhead of the title is a character dealing in atomic (naturally) secrets, with a taste for what the film calls pornography, but which we would call erotica given the age of the items in question. It's an angle that allows American spy Charles Hood, working for the British, to get close with a view to thwarting him.
The film comes courtesy of producer Irving Allen who was also responsible for the Matt Helm movies and this one is more in the vein of the Dean Martin starrers than the Bond films, much lighter, filled with familiar faces from Britcoms, and certainly nowhere near as violent, Hood doesn't even carry a gun. And it's all very groovy, everywhere the action…
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'Hammerhead.' Where to start? How about the before the beginning? (note that some of this doesn't have much to do with the film, so skip ahead if you want)
In 1964, the novel 'Hammerhead' (the first in a series) was published to cash in on the success of the *film* versions of James Bond vehicles 'Dr No' (1962) and 'From Russia with Love' (1963). Meanwhile, in 1966, a slightly earlier series of *books* (the Matt Helm series) reached the big screen as 'The Silencers,' produced by one Irving Allen (who is not, sadly, disaster specialist IrWIN Allen). 'The Silencers' (which I've not seen, mind) is apparently more comedic than the Bond films, and Allen (an ex-partner of amusingly named Bond…
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See The Wrecking Crew. Even worse choice of lead. Couple goofs (a guy has his hand massacred repeatedly by a car door, then a second later uses said hand to grab the lead; lead's hilarious cinema-enforced slow-doubling around said car to the driver's side). Strong supporting cast (you can't go wrong with Bates & Cargill) and direction (the directional edited movements through Portugal locations is something I could watch all day). A weird scene or too (that "louder" scene). Some laughable 60s groovy youth depictions (the finale set-piece is like letting young people loose in a studio wardrobe with hallucinogenic samples). Some deliciously nasty kills, particularly the final one.
There is no getting around that lead performance, and his wardrobing and sound does him no favors. He looks part mafia heavy and part your little brother's useless but cute friend. Ah well.
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15 of 16 Movie Nights/might as well watch this also before it goes off streaming this month since I already blew up the order
I really enjoyed all the elements that went into this but somehow it never fully baked. Not that it mattered that much since at best it was a copy of a copy of a copy but it’s hard not to get a kick out of some very very British agents trying to take down a sadistic super villain with a mania for erotica and the dunderhead American being used as the tool to do it while ah jeezing his way through Swinging Europe Freak Culture. I enjoyed most of the American teasing but I’m still not sure why we can’t even have an opinion(even a bad one)about tea?
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This one starts with a knockout Grand Guignol hippy art happening and ends with a sweet hippy beach party but unfortunately there is an entire movie in between.
This was recommended by Quentin Tarantino — I’m starting to suspect that he likes some pretty crappy movies.
That said, I am a sucker for a 1960s super spy 007 knockoff… and I usually am suckered by them. Still, decent fight scenes in this though, weirdly, the extended chase at the end is the slowest, most boring part of the picture. The writing is bad too.
Vince Edwards was a decent actor and a champion athlete but his NYC Italian street smarts make him all wrong for the part of a spy…
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Rip Veronica Carlson. This is the 11th film of hers that I have seen. She only had one line of dialogue in this movie. It was a ripping yarn and it was overlong for what it was.