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Lucky, el Intrépido
Lucky, the Inscrutable
Agente Speciale L.K.: Operacione Re Mida / Lucky M. füllt alle Särge / Unternehmen Midas
Spain/Italy/West Germany 1967
produced by José Luis Jerez Aloza, Luis Méndez (executive), José Frade (executive) for Fono Roma, Explorer Film '58, Atlántida Film, Dauro Film
directed by Jess Franco
starring Ray Danton, Barbara Bold, Dante Posani, Dieter Eppler, María Luisa Ponte, Rosalba Neri, Beba Lincar, Teresa Gimpera, Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui, Jess Franco, Cándida Losada, Héctor Quiroga, Vicente Roca, Luisa Sala, Patty Shepard, Manuel Vida
story by José Luis Martínez Mollá, Julio Buchs, screenplay by José Luis Martínez Mollá, Julio Buchs, Remigio Del Grosso, Jess Franco, music by Bruno Nicolai
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Related stuff you might want!!!(commissions earned) |
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At a masque, Lucky the Inscrutable (Ray Danton) is hired to retrieve a
100 Dollar printing plate from whoever has stolen it by an organisation
called Archangel. He knows the job is really important by the fact that
the woman (Teresa Gimpera) who has hired him is killed shortly afterwards.
The trail leads Lucky first to Rome, where he picks up a new sidekick,
Michele (Dante Posani), then to Albania, where he and Michele are captured
but he wins their freedom back by seducing the female head of security.
It's on to an island paradise in the Caribbean, where Lucky and Michele
hook up with a nightclub owner (Maria Luisa Ponte), who Lucky knows is
involved with the real baddie of the piece (and who's of course killed as
well soon enough). The real baddie of the piece, Goldglasses, kidnaps
Michele soon enough to lure Lucky into a trap. Lucky however is quick to
get himself a new sidekick, a gorgeous blonde, and the two walk into the
trap open-eyed. Goldglasses wants to kill Lucky of course, but not without
gloating first, and during a tour of Goldglasses moneyforging operation,
Lucky manages to win the upper hand and destroy the whole outfit and kill
Goldglasses, while making an escape with Michele, the blonde and the
printing plates. Ultimately though, both Michele and the blonde - who's
actually a Nazi transvestite (!) - turn against Lucky, as does an
Archangel agent ... and the whole thing ends in an explosion - because the
producers couldn't afford any more action setpieces (yup, that's the
actual on-screen excuse given for the sudden ending). Now I
don't for one minute claim that Lucky, the Inscrutable is one of
the best or most elaborate James
Bond-clones - but maybe one of the funniest: Point is, the
film doesn't take itself wholly seriously (a mistake many James
Bond-clones made in the 1960's), sometimes to an extent that
it even breaks the fourth wall to the audience for a punchline, but at the
same time it's well-paced, its directorial effort is far quirkier than
with most other genre fare, its many references to photo novels and
comicbooks are nothing short of endearing, and director Jess Franco brings
a personal note to the story - and not just in the nightclub episodes -
that for a change not overshadows the movie as a whole. No masterpiece,
maybe, but pretty cool, actually!
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