The opening credits of Spanish Fly promise "Leslie Phillips vs. Terry-Thomas", making this the British comic innuendo version of King Kong vs. Godzilla or Frankenstein vs. the Wolf Man, with the two masters of fnarr-fnarr lecherous English lounge lizardry pitted against each other. It's a sunstruck, terminally silly slice of fluff of the stripe that passed for a sex film in 1976 ("Go and butter yourself", someone says) but seems almost comically innocent these days. The sort of film that boasts special credits for women's fashions by Cornelia James and underwear by Janet Reger, it tells the story of a gap-toothed con man (Thomas) exiled to sunny Spain. He adds ground-up cantharides to undrinkable plonk to create a market for aphrodisiac wine, and impotent underwear tycoon (Phillips) benefits from the effects of the product as he gets to grips with four lovely models, until his wife (Sue Lloyd) shows up and a side-effect means he starts barking like a dog. The stars are game, but the material--from a story by producer Peter James, now a horror novelist--is skimpier than the starlets' bikinis and none of the pretty girls has any comic timing (though they all get topless scenes). Students of British pop culture will note the bizarre juxtaposition of hiring an uncredited Francis Matthews, the upright voice of Captain Scarlet, to dub the roles of a gay Spanish photographer and (for one bad gag) a disgusted dog. On the DVD: The picture is fullscreen. There are no extras.--Kim Newman
The Stud (1978): A waiter (Oliver Tobias) becomes manager of a hip discotheque by sleeping with his boss' insatiable wife (Joan Collins) but the life bores him and he returns to his East End roots... This look at the sexual cavortings of the super-rich revived Joan Collins' flagging career and paved the way for her success in the television series 'Dynasty'. The Bitch (1979): Joan Collins stars in the film version of her sister Jackie's novel about a rich woman who ha
The Stud: A waiter (Oliver Tobias) becomes manager of a hip discotheque by sleeping with his boss' insatiable wife (Joan Collins) but the life bores him and he returns to his East End roots. This look at the sexual cavortings of the super-rich revived Joan Collins' flagging career and paved the way for her success in television's 'Dynasty'. The Bitch: Joan Collins stars in the film version of her sister Jackie's novel about a rich woman who has an ill-advised affair with a young gangster wanted by the Mafia. 'The Bitch' (1978)is a sequel to 'The Stud' also from a Jackie Collins novel.
James Bond was not the only British secret agent who in the sixties made an impact on the film world. Harry Palmer, a creation of writer Len Deighton thriller, made his first appearance in this dark and thrilling espionage thriller. Palmer, cool and laconic played by Michael Caine, investigates the disappearance of some British nuclear scientists. The trail leads to a secret organization called Ipcress, the scholars who abduct and brainwash. Harry suspects that.
The tense spy thriller by Len Deighton that turned Michael Caine into a superstar! Cynical and rebellious ex-army sergeant Harry Palmer has been blackmailed into working for Britain's security service. Hot on the trail of a kidnapped scientist Palmer finds himself enmeshed in a sinister conspiracy involving horrifying brainwashing techniques murder and treachery that reaches up to the highest levels of the security service itself... Often hailed as Len Deighton's finest spy story
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy