Bullet Points: Deadlier Than the Male
I can never get enough James Bond movies and James Bond clone movies. And by that I mean there is no way I have time to watch all the different options. That doesn’t stop me from trying. You know James Bond is a successful movie franchise when they take a literary character that predated Bond and turn it into a 007 clone. In this case we see the Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond character by Sapper (pen name of H.C. McNeile) turned into two 1960s movies borrowing heavily from Bond. The first being Deadlier Than the Male.
- Imagine If You Can – … a James Bond movie that is hornier and more British and you will get the gist of Deadlier Than the Male. Just don’t expect the extra horny levels coming from Hugh Drummond (Richard Johnson) who sadly never is called Bulldog in the movie. I don’t want you to think that Drummond isn’t horny, he just seems tame compared to everyone else in the movie. I also don’t want you to think everyone being horny is a bad thing. The extra-primo Britishness on the other hand…
- Nothing’s Changed – Hugh Drummond may not be a spy, but he is involved with an insurance company that works for big oil. Just like today, oil companies probably have too much power and in Deadlier Than the Male there is murder involved to help companies get oil rights. The main bad guy is a twist until the end so I won’t spoil that but rest assured he is world domination wanting levels of bad guy. I applaud his use of an all female assassination squad with representation from all over the globe. The two main women we see are Irma Eckman (Elke Sommer) and Penelope (Sylva Koscinsa). Just so you know, the title doesn’t lie, they are the deadliest duo in the movie regardless of sex.
- Dumb American – Drummond has an American nephew, Robert (Steve Carlson) and is portrayed as a horndog bumpkin compared to his sophisticated stiff upper lip uncle. I can’t help but root for him the most because 1) he is American and 2) he is not stupid because a major plot point of the movie involves his former classmate at Princeton (and you need to be s-m-r-t, I mean s-m-a-r-t to get into Princeton). FYI, the former classmate that happens to be the King of a made up oil rich country.
- World’s Most Dangerous Car Parks – I may prefer the term parking garage over car park, but I am glad that even in London there is still shit that goes down when people try to park their cars. I have to give extra points for having a 1955 Bentley S1 Continental.. The action overall is a good time in Deadlier Than the Male starting from the cold opening that features an exploding cigar, parachute jump from an airplane and a big ol’ exploding jet airliner. The exploding cigar was so popular it shows up multiple times and edges out the poison ring as the best deadly weapon in the movie.
- Checkmate – All the action and gadgets were pretty fun, until I saw the main bad guy’s castle. He has a chess board with human sized chess pieces that are voice controlled. It must have been pretty awesome to see in 1967 and let me tell you it is just as awesome in whatever year you are reading this. The chess game was tense enough but when a fight broke out it stole the show. And Deadlier Than the Male is a show that has deadly women in bikinis and a hilariously hair raising explosive ending.
Deadlier Than the Male is a great example of taking a popular character and turning him into another character. All that is needed is some fun action, plenty of witty retorts, beautiful people and scenery and you have a James Bondesque movie. I didn’t even mention the music that is a dead ringer for any of the 1960s James Bond movies. It gets my highest auditory rating. Don’t expect high brow cinema, or a story with contemporary sensibilities, but come into Deadlier Than the Male looking for a good time and you should be entertained. Take a look at the Deadlier Than the Male Bonus Bullet Points if you already can’t get enough..
- Familiar Bond Faces – I recognized Chang (Milton Reid) from The Spy Who Loved Me, and I loved how Drummond constantly made fun of the one male goon. Virginia North played Brenda, her first role, but I remember her from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
- Is This Where He Got That Quote From? – “You always did have the morals of an alley cat.”
- Still Don’t Believe It Is A James Bond Clone? – Deadlier Than the Male was filmed at Pinewood Studios. It doesn’t get more James Bond than Pinewood Studios.
