Espionage in Tangiers (1965) User Reviews

Spy Tracks Down Disintegrating Ray

[boblipton · 5/10 · 17 March 2021]

When a gang of crooks steal a disintegrating ray gun -- unlike the cartoons, it disintegrates what it's aimed at, not itself -- the authorities call in the right man for the job: a handsome man who has lots of sex with the ladies and drives a nice sports car, Luis Dávila.

This Italian-French co-production has a lot of bad stuntwork, although the tyically distracting dubbing may well have some effect on my reaction. There are lots of pretty girls -- including one of the lead villains -- some decent camerawork by Alvaro Mancori and Rafael Pacheco, and a certain amount of slapping around and torture by all hands. Not as elaborate or, really, as funny as the James Bond stuff, it has a lot of energy.

FAST PACED AND EXITING EURO-SPY TRILLER

[larryanderson · 6/10 · 10 April 2020]

The story is worn out, about a super weapon falling into the wrong hands, and the super agent who sent to get it back. Luis Davila makes a good agent and is backed by several beauties lead by Jose Greci. After the WEAPON is stolen, Mike Murphy travels around the Mediterranean trying to get it back. He always manages to get caught and tied up by the baddies. When he escapes, he just gets caught again, and again. Finally he follows them to their mountain hide-out and gets the weapon only to have it fall into the sea and be destroyed. It was all for the best and the safety of the world. In order to access the hide-out they all have to climb a ROPE LADDER hanging from the top of a cliff. You gotta be in shape or you will never get there. The movie is still better than most Euro-Spy entries. Good solid entertainment. Mike Murphy rents a 1958 Cadillac and is in a car chase on windy mountain roads. That car is the biggest thing you can image, A totally POOR choice for that kind of terrain.

Superficial Sci-fi Actioneer with Spies

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 15 February 2022]

Writer & director Gregg G. Tallas' fast-moving but frivolous "Espionage in Tangiers" combines violence with wisecracking humor as our hero clashes with the villains over a gun that emits a deadly, disintegrating ray. A brain trust of scientists led by Professor Greff (Tomás Blanco of "The Castilian") create this weapon in their lab and test it on a car left parked in an alley just outside the lab. The automobile disappears without a trace when the professor aims its destructive ray at it. Tallas and a quintet of co-scenarists Herbert Curiel, José Luis Martínez Mollá, Bautista Lacasa, Remigio Del Grosso, José Luis Jerez Aloza concocted this convoluted thriller that combines sci-fi action with international intrigue. As for espionage, the film has nothing to do with either America or the Soviet Union. Mind you, there is no shortage of action with careening car chases and hard-hitting fisticuffs as our stalwart hero, Mike Murphy, Agent 077 (Luis Dávila of "Dynamite Jim") contends both with vile villains and lovely ladies to recover the weapon. Predictably, Professor Greff's ray gun is a doomsday weapon that if used responsibly could maintain the status quo forever until somebody perfected an alternative. Basically, this 96-minute spy thriller unfolds like a chase. Of course, it isn't all fun and games for Murphy. He finds himself trapped in a room that fills with water and the suspense builds as the water reaches his armpits, but the villains refuse to kill him because he is worth more to them alive than dead. At one point, Murphy turns the tables on one of the villains and uses a blow torch to curl his toes for information. The ending is a complete letdown because the professor falls overboard during a fight on a yacht with our hero and takes his marvelous weapon to the bottom. The dire lack of exposition with regard to the fabled ray gun and its strengths and weaknesses is a flaw in an otherwise action-packed epic shot largely on location in real buildings, rooms, and boats. There is no nudity, but José Greci and Perla Cristal are a treat for the eyes. Benedetto Ghiglia's orchestral soundtrack mixes up jazz with contemporary music. Actually, Tallas could have made a sequel after the mad scientist falls overboard with the weapon. The fight scenes are done with a modicum of flair.

Likable flick with a classic non-ending

[vjetorix · 5 February 2003]

This short film, the English-dubbed print only runs about an hour, is by-the-numbers spy stuff but it is never boring. It doesn't have time to be! Luis Davila (Ypotron, Make Your Bets Ladies, The Viscount) is agent Mike Murphy (for us English speakers) and he's after a ray gun that completely disintegrates whatever gets in the way of its blue beam.

The ratio of action per minute is way up there. Four people are killed in the first five minutes! The last of these is unfortunate enough to have his head caught in a car window and is then dragged down the street! There are plenty of fights (contrary to the short blurb on the back of SWV's tape box, the fights are actually pretty well staged and exciting), car chases, gun battles, torture, and people getting slapped around.

You could actually do a lot worse than this little adventure, believe me. Director Gregg Tallas (Assignment Skybolt) has made a pretty fun no-budget thriller that falls into the so-bad-it's-good category.

Good jazz and fake Bond

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 2 April 2020]

Mike Murphy is Agent S 077, which has absolutely nothing to do with Bond. But you know what's great about this movie? It's directed by Greg Tallas, who would someday make The Nightmare Never Ends, which was then edited into Night Train to Terror.

That fact is more interesting than this movie.

Jose Greci, who was the Virgin Mary in Ben-Hur, shows up here in one of her many Eurospy roles (she's also in Operation Poker, Last Man to Kill and Special Code: Assignment Lost Formula). And hey! It's Perla Cristal from The Corruption of Chris Miller, Naschy's The Fury of the Wolfman and Franco's The Awful Dr. Orloff!

In Europe, this was known as Marc Mato, agente S. 077 and it was a big success. Time has not been kind to this film, however. There's a laser beam, as there usually is, but I've never seen a movie where the hero is saved from a bullet to the chest because that's where he carries his Bible.

One-time Bond George Lazenby in 60's Bond spoof

[prince_baron_007 · 10/10 · 21 November 2003]

This is an entertaining and amusing Bond rip-off from the 60's. The characters are laughable and the plot is like something out of an Austin Powers movie. And just when you think this old 60's Bond spoof can't get any more hilarious, along comes George Lazenby in the film. This is one of the classic Bond spoofs without a doubt.

Primo Bond rip-off

[JohnSeal · 16 January 2000]

This is a wonderful example of the Super Spy genre, where a secret agent must reclaim a dangerous 'invisibility ray' from a gang of criminal masterminds. Everything you want is here: beautiful Continental women, outrageous cars, spy gadgets, and fistfights galore (not to mention a rather uncomfortable looking belt tightening sequence). Films like this were once staples of late night TV, and now thanks to AMC's more adventurous programming policy we can see them again, widescreen to boot. Recommended.

So this is what Bond star George Lazenby did before he was 007.

[pierce_brosnan_o_o_7 · 10/10 · 11 August 2003]

Wow, interesting, an Italian made Bond-rip-off, made around the Goldfinger/Thunderball Bond mania days. This spy film is certainly one of the best of all of the Bond spy rip-offs made in the 60's, maybe the best.

It is one of the ones you should see if you like those types of films, if for nothing more than it features former James Bond star George Lazenby in a small role before he became Bond.

Fun For Lovers of 60s Kitsch and Euro-Spy Antics

[zardoz74_2000 · 13 February 2007]

The uncut version of Espionage In Tangiers is now available as part of Dark Sky Films' Drive-In Double Feature series. Coupled with Assassination In Rome, which stars Cyd Charisse (!) and Hugh O' Brien, these two unpretentious, old-fashioned flicks make for an entertaining double bill of 60s kitsch. Espionage is a Bond-influenced, convoluted, low-rent Euro-spy pot boiler, while Asassination is more in the spirit of Charade, although it's more of a mystery/thriller than a caper.

Espionage is surprisingly violent; the producers clearly embraced the amorality, casual sadism and misogyny of the early Connery Bonds but failed to grasp the wit of the 007 movies (Mark Murphy, "Agent 077," our "hero," thinks it's funny to throw a knife into the throat of a would-be assassin, for example). The film has its slow moments but there's a constant flow of fights involving groin kicking, throat chopping, and even a torture scene Jack Bauer would approve of, all set to a groovy jazz soundtrack. All in all, not a bad way to spend 90 minutes -- especially as the two-film disc comes with drive-in material including concession ads for hot dogs and pizza and two sets of trailers of coming attractions.

Assassination In Rome is a much slower film, but is superbly shot.

Thanks to Dark Sky, who are consistently delivering when it comes to restored, remastered editions of old B movies (e.g. their recent release of Slaughter of the Vampires), both films look and sound better than a pair of obscure 42 year-old flicks deserve.

Solid Euro spy but the plot is all over the place.

[elliotjames2 · 8/10 · 29 March 2022]

Argentinian star Luis Davila wears the Euro spy suit well, has some funny quips and has a bunch of hotties who'd love to kill him and kill to love him, Jose Greci and Perla Cristal. He repeatedly slaps good bad girl Greci in the face around the bedroom before screwing her in a scene no one would film these woke days. The disintegration gun routine was also used in From The Orient With Fury with spy movie regular Ken "077" Clark. The print I watched recently was streamed on Tub and is in great shape. The quality of the euro spy movies uploaded on Youtube is the worst garbage imaginable.