ASSIGNMENT SKYBOLT (1967)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological*

I suppose it was a self-fulfilling conclusion that I should have a mild liking for ASSIGNMENT SKYBOLT once I finally viewed it. I'd just stated the previous week that since I disliked Gregg Tallas's other Eurospy movie, ESPIONAGE IN TANGIER, SKYBOLT would have to be an improvement over that 1965 patch of dullness, and so maybe I gave the later film a pass of sorts, just to justify my earlier statement.

Yet, even though SKYBOLT bears some broad similarities to TANGIER, the later film does have a few interesting touches. TANGIER was filmed mostly in Spain, but SKYBOLT tops that by being possibly the only Eurospy flick set in Greece. More, while TANGIER didn't much advantage of any Spanish locales, SKYBOLT makes the most of its Greek exoticism-- particularly in a scene where superspy Dan Holland (Nicholas Kirk) engages in a Greek line-dance with a couple of hot ladies.

Even though TANGIER boasted some well-known actresses, SKYBOLT's unfamiliar femmes fatales are treated with much more care so as to emphasize both their hotness and their potential to confuse and bedevil the hero. I mentioned that the costumers for TANGIER did nothing for the actresses, but SKYBOLT comes up with some cool outfits for the femmes. In addition, whereas in TANGIER the hero is seen beating up a woman for information, this time director/ co-writer Tallas provides sadistic equity, for the  hero both whips a girl and gets whipped by one. (He also gets electro-tortured by a man, but who cares about that?)

This time the agent's out to corral a stolen nuclear bomb, a plotline patently stolen from THUNDERBALL. The villains are as dull as the ones in TANGIER, and the hero sports no gimmicks, though one of the lady spies does have one of those mini-dart weapons. The fights are OK but not memorable, and Kirk is reasonably likable in the role, though he doesn't seem to have made any other spy-type films thereafter.

So all in all, just a decent little thriller with some rare local color. If anyone actually used the name "Skybolt" in the dubbed script, I must have missed it.