This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

the audience applauded

Just what I expected

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Before her time bomb blows a personal airliner to pieces, Elke Sommer bails out over the ocean. Before she bails out, Sommer sheds her long slacks and deplanes wearing only tight white plastic bottoms. This struck me as a very tasteful and artistic scene. She's picked up by her co-conspirator, Sylva Koscina, and together they swim to a beach and puncture a man with a spear gun. This was also handled very elegantly. Both of the young ladies are wearing only the most perfunctory of swim clothes. Sommer, in particular, is bulging out of her top. I didn't care a hoot about the murdered guy, whom we don't know anyway, but I kept wondering about who exactly fitted those exact swimsuits to those exact figures, and how did they do it? A chef d'oeuvre by some artist in the wardrobe department. How do you apply for a job like that?Before these magnificent events unfold, we have to sit through the credits while somebody warbles the theme song -- "Deadlier Than The Mail" -- before the musical score switches to speedy thriller noise with a lot of bongo drums.Hugh Drummond, Richard Johnson, is some kind of insurance investigator, not that it matters. He's James Bond in all but name. Well, not quite so fussy about his dress and his wine, but he speaks Japanese and is a martial arts expert like all high-echelon insurance men. He's going to get to the bottom of this business, which involves a merger of two giant oil companies. Those who object to the merger, one by one, are picked off by the two girls in colorful ways -- spear guns, rolling off a fifteen-story balcony, and the like. These vixens are viciously matter of fact about their misdeeds but this is no place to talk about my five ex wives.I always enjoy Richard Johnson. Never a bravura performer, he was always reliably proper in his deportment. He doesn't crack jokes with the facility of James Bond. He was the anthropologist in "The Haunting", studying ghosts. I like him for that too, because that's my profession and I even studied ghosts in a culture where ghosts are not just superstitions but something to contend with. The chief villain -- or, in this case, we might call him the head honcho, surrounded as he is by porcelain-doll Japanese women -- is Nigel Green. He's a fine actor, unforgettable really. That suave tonality, that politely superior demeanor.There isn't that much action in this flick, despite the atmosphere of mock menace and several acts of violence. Johnson doesn't dance off the walls, held up by wires. There are no highly ritualized sword fights, as in "Kill Bill." Nobody's head gets wrenched off, as in so many action movies.So, it's a shameless ripoff of James Bond, but it's pleasant enough. If you can stand another James Bond movie, you can sit through this simulacrum.

"Deadlier Than Male" of 1967 is a stylish and highly amusing spy/adventure flick that was clearly inspired by the popularity of the 60s James Bond films. None other than Quentin Tarantino is reported to love this film, and if that rumor is true, I can see why. My personal main-reason to watch the film was the ravishing Elke Sommer, of whom I've been a fan ever since I saw her in Mario Bava's brilliant Gothic flicks "Lisa And The Devil" and "Baron Blood". And while Elke Sommer, and fellow eye-candy Silvia Koschina ("Lisa And The Devil", "La Mala Ordina",...) as well as the rest of the sexy female cast are not the only reason to see this film, they are definitely the most convincing one. Bikini-clad babes, Bondish villains and a great, macabre sense of humor - this is what "Deadlier Tan Male" is all about. A promising premise, in my opinion. While this film is clearly a Bond-knockoff it re-invented a detective character of earlier decades. The character of Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond was popularized in the 20s and 30s and a kind of English pendant to the private eyes in American hard-boiled detective novels and films. I have not seen any of the old Bulldog Drummond films so far, but I sure am going to. The Bulldog Drummond in this film is a very James Bond-ish rich playboy and spy. He is played by Richard Johnson, who was once intended to play the role of Bond in "Dr. No". After several people are killed by sexy female assassins, and by rather unusual methods, Drummond investigates in order to find the one who pulls the strings behind these murders. The film's most ravishing quality are Elke Sommer and Sylva Koschina, who play the constantly quarreling duo of sexy female assassins Irma (Sommer) and Penelope (Koschina). The cast furthermore includes Nigel Green ("The Masque Of The Red Death", "The Face Of Fu Manchu",...), and Milton Reid ("Dr Phibes Rises Again"). The relationship between Bulldog Drummond and his slightly annoying nephew is only remotely funny, but the constant dark humor, especially when people are being assassinated, is hilarious. Overall "Deadlier Than Male" is no must-see, but definitely a highly amusing flick that cult-cinema fans should enjoy.

1966 re-imagining of Bulldog Drummond in the James Bond mold. Drummond was created in a series of stories by Sapper. He was a British soldier of fortune between the world wars who fell into one crime related tale after another. They were made into a series of films in the 30's with various people playing Drummond including Ronald Coleman and Ray Miland. Other people like Reginald Denny and John Barrymore played in support. It was for the most part a very fun series.In Deadlier than the Male Drummond (here played by Richard Johnson) is a trouble shooting attorney investigating a series of "accidents" which he suspects are murder. The trail leads to a group of women who seem to be able to fix any problem for a price, actually a million pounds.The film is a very good little crime action film, certainly its better than many spy films that appeared in the wake of the Bond films. There are many beautiful women, numerous witty remarks and a good number of action set pieces that are atypical in their implied violence (the torture of Drummond's nephew for example). I liked that there is a realism that the Bond films rarely had. there are no gadgets as such, though there is a life size steel chess set that figures into the plot towards the end that is amazing-especially since there was no CGI used (hey this was 1966). I liked this film a great deal. Keep an eye out for this gem on DVD or on cable, its worth taking the time to see it.7 out of 10

MASTER PLAN: expand a corporate empire via simple assassinations. Capt. Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond, a gentleman who indulged in detective work, was conceived in the 1920's in a series of novels and was in quite a few films in the 1930's and 40's. The last one before this was a 1951 potboiler "Calling Bulldog Drummond," with Walter Pidgeon. This late-in-the-game restart of sorts has Mr. Drummond (not referred to as 'Bulldog' here) as little more than an insurance investigator. However, the character and plot borrow heavily from the popular James Bond formula of the sixties and results in the closest approximation to the actual Bond films during this period, more so than the 'Flint' duo of films and the Matt Helm series of films, which featured American spies. The actor Johnson, as Drummond, even resembles Sean Connery in some shots, with a similar virile approach, a slight grim smirk & tough demeanor, and Johnson is a fine actor, so this isn't just some silly parody; yet, it does capture that same vicious streak of gallows humor. So, yes, the wicked humor is there - I mean, really wicked. The two main femme fatales (played by Sommer & Koscina) are curvaceous assassins and they're outrageously effective (hence, the film's title). They are completely amoral, enjoying their work and behaving as if they're shopping in some high-end store rather than killing people. Some of their scenes, the terminations, actually made me wince a little, probably because I'm not used to seeing such cruelty and callousness on film from females, even if it is comedic in nature and tone. Ironically, the lethal ladies would be copied by the Bond films in "Diamonds Are Forever," where the assassins were gay males rather than female.The plot tends to be fiendishly funny, if you like that dark satire take on things: the head villain is an out-of-control capitalist, moving through the corporate world with a new set of rules and simplistic ruthlessness. If, for example, members of a board vote on a corporate resolution and it's tied 5 to 5, he simply disposes of the member whom he feels is holding up the vote, to change it in his favor. Drummond catches on to this, of course, and becomes the latest target. The best and most intense scene, straight out of the Bond movies and about an hour in, is the requisite 'villain and henchpeople have a last supper with the hero as planned victim' scenario. But, Drummond taunts the villain and provokes the henchman (a burly poor man's Oddjob) into some bad moves. Drummond proves to be fearless - he's surrounded by characters we now know to be very dangerous and ends up mocking them all - it's one of the best Bond scenes and it's not in a Bond movie. Drummond then defies expectations by refusing to partake in the also-requisite 'hero & femme fatale seduction scene,' much to the lady's surprise and anger. And, even though the budget is understandably lower than a typical Bonder (while we're in London in the 1st half, there's barely any spectacle), the filmmakers do manage to throw in that wild, weird chess board later, outdoing many of the grander set-pieces in the Bond films. Since Johnson plays it straight, even straighter than Connery some might say, much of this resembles "Dr.No" and "From Russia With Love," the Bonders which relied mostly on pure espionage. Sommer and actor Nigel Green would reunite in the Matt Helm Bond-spoof "The Wrecking Crew," playing similar characters. Drummond and Johnson would return one more time in "Some Girls Do." Hero:8 Villain:8 Femme Fatales:9 Henchmen:6 Fights:7 Stunts/Chases:6 Gadgets:6 Auto:6 Locations:7 Pace:8 overall:7