Colonel Mostyn of the British Intelligence Service suspects there is a leak in his department and hires an American expatriate to eliminate various targets working for the Soviets. Colonel Mostyn is the chief of a section of the British Security Services when they are embarrassed by the number of spies and defections. The Chief tells him to do something about it so he hires Boys Oaks as Agent L - The Liquidator, to assassinate people about to cause trouble. Although Boys likes the cars and the girls that his new position attracts he's not any good at it. He's also got a phobia about flying that makes jetting off to exotic places a bit of an embarrassment. "The Liquidator" was such an amusing film. I loved the fact that Shirley Bassey sang the theme song a la James Bond. It was great to see a spy whose hormones were far more potent than his efforts with a gun. A particularly funny part occurs when Trevor Howard is rescued by Boysie, as Paris is being liberated. Howard thinks that Boysie is a killing machine when, in fact, he is a hopelessly clumsy young man. Rod Taylor is deliciously sexy in the film and displays his flair for comedy. I first saw this one on the CBS Late Movie in about July of 1972, and (even more than most of those) I can never see it without seeing that radiating star (I even remember where in the film one of the commercial breaks was.) Yes, the theme song (by Lalo Schifrin) practically dares you to call it "Bond rip-off", but that's as presumptuous with this mid-'60s spy movie as it is with so many others. Rod Taylor, an actor who can fit into so many kinds of role, is perfectly believable as a person more or less drafted into being a spy, and an assassin, because of Trevor Howard's instincts about him, in spite of the fact that he's never actually killed anyone (except during the war, and even THEN it was more or less accidental!). And, like any given person in this position, he tries to have it both ways - tries to hang onto the "jet set" spy movie type of lifestyle they've given him, but with no real intention of doing what they want! (Mainly because he's horrified by it, traitors or no traitors.) And Trevor Howard is great as a sort of semi-comical answer to his Captain Blighe, who won't listen to any of "Boysie's" objections about it. Someone mentioned a slightly surprising line (for 1966), and Howard had another one. In an early scene, Taylor's well-built girlfriend was standing beside a cage with a variety of birds, and Howard said, "Multi-coloured tits!" (The name of the bird species, which made it "acceptable.") And Jill St. John, who might not have a WHOLE LOT to do beyond being "window dressing", is just right for this kind of film (though I'm prejudiced when it comes to her). Actually, she was very believable as this chic mid-' 60s English girl (the way they're usually pictured). Although toward the end (and this is a spoiler) she went against that for a moment. When a very surprised Rod Taylor discovered that she'd been part of the plot all along, she laughed at his confusion, and said, "You dumb ox!" (Kind of a down-to-earth thing for the "femme fatale" to say to the hero!) Some of the best funny parts (in a dark comedy way) have to do with Boysie hiring a professional hit man named Mr. Griffen (played by Eric Sykes) to do the killings that HE'S supposed to be doing, and this part had a really great line (in a very understated way). As they were talking, Boysie started to analyse this whole business of hiring someone to kill people (the guilt attached to it). Griffen said, "Can I give you a word of advice, sir? It never does to probe too deep." (In other words, suggesting that he "let it go".)
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326 weeks ago