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My movie year (so far)

Hammerhead (1968), starring Vince "Ben Casey" Edwards. An entertaining American Goldfinger ripoff (filmed in England), produced by Irwin Allen, the disaster king. There's virtually nothing from the Bond film that this one doesn't steal, except perhaps its style, wit, and budget. There's a mod blonde (Judy Geeson, who is good) and sinister older sexpot (the ever-platinum Diana Dors), a jazzy title tune, so lousy it's only played during a chase scene in the background on someone's radio, and even a ticking clock counting down the last seconds of the world! Its body-part-named villian (complete with murderous Man Friday) is only lacking a laser beam to mete out his evilness.

Vince Edwards' natural crudity steers the entire film. (How did millions of Ben Casey viewers ever believe this guy graduated from med school, or any kind of school? Probably the same way they believed the Ponderosa looked remotely real.) Instead of the suave jobs James Bond pretended to have while double agenting, Vince's character, the appropriately-named Charles Hood, is a dealer of vintage porn. Part of the retro fun of the movie is how it tries to be so dirty-- listen to this dialogue from a scene where Geeson, who is tied to Edwards, tries to remove the rope from Vince's wrists. Without the closeups of their bound hands to distract you, what does it sound like is really going on?

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 29, 2007 1:28 AM

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