DANGER!! DEATH RAY (1968)
(a.k.a. DEATH RAY/IL RAGGIO INFERNALE)
Article #1116 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-4-2004
Posting Date: 9-1-2001
Directed by Gianfranco Baldanello
Featuring Gordon Scott, Maureen Denphy, Nello Pazzafini

Superspy Bart Fargo is sent out to rescue a kidnapped scientist.

The more things change, the more things remain the same. During the twenties and thirties, death rays were all the rage and served as gimmicks in all sorts of action movies and serials. Now here we are in the sixties with the advent of the James Bond-type of action thriller, and what’s all the fuss over? A death ray.

This is, of course, another of those Italian takes on the superspy movie. It opens with a kidnapping sequence that takes nearly twenty minutes; your typical James Bond movie could have done the whole thing in a five minute pre-credits sequence, so we can throw efficient story-telling out the window. The dubbing is bad (as usual), and I hope you like the two musical themes, which get recycled ad nauseum before the movie ends. Even by Italian spy movie standards, this one is pretty cheesy.