OSS 117-MURDER FOR SALE (1968)
aka Niente rose per OSS 117, OSS 117: Double Agent
Article 4477 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-17-2014
Directed by Renzo Cerrato, Jean-Pierre Desegnat, Andre Hunebelle
Featuring John Gavin, Margaret Lee, Curd Jurgens
Country: Italy / France
What it is: Spyghetti

OSS 117 goes undercover as an assassin in the hopes of catching the interest of a secret organization that arranges political assassinations, so that he can destroy that organization.

The presence of three directors makes me suspect that this movie had a bit of a troubled production history, and its 5.1 rating on IMDB as of this writing is an indication that this foray into Eurospy territory isn’t highly regarded. Yet I have to admit to quite liking this one; the story is clear and easy to follow, the humor is effective, it mostly takes itself fairly seriously, and John Gavin (who was originally pegged to play James Bond himself in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, but lost the opportunity when Connery returned to the role) is quite appealing. Curd Jurgens makes for an entertaining heavy, and I recognize George Eastman from any number of other movies I’ve seen. However, this movie is quite stingy with the fantastic content; there’s some minor gadgetry, but I’m not sure there’s quite enough to make it truly genre. Still, this one was entertaining enough to pass muster.