VIDEO REVIEW: Death Walks On High Heels

i SPY EUROSPY: Agent 3S3 Massacre in the Sun

Agent 3S3: Massacre in the Sun
Director: Sergio Sollima
Year 1966
 
Agent 3S3: Massacre in the Sun, AKA Hunter From the Unknown, is an average yet obscure Eurospy entry that is kept interesting by its varied and diverse cast of actors and its tendency to stage some entertaining action sequences with engagingly strange situations. Carried by the capable actions of its star George Ardisson, the film makes for a fun but unusual viewing experience. With its beautiful locations, intriguing gadgets, and stunning female cast, Massacre in the Sun may not be the best of the genre, but it’s still a thrilling entry that will put a smile on your face.
 
The film follows Agent 3S3 as he is assigned to travel to the city of San Felipe, a small Caribbean island, in order to search for a missing fellow spy, Agent 3S4. Agent 3S4’s recent disappearance has something to do with a mad scientist who is experimenting with some form of lethal gas, under the watchful eye of a dictator and a nefarious organization. Hot on the heels of 3S3 is a slew of secret agents all representing their countries and their nation’s best interests, and each one of them has a plethora of tricks and disguises up their sleeve in order to complete their individual missions. Like a powder keg ready to burst, the island of San Felipe is about to erupt as all of these warring factions prepare to clash in a cacophony of explosions and gunfire. Who will be left standing! Who cares?!?! This shit is FUN!

George Ardisson takes on the role of Agent 3S3, otherwise known as Walter Ross, a highly capable spy who often finds himself in hot water. Ardisson shines in the role and although he isn’t as debonair as some of his more notable Eurospy agent peers, he always puts on a splendid show and manages to entertain to no end. In Massacre in the Sun, George has ample opportunities to showcase his athletic abilities as well as that sly and dry banter that he’s known for, resulting in a performance that truly ups the fun factor of the picture to respectable levels. With this being my second foray into the spy world of George Ardisson, with my first being Countdown to Doomsday, I can safely say that I’m looking forward to hunting down his other two efforts Passport to Hell and Operation Counterspy.
 
Along for the ride are a handful of wacky characters that help fill out the weird espionage-filled world of Massacre in the Sun. Frank Wolff plays the role of Ivan Tereczkov, a Russian agent who clashes with Ardisson’s Agent Ross a number of times over the course of the film. Wolff does a great job with the role, often injecting a great deal of mischievous nature into his character which gives way to all sorts of trouble for 3S3 when he begins to play mind games with our clueless hero. I've always enjoyed Frank's screen presence and he's a favorite of mine in the Giallo film Death Walks on High Heels. Another arduous miscreant that manages to be a thorn in the side of Agent Ross is the villainous Signora Barrientos, played by the fiery Luz Marquez, who can’t help but fall for the charismatic spy even though he threatens to topple her organization and ruin her plans. Luz is both sexy and fierce in this film and her inclusion is a definite plus in my book. Last but definitely not the least of 3S3’s antagonists is the masochistic Radek, played by Michel Lemoine. With a hot temper and penchant for violence, Radek makes for one perfectly diabolical villain for Ross to go toe to toe with and Lemoine is devilishly good in the role.

Aside from the multitude of bad guys in the story, Agent 3S3 also finds a few friendly faces amidst the mayhem, the most beautiful of them being the stunning Greek actress Evi Marandi, who takes on the role of UK agent Melissa. Looking absolutely breathtaking as the femme fatale, Evi definitely increases the amount of intrigue in the film whenever she appears on screen, and it also doesn’t hurt that her character takes on an interesting duel role within the story. Another standout ally of Agent 3S3 is the unlikely General Siqueiros, played by the bombastic Fernando Sancho. His character is rather unusual, because at first we are introduced to him as being the main villain of the piece but after some deliberation we come to find that he is weary of the organization that is behind the experimentation of lethal gas and is looking to jump sides for the time being. This character turn is not the only attention-grabbing thing about the General, because in entertaining Bond-villain style, Siqueiros has a secret hideaway filled with beautiful women who inhabit a multi-themed palace full of physical and visual delights. Luz lives it up as the diabolical dictator with a sudden change of heart, and his verbose performance must be seen to be believed.
 
With a robust cast such as this, you would imagine that a great deal of crazy antics would cultivate from the mixture of such zany performers, and you’d be right. Within the runtime of this film we see Agent 3S3 electrocuted in a swimming pool, perform one hell of a spanking on a sexy and naughty villainous, take on a dojo filled with stick-wielding fighters, gun down an entire army while sporting some nifty night vision goggles, and pretty much save the day whenever the time comes for it. Now don’t get me wrong, while all of these things are fantastic and totally align with the outlandish nature of Eurospy films, there are a few glaring hiccups in the formula. For instance, you won’t really know what’s going on for the majority of the film. While some might see this as a huge hindrance to the validity of the movie, the inclusion of all of these wacky moments and characters allow me to overlook the vagueness of the plot and just sit back and bask in the absurdity of it all. Plus, George Ardisson is just so enjoyable as Agent 3S3 that you can forgive the film’s missteps and just watch the man do his thing. It may not be logically sound, but this Eurospy is a hell of a good time.

Agent 3S3: Massacre in the Sun is an obscure gem of the genre, which may not win any awards for being the most concise and coherent spy yarn, it still manages to pull out the goods in its quest to entertain and thrill. George Ardisson brings an air of respect to the film and his portrayal as the titular agent is eye-catching and especially thorough. The same can be said for Evi Marandi as the sexy undercover agent, who often steals each scene she’s in with her alluring beauty.
 
On top of that, the performances across the board by the rest of the cast bring about an air of strangeness that just seems to permeate the narrative in the most fascinating of ways. From the many character twists that crop up within the film’s runtime, to the abundance of action moments, to the over the top nature of everyone on board, the film has a habit of grabbing your attention and introducing you to the next madcap set of sequences before literally pulling the rug out from under you in the most unsuspecting of ways. With a narrative flow that just doesn’t quite conform to a logical structure and a cast of characters that more than make up for that lax of presentation, Agent 3S3: Massacre in the Sun is truly a unique beast. Even with its shortcomings, the film is an entertaining ride that I’m looking forward to tackling again when I need that overwhelming fix of the absurd. This movie is…..

First one to spit on a pedestrian's head gets a free lunch on the loser.

Why don't you get up and I'll show you just how well I handle a stick.

Looks like George and his invisible date are having a blast.

Give me that mustache or I'll stick ya!

HOLY SHIT!

Good.... Bad.... I'm the hombre with the gun.

I know you're stupidly looking at the back of my head again Carl!

Looks like George likes the hands on approach to acting. You little pervert!

Shit! Weeeeeeeee!

How many times do I have to tell you. Stop stepping in dog shit!

Look at my mustache when I'm talking to you bro.

Evi's got something up her sexy sleeve.

So what do you think of my oversized gun?

This chicks got the POWER!

Please stop fiddling with that you old bat!

What the hell is going on?!?!?!

Scuba Steve finally snaps!

We're about to do it, so could you please turn the channel?

See ya later assholes!

 

REVIEW: Death Walks on High Heels

Death Walks on High Heels
Director: Luciano Ercoli
Year 1971
 
Death Walks on High Heels is a tremendously low key and highly underrated Giallo entry by director Luciano Ercoli. With a heavy dose of sleaze yet a surprisingly low amount of violence and bloodletting, this movie defies the conventions of the genre in its pursuit to create a straight forward and serious take on the Italian thriller. If you’re looking for a well crafted and unknown Giallo, then look no further because Death Walks on High Heels has what you’re looking for.
 
The film follows a Paris striptease performer named Nicole Rochard, who after her famous jewel thief father’s murder, begins to receive death threats from an unnamed assassin, demanding that she hand over the diamonds from her father’s heist. Clueless on the location of the diamonds and fearing for her life, she hooks up with an infatuated fan named Robert Matthews and flies to England to stay with him at his secluded lakeside cottage. Hopeful that she will finally find peace in this quaint little country town, Nicole settles in to a life with Robert and slowly begins to forget her troubled past. Has she escaped from the killer’s grasp or is the killer closer than she first feared? Death Walks on High Heels is a rather accomplished Giallo film that keeps the scale of this thrilling story intimate, while at the same time creating an epic mystery full of twists and turns.

Nieves Navarro takes on the role of Nicole Rochard, the sexy strip artist caught up in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Like her role in Death Walks at Midnight, Navarro looks absolutely amazing while parading around in some of the most outlandish get-ups the era could muster and often baring it all for the titillation of the audience. Though there are similarities, the character of Nicole Rochard is a more complex role then Navarro’s Valentina in Death Walks at Midnight, and she combines sex appeal, sleaze, and a surprisingly good amount of compassion, to bring her role to life. Navarro presents Nicole in a more sympathetic light, as a woman who is just doing what she can to support herself while struggling to feel safe in both love and life. When the killer first lets his presence be known, Nicole reaches out for help from her boyfriend Michel, played by Simon Andreu, who at first ignores her pleas for help but then eventually stands by her side. It wasn’t until the killer plants a damning piece of evidence that makes Nicole flee her live-in boyfriend and jump into the arms of another, more sympathetic, gentleman. It’s the vulnerability of Navarro’s portrayal of Nicole that really catches the audiences’ attention, and to contrast this timid trait of her character with the wild and outgoing nature of her strip performance is especially interesting. All in all, Navarro has developed a character that is as engaging as she is beautiful, and it’s this aspect of her role that makes the film so damn enjoyable to watch.    
 
Mirroring that same contrasting quality, the film does a unique bit of balancing with the tone of the movie. Being a Giallo film, we get our fare share of moments that are taken from the formulaic blue prints of the genre, like the masked killer with the switchblade knife, the large cast of red herrings, and the high body count, but there is also another side to this movie that is unconventional to say the least. For a good majority of the middle portions of this film, we are given a sort of love story between the two main characters of Nicole Rochard and Dr. Robert Matthews, played by Frank Wolff. These moments take a strange turn from the earlier segments of the film, and they seem to let the movie as a whole breath a bit until the twisted later half which is filled with betrayal, suspicion, mystery, and multiple murders. It’s a great technique that establishes a core element of the story, while at the same time it sets up the audience for a heartbreaking finale that really sweeps the rug out from under their feet.

As the mystery of this movie reaches an unparalleled pitch, the plot really does begin to thicken as suspects start creeping from out of the woodwork. These characters are all perfectly suspicious in their own right and make for a wonderful cast of likely killers. First there is of course the jaded ex-boyfriend Michel Aumont, played by Simon Andreu. His surprising appearance at the same town that his ex is staying at with her newfound lover is more than a little questionable. Then there is Captain Lenny, played by George Rigaud, a local boat captain who seems to be a little too nosy for his own good. Then there is Hallory, played by Luciano Rossi, whose strange tendencies and peculiar false hand give him one hell of a high creep factor. Then finally there is Vanessa Matthews, the bitter wife of Robert Matthews, played by the sultry Claudie Lange. She, more than anyone else, has the motive to threaten the life of Nicole. All of these characters are wonderfully diverse and they each add a great deal of intrigue to the overall plot of the film, and on top of that they are a joy to watch interact together. Some of the most entertaining moments of the film can be found when Inspector Baxter, the detective assigned to the case in England, has to narrow down who he thinks the killer is among these ambiguous group of shady characters.
 
Carlo Gentili plays the role of Inspector Baxter, and his character is just a whole hell of a lot of fun. His detective style is best described as lackadaisical, as he makes bland smart remarks and genuinely stumbles his way through the case. In all his effortless glory, he often comes up with some astonishingly correct assumptions of what the killer was thinking or how he was able to accomplish what he had done, but to only follow up that poignant conclusion with a dim witted quip that totally diminishes his credibility and his own personal view on how valuable of a cop he really is. Carlo actually played the detective in the other Luciano Ercoli Giallo, Death Walks at Midnight, which was made around the same time, but in Death Walks on High Heels he is able to show a lighter side of his acting abilities. His character in this film isn’t as wacky as his ridiculously silly portrayal as the antler wearing buffoon in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, but it’s more like a mix of the two, played a lot less whimsical. I really enjoyed his approach for the role and felt that he absolutely stole the scenes in which he was featured in, and in the process, brought a more playful side of the film to light. In the end, the cast is what really sells this movie as a respectable Giallo and the diverse cast that they were able to assemble is just rich with talent.

Death Walks on High Heels is a highly enjoyable Giallo entry that features some of the trademarks of the genre, yet the filmmakers allow the film’s narrative to wander into uncharted territories, making for an interesting watch. Nieves Navarro is at her most watchable best, looking absolutely stunning in every single scene she appears in. The fact that her character has a substantial amount of depth to her only enhances the already outstanding quality of her alluring presence.
 
As with most Giallo films, the characters are key in bringing about an enthralling experience and Death Walks on High Heels is no exception to this rule. The cast across the board is more than up for the challenge in delivering engaging individual performances, and the amount of double crossings and suspicious dealings that occur in this film will leave you second guessing yourself at every turn. If you happen to enjoy Giallo films that think outside of the box, in terms of pacing and presentation, then check this one out as soon as you can. This is one Italian thriller that is……

Did it hurt? Did what hurt? When you fell from Heaven, did it hurt?

Check out this professional perv.

Check out this professional creep.

She hates it when you throw knives at her.

Hubba Hubba!

Looks like Robert's glasses are about to fog up from the sexiness.

These boots are made for sexin and that's just what they'll do.

Sweet sassafras!

Now that's just plain silly.

You want my professional opinion? Your eyes are fucked up.

Damn! You got me right in my bum ticker!

Get that dirty mustache out of my face.

Thanks for letting us admire your dinghy.

God I hate you.

Now try getting yourself out of that you slippery shit.

Up yours!

Looks like you dropped your wig madam.

So the killer turned out to be the pet rock. Genius!