OSS 117 Murder for Sale (1968)

The Worst Film Ever

A Masterpiece!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

James Bond style film made in Europe -that is professionally made but without the Hollywood touch that gave James Bond series or -in a minor way- Matt Helm ones their lust. Maybe John Gavin was not the best choice for the role -even him seems to think he is miscast- and his acting is unconvincing. Curd Jürgens is totally wasted as the villain with only a couple of scenes and not much to do with them. Margaret Lee with her limited acting abilities does not convince as the lady in distress. The film also lacks of some humoresque touches and when -scarcely- they do appear seem to be out of place.Fight scenes are rather bad (maybe with the exception of the last one on the mansion roof). They could have got the most out of the poison/antidot matter: it is supposed that a so experienced secret agent would surely expect some trick about it and consequently had a better plan far than expecting a last minute antidot that could finally not be such so. Plot is rather poor and characters too plain to succeed. Maybe a better script and dialogues and a more talented director's work would have made a better film but that's something we will never know. By the way, the blu ray edition is really nice: bright colors emphasizing fab. locations and high definition image that sometimes give the impresion of watching a 3D movie. The OSS117 series had two enjoyable same style remake versions in 2006 (OSS117: Le Caire nid d'espions) & 2009( OSS117: Rio ne répond plus), both directed by Michel Hazanavizius with Jean DuJardin as Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath -same team that did The Artist.

John Gavin plays the eponymous spy O.S.S. 117 on an assignment in the Middle East to expose an assassination ring run by Curd Jurgens. "OSS 117: Murder for Sale" qualifies as another James Bond wannabe movie. The debonair hero likes to make jokes and he seduces beautiful women. At the outset, our hero has had plastic surgery so that he resembles a killer. The police capture him after an amusing fight where he uses a bed sheet like a matador. Later,the resourceful villains break him out of custody in one of the few scenes that stand out in this thoroughly ordinary thriller. They swoop down on his police escort with a helicopter and dangle a UFO type object that dispenses knock-out gas. Our hero is taken to Curd Jurgens whose bodyguard is none other than George Eastman. The villains dispatch him on a mission that will take three days to finish. A doctor injects him with poison and informs the protagonist that he must administer a hypodermic injection every day at 5 PM or the hero will die. O.S.S. 117 gets into just bland fights, including one of a tiled rooftop with Eastman. The people who made this derivate 007 adventure even imitate the fast cutting in the hand-to-hand combat scenes. Our hero doesn't have any gadgets, but he has the amazing ability to imitate other voices.

Once again, I shall warn you that this comment contains a lot of spoilers.When a "serious" adaptation of OSS117 contains less actions, makes less sense than the recent pastiche with Dujardin, there's something really wrong about it.The first scene of this movie shows good promises though, with the eponymous spy going through a window and escaping while shooting two bystanders an a guard. You think you're in an action movie.However, the 40 next minutes prove you wrong : the 3 victims proved to be faking, and after letting himself be captured (twice, by the police then by the Organisation he's supposed to infiltrate), he doesn't do much more than hitting on a female doctor, who simply disappears halfway through the movie. A girl also gets infatuated with him after he rescues her from a false attack, but he doesn't seems inclined to tell her the truth.That sums up the movie : a lot of fraud, a lot of (bad) romance, very little action.The movie is ridiculous from A to Z :The main villain's lieutenant is sent from Europe to middle east to kill the hero, and comes back without even trying to get near him.Travels from Europe to Middle East are accomplished in the blink of an eye.-The main female character sees her father getting shot in the back and left dying, however, when rescued, she shows absolutely no concern over him.-The hero is poisoned and has to take an antidote before 5 o'clock. He however waits until 4.55 to enter the office it's locked in.-The hero has to kill a diplomat : he replaces him by another corpse. however, while the diplomat is a tall, thin man with red hair, the hero replaces him with a short, fat guy with black hair. Though he detonates the place, the guy is supposedly identified by its remains...-when O.S.S. 117 abducts the said diplomat, he's supposed to keep him off the game for a few days. However, he manages to lose him by letting him without surveillance, unrestrained and next to a car with its key on.-the house of the organization, which is supposed to be the home of dozens of professional killers, has about half a dozen inhabitants at most, with barely one showing while the house is invaded.

Yet another of those made-in-Europe "spy thrillers" inspired by the success of the James Bond movies, "Murder for Sale" will evaporate from your memory even as you watch it.John Gavin lacks the roguish charm, cynical edge, and tough-guy assurance needed to bring off this kind of part. He seems, as always, sincere and dutiful and anxious to please and one can't but help feel a bit sorry for him. But, hey, what other actor can claim to have been directed by Douglas Sirk, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Peter Ustinov?The best scene comes early in the movie when the police come to arrest Gavin who's sleeping in a hotel room. Gavin jumps out of bed and, as music from "Carmen" plays on the soundtrack, fends off the cops by using his bedsheet the way a matador uses his scarlet cape. Gavin apparently sleeps "in the raw" and this scene gives him a chance to show off his bare and oh-so-beautiful chest.