The Liquidator (1966)

Best movie of this year hands down!

I love this movie so much

Nice effects though.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I read the other 17 reviews and was thankful that someone noticed that Eric Sykes was in the movie. It is massively disappointing to read reviews by people who have no inkling about the quality of the cast as well as pathos and irony ...if you had seen Sykes in The Plank you might have some idea of his talent. Though I must admit that Brit humour is often beyond some of our contributors. In his autobiography Eric said that Tony Curtis was the biggest plonker he met in Hollywood and that got my attention (The Great Race).He certainly got my attention again in this movie. I do like Rod Taylor and was taken aback by how well he underplayed this role and of course a cinema legend like Trevor Howard sending himself up was an utter joy . Please watch some of their movies (Clouded Yellow for Trevor) and maybe (No-one Runs for Ever for a rustic Rod)you will see much more in this comedy.

Rod Taylor is "The Liquidator" -- well, his superiors think he is, anyway -- in this 1965 spoof of the spy genre, directed by Jack Cardiff.The '60s was certainly an interesting time for films - spy films, spoofs of spy films, caper films, big historical films, and sex comedies. Here we have a spoof of the James Bond films, with Rod Taylor playing Boys Oaks, a war acquaintance of Colonel Mostyn (Trevor Howard). The British Security Services is frustrated and embarrassed as they have a number of spies in their midst. It's time to liquidate them, so The Chief (Wilfrid Hyde-White) orders Mostyn to find someone.Mostyn remembers Boys and his impressive actions during the war and drafts him. Of course, he doesn't exactly tell Boys what he wants. He offers him a gorgeous apartment, beautiful women who hang around, a nice car, and after Boys signs his life away, Mostyn drops the bomb. Boys tries but he fails in his first assignment and instead saves the subject from the train tracks he was just about to throw her onto. The other thing is all the travel - Boys really doesn't like to travel. So Boyd has to come up with a solution or lose the perks.I thought this was an okay comedy, nothing special. Jill St. John plays Mostyn's beautiful, sexy secretary, Wilfrid Hyde-White plays the bureau chief; the film also features Akim Tamiroff. There are some funny moments and I like the premise. Entertaining.

This has always been one of my favorite movies. I always loved James Bond spoofs such as the Derrick Flint and Matt Helm movies, and "The Liquidator" stands above those.Rod Taylor plays Boysie Oakes, a hapless tank commander at the end of WWII, who accidentally saves Colonel Mostyn (Trevor Howard) from two rival spies. Years later, when Britain's spy network is inundated with embarrassing counter-spies, Mostyn remembers Oakes and hires him as "Agent L" (Liquidator) to neatly get rid of these embarrassments. Unable to carry out these liquidations, Oakes hires a private contractor, Griffen (Eric Sykes). Oakes keeps this to himself as he loves the playboy lifestyle that he now lives. Taylor has the unique ability to seem inept at being a spy, while at the same time showing skills above and beyond those around him, and making it all perfectly believable.The subtle comedy and all of the twists and turns (likely and unlikely) make this a very enjoyable and engrossing film. Jill St. John as Iris is great eye-candy and plays the part to the hilt. Her acting complements Taylor's without upstaging him.I highly recommend this film and wish it to be released on DVD.

"The Liquidator" was such an amusing film. I loved the fact that Shirley Bassey sang the theme song a la James Bond. It was great to see a spy whose hormones were far more potent than his efforts with a gun. A particularly funny part occurs when Trevor Howard is rescued by Boysie, as Paris is being liberated. Howard thinks that Boysie is a killing machine when, in fact, he is a hopelessly clumsy young man. Rod Taylor is deliciously sexy in the film and displays his flair for comedy.