Trunk to Cairo (1966)

Why so much hype?

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

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

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Audie Murphy was apparently a popular Western star, but he makes for a pretty boring spy lead in "Trunk To Cairo" (he probably felt a little out-of-place as well; I think this was his only attempt at the genre). The action scenes are few and amateurish, though I will give Murphy credit for doing most of his own stunts. George Sanders is pretty much wasted as the brilliant yet naive scientist that the Egyptians have contracted to build a nuclear missile; Marianne Koch is his lovely daughter, but she also has little to do. The location shooting in Egypt and, unexpectedly, Rome, and the folkloric music score, are the film's only real assets; in fact, the Rome footage near the end is what pushed my rating up by half a star, to ** out of 4.

***SPOILERS*** Attempting to capitalized on the James Bond Secret Agent Man hysteria that was sweeping movie theaters back in the 1960's AIP, American International Pictures, got real life American WWII hero Audie Murphy to play undercover super secret CIA Agent Mike Merrick who's on a secret mission to Cairo Egypt. Merrick using the name Ludwig Baum is assigned by the CIA as well as Isralie MOSSAD to get to the truth, as if they didn't know,in who's assassinating German scientists in that country working for the Egyptian Government.Merrick who speaks no German or Arabic and despite his very obvious Texas accent, and knows swat about nuclear physics, easily infiltrates this top secret Egyptian army base as an expert on nuclear fission. The secret base in the Sahara Desert is developing rockets with atomic warheads with the help of German and ex-Nazi rocket and nuclear physics Professor Schieben,George Sanders, for the Egyptian military. These rockets are to be used against the west as well as Egypt's main and bitterest enemy in the region the state of Isreal.Merrick gets unexpected help in his top secret mission from Prof. Schieben's nutty daughter Helga, Marianne Koch, whom he met on his flight to Cairo. Helga is just nuts about the boyish looking Merrick, or Lrudwig as he calls himself, and doesn't seem to be bothered that her fiancée German nuclear scientist as well as her father's assistant Hans Klugg, Hans Von Brosody, knows about it. Despite his cover as a pro-Nazi German atomic scientist Merrick gets caught red handed by Klugg trying to photograph Prof. Schieben's secret blueprints for his atomic rockets which leads to Klugg getting himself killed by,in trying to capture Merrick, falling to his death down a missile silo!Prof.Schieben not realizing that Merrick is working for he CIA/MOSSAD puts him in in charge of the nuclear missile project where he now can sabotage it at will from the inside as well as have his daughter Helga get kidnapped by the Isrealies in a submarine, off the Egyptian coast, and held hostage in Italy not Isreal! That being in order, I would guess, not to create tensions, as if they were tense enough already, between the two countries Egypt and Israel.****SPOILERS**** The movie "Trunk to Cairo" completely falls apart in the last 15 minutes in the film degenerating into a Marks Brothers like comedy instead of the James Bond action thriller that it was meant to be. Merrick with his cover blown now uses his both fighting and camouflage skills to trick the Egyptian Agents in him getting out of their grip but also getting top German scientist Prof.Schieben to defect to the west just because his daughter Helga has fallen for Merrick who's to soon become Prof. Schieben's future son-in-law! Still with the Egyptian Agents hot on his tail Merrick manages to rescue Helga from her captor top Egyptian Secret Agent Capt. Garber, Yossi Yadin, by knocking him out cold and then as the Cairo bound plane is taxing to take off on the Italian airfield exit it with Helga with the excuse that he's on the wrong flight: Merrick tells the flight stewardess that his and Helga's tickets are for a plane bound for Midrid not Cairo!

After a terrorist blows up some sunbathers, we find smart American spy Audie Murphy (as Mike Merrick) on a plane to Egypt. On board, Mr. Murphy meets attractive Marianne Koch (as Helga), who turns out to not only be his romantic interest, but also the daughter of the man he's going to confront. Murphy is on a mission to foil her father, neo-Nazi scientist George Sanders (as Schlieben), who has an atomic rocket and plans to use it for world domination. Arabs and Israelis are also involved in this mess. The highlight involves Murphy's attempt to escape from Mr. Sanders' compound. The later "Trunk to Cairo" endeavor is anti-climactic.** Trunk to Cairo (6/3/66) Menahem Golan ~ Audie Murphy, Marianne Koch, George Sanders, Hans von Borsody

It's amazing that George Sanders lowered himself to this. Things must have gotten bad for him. He is still a great screen presence, but he seems out of place among the crude voice-overs, TV drama scenery, and awkward direction. This is truly an awful film.The plot centers around an Arab plot to murder Germans and cast the blame upon Israelis. Surprise surprise, it's an Israeli-West German co-production -- in other words Mossad-CIA propaganda. Childish and poorly made, this film illustrates the crude methods of the "intelligence" community.It's got the feel of a Cheech and Chong spy thriller. It would be funny if it was clever - but it's not. It's pathetic and tiresome.