Operation C.I.A. (1965)

the audience applauded

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good movie but grossly overrated

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Although primarily a TV director, Christian Nyby did do three or four theatrical features, most notably – and most controversially, "The Thing" (1951), which many people (including me) would actually assign to Howard Hawks. Unfortunately, for me, "Operation C.I.A." doesn't prove anything one way or the other. Most of the movie is very routinely – even most untalentedly and most unimaginatively – directed. But then Nyby (or some uncredited specialist), ring in a really rousing chase climax, with the players actually performing their own stunts! And that certainly lifts this "B"-grade thriller to at least the 60% mark. I'd always hoped that one of these days, someone would confess and tell us what really happened on "The Thing". As I inferred above, it's my best guess that producer Hawks actually directed and that Nyby assisted with the action spots.

Of course, if you look at this from a purist's perspective, the movie just won't hold water. However, if you want to let yourself get sucked right into the naive sixties' view of more exotic parts of the world, then this will do the trick quite nicely. Chuckle at the the unabashed attempt to fool the viewer into believing that well-known Bangkok landmarks are instead the setting for the movie, Saigon. Great to see a very young and sexy Burt Reynolds, and equally sexy Kieuh Chinh of later Joy Luck Club fame (Suyuan – the mother), playing Reynolds' Vietnamese love interest. This movie is a jewel in its own right for being a kind of time capsule of 60s espionage intrigue and the glamor of international locales.

Actually, this movie isn't half bad. It's good to see a young Burt Reynolds kicking butt in the orient and making it with the cute Asian chicks. Definitely has that early-to-mid 60s feel, music and all. I recently purchased a very hard to find VHS copy of this movie from a collector, and I'm not gonna get rid of it! Operation CIA is one of them flicks to just kick off your shoes and sit back and relax. Worth checking out....

This early Burt Reynolds movie is bad in all extremes. There is more time filler material (i.e driving in a car, riding in a boat...) than there is in 'Manos', the fight sequences, when they do arrive, are as about as well choreographed as a 3rd grade Christmas play. A sure-fire cure for insomnia. Skip it.