Agent 505: Beirut
Death Trap
Director: Manfred Kohler
Year: 1966
Rating: 7.0
Country: Germany
This is a well directed Euro-Spy film. I tend to be critical of most of them
for flaws that slap you across the face, but this avoided most of them and
delivers 90 minutes of fast moving entertainment. The usual things are of
course included - sexy women who throw themselves at the agent, numerous
attempts to kill him in various ways, a mad villain intent on blowing up
a city, minions willing to die, deadly woman, nightclub scenes (a blindfolded
woman who can shot out the lights), easy opportunities to kill the agent
but declined and a handsome debonair agent. Agent 505 from Interpol to be
precise. Czech actor Frederick Stafford has the suave down and he also starred
in two of the Agent OSS 117 series of films as well as the lead in Hitchcock's
Topaz.
The film opens at a hotel in which a killer using a silencer takes out one,
then another woman - and after the cops catch him is killed himself by a
feminine hand. Then the music breaks in - music from the great Ennio Morricone
puts the film into motion. It's not much more than a riff really that plays
through the film at certain moments but its Morricone. An informer says that
someone called the Sheik is planning to blow up Beirut in 48 hours. Not a
lot of time to save what was in the 1960's a beautiful city, but enough
time to seduce a woman on a picnic and lounge by the pool checking out the
talent. Agent 505 is called to Beirut and like in most of these films the
bad guys know who he is as soon as he steps off the plane. It must be the
suit. And soon thereafter try and kill him. Often. The hotel phone with an
explosive dart was my favorite. Most of these Euro-Spy films have all these
same characteristics but are often clunky in presenting it - this one is
fairly smooth even with a few large holes in the script. But the barb-wire
ending was rather cool.
