DISCOVER--the best of the 1960s spy-fi films
It's difficult to get across to those who weren't there just how all-encompassing the spy fad of the mid-'60's was... It wasn't just Bond, or even Bond and UNCLE, and neither did it involve just one medium, like most trends. The spy fad enveloped film, TV, paperback fiction, comics, advertising, and even music and fashion. Spoofs, rip-offs, and spin-offs abounded.
This list of the major movies--just the tip of an iceberg--is in alphabetical order. If you like these, check out the superb secret agent TV shows of the era, including The Avengers, The Man from UNCLE, The Girl from UNCLE, Get Smart, I Spy, Amos Burke--Secret Agent (erroneously listed on the IMDB as the third season of Burke's Law, another fine '60's series), and Honey West. Some of them are better than these movies!
This list of the major movies--just the tip of an iceberg--is in alphabetical order. If you like these, check out the superb secret agent TV shows of the era, including The Avengers, The Man from UNCLE, The Girl from UNCLE, Get Smart, I Spy, Amos Burke--Secret Agent (erroneously listed on the IMDB as the third season of Burke's Law, another fine '60's series), and Honey West. Some of them are better than these movies!
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- DirectorHenry LevinStarsDean MartinSenta BergerJanice RuleSecret agent Matt Helm must battle foreign spies and a rogue nation's exiled ruler in order to recover a hijacked U.S. government experimental flying saucer.Third of the four Matt Helm films, with Janice Rule excellent. Senta Berger of The Spy With My Face is the bad girl again.
- DirectorNorman TaurogIshirô HondaStarsVincent PriceFrankie AvalonDwayne HickmanA skirt-chasing spy and a millionaire bachelor must foil mad scientist Dr. Goldfoot's plot to use his army of bikini-clad robots to seduce wealthy men into signing over their assets.Better known as Doctor Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsVincent PriceFabianFranco FranchiDisgraced SIC agent Bill Dexter teams up with bumbling doormen Franco and Ciccio to stop Dr. Goldfoot from using his bikini-clad robot girls to blow up high-ranking NATO generals.Better known as Doctor Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryUrsula AndressBernard LeeA resourceful British government agent seeks answers in a case involving the disappearance of a colleague and the disruption of the American space program.The first James Bond film.
- DirectorLeslie H. MartinsonStarsAnthony FranciosaRaquel WelchRonald FraserIn Spain, an American skydiver is recruited by Western intelligence agents to recover a lost atomic bomb detonator from hostile foreign agents.Wouldn't be a Bond girl, decided to do her own thing. Good for her, it's not too bad.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryRobert ShawLotte LenyaJames Bond willingly falls into an assassination plot involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E.The second James Bond film.
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsDoris DayRod TaylorArthur GodfreyAfter a series of misunderstandings, the head of an aerospace research laboratory begins to suspect that his new girlfriend is a Russian spy.Marvellous supporting cast of '60s character actors and a blink-and-miss cameo of Robert Vaughn as The Man from UNCLE.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsSean ConneryGert FröbeHonor BlackmanWhile investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.Third and best of the Sean Connery Bond films.
- DirectorBoris SagalStarsRobert VaughnDavid McCallumCarol LynleyAn African village is nearly exterminated by a deadly weapon - The Thermal Prism. Napoleon and Ilya must find it first before it can be used again for the conquest of the world.Quintessential '60s spy stuff. Great fun. Carol Lynley never looked better and John Dehner's villain is a hoot. Watch for Sid Haig as an ill-fated minion.
- DirectorSutton RoleyStarsRobert VaughnDavid McCallumBarry SullivanThe agents of U.N.C.L.E. must stop mad general Harmon and his Seven Intellectual Wonders of the World, as well as THRUSH agents, from taking over the world.The last of the UNCLE films and the last two episodes of the TV series.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames CoburnLee J. CobbJean HaleSuper-spy Flint takes on a cabal of women plotting to rule the world.The second of two ridiculous cash-ins. A small army of 1960s starlets are present for Fembot-style lunacy. When it was all over, Irwin Allen moved in and nicked all the props for Lost in Space.
- DirectorBarry ShearStarsRobert VaughnDavid McCallumJoan CrawfordU.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin battle T.H.R.U.S.H. spies to seize Dr. True's secret chemical formula used in extracting gold from sea water.1960s time capsule with loads of recurring UNCLE babes. Herbert Lom as the bad guy leads a superb cast from top to bottom. Watch for Terry Thomas as a London police constable, and get a load of Gerald Fried's wonderful music. All this and Danielle De Metz too. Heaven in a TV screen.
- DirectorGerry O'HaraStarsGene BarryElsa MartinelliLeslie PhillipsThe lady of a top fashion magazine doubles as a jewel thief and becomes involved in Moroccan intrigue.Amos Burke himself, playing an amalgam of his two '60s personas, unconvincing cop and even more unconvincing babe magnet. All good.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsDean MartinAnn-MargretKarl MaldenHandsome top-secret American agent Matt Helm must recover a laser-weapons inventor who has been kidnapped by arch-villain Julian Wall.Second Matt Helm film, and viva Las Vegas, it's Ann Margret. How groovy can you get?
- DirectorPeter R. HuntStarsGeorge LazenbyDiana RiggTelly SavalasBritish agent James Bond goes undercover to pursue the villainous Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who is planning to hold the world to ransom.The best Bond film, and Connery didn't do it. And we've all been kicking ourselves ever since. Bond with Emma Peel. And he didn't do it. He didn't do it.
- DirectorE. Darrell HallenbeckStarsRobert VaughnDavid McCallumLeo G. CarrollU.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are sent to Europe where a scientist's age-reversing machine is in danger of being seized by T.H.R.U.S.H. spies.Classic UNCLE. Get a load of Maurice Evans as a pseudo-Churchill, Vera Miles as a proto-Thatcher, and see Leo G. Carroll's UNCLE boss humiliate Bernard Fox's THRUSH agent. He stands corrected...!
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsRobert VaughnDavid McCallumRip TornU.N.C.L.E. agents Solo and Kuryakin try to stop a megalomaniac who thinks he's like Alexander The Great, commits offenses against the ten commandments and steals chemical weapons from the army in order to achieve world domination.UNCLE at the top of its game. Wonderful.
- DirectorDaniel MannStarsJames CoburnLee J. CobbGila GolanWhen scientists use eco-terrorism to impose their will on the world by affecting extremes in the weather, Intelligence Chief Cramden calls in top agent Derek Flint.First of two ridiculous copycat bandwagon jumpers. Fun, but stupid.
- DirectorPhil KarlsonStarsDean MartinStella StevensDaliah LaviRetired agent Matt Helm is re-activated in order to stop an evil organization from exploding an atom bomb over the USA and starting WWIII.Austin Powers, eat your heart out. First of the Matt Helm films. Victor Buono is wasted but Stella Stevens is marvellous. Great supporting cast.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsRobert VaughnDavid McCallumJack PalanceU.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Ilyia Kuryakin are sent to stop a T.H.R.U.S.H. employed ex-Nazi scientist from diverting the Gulf Stream.Way over the top UNCLE shenanigans. Fun.
- DirectorJohn NewlandStarsRobert VaughnSenta BergerDavid McCallumU.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are sent to the Swiss Alps to find a secret nuclear weapon design but T.H.R.U.S.H. agents kidnap Solo and replace him with a look-alike double.First season UNCLE, expanded and in colour. What's not to love?
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryClaudine AugerAdolfo CeliJames Bond heads to the Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme.Fourth Connery Bond, plenty to like.
- DirectorDon MedfordStarsRobert VaughnLuciana PaluzziPat CrowleyThe pilot for the TV series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," re-edited and released to theaters as a feature.Best version of the Man from UNCLE pilot. Start here for 104 episodes of magic.
- DirectorPhil KarlsonStarsDean MartinElke SommerSharon TateGold bullion worth USD 1 billion has been stolen from a hijacked train in Denmark. The main suspect is Count Massimo Contini. The US government sends Matt Helm, one of its top agents, to investigate and recover the gold.Last of the Matt Helm films.
- DirectorLewis GilbertStarsSean ConneryAkiko WakabayashiMie HamaJames Bond and the Japanese Secret Service must find and stop the true culprit of a series of space hijackings, before war is provoked between Russia and the United States.By the time Bond got to Japan, all his imitators had beaten him to it. You can kind of see why Connery decided to call it a day, but what bad timing, it cost him (and us) On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This is good in parts, and Nancy Sinatra's theme song is superb, but you can see the rough edges.
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Obsessed with the popular culture of the 1960s and surrounding decades, Jon Abbott has been writing about film and TV for over thirty years in around two dozen different publications, trade, populist, and specialist. He is the author of several books, including
Irwin Allen Television Productions 1964-1970,
Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots,
The Elvis Films,
Cool TV of the 1960s: Three Shows That Changed the World, and Strange New World: Sex Films of the 1970s.
See his Amazon author's page, and his other lists on the IMDB, all under the pre-fix DISCOVER. ” - jonabbott56