Killers Are Challenged (1966)

Bob Fleming is back, 10 May 2017

Coleman, a top scientist, has developed a new form of energy that will effectively make oil useless. Fearing that his life may be in danger, Coleman goes in for plastic surgery to alter his appearance. The CIA sends in Agent Bob Fleming (Richard Harrison) to take the place of the now unrecognizable Coleman. The big stumbling block will be convincing Coleman's wife to go along with the plan. Posing as Coleman, Fleming's life is in constant peril. Fleming heads to Morocco to meet with the wife, but which side is she on and who can he trust?

Overall, The Killers Are Challenged (or Bob Fleming: Mission Casablanca) is a reasonably entertaining, but ultimately not great Eurospy. It's easily the weaker of the two films in which Harrison played Bob Fleming – the other being 1965's Secret Agent Fireball. This one does have a few things going for it. Harrison makes a solid lead. He's likable enough to create a character I actually cared about. The Killers Are Challenged is filled with a cast of gorgeous women – Susy Anderson, Wandisa Guida (also in Secret Agent Fireball), Janine Reynaud, and Mitsouko. All have terrific parts and most aren't forced to play the stereotypical Bond girl type role. In fact, it was a real treat to see a woman play the villain in one of these movies. The movie includes plenty of action. From fistfights to car chases, things don't stay still for very long. The movie moves at a fairly good pace which is always a positive with a spy film. Finally, I did enjoy certain elements of the plot. The idea of killing to ensure that oil remains king was a good one. There's really a lot here to enjoy.

On to the negatives, while there is a lot of action, sometimes it felt like people were running around needlessly just to pad out the film. The movie suffers from the lack of a big set-piece – not uncommon in these low budget Eurospy films. Also, the ending was a real letdown. The villain, whom Fleming has been chasing the whole movie, just sort of slowly runs off the road and into the water – roll credits. I really wanted something more. With all that being said, the worst part of The Killers Are Challenged has to be the big bar fight scene near the end of the film. It just didn't fit the tone of the rest of the movie. It didn't belong here. And talk about padding – that's exactly what it felt like.

In the end, The Killers Are Challenged is a harmless enough Eurospy. Not great, but now awful either. I was going to rate this a 5/10 until I remembered the really cool jazzy soundtrack. That's worth at least a point, right?

6/10