This film was based on a successful series of books written by Gérard de Villiers (who also wrote the script for the screen), about an Austrian prince who works for the CIA on the side and uses his pay to keep his ancient private castle in good shape. It was perhaps intended to start a new low-budget Euro-Bond-type franchise, but that never happened, and the film is almost completely forgotten today. When you see it, it's not that hard to understand why - it's an almost actionless actioner, and the main character may just be the least active secret agent in the history of the genre! Most of the time, he just walks (or drives) from place to place and talks to people, until he finally thinks (in the last 10 minutes): "Hey, why don't we follow the bad guys to discover their hideout?" He also has absolutely no fight scenes, which seems kind of a waste, given Miles O'Keefe's physique. Speaking of O'Keefe, he gives an appealingly wooden performance. There are some luscious women (the pool girl is incredible; Sybil Danning only has a cameo), and the film does have one thing that will always be missing from the James Bond pictures - female nudity! There is also a rather imaginative climax that pays homage to the house-of-mirrors finale of "The Lady From Shanghai", but getting to that point is a loooooooong ride. *1/2 out of 4.
Review of S.A.S. San Salvador
