A beautiful Asian woman named "Revel Drew" (Nancy Kwan) is sitting at a table in a restaurant with a man who happens to be the head of all of the illegal operations on the West Coast. Not long afterward, as Revel gets up to talk to the piano player named "Lucky Jones" (Buddy Greco) a large truck comes crashing through the wall opposite of where Revel was sitting only minutes before and kills the mob boss. The owner of the restaurant is "Johnny Cain" (Adam West) who just happens to be a retired assassin and a former lover of Revel. Because of the suspicious nature of the murder, he immediately becomes a suspect and a contract is placed upon his head if he cannot exonerate himself. He has 72 hours. Anyway, rather than divulge the entire story and possibly ruin the mystery and suspense, I will just say that this film has a very intricate plot which requires close attention to detail. While the acting wasn't great and the dialogue seemed a bit stiff at times, I thought this was a pretty enjoyable film all the same. Adam West performed in an adequate manner as did Nancy Kwan who still manages to look quite attractive several years after her starring role in "The World of Suzie Wong". It's definitely dated but all things considered I rate this as slightly above average.
8 Reviews
"My friend,my enemy,my constant war."
morrison-dylan-fan30 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
2011:
Searching around online for any info related to Mario Bava's wonderful Giallo,I was shocked to discover a movie with the same title,starring lead Batman actor Adam West.Originally hoping the the title would be easy to track down,I was saddened to find,that with the exception of a 30 second clip,the entire movie appeared to have become lost in time.
Easter 2014:
With there having been a recent announcement about West's Batman TV show finally reaching DVD,I decided to start searching again for a copy of the movie.To my delightful surprise,I found out that Olive Films had just brought out the title on DVD and Blu-Ray!,which led to me at last getting ready to see Adam West meet the girl who knew to much.
The plot:
Retiring from the CIA,former spy Johnny Cain spends his quiet days running a nightclub called The Big C's.Getting an urgent phone call,Cain rushes to the club and discovers that a leading mob boss called Tony Grinaldi has been killed in an attack in his club.Claiming to have no idea about why the attack took place,Cain's CIA buddies tell him that they don't feel he's being completely honest with them.Whilst Cain gets the good news that the mob don't believe that he had anything to do with Grinaldi's death,the mob give Cain the added bonus of having 72 hours to find out the motives behind the killing,before they order a hit which will send Cain to the big nightclub in the sky.
View on the film:
Before getting to the movie,I have to mention that whilst the Olive Films DVD gave the title a clean picture and a very clear soundtrack,the DVD sadly features a fault,which leads to the audio of the (thankfully dialogue light) 8 minutes being about 30 seconds ahead of the image.
Backed by Joe Greene's smooth score,director Francis D.Lyon covers the title's low budget by creating a warm jazzy atmosphere,with Lyon filling Cain's nightclub with fistfights and warm oranges and blues,as Cain finds himself searching for the reasons behind the killing.Giving the punches some real force,the screenplay by Charles Wallace creates a fun mix of espionage and Film Noir,with Cain finding that he must use his old spy skills in order to escape from the shadow of the mob.
Being given a number of good one liners,Adam West delivers each of the hits with a real relish,with some of the more outrageous lines allowing for some choice cut Adam West Ham (which is not related to the UK football team West Ham) as Cain finds out about the girl who knows too much.
Searching around online for any info related to Mario Bava's wonderful Giallo,I was shocked to discover a movie with the same title,starring lead Batman actor Adam West.Originally hoping the the title would be easy to track down,I was saddened to find,that with the exception of a 30 second clip,the entire movie appeared to have become lost in time.
Easter 2014:
With there having been a recent announcement about West's Batman TV show finally reaching DVD,I decided to start searching again for a copy of the movie.To my delightful surprise,I found out that Olive Films had just brought out the title on DVD and Blu-Ray!,which led to me at last getting ready to see Adam West meet the girl who knew to much.
The plot:
Retiring from the CIA,former spy Johnny Cain spends his quiet days running a nightclub called The Big C's.Getting an urgent phone call,Cain rushes to the club and discovers that a leading mob boss called Tony Grinaldi has been killed in an attack in his club.Claiming to have no idea about why the attack took place,Cain's CIA buddies tell him that they don't feel he's being completely honest with them.Whilst Cain gets the good news that the mob don't believe that he had anything to do with Grinaldi's death,the mob give Cain the added bonus of having 72 hours to find out the motives behind the killing,before they order a hit which will send Cain to the big nightclub in the sky.
View on the film:
Before getting to the movie,I have to mention that whilst the Olive Films DVD gave the title a clean picture and a very clear soundtrack,the DVD sadly features a fault,which leads to the audio of the (thankfully dialogue light) 8 minutes being about 30 seconds ahead of the image.
Backed by Joe Greene's smooth score,director Francis D.Lyon covers the title's low budget by creating a warm jazzy atmosphere,with Lyon filling Cain's nightclub with fistfights and warm oranges and blues,as Cain finds himself searching for the reasons behind the killing.Giving the punches some real force,the screenplay by Charles Wallace creates a fun mix of espionage and Film Noir,with Cain finding that he must use his old spy skills in order to escape from the shadow of the mob.
Being given a number of good one liners,Adam West delivers each of the hits with a real relish,with some of the more outrageous lines allowing for some choice cut Adam West Ham (which is not related to the UK football team West Ham) as Cain finds out about the girl who knows too much.
Second Chance
chriscma6012 October 2022
While watching this I had a feeling of familiarity. It had the tone of Chuck Norris's first film, Good Guys Wear Black. Like that film it featured well known performers to bolster both the lead, Adam West in this case, as well as box office. Now this is not a good film. It's undernourished visually, with at least one too many songs from Buddy Greco. Still, Adam holds his own with the stilted dialog and more complicated than it needed to be plot. Nancy Kwan while beautiful is mostly wasted in what amounts to a series of cameo appearances that does very little to push forward a crime story as it morphs into a spy thriller. Nehimiah Persoff pretty much steals every scene he's in, as West's Johhny Cain spends much of his screentime listening rather than taking action. In the end, not a bad attempt to try to shake his "Batman" persona. Another attempt, with a more explosive and perhaps personal story with the same characters might have been worth it. Perhaps even as a new TV series.
The man tried to do something other than Batman...
gcrespo22 June 2001
One of the good things about this film is picking out the veteran actors that show up. Nehemia Persoff, David Brian, Robert Alda, Buddy Grecco(?). The plot, if you can call it that, was held together with string. Bad guys, syndicate types having deals with the Chinese. West is a "Soldier of Fortune" up to his nose in trouble, with an ex-girlfriend in tow, cops and the mob and the chinese after him. And one scene with a pilot of a private jet..watch him as he does his scene with his hand in his jacket pocket, but not the usual way one would put his hand in his pocket.....Was a soundtrack made of the theme? Who knows.
What a laughably lousy movie!
clarksmc9 January 2007
I saw this flick at an Army base theater in Germany. Lousy script and lousy acting. The one thing I remember in detail is that the character played by Adam West keeps getting beat up by various thugs. This must have happened to him 3 - 5 times by the mid point of the movie. Then he goes into some little shop ran by a frail looking man who appeared to be in his sixty's. When the old guy did not cooperate during questioning, Adam West proceeded to beat the hell out of him. It was unintentionally hilarious! I remember people in the audience laughing and yelling at the screen 'you finally found someone who couldn't beat you up'. Other than that brief moment, the movie was a waste of film.
Unintentional HILARITY ? ?
cazymopop3311 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
As I recall, the first part of the movie goes in great detail to build up Adam West as a highly trained and skilled "special agent". It becomes hilarious.
West is basically noted as a secret agent & THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE, sorta. Too bad he gets beat up in every fight he's involved, until he finds an old man he can beat the tar out of. I saw this when in Basic Training at Lackland AFB. Along with my fellow Airmen, I laughed hysterically at Adam West's futility and dialogue. I could SERIOUSLY rate this movie as an almost CLASSIC COMEDY. But, after the opening boasts of West's "dangerous" character, lol, IF... you expect Adam West to be James Bond, forget it. Just watch & laugh at the absurdity.
West is basically noted as a secret agent & THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE, sorta. Too bad he gets beat up in every fight he's involved, until he finds an old man he can beat the tar out of. I saw this when in Basic Training at Lackland AFB. Along with my fellow Airmen, I laughed hysterically at Adam West's futility and dialogue. I could SERIOUSLY rate this movie as an almost CLASSIC COMEDY. But, after the opening boasts of West's "dangerous" character, lol, IF... you expect Adam West to be James Bond, forget it. Just watch & laugh at the absurdity.
Adam West Lost Classic NOW FOUND!
trevoranndouglas28 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
How can you go wrong with a cast like this: Adam West, Nancy Kwan, Nehemiah Persoff, Robert Alda, Patricia Smith, Chick Chandler, Mark Roberts, George Neise and Buddy Greco (who not only acts, but sings the memorable theme song twice!) A very old 80s Video company called K&C Video released this film and I bought a brand new Beta print for $60! in 1980... It was shown a few times many years ago on local television but has never had a deserved DVD release. O.K. maybe it's not the best film Adam West ever made, but hey, he gets to have a lot of action scenes, drives a cool car, has some great scenes with Nehemiah Persoff as well as with the gorgeous Nancy Kwan. What more could you want? Intrigue, a catchy theme song, interesting locations and a cameo by David Brian all add up to an hour and a half of quite decent entertainment. I have watched this film so many times over the years that my poor Beta tape has had it! Please release this on DVD with a commentary by surviving cast members and maybe even a featurette. UPDATE May 28 2013 OLIVE FILMS released a fantastic print in both DVD and Blu Ray. I have the DVD version and I am very impressed.
Awful
awinston1 May 2000
For years, I thought of this as the worst movie I had ever seen. It has been over thirty years now, perhaps I have now seen worse. Perhaps not. Adam West may have given the worst performance of his career in this film, it certainly would have been a career worst for almost any other actor. The story, as I recall, was nonsense. The movie wasn't even a decent dog.
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