bensonmum2 Given Danger Route's lackluster 5.7 IMDb rating, I really wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. In the movie, Jonas Wilde (Richard Johnson) is a successful government operative who handles more sensitive cases (he's an assassin). Recently returned from a mission, he's immediately sent on another. This time, his handlers really don't care if he's successful or not. Either way, they want him dead. Coincidentally, Wilde wants out of the game altogether and has taken steps in that direction. His steps, however, do not include his own death.Most of the spy movie I watch tend to feature comedy or some other craziness. They may not be out and out spoofs or something like that, but they do include their share of humor. These spy movies generally feature crazy gadgets, over-the-top villains, exotic locations, and scads of beautiful women. Not here. Danger Route is deadly serious stuff. And while it does feature enough beautiful women for a Bond movie, there are none of the other trappings normally found in a spy film. I wasn't sure how this would play with me, but worked almost flawlessly. I appreciated the serious tone and the real tension it created. There's still plenty of action, but it's more subdued and realistic. I also thought the film had a nice flow to it. Never was I bored. I'll give credit to the brilliant Seth Holt who directed Danger Route. It's really too bad he died so young and after directing less than a dozen films. I'd like to have seen what a longer career might have produced. Finally, the writing is strong as well. The plot is filled with twists and turns. Most of these twists, including the final one, worked as intended on me. Overall, Danger Route is fine filmmaking.The acting in Danger Route warrants a mention. Richard Johnson never gets enough credit as a rock solid actor. Whether it's a more comedic film like Some Girls Do or he's running form zombies in Zombi, I always seem to enjoy his work. He's joined by a very capable cast that includes Carol Lynley, Gordon Jackson, Diana Dors, and Harry Andrews. My only complaint with the cast is Barbara Bouchet. It's not that she's bad or anything, just terribly underutilized. I really have nothing negative to say about the movie. It's a solid film with nice direction, writing, and acting. And, as is always key for me, I was thoroughly entertained. Danger Route gets an 8/10 from me.

JohnHowardReid Director Seth Holt is back in fine form in this engrossing thriller which had me sitting on the edge of my seat for its whole running time of 92 minutes. (I wonder if some of the negative reviews resulted from exposure to prints that ran less than 92 minutes?) Admittedly, Holt had the advantage of an extremely lavish production, complete with fine sets and an outstanding cast, plus a script that moves at breakneck speed. This is one film that really must be seen from the very beginning. To come even a few minutes late is to rob yourself of absolutely vital information. Director Seth Holt keeps a tight rein on his material and intensifies tension with an imaginative choice of lighting and camera angles. Harry Waxman's color photography is also most effective. My only complaint is that although production credits are generally first-rate, there are a few occasions in which back projection is pretty obvious.

TxMike I sought out this movie for one reason ... it has Carol Lynley in it. I first saw her when I was 14, she was a teenager in 1959's 'Blue Denim', a risqué teen pregnancy movie, but I just had the biggest crush on her. Something about her, her face, the way she moves, the way she delivers lines, to me she was the epitome of the girl you wanted to date.Anyway lots of years have passed, neither of us are young anymore, but it is fun to re-visit those memories.In this movie, set and filmed in England, Brit Richard Johnson is agent Jonas Wilde with a license to kill. And in fact he does kill a few targets. Sort of a poor man's James Bond without all the gadgets. But as the story develops he learns that he has become a target of his own organization, and he has to use his cunning to survive.His American girlfriend is Carol Lynley as Jocelyn . She doesn't have a large role, but an important one. She is pretty much the same girl as in 'Blue Denim', just about 8 years older.I enjoyed it as light entertainment, as a 'blast from the past', but it is nothing more than a 'B' movie.SPOILERS: As Jonas begins to learn of the plot against him, he is told someone very close to him is keeping an eye on him. He figures out correctly that it is Jocelyn and in their final encounter at the apartment they shared, she tries to poison him via ice he always uses for his drink, but he is wary, puts a cube in the fish tank instead, the fish die but he doesn't, and he is forced to kill her by breaking her neck.

Glad-2 . But worth noting for its star Richard Johnson and director Seth Holt. A former Royal Shakespeare Company actor, Johnson was Bond director Terence Young's original choice to play 007 and might have proved much closer to author Ian Fleming's concept of him. Indeed, Johnson was briefly groomed by the Rank Organisation in the late Sixties as their answer to Sean Connery, hoping to ride the Bond slipstream (but the two films Deadlier Than the Male and Some Girls Do were too cynically packaged to work as either imitation or spoof).Johnson's brand of worried suavity found a better vehicle here. A minor addition to the murkier side of the genre, it remains most notable for Holt. A former editor, Holt's deft cutting room skills had made two suspense films he directed for Hammer (Taste of Fear and The Nanny) unusually seamless and subtle.Alas, in Danger Route, even his assured touch failed to enliven an intractable plot about Cross-Channel espionage. But an exceptionally strong support cast - Harry Andrews, Diana Dors and Gordon Jackson - and a certain casual ruthlessness, lift this film above the totally routine. And Carol Lynley and Barbara Bouchet are truly gorgeous.Trite cynicisms and a trashy title-song date Danger Route unsympathetically. But Holt's admirers will discern enough in its minor virtues to compensate.