Enoch Sneed Obviously this was intended as an over-the-top spoof of extravagant 1960's crime and spy thrillers. As some reviewers have noted, if you watch it in isolation and forget the excellent source material it can be enjoyed on that level. Even so, a spoof does not have to be one long joke. There was room for some genuine suspense here, particularly at the climax, where Modesty and Willie escape from their cells and set out to foil arch-villain Gabriel. This would have given the film a sharp edge after all the camp hamming that went before.One of the problems seems to have been that (according to Terence Stamp's autobiography) Monica Vitti was totally lacking in physical co-ordination and just could not handle action scenes. This makes what should be her climactic confrontation with Mrs Fothergill a really limp effort - shot from above to allow a stunt double to do the work with awkward close-up inserts of Vitti and no true physical contact at all.Still, I always relish the sight of Dirk Bogarde pegged out in the desert calling out for "Champagne!" and squealing as the loyal McWhirter comes to the rescue: "I thought you were mother!" Good fun, but it could and should have been better

Robert J. Maxwell Not a word or an image is to be taken seriously. Not even when the sadistic chief villain, Dirk Bogarde, parodies an American general's phony speech about how, when "the widows and orphans" of the Vietnamese weep, "their tears are our tears." That's about as gruesome as it gets though.The rest is flighty and whimsical, something along the lines of "The Avengers," the British TV series popular at the time. The outfits are as outrageous as the set decoration and the fantastic plot.I don't know if the story is actually worth bothering with, but for what it's worth, Modesty Blaise (Monica Vitti) is a kind of freelance James Bond who is immensely wealthy. She and her sometimes colleague Terence Stamp are hired to protect a shipment of diamonds being sent to an Arab sheik in return for oil concessions. Bogarde is the man who intends to intercept and steal the payment. He lives like a Turkish pasha on a Mediterranean island that is all jutting rock, century plants, flaming blossoms, and castles with an op-art decor. Bogarde is an effete fellow given to snits of exasperation and always cooling himself with tiny, delicate fans. There are many adventures and one or two double crosses before the diamonds wind up in the hands of the sheik and Bogarde is tied down, spread-eagled on the desert sand, licking his dry lips under the blazing sun and begging for, "Champagne, champagne." Director Joseph Losey is best known as someone at home in dramas about Big Questions that are full of mystery and ambiguity. He, the plot, and the characters are equally mysterious and ambiguous here but these features are put to subtle comic use. None of the gags are out of the Marx Brothers' playbook.Well, few of them are. In the opening, we see a well-dressed Briton walk up to a tall brick row house in Amsterdam, extend his brolly, and push the doorbell. There is an enormous blast that not only atomizes the visitor but collapses the entire building so that the neat row of Dutch houses is left with an untidy gap of smoking rubble. When the dust begins to clear the impression left is that of a missing front tooth.More often the humor is subtle and sometimes hard to catch. Harry Andrews tells his superior, "Hehe. That's very sinister, uh, Minister." And there is an immediate cut when Bogarde's accountant notices with disgust that Bogarde's drink -- an electric blue liquid in a glass with a yard-long stem -- has a goldfish swimming in it.Or the humor, if that's what it is, can be lodged in shock. In the middle of a conversation, Stamp leaps to his feet, flings a dagger through an open window, and transfixes a pigeon in mid flight.Monica Vitti is exquisite. She's tan and lithe, always impeccably dressed, no matter how outrageous the outfit, no matter that no one can find a way to get her out of her tight black body stocking. She has the alien eyes of Barbra Streisand with a more modest splanchnocranium. Her Italianate voice verges on a husky croak like Claudia Cardinale's. No one has ever eaten a more sensuous apple, not even Eve. She can change her hair style from a foot-tall blond monstrosity out of Louis XVI to a shorter, dark, modern cut in the blink of an eye. Can you and I do that? No. Well -- I wouldn't want to, but you might.I remember seeing this in Honolulu while returning from a sojourn in a tiny village on an island in the Pacific that lacked the advantages of movies or television. It was overwhelming, as if I'd been instantly transported from a dungeon to a Disneyland for the eye and the mind. And the title song is a caprice that let's us in on the joke before we hear even the premise.

christopher-underwood When I first saw this on its original release in the mid sixties, I remember being disappointed. I had been bewitched by Monica Vitti's performances with Antonioni and had much enjoyed Losey's earlier film with Dirk Bogarde, the 1963 film, The Servant. It seemed shallow and frivolous, completely lacking in any seriousness. And maybe my assessment still stands, it's just that now I love it. I love its crazy lurches, this way and that, the sinister, yet amusing Bogarde and his extraordinary drinking vessels. I love the successfully over the top performance from Terence Stamp and the glorious pop art set designs and costumerie, which I probably took for granted back in the day. But most of all, I love Monica Vitti. She can be beautifully moody and introverted for Antonioni but here she smoulders and glows with a knowingness that maybe puts her above Bardot. The scenes with Bogarde are alive, those with Stamp amusing but with Vitti on screen, it is hard to look at anything or anyone else. Worry not whether this is a spoof or not, just sit back and enjoy a very special cinematic experience that encapsulated a moment in time perfectly. Wonderful.

Rennie Petersen I saw "Modesty Blaise" in the cinema when it was first released in 1966. At that time I had already read the book, which I loved, and I came away from the cinema thinking that this travesty, this blasphemy of a movie was total trash.Peter O'Donnell, the author of the book and the comic strip that inspired the movie, went on to write a whole series of books about Modesty Blaise, and I loved them all, especially the first five - six of them, after which the series declined somewhat. I became a greater and greater fan of Modesty Blaise, and my memory of this movie remained completely negative.Why this negativity? Because the movie does not follow the true concept of Modesty at all. The Modesty books are intelligent and exciting and character-driven, with a touch of humor. In particular, the characters of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin (Modesty's loyal side-kick) and their unusual relationship are key factors in the books.This movie, on the other hand, is just plain silly. It's "campy", with all of the characters acting strangely and with everything that is done being exaggerated. Modesty and Willie, who are both poorly cast relative to their appearance and physique as described in the books, even break into song a couple of times! So as a movie depicting the "true Modesty Blaise" this movie deserves one point, even though the script does actually follow the first book to a large extent, although everything is modified a bit one way or another.Now I've watched the movie again on DVD, and my opinion is less harsh.If you take the point of view that this isn't a Modesty Blaise movie, but a Joseph Losey movie, then it isn't all that bad. Joseph Losey (the director) did have a specific idea of what kind of (campy) movie he wanted to make, and by gum, he did make it."Modesty Blaise" (the movie) lasts all of two hours, and the style is consistent and sure. Everyone acts consistently silly, the plot is silly, the action is silly and even the theme song (although catchy) is silly. So if you're in the mood for a silly, campy movie, you've come to the right place.In fact, if I was a fan of campy movies then I might be giving this movie eight or ten points. But I'm not, so I'll leave it at six points. But it does deserve that simply for the consistent weirdness and for the song "Ice is Nice", sung by Bob Breen. (There's actually a sound track CD available!) Incidentally, there is no extra material on the DVD, although it does include sound tracks in English, French and Spanish.Over the years there was often talk of a new Modesty movie, and finally in 2003 "My Name is Modesty" was made and released directly to DVD. Comparing this movie with "My Name is Modesty" (which I also give six points out of ten) I can say that the big difference is in the intention."Modesty Blaise" (the movie) was not intended to be a true Modesty movie, so it fails if that is what one is looking for. But it succeeds fairly well in what it was attempting to be, namely a campy movie."My Name is Modesty", on the other hand, really was trying to be a true Modesty movie, so it simply fails.We true blue Modesty fans are still waiting for a good Modesty movie.Rennie Petersen