247. Hot Enough for June (1964) - Guest: Matthew Bradford from Spybrary

[00:00:38] Hello and welcome to SpyHards - A Spy Movie Podcast, the world's greatest spy movie podcast. I'm Agent Scott. And I'm Cam the Provocateur. And Scott, we are not involved in a beauty competition. Nor should we ever be. Although I will say, by us being in a beauty competition it would highlight the beauty of everyone else. That's true, that's true. You need trolls, like you need garbage to appreciate like, you know, jewels.

[00:01:05] Hmm, okay, okay, right. We're the garbage. Yes, we are not diamonds that are forever. No, we're those like fake plastic diamonds that people tend to pass off as diamonds in porn shops? Well, we're the new lab made diamonds, but the mistakes, the ones they threw in the garbage. The ones that like had like cancer of diamond and started splitting and just like... Yeah, that sounds like us. Spontaneously combusted. Yeah, just blowed up in a corner somewhere. Which is probably what would happen to us if we

[00:01:34] were actually in a spy movie. Hmm, that's true. That's true. That's the whole... That is true. Well, one can only hope we made it into the movie. We're probably on the cutting room floor, let's be honest. We've actually filmed tons of spy movies, folks. We just never made it to the screen. That's right, that's right. Yeah, that's why we're experts allegedly. We've actually been in all the films we've ever talked about, but we just never make it through. My child performance in Condor Man would have had you weeping. Unfortunately, the movie was a comedy. Yeah.

[00:02:05] Well, on that note, and speaking of comedies or perhaps things that shouldn't have been comedies or accidental comedies, we have to talk about the last film we spoke about, which was a couple of weeks ago. We took a look at Michael Caine's 1983 film, The Jigsaw Man. And we had a ton of feedback from yourself, mostly just complaints. But that's the usual filtration process we go through. We get a lot of complaints. And then there's some nice comments too, so here they are.

[00:02:33] Yeah. So why don't we start with the email? And folks, if you want to guarantee your thoughts are going to be read on the show, email, email, email. That's the way to go. And Scott, what's that email address? Oh, it's very easy to remember folks. It's mail. And that's in, as in M-A-I-L at spyhards.com, not M-A-L-E. Don't send it to that because I'm not sure where that goes. It's probably Cam's personal folder. No, that's the folder for our beauty competition that we're putting together.

[00:03:02] Oh, it all connects. It all connects. But no, there's also a link in the show notes below. You can drop us a line anytime and we'll get back to you. Absolutely. But yeah, read away, Cam. Yeah. So this one comes in from Space Odds 1985. He says, Dear Scott or Cam, the only thing I can say about the Jigsaw Man is that I'll never look at bald patches the same way again. Thanks, Charles Gray. Oh, poor Charles Gray. Poor Charles Gray gave this very brave performance in this deeply silly movie. His head's like a prick.

[00:03:32] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because I've seen a lot of his work kind of like viewed through the prism of ridicule. But I'm like, I don't know. I'm sure at the time he's like, I'm going to go all out there. I'm going to take a swing at this one. Look, listen, Cam. Film is art and he bared his soul for us. It's just unfortunate that he did it in the Jigsaw Man. It is very true. Very true. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:01] But thank you, Space Odds. Thank you for the email. Join Space Odds. Wait, wait. Thank you, Space Odds, because you just suddenly gave me a thought. And Scott, I think you're going to agree with this. Oh my God. You know, he points this out with Charles Gray, obviously, you know, has like this moment where he removes his toupee in the film, right? Why did he not do that in Diamonds Are Forever? He was playing Blofeld. Had he lost his hair by that point? I don't care. Oh. Shave it off then.

[00:04:29] So instead of going in drag, he took his hair off is what you're hoping for. Yeah. Yeah. Would have made more sense. It would have, right? But then does Diamonds Are Forever make sense? Well, that's it. I'm actually going to watch it tonight and I will get back to you about that. Let me know. Let me know. Let us all know because we were very curious. And literally last week, we spoke to Trina Parks about Diamonds Are Forever. We've got it on the brain at the moment. It might be an infection. Well, it's definitely an infection.

[00:04:58] Well, moving on to another comment and this one comes in from Instagram. And this one comes from NaomiSentKent2 and they say, poster, 10 out of 10, film, 1 out of 10. It's a pretty good poster. Gotta say. I mean, I'll give you a little bit of background. The poster that they're referring to is one that I had to make. Oh, really?

[00:05:24] Yeah. The poster that we're looking at on the screen right now is, I think, the Italian version. And I had to cut out the Italian title and put in the Jigsaw Man because the Italian title was about eight words long. I don't think they're referring to the title. I think they're referring to the artwork. Okay. Well, the artwork is lovely, but I just... I can't believe you are going to try to take credit for this. I'm all for transparency. I took it. I just gave it up. I took transparency, baby. I'm all about being transparent.

[00:05:51] I don't. LaSai. Anyways, the next one comes in from Johnny Cowell on Instagram who says, I had seen this movie years ago. I thought it was pretty good. Can't go wrong with Terrence Young at the helm. So we actually have a fan of the Jigsaw Man out there. There are dozens of them, I'm guessing. Hey, I will not allow this fan of the Jigsaw Man to be alone, to stand alone for the film.

[00:06:17] There are dozens of fans over on the Facebook. A couple of just quickfire comments. We had a comment from Ben Robb saying, An interesting Cold War Spider film by Terrence Young and Michael Caine. And Hugo Van Morik said, Not great, but enjoyable. So, hey, it's got its fans. You know what? We just recorded a Patreon episode where I am celebrating Con Air. Uh-huh. So we all have our own tastes. Yeah, and some of you are Diamonds are Forever fans, and some of you are not mental.

[00:06:46] Well, throw me in that asylum, because let me tell you, if they're showing Diamonds are Forever all day long, I'm a happy camper. You'll be sitting in that mud pie, just having a great time. That's right. That's right. Mm-hmm. And then the last one I've got comes in from James Hellyer on Facebook. It says, I had this on free newspaper DVD. I felt ripped off. Glorious. Great comment there. Thank you, James. James. Yeah, it's interesting.

[00:07:14] I spent hours putting that YouTube video together for the video version of that episode. There's also a video version of this episode. But you listening in the audio version, you're the only people hearing this, by the way, so you do have exclusives on the audio. And I remember just thinking, I wonder if I spent more time editing the video review of the Jigsaw Man than the editing team actually spent editing the film. I do have a question maybe for you. What is a free newspaper DVD, though? I get the idea, but was that a thing?

[00:07:43] Oh, it's very much a... I assumed it was a worldwide thing, but it certainly happens here. Usually in the Mail on Sunday or something like that, they would give out just DVDs with it. Oh, really? They would just come with it. And you'd find a lot of these Michael Caine 80s films. Fourth Protocol, definitely been a newspaper DVD. A lot of the ones we've tackled, some of the SpyHard specials have been newspaper DVDs. Well, that's fascinating. No, that was not a thing here in Canada, at least in British Columbia, where I live.

[00:08:12] I don't know, maybe other Canadians are going to chime in and be like, no, I had those too. But no, that's not something I was aware of. Oh, that's interesting. And also something I would have loved. God, I really got ripped off. Yeah, it's like a really good way of putting stuff together. And I just actually, I've just pulled up a list of DVD newspaper collection. Yeah. And the number one on the list is the Ipkris file. Interesting. Now, okay, so when you got the DVD with the newspaper, did it come in like the packaging you'd get in a store? Or is it like a sleeve?

[00:08:41] Okay, a cardboard sleeve that's the size of the DVD. So it's a very cheaply produced thing. And the DVD is literally just like bare bones menu with just the film. There's no like commentary tracks or anything like that. It is like mass produced budget DVD. Probably a film that there's like a rights issue for. They can just get quick rights to it and put it out. And that's it. But like, yeah, I'm looking at the list. There's some films on there that we have tackled or will tackle at some point. There's Ice Cold in Alex is on there.

[00:09:11] I'm just going to give you a few more. The Ipkris file, like I said, Cannibal Run. Oh, yeah. A Little Shop of Horrors, because why not? Wait, the original or the remake? The original, funnily enough. The 60s version? 60s. The Eagle has landed. The fourth protocol, like I said. I'll give you one more spy movie if I can find it. Although I will say in the meantime, Mulholland Drive was given out by The Observer in the mid 2000s. Not Mulholland Falls. That one I would believe more. Yeah. Enigma from 1982.

[00:09:40] The Sam Neill or Martin Sheen film as well. Or IP Sam Neill. Yeah. And to bring it all back home, going back to our Jigsaw Man review, number 50 on this list. It came with the Daily Mail and it's The Whistleblower. Oh, wow. Boy, Michael Caine was a real star with the free newspaper DVDs. The free newspaper DVDs, which probably speaks a little bit to perhaps how his star wasn't that high when these films were being produced. I'd be willing to bet if I went further down this list, you'd probably find Midnight in St. Petersburg and Bullet to Beijing.

[00:10:10] Maybe Blue Ice? Potentially. I mean, I'm scrolling down further, but I probably shouldn't. Yeah. And didn't he do one called The Black Windmill or something like that? He did. Yeah. I wonder if that's there too. That's a film. It's not on this list, but I mean, there's only 70 films on this list and there's definitely more than 70 of these things. What about The Swarm? His killer bees film? No, but I did just find a spy who came in from the cold. Oh, a lot of spy movies on this list. Yeah, no kidding. It must just be like a rights thing where they just got the rights to it and distributed.

[00:10:39] But hey, folks, if you know anything about these newspaper DVDs or why they were so prevalent for a short period of time, you don't get them anymore because DVDs are kind of in a relevant format for a lot of people now. And you're certainly not going to get free newspaper Blu-rays. Yeah, I'd be interested to know if you know a little about the history as to how they came along or like how the rights were secured. I actually just would be interested to know a little bit more about it. So let us know. Mail at spyhards.com. Drop us an email. We'd be very keen to hear. Last question about this topic.

[00:11:07] What was the time period these were being sent? The 2000s. The DVD boom, basically. So like early 2000s. Mid. I would say, well, like some of these films that I'm listing came out in the early 2000s. So I'd say mid to late 2000s when the DVD boom and then when the DVD started to fall off. So probably 2010s, early 2010s. Okay. This is me guessing. I didn't collect many of them myself. But I can tell you as a fact, I know we're sort of stringing this intro along, but my grandfather before he passed away had hundreds of them. Wow.

[00:11:36] Because he had the mail on Sunday and the sun delivered every week and they would usually come packed with one. This is a history lesson for me. It's fascinating. Wow. Like I've actually got in my house, I have a newspaper DVD copy of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. Huh? Okay. And he came out on like two DVDs over two weeks because it's like a six part series. Yeah. Yeah. The PBS or was it BBC made it? It was BBC, but it probably played on PBS over in North America.

[00:12:05] But that's also the definitive version of Pride and Prejudice on the screen. Yeah. If you ask me. But yeah, there you go. A little history lesson, folks. And speaking of history, join us as we step into a magic portal back to the year of 1964. The temperature is rising. And before we get to this week's film, we have to introduce this week's guest. And we charted it back.

[00:12:31] The last time this man has joined us was back in 2024 for the sequel to Dr. Goldfoot. So back to right that wrong, hopefully. For his, I believe, third time on the show. It is one of the spy masters of this world. It is the one and only Mr. Matthew Bradford. Hello. So welcome back to Spy Hearts. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be back. Yeah. It's been too long and I'm happy to be here. I mean, you must now be like the reigning king of 1960s spy movies on this show.

[00:12:59] I think you might be our go-to guy. Interesting. This is a sort of different one from the others we've discussed. So I'm happy to be in a kind of like slightly different sort than those outright parodies. But yeah, I'm happy to be a go-to 1960s spy guy. I think that like from our conversations in the past, that is kind of your vibe though. That is sort of the spy movies you drift towards. Absolutely. Yeah. I love 60s spy movies.

[00:13:26] You know, my walls of my apartment are plastered in posters for 60s spy movies. It's definitely my happy place. And, you know, I think it came when I exhausted all the Bonds early on as a Bond fan and I found, oh, there's a world beyond that. There's like more of these. I can dig deeper and just kind of got into all those imitation Bonds of which there's many really good ones. So that I think is how I got into just the 60s of it. Well, I have a question for you.

[00:13:56] You know, if Matthew Bradford has like a night off, nothing to do at all, what is the comfort food 60s spy film you're throwing on? Well, I mean, it's still Bond. You know, that Bond remains my favorite. And, you know, Connery's always a good goat. You know, I certainly like the Harry Palmers and Deadlier Than the Male is my all-time comfort food of that. Like of all the Bond imitators, I think that's the very best.

[00:14:23] And that one, you know, I've got multiple posters in my apartment, like probably four of them up. And I own like, I don't know, I think from every territory it was released in. That's my big rabbit hole was Deadlier Than the Male, which actually stars one of the stars of tonight's movie and is from the director. Yeah, I think I'm not sure what energy sort of brought you into this discussion. I know we've discussed Deadlier Than the Male before, like an off-air conversation.

[00:14:50] And perhaps one day we will bring that expertise, because clearly you are the biggest Deadlier Than the Male fan that perhaps exists. I hope so. I think I might be. So I would certainly love to discuss that one with you guys one day. Yeah, I remember in the past we talked to you about Danger Diabolique. That was the one I recall conversations about as well. And I do love that one as well. I mean, that's in my top 10 favorite movies. I absolutely love that. And that's been treated really well this year.

[00:15:16] There's now 4Ks from multiple companies, you know, they're each trying to outdo each other. And some great special features on them. The UK one, I think, is the best. It's got, yeah, all sorts of good features. And the movie looks amazing. It's always quite funny with these boutique re-releases, especially of like spy movies, because that's all of our interest here. Like, especially when you go back to 90s, 80s is fine, because most of the cast directors are all still alive. You can do interviews.

[00:15:45] We were just talking to Andrew Davis the other day, who's going to do a repackage of Above the Law, I think it was. Yeah. He's alive. I don't think they're going to talk to Seagal, but they're definitely going to talk to Andrew Davis. But I think, like, finding the cast and crew of Danger Diabolique or Deadlier Than the Mail is perhaps a bit harder. Yeah. And fortunately, Danger Diabolique was released on DVD back when John Philip Law was still around.

[00:16:11] So there is a great legacy commentary that's followed its way, hosted by Tim Lucas, who's just amazing. You know, he's written the book on Mario Bava, literally, the director of that movie. And it's a wonderful conversation he has with John Philip Law, who has sadly passed since then. But that commentary is always there. That said, yeah, it's a real shame that no one got a commentary with Richard Johnson while he was still alive for Deadlier Than the Mail. Thankfully, Elkie Summer is still with us.

[00:16:38] I mean, it would be great for someone to track her down for the next release of that. But sadly, you know, I doubt that'll happen. These movies don't get the kind of respect that some other genres, you know. So, like, Euro Spy, Deadlier Than the Mail is a British film, but a lot of Euro Spy is Italian. And there's so much love for the giallo movies and the Eurocrime movies and the spaghetti westerns. But the Euro Spies, they still don't get that kind of love on deep, you know, on boutique Blu-ray labels.

[00:17:08] And I wish they did. I think it just needs, like, one big film to come out to be popular again. Like a spy movie that isn't, you know, dreary like the latest Bond film or whatever dross Netflix is putting out. Perhaps it's a more joyous or happy film. I mean, they're talking about Austin Powers 4. Now that, of course, is parody. But that would at least lead into that sort of 60s sensibility and give it a little bit more of that energy back.

[00:17:32] Yeah, that's a great one to bring up, I was going to say, because of Austin Powers led to the In Like Flint and Our Man Flint DVDs. And they were actually packaged to look Austin Powers-ish. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was when the sequel to Austin Powers came out. It led to the, because the first one had already been a hit.

[00:17:47] So it led to all these, like, The Flints and Fathom, that great Raquel Welch one, and some of the other, like, sort of deep cut 60s movies that the Austin Powers movies referenced came out on DVD from mostly from Fox back then. That was great. So you're right. If something, if we have some kind of, like, fun romp spy movie hit, then maybe we'll see these catalog titles get unearthed again. Mike Myers, I'm calling you out. Maybe the... We're waiting.

[00:18:15] The next James Bond film has to go pure 60s spy-fi. I'd watch that. I'd watch the hell out of it. People would happily watch that at this point. That would be amazing. You just look at, like, how Minsters and Monsters and Minions are Minions and Monsters or whatever it is is doing this weekend versus what Supergirl did last weekend, which I know is contemporaneously, like, dating this review. Yeah. But it is bananas what people are actually going towards. And I didn't mean bananas in a Minions joke, but it did just work, didn't it? It did.

[00:18:44] I was like, is that intentional? It doesn't look like it was, judging from the look on his face. But no, I've never seen a Despicable Me or a Minions film thus far. Okay. Well, that'll change because those Despicable Me's, well, they're on the master list. Yeah. Some of them slide into the spy category, but I don't know how urgent they are. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to answer that question. Nor do I want to paint myself yellow. So, yeah.

[00:19:13] Unfortunately, having seen Monsters and Minions because I worked on it, not because I went to a theater for it, but it does not. It doesn't meet any spy criteria. So you never have to see that if you don't want to. The expertise continues to roll in for Mr. Matthew Bradford. Thank you, sir. You've saved me an hour and a half. Or maybe he's just lying so he doesn't have to appear on that episode. Well, okay. Let's get to the topic at hand. Cam, what are we talking about this week?

[00:19:42] Yes, we are talking about 1964's Hot Enough for June, also known as Agent 8 and 3 quarters. Isn't that the train platform for Harry Potter? Wasn't that... What was the name of the... Oh, my God. Was it a Pink Panther movie where there was the Bond who was like... It's Pink Panther Strikes Again where they had like a Bond riff and he was like 8 and something or other. I've seen one before. One of the Assassins who's after him?

[00:20:12] I feel like it's early in the movie. I think Clouseau runs into him in like a bar. Oh, you're thinking of Flint. I am thinking of Flint. Thank you. Yes. He ran into... I think it was Triple 08. Triple 08. That's what it was. Yeah. Yeah. And they mentioned... I think they mentioned Spectre or Smirsh in that conversation. That's right. I think they did. Yeah. There's a Bond mention in this film that I'm surprised they got away with. Oh. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just a number, theoretically.

[00:20:41] Like, can you copyright that? I think so. And I think that nowadays, Amazon or formerly Dan Jack Eon would have gone after anybody for using the number 007 in something. But this was really early on because this was... I mean, when this was filmed, only one Bond movie had come out. So, you know, I think they weren't... Their lawyers weren't quite as perched to strike back then. Not quite the Thunderbolt years. Yeah. No, very true.

[00:21:11] But if you've never experienced Hot Enough for June... And I will note the irony of this episode was booked in June, recorded in July, and it's been put out in August. That's just classic spy hearts for you, baby. You know. It was booked during a heat wave as well. So that's where the Hot Enough for June joke came from, I think, in my head. And now it doesn't mean anything. Yes. The joke dies. Oh, your heat wave's over? I'm glad to hear yours is done with. It's still quite... For now.

[00:21:38] Well, here is your synopsis. And I note that when I searched for Agent 3... Agent 8 and 3 quarters in Letterboxd, it didn't quite like it. So it actually... Okay, there you go. We'll get into name changes in a minute, but here it is. Hot Enough for June. She's an eye catcher. He's a spy catcher. Is he? He's not, no. But it rhymes, Cam. Don't question it.

[00:22:09] A young man travels to Prague to join his new employer, unaware that he is being used as an espionage courier. Yeah, that's the film. There you go. Okay. Okay. Very succinct. Unlike moments of this film. Yeah. Fair, fair. Now, I think I know my colleague Cameron well enough to know that he's never seen this film. Am I right? That is correct. Yes. I have never seen Hot Enough for June. Or never had. Well, no.

[00:22:39] He still hasn't watched it. He's winging it through this review, folks. Yeah. I have no history with it. But, Matthew, I'm assuming you have some sort of a history with the film. I do indeed. Yeah, you know me. And I am a big 60s spy fan. So, I went down this rabbit hole originally years and years ago. It was probably 20 years ago that I first saw this movie. And it set me on a course to collect posters of it from various territories.

[00:23:08] Like, the aforementioned Deadly in the Mail, I've collected posters from, I think, almost every territory it was released. And Hot Enough for June, not quite as many, but certainly a lot. Because it had really cool campaigns. Like you mentioned already, I was going to bring up if you hadn't, she's an eye catcher, he's a spy catcher, because what a great tagline, makes no sense for the movie. And, well, Silva Castillo is an eye catcher no matter what. But Dirk Bogard is not a spy catcher in this movie. But that's kind of part of why I like the posters for it, because they really, they're

[00:23:38] trying to market it as a Bond imitator, you know, which were so popular by the time it came out in 64. But when it was filmed, like, only one Bond movie had come out. So, they weren't thinking that. But, yeah, especially in the U.S., where it was released later, there's, the posters all lean into that. And I also had a poster from Malta, which was really cool, because it was censored.

[00:24:02] It was the sort of international quad, and has Silva Castillo in a sexy red bikini, that not the same bikini she actually wears in the movie. But they had painted a dress over the bikini onto the poster, which was common in certain territories to kind of censor some of these 60s spy posters. I'm going to demand an image of that so I can show it on the screen now for everyone to see it. I'll try to dig that up.

[00:24:31] I appreciate your knowledge of that. And I will, in terms of posters, I'll let you get back to your thought. But I absolutely adore the fact that you've got a Born Identity 1988 Richard Tramblin poster behind you. You are now my favorite person. Thank you for doing this. Well, thank you. You're the first person who's ever complimented me on it. So, thank you very much. But, yeah. So, I love the posters for it, but I hadn't revisited the movie in a really long time.

[00:24:57] So, this was my first time watching the movie again in quite a while. And in some ways, it wasn't totally as I remembered it. So, that was kind of interesting to see. Well, I want to ask about that. Because you've really dove into the world of Euro Spy films. And when you had seen this movie originally, how did you regard it in contrast to ones like Deadlier Than the Male or the many others you would have seen? Like, was this considered an upper tier? Was it sort of mid-tier?

[00:25:27] Where did you sit with it? Yeah. Well, I think all the Betty Box, Ralph Thomas movies, to me, are sort of upper tier, which is sort of ironic because I think in England, back in the 50s and 60s, when they were churning them out, they weren't considered upper tier. You know, they were B movies. They made a series of Doctor comedies with Dirk Bogard. And they made a lot of, like, spy thrillers. But, you know, they're very quality productions, even if they didn't have the budget of, you know, some of the other rank movies.

[00:25:57] Like, there's a rank movie, but obviously it's not like the Powell and Pressburger, you know, like. But they, yeah, among the spy, the Euro Spies, they're really slick. You know, they have a much higher budget than some of the Italian and other ones. And yes, I always thought of it as kind of one of the upper tier ones. But the big difference, though, is that despite that marketing, this isn't one of the Bond imitator ones.

[00:26:22] You know, so many of them have like a wannabe James Bond hero, often with a number like 0008, you know, like we're just talking about or something. Or 077, one of my favorites. But this one is much more in the Eric Ambler school of like, or the Hitchcock school of an innocent man abroad caught up in a spy plot, you know. And so it's pretty different from a lot of those Euro Spy movies. Yeah.

[00:26:49] I mean, when he showed up in like a gray suit, you're immediately thinking of, you know, North by Northwest.

[00:27:22] Totally. That film was the 59 version of 39 Steps. But I remember him just being Kenneth Moore. Kenneth Moore. I remember just him. I remember him not being a Robert Donat. Let's put it that way. Well, yeah, that's fair. Have you guys covered that one? We have done that one a while ago now. It does. It feels like it felt like kind of like more of a slapsticky version of the 39 Steps, where

[00:27:49] it's a bit more like British humor, whereas 39 Steps was a little bit more just global. But yeah, I remember him like being rude to some nannies in the park at the start of the film. That's my only memory left of the film now. But hey-ho. But yeah, but this guy, there is some connections I'm sure we'll get into. So Cam, why don't you turn the heat up and tell us how we got there?

[00:28:16] This was based on a book, a debut novel by English spy fiction writer Lionel Davidson. And the name of the book is what I'm going to try to pronounce. Maybe Matthew can correct me on this one, called Night of the Wenceslas? Night of Wenceslas. Like the Christmas Carol. Good King Wenceslas, look down. That is cruel. That is a cruel title. I didn't even know that was a thing, but I'm glad to have seen Cam struggle. The guy who did an English major.

[00:28:46] Yeah. I'm glad they changed the title for the movie. Imagine if they'd kept that. It's more like you'd like in the deep south, like Wenceslas? What? You what? Just imagine all the people showing up at a theater going up to buy a ticket. Yeah. Just stumbling over the line. Yeah. I think that's the festival that's going on late in the movie. The Prague festival is the Night of Wenceslas, but they never say it by name. Okay.

[00:29:15] There we go. I have no way of like proofing what you just said. So I'm taking that as the truth now. Yeah. And I'm not sure, but I haven't read the book. I have to say, I do. I like another Lionel Davinson book. Later on, he did Kolimsky Heights, which is, you know, very well regarded spy thriller. That's never been filmed. That was in the 1990s. So very different era and a very different kind of protagonist.

[00:29:39] That one has a sort of like really tough guy, kind of a Nikolai Hell from Trevanian's Shibumi or like Flint almost like a master of all, you know, all things kind of hero. Very different from this one. So I'd be curious. I've always wanted to read Night of Wenceslas, but I haven't gotten around to it. And I'd be curious to know how close it is to the movie and if the hero is quite as naive as he is in the movie. I was surprised, actually. The book's published in 1960.

[00:30:09] He worked for many years after that, but that this was his only book turned into a major film. That kind of surprised me. I would have thought there'd be at least one or two, especially if he's making these, you know, sort of pulpy spy thrillers. It seems easy to adapt, especially in the wake of Bond. Yeah, that is surprising. Although he didn't do a lot of spy thrillers. He went into the kind of mystery territory and maybe that's why.

[00:30:31] But when he went back to spy thrillers, I think they've been trying to crack a Kalimsky Heights movie because it got some recent attention because Philip Pullman called it the greatest thriller ever written. So it got this major like republication push with that quote on it. And I think that got the attract attracted some Hollywood studio. I forget who. And they're trying to do that. So hopefully that happens. Coming to Amazon Prime.

[00:30:56] So originally, American producer Hal Wallace wanted to make this into a film and he wanted Lawrence Harvey to star. And Lawrence Harvey, star of The Manchurian Candidate and many other films. But the two men had a falling out and it just never happened. And so the rights wound up at the rank organization and producer Betty E. Box, who obviously oversees this movie and works with the director Ralph Thomas on a few other films.

[00:31:21] Now, initially, they had a draft by a Canadian novelist named Mordecai Richler that was rejected. And then they found a different writer. And that was Lucas Heller, who was a German screenwriter. Got to start doing additional dialogue work on the 1959 socially conscious crime drama Sapphire. Did a little bit of TV after that. What's socially conscious drama? What does that mean? So it's like a crime drama, crime thriller, but it's about racism.

[00:31:49] And it's commenting on the racism of the time period in which it's set. Okay. So it's... The socially conscious thing is just an odd... I guess that's probably what they said back then. Think of it as like In the Heat of the Night, right? Which is like, yes, it's a police detective story. But it's also commenting on race in America at that time. That's kind of the idea of what Sapphire was. But after doing some TV, he gets his first real screenwriting gig.

[00:32:17] He co-writes the 1961 horse track thriller, Never Back Losers. Horse track thriller. Oh, yeah. Let's do this. Right? I'm down for that. Is there a character called Max Zorin in there somewhere? I mean, one would hope. One would hope. He's at home in the saddle. Dick Francis must have been so sad that that title was taken, Never Back Losers. I mean, it pertains to like, tell you about the secret going-ons.

[00:32:46] The criminal going-ons of the horse track. So like, I like to think it's almost like a riff of like the secret world of the jockeys from The Simpsons. Oh. See, I know all about horse tracks. I've read Diamonds are Forever. There's a little bit of that in there. That's all I need to know. There you go. I've got it. Fleming got it. And kudos for mentioning the worst episode ever. So he follows up Never Back Losers with the 1962 camp classic, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

[00:33:16] Starring Betty Davis and Joan Crawford. A huge hit. Amazing movie. And kind of writes his ticket for the rest of his career. And he follows that movie up with this. Actually, Hot Enough for June. Which is kind of a bit of a surprise. And then he would go on and do things like the Betty Davis thriller Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. He did some uncredited work on the Ipcris file. Co-wrote the 1965 James Stewart drama Flight of the Phoenix.

[00:33:42] And worked on a little movie in 1967 called The Dirty Dozen. Oh, that old thing. Yeah. And made quite a bit of money off, I think, The Dirty Dozen. Because there was, you know, TV remakes and what have you. Yeah. But he passed pretty young, right? As they so often did in that time period, I found as well. Yeah. They burn bright. Yeah. Yeah, he's an interesting choice. And, I mean, I wonder how much... He's the sole credited writer on this. Do you know if there were other contributors?

[00:34:10] The only thing I could find was that rejected draft by Mordecai Richler. So... Solid name, by the way. Mordecai is a name that needs to come back. Richler. Mordecai Richler. Oh. Oh, God. Take me, sir. Did that Johnny Depp film kill the name Mordecai? It has to have. I don't think people were calling their kids Mordecai before the film came out, either. I think that name's died off. It was the new Britney.

[00:34:39] At least, I don't think the Johnny Depp film made enough of an impact that it should stop someone from bringing it back. So if either of you have forthcoming babies, I think that's the road to take. Not that I'm aware of. Well... So the director of the film, Ralph Thomas, English director, started out as a clapper boy in the film industry and moved into editing under director Victor Hanbury from the 1935...

[00:35:05] Starting in 1935 with the World War I spy thriller romance Second Bureau. And he also did the 1937 crime drama Return of a Stranger, a.k.a. The face behind the scar. And then, you know, World War II is happening. And he joins up with the 9th Lancers cavalry regiment. Does his service. Gets out and comes back to Hollywood. Sits in the big chair. He's directing, starting with the 1949 romantic fantasy, Once Upon a Dream.

[00:35:33] And he's just one of these directors who's like the studio journeyman who's just doing everything. He's doing, you know, westerns, adventure films, all that kind of stuff. He boards the Doctor franchise with 1954's Doctor in the House. And this is that Doctor kind of medical comedy series starring Dirk Bogard. And this kind of kicks off a, like, relationship. He's going to be working with Bogard quite a bit.

[00:36:00] And he's also working with producer Betty Box on that film. They would work together quite a bit as well. And him and Bogard, they did a few Doctor films. They did a movie called Campbell's Kingdom. And a 1958 version of Tale of Two Cities. So the relationship was obviously very effective. It's kind of like a DiCaprio Scorsese of that time period. That's what they say. That's what they say. Yeah. Dirk Bogard basically went back and forth.

[00:36:30] Between working with Betty Box and Ralph Thomas and working with Joseph Losey. You know, so, like, which were really opposite ends of the spectrum of, like, British film at the time. Of, like, artsy high art and, like, low art. You know, I mean, I love the Betty Box, Ralph Thomas movies. But I think artistically they're probably considered, you know, lower tier than Joseph Losey movies. Well, I think we, if there was an art for podcasts, I think we would be on the low art side. So it's okay.

[00:37:00] We're slumming it here, folks, but you're slumming it with us. That's right. This was the follow-up for Ralph Thomas to 1963's Doctor in Distress, obviously starring Dirk Bogard. And he would go on to do the Bulldog Drummond capers Deadlier Than the Male in 67 and 1969's Some Girls Do. I love those movies. You know, well, especially the first or the second one. It's not nearly as good, but it's still a lot of fun. Is that a Bulldog Drummond film, though, the second one? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

[00:37:31] But they've reinvented Bulldog Drummond to basically be a James Bond clone. You know, he has more to do with Connery's Bond than he does with the Ronald Coleman kind of Bulldog Drummond of the 30s and 40s. Yeah. I went back and watched the original Bulldog Drummond, the first few of them. And it's funny because I really had no sense as to who that character was. I just knew the name. Yeah. And in my mind, it's like this two-fisted sort of like crime guy.

[00:37:59] And then I'm watching Bulldog Drummond going, this is not what I expected at all. It's actually much more akin to a film we tackled recently, Scott, which was Lone Wolf Spy Hunt. It's like that sort of thing. Oh, right. Like a gentleman. Yeah. More like a gentleman crime-solving dude. And the books are very Bertie Wooster-y. You know, like they're – I've read the first couple and the main thing they're known for now is their racism, which is pretty shocking. You know, but I think probably just the norm of 1930s Britain.

[00:38:30] But they're – you know, they're very – along with the early Saint books, which are not racist, but are very sort of – similarly that kind of PG Woodhouse sort of club land hero. You know, like – but not as a comedy fop, but as an inadvertent protagonist. And I like those early Bulldog Drummond novels. You know, they fit in with kind of the John Buchan and stuff.

[00:38:57] And I don't think the movies quite captured that sort of feeling of – yeah, the first one really reminds me of like Bertie Wooster caught in a spy caper. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I liked the second one, After Dark, which was like more him just – it captured like the vibe of that After Dark kind of idea. Yeah. Of like, you know, it genuinely felt like a movie set at night. Oh, that's a good one. You know, it didn't feel like kind of a studio film.

[00:39:24] It was like the idea of this character kind of in his after hours and how he's solving crimes. It was actually – I thought – I know the first Bulldog Drummond is more acclaimed, but I kind of preferred the second one, honestly. Cool. Yeah. The three people that have seen – that are watching this or listening to this that have seen those films are like, yes, preach, preach. But the 60s ones, they're very much, yeah, Bondian.

[00:39:48] Even though the drum end of those movies is an insurance investigator, which is one of my favorite 60s spy subgenres of the insurance investigator. There's a surprising number of them, so much so that on my old blog 00 section, I have like a tag for insurance investigator. Because there's like Ring Around the World. There's permission to – oh, sorry, not permission to kill. Shoot, I'm forgetting. But I got the title. Something like License to Kill.

[00:40:19] And these movies that are about an international globetrotting insurance investigator. But he's basically doing the things that James Bond does. You know, they are spy movies. They've just put someone in a different role. And it's a very strange role. You know, I don't – I never thought of, you know, when my dad would like meet with his insurance adjuster. I never thought of this is like a James Bond guy. But in the 60s, I think it was a really different kind of profession if the movies are to be released. I mean, you were doing so well. All this information you were coming out with and then you forgot that one film.

[00:40:48] So I'm sorry, but we're going to have to ask you to leave. That's it. You're no longer an expert. I'm sorry. I failed you. It is on DVD. It's on a Word Archive DVD. I just – yeah, I'm blanking on that. You've got for the rest of this episode to come up with it. And when you know it, just scream it out. In the middle of a sentence. Interrupt us. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. You got it. Now, Dirk Bogard actually turned down this movie initially. His career was actually kind of on an upswing. He was getting more, you know, positive critical notices.

[00:41:18] It was like, oh, I could move into something maybe with a little more substance. But his mind changed due to financial issues. And he was like, hold on, guys. I am down for this film. In the meantime, they'd actually cast Tom Courtney to be the lead. And so he was basically cut out of the film, bailed on it. Bailed with me? Wow. I didn't know that. And I love Courtney. And the two starred together in Queen and Country, which is a really great drama.

[00:41:45] But Courtney is in one of my very favorite 60s spy movies, Otley. Yeah. And I could easily picture him in this role. That's interesting. I didn't know that. Wow. Yeah. And he was actually also in a film Scott and I tackled, Operation Crossbow. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And Dandy and Aspic, he is quite the spy resume as well. Yeah. Something tells me we've interviewed someone to do with Otley. And I can't remember why now. Oh, did we? Oh, you did. Yes.

[00:42:14] I listened to that episode. It was a great one. You interviewed the writers in the Fresno. I did Clement. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There they are. Yeah. I don't think we asked him a single question about it. But yeah, there it is. No, I was like the whole time like, ask about Otley. Yeah. You got some of their, you know, the rock and never say never again, many good spy things. But yeah, I wanted to answer. We'll just get them back. That's fine. Yeah. We've been going back on the well recently.

[00:42:43] Dick Clement, Ian Lefrenet, we're calling you out. Totally beside the point tangent here. But I was recently in a used bookstore here in LA where there, you know, a lot of times you might find things that belong to celebrities because when they pass away and their estates go. And I found their autobiography, Dick Thumman and Ian Lefrenet. And I already owned it, so I didn't buy it. But I found a copy and it was signed to Dick and Lauren, which I'm sure was Dick Donner and Lauren Shuler Donner, you know, because they obviously work together and stuff.

[00:43:13] And it was just cool to see that. Did you get it? I didn't. I already owned the book. No. As you can see, I'm inundated with books and I'm trying not to, you know, buy things that I already own. Go back to that store. Stop this podcast. Go and get it. I will pay you to ship it to me. I want it. Wait, how did you not buy it and throw out the copy you had on your shelf? That is an excellent question. And the answer is my wife.

[00:43:42] I was with her at the store and she suggested not getting the book. Okay. Aye, aye, aye. How long ago was this? It was like a week ago. Oh, there's still hope. We can get this book, folks. Come on. All right. So before the episode airs, I got to get back there. You said August, so I got some time. We've got some time. Actually, I think I have their, like, I have a copy on these shelves behind me of their autobiography,

[00:44:11] but it's a paperback and this was a hardcover. So, yeah. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, Matthew Bradford, is to get that book to me. Wait, another question. How much were they charging? Oh. Oh, it was so cheap. It was so cheap. And believe me, I wanted it. This is not going to happen. This is the problem. It's not going to be there. Someone will have snapped it up and my soul will have been destroyed. But I am holding, I'm crossing every finger I've got. Come on, guys. We can do this. All right.

[00:44:41] Okay. Okay. Well, getting back on track. This film was shot in Italy as a stand-in for Czechoslovakia because that was under communist controlled situation. So, they weren't going to be heading in there for this film. The title, which we've mentioned up front, Agent 8 and 3 quarters, was used for the U.S. release. So, it was released as Hot Enough for June internationally. And then in America, they tried Agent 8 and 3 quarters.

[00:45:12] Why? And I think before that, they actually tried Agent 008 and 3 quarters, right? And then they got threatened. Yeah. I don't. The title stinks. Like, 8 and 3 quarters is not a good title. No. And as we've said, it's not a Bond knockoff. It makes no sense. It was just trying to cash in, you know, release. Like, I think by the time it came out in America, the Bond wave was going on, but it hadn't been filmed when that was happening. And so, all the studios were rushing to make their own Bond movies.

[00:45:41] You know, like even the Flintstones movie that was made at the time was a spy. You know, everyone was doing these spy ripoffs. And they're like, well, we've got one, you know, on our shelves that was released overseas. We can relabel it and market it as this. And it's not the best, you know, it's not the most faithful way to market this particular film, but that's what they wanted to do. My only question about the 8 and 3 quarters is he's never referred to as that. No, because it's not.

[00:46:09] I mean, it was literally marketing people, not the creative people. It's not the. And even that joke at the beginning that we'll get to in a minute of 007, I suspect that was added pretty late on in the game. It doesn't really go with the rest of the movie. You know, it's. Well, it's not. It's not even. Is it the same actor that's in the office who does? Who brings in the documents for 007? Or is that different? John Lemus, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So there's some continuity there because I was going to say, otherwise it could be a

[00:46:38] completely different scene that was shot a completely different time and just attached. Right. And it may well still have been, you know, I could have brought them back. Yeah. Yeah. So the film was a modest success in the UK. Did okay business, but it was not at all successful in the US. Uh, the, uh, top three for the year. Number one was Mary Poppins. Number two was My Fair Lady. And number three was Goldfinger. And the final note I had was years later, they asked Ralph Thomas about why he made this film.

[00:47:08] And, um, he said, because I thought the script was quite funny and I loved working with Dirk. It was still during the period when he was doing those sorts of roles very well. Which seems to indicate that he was not doing those roles very well later, but. Well, I think, I think he didn't want to do those roles, you know, like he was sort of pigeon pigeonholed as the matinee idol, um, and the doctor movie, like he was pretty fed up with those doctor movies, but kept coming back to them.

[00:47:37] And I think he really wanted to do the kind of movies he was making with Joseph Losey and not the modesty blaze that he made with Joseph Losey, but the, the servant, you know, like, um, and I think he was also interested in pushing like movies, uh, like, like accident and, um, uh, libel that sort of dealt with gay themes, uh, as he was still closeted himself, but he's playing this, you know, very, um, I mean, his images of matinee idol was, was, uh, you know,

[00:48:07] women were flocking to him. So he, he couldn't really, uh, and also it was still illegal in Britain at the time to be gay. So he couldn't be open at that time, but later on, uh, he, he sort of was, but, um, it's interesting that, uh, he, he's actually the same age as Leo McKern in this movie who plays a character who's the father of his love interest. It's so weird.

[00:48:31] Like, yeah, Dirk Bogard's 42 in this movie, but he's still the sort of thirties Dirk Bogard. Whereas later in the sixties, just a few years later, he was going to be the kind of like white haired, like, um, elder statesman, Dirk Bogard. It would happen like that overnight. I think probably he was dying his hair at this point, I'm guessing, but, um, but he still has those matinee idol looks and he still is convincingly, you know, I, I would think in this movie, if I didn't know better that he was in his thirties, you know, he's seems like a pretty young man lead.

[00:49:00] Yeah. I mean, it's so common when you go back to movies of this time period or earlier where the actors who are in them look significantly older than people that age do now, not in this case. Right. Like Connery and the bonds. Yeah. But with the supporting actors, yes. So like, like McKern, uh, 42 and, um, uh, Richard Vernon from Goldfinger, who turns up later on as an embassy official, he's younger than both of them. He's like 35 or something.

[00:49:29] He's super young and he looks like he's in his seventies. You know, it's unbelievable. Yeah. You've blown my little mind. He was, he was 40 ish when he made this 42, I think 41. Wow. I mean, what was his regime? I need to, I'm about to hit my forties and he looks younger than me. We always say camp. We always talk about this. We look at these like actors in older films and they seem to just, as soon as they hit 25, they've been working down the coal mines their entire life.

[00:49:56] I just showed, um, my girlfriend had never seen on her majesty secret service. Um, so we're going through the bonds and watching those with her. And like, I told her at the age of like George Lazenby, who was in his twenties at that time. And she was completely bowled over that he, this was a man in his twenties. Right. And now you read all these rumors every day about who Amazon is going to cast as bond. And there are these very young seeming 20 somethings, a lot of whom are basically the same age as Lazenby, but, or, or even, you know, Connery was just 32 or something in Dr.

[00:50:26] No, but they didn't seem like it. You know, they felt like men, you know, not like men. Well, I feel like no matter how old I get, I'll never be as old as Sean Connery bond. Right. Right. Exactly. And it blows my mind that this next bond will be younger than me for the first time, you know, like as, uh, and you guys are probably in the same boat. Like it's, there's never been a bond actor younger than me. I guess every bond fan hits this age where they're, but yeah, that's going to be weird. We're going to be the M age soon.

[00:50:55] That's the scary thing. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's true. We're going to be behind the desk folks. We're not going out on missions anymore. Yeah. True. True. I had a question actually, I guess for Scott. Now for me, I got to say Dirk Bogart falls in a real, like, I'm not that aware of him in terms of his performances. Like I've seen him in a few things like A Bridge Too Far, but he's definitely an actor who is definitely a blank spot for me on my filmography.

[00:51:24] Scott, were you at all aware of him? No. No. I thought maybe on that side of the pond, he would be a bigger name. So you might've heard the name more. Maybe, but I only saw A Bridge Too Far for the first time this year. So like, I wouldn't call myself a cinephile. I never claimed to be one. So maybe he is in some of the most must-see British films. I just haven't seen them. Yeah. Like I have Darling on my list of films to watch because I'm going through and watching every Best Picture nominee. You're a whore, baby.

[00:51:54] And I don't take whores in taxis. Wow. I was like, okay. That reference is going to pay off big for me later down the road. I'll just clip that and just put that on social media. There you go. No, you're in for a treat with Darling. I absolutely love Darling. And I love Bogart. Like I went down like this big Bogart and Courtney rabbit holes when there used to be a film festival here in LA called Mods and Rockers.

[00:52:23] Again, kind of Austin Powers inspired where they would play 60s British movies. And they'd always do it at the 4th of July. So we're recording this right at the time that it would have happened at the Egyptian theater here in LA, the American Cinematheque. And it was great. That's where I had a chance to see many of these. I think they played Hot Enough for June one year. That's probably when I first saw it, actually. They played a lot of these spy movies on the big screen on 35 millimeter. And it was wonderful. But they also played non-spy movies.

[00:52:52] And Tom Courtney and Dirk Bogart are in so many great British movies of that era that I started getting into both of them. And I know they were huge. Like Bogart was huge at the time in England. And it's interesting to hear that he's faded completely because certainly in America, people haven't heard of him either. But I will correct that. Faded is probably not the right term. I just myself am not aware. I'm sure there are people screaming at their podcasts and screaming at their YouTubes right now saying he's the most famous actor ever or something.

[00:53:22] Not for me. I kind of doubt it. I don't know. But he's actually. So Robert Morley, who plays the sort of M-like role of the British intelligence chief in this movie, his son wrote a book about Dirk Bogart and his career. And Morley also turns up in Some Girls Do and other Betty Box movies. But he's always a great character actor. But it's interesting that his son wrote this book about Dirk Bogart. And it's a really good book.

[00:53:51] And unfortunately, now I've got it in storage. I was looking, trying to unearth that to like read something for it about this movie, because I remember he talked about it since his dad was in it as well. But I can't remember what he said. But it is. It's really sort of shows you what kind of career Bogart had if you read that Morley book on Bogart. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. Like, I feel like he's just based on what I saw here. It was like, huh, I'm actually shocked. I am not more aware of this guy.

[00:54:18] And I look forward to seeing more of his work and actually having a sense as to who he was. Because when I saw Bridge Too Far, I didn't sit there and go, oh, wow, there's Dirk Bogart. It was like, OK, well, he's in a sea of, you know, character actors and stars of that time period. Yeah. He's also I think he's the he is the best spy villain of the 60s in Modesty Blaze trapped in the worst spy movie of the 60s. Not really the worst. We were talking about worst ones earlier. But, you know, the Joseph Losey's Modesty Blaze, that's not what Losey was good at.

[00:54:47] You know, and it's so unfortunate. Most Modesty Blaze fans of the books and the comic strips hate that movie because it doesn't it's like if Casino Royale 67 were the only Bond movie. You know, it doesn't accurately depict the character. Yet Bogart is fantastic in it. And he is it's worth watching the movie just for him. He is his villain role. One of my favorites, you know, and his ultimate fate, which is sort of there was a sort of

[00:55:15] a riff on what happened to Dominic Green in Quantum of Solace, but in a much, much funnier, lighter way is he plays it so well. It's great. I mean, it's not a great movie. It's forgive me. It's a terrible movie, but he is a great villain in it. And it's worth watching for his performance. OK, it's one that it's I mean, it's another one of those many, many films. It's not our list that we haven't tackled yet, but it's one that I'm mildly familiar with just through the years of running our social media and people just mentioning that film as a

[00:55:45] missed opportunity. Yeah. And people go like we should make we should make more Modesty Blaze films start again. Like, yeah, they should. I mean, it's a it's a great series of books. It's never been justice done justice in movies or TV in a couple of attempts. But if you do tackle it, I highly recommend reading the book first, because if you watch the movie, you will not know what's going on. The movie, you can't decipher the plot. But the book, you know the plot.

[00:56:12] And then once you've read it and you watch the movie, you can you can understand what's happening. Which makes sense with your Casino Royale 67 analogy. Right. Yeah. Because that's about like a third of the book is in that film and the rest of it's just. I don't know. Yeah. The flying saucers. I don't remember from the book. No, no, no. But perhaps perhaps that's a later Fleming. Sure. Yeah. It was in later Matt Helm. That is true.

[00:56:42] Well, you know, we've been talking around it. We've been dancing around it. That thermostat is about to blow. So it's hot enough for August, apparently, by the time this comes out. But let's talk about hot enough for June. Matthew, you've made the pilgrimage back to Spyhards after many years in the desert. You've come back home. Tell us, enlighten us. What do you think of hot enough for June in the year 2026? So, you know, like I said, I had a sort of different reaction than I had had 20 years

[00:57:10] ago when I really liked it, largely fueled by my sort of Dirk Bogard fandom at the time. I still ultimately like the movie quite a lot. But man, is it slow in the first half? You know, it takes a long time to get where it's going. Once it does, I love the second half because it's one of my favorite spy tropes is the agent stuck behind enemy lines having to get out. I love that. And there's so many variations on it in movies and TV.

[00:57:38] Like my favorite Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode is The Dove Affair because it's Napoleon Solo stuck behind the Iron Curtain trying to escape. You know, and it's just so much fun, those sorts of things. And I think this movie does that really well. But it takes a while to get there. So, and I do love the initial premise of someone going to the unemployment office and getting assigned a job that he thinks is, you know, not only is he trying to avoid it because

[00:58:04] he's a writer, not whatever this is, but he doesn't suspect that it might be Her Majesty's Secret Service who's trying to employ him. But that's essentially the premise of this movie. You know, a man goes to the unemployment line and because he speaks Czech, he's recruited inadvertently and unknowingly into the Secret Service, right? Yeah. Yeah. Basically just a courier they refer to him as. Yeah. And it surprises me that this movie was based on a book written in 1960 and the movie was

[00:58:33] filmed in 63, even if it came out in 64, because it has so many overtones of the Greville Wynn affair in real life. Like, I think you guys covered the Benedict Cumberbatch movie, The Courier, that's based on that. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it was a real thing. The Secret Service would recruit businessmen, you know, like ordinary citizens who were going behind the Iron Curtain. And, you know, if I didn't know those dates, I would swear that Lionel Davidson was inspired

[00:59:01] by Greville Wynn to do this, of like a regular businessman, like tasked to be a courier for the Secret Service. But he wasn't. But maybe he had connections. I don't know. Maybe he knew people in that world and knew that that stuff went on. But it's a very interesting premise, I think. I mean, I agree. I think the premise is probably one of its better things. It is. I found this a frustrating film myself. I love the whimsy of it.

[00:59:28] I love kind of the energy at certain times that this sort of it's half North by Northwest, half of a James Bond film. You've got the Cary Grant, wrong man, wrong place thing swallowed up with the it's basically Cary Grant in North by Northwest in a James Bond film. So you've got the guards, you've got the guns, and there's gadgets at the beginning of the film. There's basically the whole kit and caboodle. But for me, it was I agree. I think there's some slow bits here.

[00:59:57] But I think for me, it lacks any sort of tension whatsoever. And that's kind of the problem with that whimsy that you talk about. Like, I actually really like that sort of like whimsical and to me very British approach of like everything is just a game, you know, except it saps the tension in some key places when you have, you know, Liam O'Kern's character should be this very sort of sinister force in some ways. He's the head of the Czech secret police.

[01:00:25] And if he catches them, they say multiple times he'll be in front of a firing squad, you know, like he's going to be shot and killed. But because of that kind of like, like very sort of whimsical approach to it of the two spy masters being pretty buddy buddy, it does take away some of what I'm guessing in the book is probably more tension. Like I said, I've got to read that. But I would bet that that took it a little more seriously.

[01:00:50] It reminded me of like Karen Bay in From Russia With Love in a sense where like, and I can't remember where they are. Is it Istanbul? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like the other spy agency there and they're both just playing a cat and mouse game the whole time. And it's just a bit of fun they have to pass the time is spying on each other. But there was throughout that, and I'm going to use From Russia With Love as a comparison point later as well, I think. But like the idea of there's still danger, like half of his people get shot and then he

[01:01:19] gets killed. Like there is tension in Karen Bay's job. Whereas I do not think any of the spy masters in this film have ever once feared for their lives. Right. Good point. Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. What about you, Cam? What did you think? You know, I, this was so not what I expected, which was interesting. Like, because, you know, what I had seen mostly was that it was a sort of a send up or parody

[01:01:45] of, you know, kind of that Bond world, which when you see the release date, even before I watched the movie, I'm like, well, I don't know what it's really parodying at this point. It's kind of like, you know, Scott, you and I recently talked about the movie Hancock over on the Patreon. Yeah. And the idea of like, they were making all these superhero movie parodies at a time where they didn't quite yet know what the genre exactly was. They're like, well, origin stories, right guys? And that was kind of like what they had.

[01:02:14] And so I'm watching the movie going like, well, I don't think this really qualifies as any sort of like send up of the Bond era because I mean, yes, they mentioned, you know, the 007, you know, name on a file basically. And Sid Cain is the art director on this film who worked on the first couple of Bond films. But like outside of like looking at the office setup of, you know, their quasi Moneypenny and their boss, which has a little bit of that M Moneypenny kind of stuff.

[01:02:45] Like you wouldn't really say this is in any way a really like a consistent parody of Bond at all, which is seems like it's much been more driven by marketing, which I think is what my expectation was set at was that that's what I'm walking into the way that like Goldfoot was, you know, when we talked about those films. We look at like OK Connery. Yeah. Is it Frank Connery? What was his name? Neil? Neil Connery. Yeah. I think Frank Connery also sounds great. You're thinking Frank Stallone, aren't you?

[01:03:14] Yeah, I am. That's it. Yeah. The lesser Connery, the lesser Stallone. There we go. Although I think Frank Connery should happen. Thank you. You know, you have that you have that moment at the beginning with Moneypenny and M because they hired the actors to come in and play to give you that sense of like familiarity. But then the rest of the film's like bonkers. Yeah. Yeah. And so like that's what I was expecting.

[01:03:38] But what I found was like this very frothy and sort of light, playful look at espionage that I was consistently sort of surprised that it was more just like having fun being playful versus like really latching its teeth into anything. Like it didn't even feel like, you know, is it kind of a send up of like Hitchcock era stuff like North by Northwest or 39 steps. It didn't feel like it had its kind of scalpel out to be like, oh, we are going to send this up.

[01:04:07] And so I really had actually a pretty easy time. It's interesting. I think I'm on the opposite end as Matthew where I actually found the first half was what I enjoyed more was the sense of discovery of the world, which I maybe wouldn't get the second or third time through that. Perhaps that's the case, you know, for you. But for me, it was more like kind of the amusement of, you know, the way his boss works and things like the, you know, the two way mirror reveal, like just the creation of the world and the

[01:04:33] inspection of this glass factory, which seems like the ultimate dud assignment to be sent on the setup of the romance that we see carried out, like their playful dates. That stuff I thought really clicked. And it wasn't really until the second half when it became more of the evading the police through various occupations that I went, oh boy, this is feeling long. This is, it didn't feel like it was kind of like building to anything so much as like,

[01:05:01] well, okay, we've exhausted the plumber disguise. Let's do something else. I'm with you on that, on that, the first, second half. I enjoyed the world building more than I did to sort of let's get him out of the iron curtain stuff because it felt very familiar. And then it gives you the slap in the face that is basically the topaz ending. I was fine with it. Guess they're going home. Okay, I guess that's topaz, everyone. That's hot enough for June. Yeah, that did bug me a little bit.

[01:05:29] Yeah, so I was just like genuinely surprised at how light it was to the degree where it's still like, you know, he has the piece of paper that he's been smuggling that we never find out what's on it. It's never acknowledged. It's the, you know, it's the rabbit's foot. It's the burn after reading. Like just it's, it was nonsense. No one cared anyway. Yeah. Like I think they say something like, oh, we'll never know what that info was. And I'm like, okay, like, sure. It just, it was the lightness and sort of the frothiness of it that genuinely took me by

[01:05:56] surprise because I expected something that was, even you could say a Flint film is not exactly commenting on the human condition, but it's really digging in to that genre quite hard. Whereas I would say this one's much more kind of just, you know, having a relaxing journey through the genre. But you are not a sex pot, Ken. Thank you. Flint did tell us that. So we learned something there. But that's interesting that you had that opposite reaction.

[01:06:24] And maybe that's why I remember like, I definitely don't dislike it, but I remember liking it more. And I think because maybe that was my reaction back then when I first saw it, because it is a movie that's very different from how it was marketed, even how the posters are, how the DVD cover is, like, you're not getting what you quite expect because it was not a Bond parody. And it's interesting because a few movies did manage to pre-parody the Bonds, you know, like

[01:06:51] The Road to Hong Kong or Carry On Spying, which were made very early on, but still managed to like imagine monorails and volcano layers before Bond had ever even done it. Yeah. But this isn't that. It's not a parody. It's a sort of lighthearted Eric Ambler type of Hitchcock type of spy thriller. But I mean, just to that point, I think it's very astute. And I think that speaks to something that we've spoken about on this show numerous times now, which is, yes, James Bond perfected a lot of the formula.

[01:07:20] But a lot of what James Bond was was already out there. Right. There were films doing it in bits, I think piecemeal and Eon and the directors and the writers and everyone brought it together into this bigger package that people could. It was more digestible. But like you can see all some of the some of the weird tropes from Bond back in the 30s and stuff like, you know, the Fritz Lang Spion. It's got a lot of James Bond in it. Like there's there's stuff out there. Yeah. Yeah. Or I mean, Hitchcock, I think, did it.

[01:07:49] It's so weird that in Foreign Correspondent, I feel like Hitchcock did the Bond formula and then no one else thought to copy that until he himself did it again with North by Northwest years and years later. It's so weird that it was basically out there and they didn't they didn't catch on. But you're right. Yeah, there's there's a lot of pieces there. And Eon and their creative team really managed to put them together in just the right order to gel. And also it's like the Bond movies get big.

[01:08:18] You know, Goldfinger, but especially Thunderball and moving forward. It was how much of that is just the response of like there's so much spy stuff out there. We need to be bigger than them. We need to show that we can put all the money on the screen because you can have a movie like this that's much lower budget. It has, you know, kind of the romantic comedy elements people like in a Bond film as well. A bit of the romance, a bit of the humor. But we have to go big because we need to show that there's a Bond film and then there's a,

[01:08:48] you know, spy film you'd catch on a matinee perhaps. Well, let's let's talk about the good. Let's talk about stuff we enjoyed. And I want to just take a moment to celebrate Dirk Bogard. I think he is a really charming lead. I think it as far as it goes that perhaps he's not the one I picked to send on a mission myself, but he he does that fish out of water stuff really well. He's a easy on the eye charming matinee idol.

[01:09:16] Like I think he was a good fit for the role. I think they chose well. Yeah, I agree completely. And he's probably ultimately better for the role than Courtney would have been, even though I could imagine this movie with Tom Courtney. But yeah, Bogard is so charming. It's it's really he just like it doesn't matter that it's a little half baked that how does he not realize he's on a spy mission earlier than he does, you know, because you're you're thinking there's a lot of clues there, but the character doesn't catch on.

[01:09:43] But the way he performs it, it smooths right over that. I think, you know, he's just such a very likable presence. And he really, you know, he carries the movie and he does it seemingly effortlessly. Yeah. You know who I actually thought of watching this movie? And I hope it doesn't sound like an insult because I would say Bogard is the higher quality actor for sure. But I was like thinking back to the original Dr. Goldfoot and that Frankie Avalon approach where it's just kind of that like he has a

[01:10:12] way of reacting to things that just kind of like feels just playful and fun without being these exaggerated looks. And Avalon is more of like the the B version of what he's doing here. But it's a C version, maybe the C version. But it is that similar, like kind of youth friendly, fresh faced and just kind of like playful without being overtly like, look at me, everybody. He just has these like very like kind of subtle responses to things.

[01:10:41] And it it definitely felt like I don't know, like when you look at like a lot of what they're doing with spy films, like that's not what James Coburn's doing. That's not what Dean Martin is doing. They are playing more exaggerated spy characters versus here where it's just like. Not in kind of the absurdity, but also, you know, nailing all the romantic comedy aspects of it. Yeah, which he'd certainly had a lot of practice that doing rom-coms.

[01:11:09] But you're I see where you're coming from with that comparison. I mean, I think Bogart is a much better actor than Frankie Avalon. Does he surface well, though? Yeah, good question. But, you know, it's not it's not a really off comparison between the doctor movies in Britain and the beach movies in America. They're sort of the same like matinee crowd, like for younger audiences, romantic comedy space. You know, they're filling the same space in the two continents. Well, I'll throw it to you, Matthew.

[01:11:38] I've already taken Dirk off the board. What's another thing you want to highlight about the film? Well, absolutely. Silva Cassina. I mean, like she is she's terrific. I think there's a real Nanachka aspect to this movie, too, where it's like, you know, it's an Englishman who falls in love with a Soviet like apparatchik member, you know, like she's she's his driver. So he's a you know, he's assigned to go behind the Iron Curtain in Prague and he thinks he's doing just a business deal for a glass company, you know, get it.

[01:12:08] But he's really it should have tipped him off. He's supposed to say this this phrase hot enough for June and get a response, you know. So but it doesn't as soon as we would think it would. But he's he's there innocently. You know, I think it's important that the character is an innocent, even if he's there on an unwitting spy mission and she's assigned to drive him around, which I think is a real thing that

[01:12:32] they did assign secret police drivers to any kind of British or Western businessman who is over behind the Iron Curtain at the time. And she's supposed to keep an eye on him. But he they end up falling in love. And adding to that, her dad is the head of the secret police, Leo McCurn. And when we first meet her, she's in her severe uniform, you know, her gray uniform, although still Ralph Thomas finds a way to focus on her legs, you know, when the door opens of the car.

[01:13:00] The funniest bit maybe is when she's like wiping down the car. Just the random shot. In the background, just over the bonnet. Yeah. Like, what does this scene lead to? Oh, nothing. Oh, OK. OK. Well, you know, it reminded me of it reminded me of Stacey Sutton in her in her mine worker outfit in A View to a Kill, finding the tightest fitting kind of like baggy Soviet outfit that really still shows off her body. But, you know, it's interesting.

[01:13:29] This is a different kind of role than we usually see Silva Cassina in. Like she indebted in the male. She's a femme fatale very much. And a lot of times she was cast as the femme fatale. And then in a lot of her movies are almost more sorted, like the giallo movies and some of the horror movies that she made. You know, and some involved a lot of nudity that, you know, certainly isn't here in this very wholesome kind of like early 60s romantic comedy. And I really love seeing her in this kind of role.

[01:13:58] Like as and she she shines, you know, like she's really charming just like he is. And they're and they're a good pair. They have good chemistry together, which, again, might surprise people knowing Bogart was gay in real life. But I think part of the secret to his success was that he did have very good chemistry with his female co-stars in all of his movies. And that's why he was a matinee idol. And, yeah, I give her tons of credit. And I think this might be my favorite role of hers. And I, you know, I've seen her in a lot of movies.

[01:14:26] And I, as I've said, Deadly in the Mail is my favorite, you know, bomb. Now, she is wonderful. Both she and Elkie Summer are key to that movie's success. But this is a really different kind of role. And she does it really well. Like I fall in love with her, too. You know, like it's she she plays. It's not like it's extremely well written. She doesn't have the character doesn't have a ton of depth. But what she brings to it, I think the audiences fall in love with this character as Dirk Bogart's character does. And she's really good.

[01:14:56] Well, it's like one thing to be really hot or attractive on camera and have people go like, wow. Thank you. Wow. Thank you. It's another thing to actually make the audience love you. Yeah. And to actually like root for you to succeed in a romance, you know, on screen. And it's like you said, like, is she being given like top caliber romantic dialogue or romantic comedy dialogue? You know, this is not When Harry Met Sally, you know.

[01:15:25] And yet it is not Ninochka either. That is a great, great film with a brilliant script. And yet she works because her and Bogart have such great chemistry that even though, you know, you're watching these scenes that are basically riffs on Ninochka, you're like, you know what? Like these two genuinely have chemistry. They're fun to watch together. And you want to see them together. So, like, you know, I think it would have been very easy, especially in this time period for her just to be cast.

[01:15:54] Well, she's very beautiful. Put her in a spy film and just kind of like have shots of her wiping down a car from behind, you know, easy to do. And they would have been like, great. It's not a surprise that she was in the room for some potential Bond casting, you know. Many people have brought up Thunderball. But the one I came across as well, they mentioned from Russia with Love as well for Tatiana. That would make sense. It does. Yeah. Like both of those make sense. She didn't get the roles.

[01:16:24] But you can understand how she would have definitely had the acting chops to do it, had the look for it. And they probably wouldn't have dubbed her. Right. Yeah, that's a good point. You know, she was born, I think, in Croatia or Yugoslavia at the time, but made most of her movies in Italy. But she had that sort of Eastern appeal, Eastern charm. And I mean, I love Daniela Bianchi in From Russia with Love, but she's Italian.

[01:16:54] You know, she doesn't actually have that Eastern sort of background that Silva would have brought to it. That would have been very interesting. Let's also be honest, though. I think she might be the only actress in this film that has anywhere near a genuine accent. Right. Yes, that's very accurate. I think most of the other actors don't even try to sound at least even slightly East European. Which, I mean, is very of the time, you know, like I think we can look at the sort of stages of accent acting.

[01:17:22] Of like there was the time of of no accents at all. It's just we're going to play it as British as we are. And then there was sort of the time of we're all going to do these extreme Slavic accents, even though it doesn't really make sense because they'd actually be speaking Russian. And then the time of, oh, let's actually have them speaking Russian, you know, and subtitle it. But yeah, they don't they definitely aren't trying. You know, Leo McCurran is as British as he could be as the Eastern. Yeah, it's the Leo McCurran character that just like that jumped out to me. But Cam, did you have a like you want to highlight?

[01:17:51] I do actually the art direction and cinematography of this movie, because how often do we go to movies now that cost 200 million dollars and look like crap? You know, I went and saw just the other day Supergirl. It looked like a brown smear for two hours straight. And I'm like, you know, I watched that movie and actually literally that day came home and watched this right afterwards.

[01:18:16] And the colors are so vibrant when they're in the restaurant, the scene where they're flirting like their first date. I'm like, this is an absolutely beautiful location and set that they've constructed here. They don't have the money of a major budget production. And yet consistently I was like wowed by the eye popping reds and blues throughout this film. I think of the scenes where they're setting up for the big like festival or event that, you know, apparently the book is named after potentially.

[01:18:45] Uh, it looks great. It's eye popping stuff. And it just makes me like mourn for those days where they were terrified of television and they were like, we need to look beautiful if we are going to be shown on TV. Like we have to have eye popping things to sell color TVs. Well, the movie still holds up beautifully in that regard. I agree completely. I made a note about the cinematography too. Like it really does look good. And the Blu-ray really captures that very well.

[01:19:15] Um, I mean, I have the older American Blu-ray, uh, but yeah, it looks, as you say, the colors all pop. It really, it's a good looking film. Yeah. I watched it on YouTube and you know, it looked stunning, absolutely stunning. And it's so rare to walk out of many movies nowadays and say like, that looked like just jaw dropping. Yeah. But, uh, does, um, does hot enough for June have the middle by Jimmy world playing during a fight sequence? No.

[01:19:46] So who's winning that one? Clearly super girl. God, I hate needle drops. Please stop that in films. I'm done with it. Well, if it's done well, I don't care. I'm done. Tarantino can do it. I'm done. True. I'm done. I'm done. So you're saying no more for Tarantino or Scorsese? Yeah. Stop. It's okay. We've, we've had them all. We've had all the needle drops. Every drop needle has been dropped. I'm calling it now. It's dead. Well then.

[01:20:11] Which is why now we get like reruns, you know, like you've already had reservoir dogs own stuck in the middle with you. And then we have it in guardians of the galaxy, you know, like you can't do it again. It's already been done. It's owned. Agreed. Um, the only other thing I have to mention, uh, in terms of likes is I, I just like some of the odd Bond nods in here.

[01:20:32] We haven't really spoken about it too much, but at the beginning of the film, the sort of setup is an agent has died and you see him bringing in, uh, one of the sort of like spy masters bringing in his kit. And you've got like a, uh, uh, uh, a shoe with a hidden device inside and all the gimmicks, uh, you would get. That got a big laugh out of me because they are almost like parodying Bond gadgets at a time where there aren't that many Bond gadgets. Yeah. It's like, they're just, they're just making that up. He had a suitcase and Rosa Klebb had like a knife shoe.

[01:21:02] And that was like basically what they'd seen possibly. Yeah. I guess. I mean, obviously there's, there's not even that sort of stuff in the books all that much to be fair. So it's really a, it's really a movie thing. You're right. Dr. No doesn't have much either. No, it kind of feels like it was the draw from on the majesties where he just pulled a bunch of crap out of it. It was, that was basically, it was that. Um, but then you, you hear this agent has died and the camera pans over and the guy takes the number out of a locker and the number says 007 and sort of discards it.

[01:21:32] And I was like, okay, we're having fun here. And you mentioned like the colors cam, but also the set design is something you did sort of point out. But Sid Cain did the work on this film and of course worked on Dr. No from Rush with Love. I think would do on a majesty's, I think. Out of my head. I think he has another one. Yeah, he did do another one. I think that's what it was. It's more of an ornate film. I had to go and check that. But yeah, you can see the Sid Cain, especially in the office sequence at the start with the glass factory offices like that is.

[01:22:01] And also in sort of the Czechoslovakian secret police offices as well. Very ornate, very decadent Western decadence, as I'd like to point out. But lovely to see. It's like a warm blanket over me after watching those bomb films so many times. I would love to hang out in those offices. And I just think about friends of the show, Matt Gawley, who turned his home office into basically a callback to that sort of era. And I kind of wish I could do that in my own house.

[01:22:31] And while you're talking about production design triumphs here, not the British glass office, but when we're in the glass factory in Prague, that is a great effect when they're throwing things at the unbreakable glass. And he hurls something hard at it. And then it remains unbroken. And then we cut back a minute later and it shatters. And I was actually rewound. I'm like, OK, I want to see exactly how they did this.

[01:22:57] And I think it's actually a sheet of reflective aluminum or steel or something originally. And then it's glass when we cut back to it. But it looks really good. That's a great practical on set effect. Yeah, it's entirely convincing. I wrote down transparent aluminum. Oh, that's good. What was that joke about, though? Obviously, it was a front for their spy organization, just like the glass factory was a front for the spy organization in England.

[01:23:26] But were they actually trying to make super strong glass or were they just was it just a cover altogether? No, I took it. Yeah, I didn't take it as a front. I don't think that the the Eric Pullman character was a spy. I think he was actually a glass manufacturer. That was my read on it anyway. But that they they have they happen to have a spy undercover there, the British that they need to. And as he says, this is a cover, you know.

[01:23:55] So, yeah, I thought because Leo McCurn is the spy chief and we see different offices for them. So I thought that this was actually a glass factory and they were going. I mean, it was this amazing glass is transparent aluminum, which is a Star Trek for reference, folks. It has to be a Star Trek reference on this podcast legally every single time. Otherwise, we will be shut down. But obviously it breaks. It's not quite. I haven't quite. It's not perfected yet, as the one saying would go.

[01:24:21] But I did like it was nodded at that it was done by a Nazi. Yes. And then when you got it wrong, they're like, damn Nazis. It's like, yay, everyone's dumping on them. Yeah, that was a good line. And it's obviously that was that was the time when the Nazi scientists were being taken by both sides and used for industry and espionage. But yeah, the production design. Yeah, you're right.

[01:24:50] Another real feather in the cap of this movie. Yeah. We interrupt this program to bring you a special report. Agents, we don't expect you to talk. We expect you to buy a subscription to our Patreon. Eee. That's right. Over on the SpyHards Patreon, we're covering all your favorite spy TV shows, as well as popular films from the most iconic secret agent actors of all time. Cam, why don't you share some intel on our latest assignment?

[01:25:19] Sweet bird of freedom, carry us home. Because, Scott, for the month of August, we are going to be celebrating Las Vegas films because we are going to be on vacation. And so first up, we are going to groat our hair and hang out with Nicolas Cage in 1997's Con Air. Is this Bruckheimer blockbuster still worth buckling up for? Tune in and find out.

[01:25:42] So deactivate Ghost Protocol and visit patreon.com slash spyhards to truly do things angel style. But before we close, Channel D, on with the Spy Jinx. Well, let's move on to critiques then, I guess. The first thing I wanted to mention, I just dig into the tension a little bit.

[01:26:06] I just think like there is a, the whimsy is there and that whimsy is also very much part of the 39 Steps remake. There's one thing Cam and I spoke about. Like it is fine, this is fluffy and fun, but you never feel the tension that you do in the Hitchcock version when they're like actually being chased through the moors and you feel like you're in those cold moors with Donat. But this was, yeah, I mean, I loved seeing our two leads smooching in various places or through mosquito nets.

[01:26:33] But did I ever feel my heart get higher than 60 beats per minute? I mean, only when, you know, our fair lady was on the screen perhaps, but otherwise no. Yeah, yeah, that was my main dislike as well, which was, it just, it had me for, you know, just over half the movie. Like there was no sense of like, oh, you know what, this one's a bit of a drag. Not at all. It wasn't until that sort of extended chase sequence.

[01:27:03] And maybe if they'd like built up the antagonist more, you know, the, the secret police who are pursuing something about that, like a more of a sense of danger than perhaps it would have worked for me. But it just felt like, okay, we're kind of just hanging out. We're just going from job to job. It was not like the Franco and Chichio sequence in the second Goldfoot film that we reviewed all together, where it was like the fast motion chase that went on for like 20 minutes that I think I still was kind of positive on.

[01:27:35] But it just felt like, okay, sometimes, you know, I remember like someone referred to once on a podcast, I can't remember who it was, referred to car chases as the world's most expensive filler. And it felt like this was in some ways filler where they're like, well, this movie is only going to be just over 90 minutes. We need to stretch this out because we've run out of spy plot here. That's kind of where I sat with it. Yeah. Well, it's like I mentioned from Russia with love earlier. I said I would come back to it.

[01:28:01] One of the things from, from Russia with love is, you know, the mission is to get that lecture. They want to get that, that, that bit of kit. Yeah. That's why Bond is stepping into the shark's mouth, so to speak. You know, he's putting himself on offer to try and get this for the queen and country. You never know what this message is. And in the end, you find out no one cares. And so you think like, I don't know what he's putting himself on the line for, apart from his own neck. And that's fine.

[01:28:30] But like, I never felt the drama or the pull of why you would want to be doing this sort of stuff. Like I would, if I find out I was a spy, I would have just ran away. Right. I think there's a solution to that, though, which is like, what does he care about? It's a relationship with her. Yeah. And to work that, I think, more organically into like the escape, I think would probably work. Well, like make her, like when she betrayed her country, quote unquote, instead of her dad going, oh, it's okay. Don't worry about it, sweetheart.

[01:28:59] Go, oh, no, I'm going to put you in a gulag. Sure. Or make it a punishment. Drag her through the streets or something. I don't know what they used to do. It's a very dark comedy, Scott.

[01:29:36] Sure. Of whimsy and tension. Like they managed to be so whimsical and yet have genuine tension throughout. And it's such a hard mix to make, which again and again, Spy Things in the 60s sort of strove for and often fell short of. Where you can have a character like Emma Peel be in a life threatening situation of having, you know, stuff piled on top of her. She's being crushed and she's so cool under pressure that she just goes, you diabolical mastermind.

[01:30:05] She's cracking jokes and we follow the joke. We love the character, but we also believe the tension. And that's really hard. I know you guys both love the Avengers movie, but to me, it's big failure was not capturing. I don't know that I love the Avengers movie.

[01:30:49] I'm fascinated by it. I don't know. I don't know.

[01:31:19] Given someone to talk to more about what he's actually thinking because a lot of it's like reaction shots to things. Or there's a great moment actually where he is in the office with the, you know, the head of the glass company. And he's a very imposing man, just physically, a very big guy. And they frame it. Yeah. They frame it where he's like kind of hovering over him and you feel like the kind of the anxiety of the Dirk Bogart character.

[01:31:45] And it's almost done in some ways like, like a Maltese Falcon with Sidney Greenstreet, where it's like that kind of sense of like using the size of this man in a way to seem extra intimidating on screen. Yeah. I was just going to point out, I don't know if this factoid was necessarily correct, but I've read there are different versions of this film. And I noticed that the version I watched felt quite chopped up. There were a lot of scenes that ended abruptly. I felt like there were things that should have gone on longer.

[01:32:14] And apparently there's a 20 minute longer version of this film out there. How long was the version you watched? 90 minutes. Yeah. I watched the 98 minute one. Yeah. Sam, 98 minutes. Yeah. Apparently there's a, there's a British version that was longer. And an American version that was the 98 minute version that we watched. I heard there was also a like shorter one. There was a 77 minute version as well. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, that was done way too frequently back then of these different sort of cuts, but interesting. I didn't know there was a longer one. Yeah.

[01:32:42] I've got nothing else to really add in the, in the dislike section. Gents, do you have anything to throw in? I have one thing I'll say. This movie tries to end on that like Hitchcock kind of punchline. And I think to people outside of the UK, this means nothing, which was the, she's headed to Aldermaston. And I was like, huh? What? What? I wanted to ask about that too. Is that in the UK? Is that a widely known boring place?

[01:33:10] I, I, I didn't even pay attention to where they said she was going. Aldermaston. That was the joke. And I literally rewound it, put on the subtitles. Cause I thought maybe I'd heard something wrong. And then I Googled it. They were building nuclear bombs at the time. I guess that that, I don't know if they're still doing that. It's, it's a tiny little village in Berkshire. Like I don't. He goes, you won't need that, that tourist book. Yeah. You know, like it's super boring.

[01:33:39] I mean, it is nothing going on in Aldermaston. Well, there was though. I mean, okay. I mean, it's a 50, it's a 56 minute drive from my house. So I'll go find out. I'll let you know. I mean, I guess in the film there, I can't tell if they're making fun of the fact that, um, that, uh, there's nothing there or that she is going to a place where there are nuclear facilities. Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. I didn't know that kind of historical context. Cause it does change that line.

[01:34:08] People of Aldermaston. I know you're watching. Let us know. Is it interesting where you live? But I was like, that joke does not work outside of the UK. No, no, no. I'm glad they went for like somewhere that most people in England don't even know is a real place. Like I had to Google it. Oh, did you? I have no idea what that is. I've never heard of it. It's not a big town. It's a village. Where is it in relation to you? Like if you were to drive, how far away? An hour West.

[01:34:38] Okay. Okay. Well, next time I go over there, uh, we'll hit a road trip to Aldermaston. We'll go, we'll go sit at the church and the, uh, the, uh, the water thing from the Eagle has landed. And on the way we'll go to Aldermaston. Okay. Sounds good. Yeah. That's a real like geeky spy hard day out. Uh, I've got a couple of funny notes, uh, observations before we wrap up and get to the knock list.

[01:35:05] Firstly, uh, I, I don't, I mean, I always get the impression from watching these films that, uh, Soviet, uh, technology was a little bit behind the times. They were strapped for money, but they did have a digital zoom on their binoculars. Oh, okay. Right. That was impressive. That was impressive. But counter point. They didn't have writing on their menus in the restaurant. Wait, it was, it was ink too expensive. Yeah, I guess so.

[01:35:34] No, I'm, I'm pretty sure that was a production design issue, but I couldn't help but notice that. Yes. The menus were, were, uh, empty. The problem with like 4k and blu-ray is like, you never, you were never meant to see it in this version. No. But yeah, there's, uh, some of the, uh, the Soviets are watching the Dirk Bogart out and about frolicking at a fountain somewhere in an underwear, which I'm sure you guys enjoy yourself.

[01:36:01] Uh, they were going on holiday for the day and he's watching them from a binoculars, which I will add were also upside down. Um, and, and then just decides to have a digital zoom. I like binoculars can focus and can have a tiny bit of zoom, but he like, he's proper zooms in on them. So that was, uh, that was a choice. He was zooming and enhancing. He was zooming and enhancing before it was cool, before Jason Bourne did it. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, any other notes from you gents? I've got a couple more to throw in, but I'll, I'll throw it out there.

[01:36:30] Um, I had a couple things. Uh, the bit where he sits down at the pool with the guy and puts the cigarette out on his hand, basically. That guy handled it very well. Much better than I would. Very polite. I was like, Oh my God. I mean, you, you come out swinging. The, uh, the father figure or father character with the secret police at one point, like refers to someone named Siminova. Siminova.

[01:36:56] And that jumped out to me because you have Natalia Siminova showing up in Goldeneye many years later, which also had art direction by Mr. Sid Cain. Um, so what we're saying is this is Natalia. Natalia is, is the daughter, I guess then for age wise. Well, I mean, they are, yeah, that is her last name in the movie is Siminova. Um, you know, and his since he's her dad. So yeah, I thought that was interesting too. Yeah.

[01:37:24] I wonder if, I wonder if it might've been an oblique reference in Goldeneye. I had another, uh, bond connection. Um, but they have the, the guy that's trailing the two lovebirds on their dates, right? For the secret police. Clavic. Clavic. Clavic. His glasses look a lot like locks glasses in for your eyes only. They do. What a good call. He looks very similar to him. Yeah.

[01:37:50] He also turns up in a lot of those sixties, uh, spy things. You know, I, I don't know if he was on an Avengers or some TV shows. Um, I mean, I know right after that, he was in the hammer movie. The Gorgon is the main thing I think of him from, but, uh, but yeah, he's one of those faces, those British faces that, uh, you see in a lot of spy things. Um, and I thought he did a good job in this ways. I'm glad you brought him up. Like he's like, you know, there's so many good character actors in this movie. So many, we haven't even mentioned Roger Delgado.

[01:38:19] Um, I mean, I know star Trek's your thing, not Dr. Who, but, uh, but for, for who fans, yeah. And he's, he's got a great role as this waiter at the hotel. Who's actually an informant for the secret police. And, um, and, and does it really well. Um, and, uh, and then of course, McCurn, you know, we've mentioned him, but we haven't really cited him other than doing a British accent, but he's great. He always adds so much value when he's on screen.

[01:38:45] Um, even if he was playing characters much older than his age, um, always. But, um, I, I love at one point he has this, um, line where they're trying to think of how they're going to set up the Bogard character. And, uh, he's giving him the alternative of if he, he goes along and signs a confession or else he could be found dead at the bottom of his balcony.

[01:39:10] Uh, and he says something like, um, I do think the suggestion of opulence does create a distaste toward the deceased or something. I love that line. Well, it does the old, uh, uh, tomorrow's news today. Tomorrow never dies thing where they read the report of his death before he actually is dead and killed. And that's in a hotel room as well, much like it was in tomorrow. Never dies. Yeah. And I was going to actually add, speaking of the hotel room, I think the biggest laugh of the movie for me was the waiter or not the waiter, sorry.

[01:39:36] The, uh, like the bell boy, um, who is basically like when he goes to tip him, it's like, we don't accept tips in this capitalist society and then takes the money and walks away. Yeah. That was Delgado. That's Delgado. Yeah. Yeah. That is the best part. He's got a bit of a legacy. To me, he's more famous because of him playing the master in Dr. Who for so many years. That's why I, as soon as he walked into that hotel room, I was like, Oh, that's weird to see him in anything else other than Dr. Who. Yeah. Fierce, fierce goatee that man.

[01:40:06] Fierce goatee. It was on point. Yeah. Literally. And I like how Plavik's also the butt of jokes for McCurran, you know, like he's, he's, he's both the sinister figure in that, you know, he gets to reprimand her when, when McCurran doesn't want to, cause she's his daughter. I'm like, you'll get more pleasure out of it anyway, you know, but he's also, he's, he's the boob, you know, he's like the one who's getting, they get the best of with sending a

[01:40:33] bunch of waiters dressed in the same clothes that, uh, that, uh, Dirk Bogart's dressed in, you know, just to throw off the secret police and, and McCurran gets to dress him down. Uh, you know, you let them get away. Um, so it's weird because I mentioned before that I thought the whimsy takes away the tension, but I think that character embodies how it could have been really well used in that he is both a comic relief character and a sinister character. And it works in both ways, I think, largely thanks to the actor.

[01:41:01] Um, but yeah, he does a good job. And, um, and I wish that there was, um, you know, that they could have gotten that balance more than just with that character of getting, you know, whimsy and tension functioning in tandem. I mean, it's a tough balancing act. Yeah, it is. It is. But, uh, speaking of good shots, uh, I want to call out a moment very early on in the film that, uh, I, I don't think inspired it because women's legs have been in photos for as long

[01:41:31] as photos have existed. But, um, they do reference Dr. No at the beginning of this film. And I think that is a pointed reference, uh, when you have Dirk Bogard's, I think, live-in girlfriend or one of his friends' live-in girlfriends, Jill Melford playing Lorna, who walks into the frame. You see it from behind. She's doing the Sylvia Trench in James Bond's house thing by wearing his shirt, just covering up, uh, uh, unmentionables and, uh, with her legs fully on display and does the old like

[01:41:59] split leg from four year eyes only poster, which is just, uh, yeah. Great to see. It also reminded me of Sue Lloyd in the Ipkers file, which of course hadn't happened yet, but, um, very much that kind of. She had that kind of look about her as well, the Sue Lloyd look, the darker hair and stuff. Um, I did, I did like them, I can't remember the exact context of this, but I wrote it down because it made me laugh. It was a, it was a line read. And I think it was something to do with you going in front of a firing squad.

[01:42:24] And then I think the person was trying to make the sound of a gun, but they go firing squad. Ah! Yes, that was funny. Like what gun goes like, ah! Yeah. I, I, I haven't been shot by that gun yet. Um, and the last thing I wanted to make mention of is there's a moment where Doug Bogard goes to a sort of a pool. We've mentioned it sort of a communal set of place and he takes someone's clothes oversized basically. Yeah.

[01:42:52] He's wearing a huge suit draping off him, obviously a bigger bloke wearing it. And it just reminded me of David Byrne's, uh, suit from the Stop Making Sense, uh, Talking Heads music video and also the live tour as well. Like that gigantic suit. Um, yeah. Yeah. It's a weirdly running gag in it because early on he wears her father's clothes too. And they're, they're oversized on him. And both times I thought of David Byrne as well. There you go. Yeah. Well, I have a question for you guys.

[01:43:21] How old is the lead character supposed to be in this movie? 28? I think he's in his 30s. You think 30s? Maybe early 30s, late 20s. Like. I believed he was too before you told me he was actually 42. But yeah. The scene that throws me is like the card game with his buddies up front. And they feel very like you skewering or skewing. Yeah. And Noel, uh, Noel Harrison is one of them, you know, who would go on to be in the girl from uncle.

[01:43:49] Um, but, uh, yeah, they definitely feel, you know, I thought he was, that that establishes he's supposed to be, you know, the younger generation and also the unemployment, I assume also speaks to that. Probably. I don't know of the particulars of that moment in British history, but across the board, I think young people face unemployment as a sort of common issue. Well, I think we're also just getting to the end of rationing and stuff. I think military service was still kind of a thing.

[01:44:15] People didn't, were still getting drafted and a lot of people tried to get away from it. And so he brags about, yeah. Not being called up because he's a, I can't remember what his excuse was, but, um, yeah, there was, I mean, there's probably a whole 20 other minutes of this podcast that I don't feel quite qualified to get into, um, in terms of it being sort of. Queer cinema. Really? Because like that opening sequence with him and his friends feels very coded.

[01:44:42] And there was like a, there's a line later on, um, with the, the, the chief on our side of getting the actor's name and the character, Matthew had to fill me in, but, um, where he says, Oh, get a guy who's not all that interested in girls, but also not that interested in boys either. Yeah. And there's, there's, there's different references to that sort of, to, to that lifestyle that they're having there. But especially that scene with the four guys hanging out that, that, that feels like it's talking to something. Interesting read. You could even look at that scene.

[01:45:10] I pointed out of him sitting down at like next to the guy at the pool and using the, uh, the cigarette to kind of get his attention. Yeah. And of course, you know, you're, I didn't know much about Dirk Bogart before doing this review and doing some research on it, but you know, a guy that was known to be in the closet and was living that lifestyle. I obviously hired as a matinee idol, but people in the industry knew enough about him to know he could bring that sort of energy too. And I feel like they're playing with it a little bit. Yeah.

[01:45:39] I wonder, I mean, he was, he had to really like cover that up, which I think was frustrating to him as a matinee idol, but he did push the limits when he could, like he did that movie libel really early on when it was still illegal to be gay. He plays a gay character in, in that movie, which I'm sure his agents were telling him not to do, you know, that was probably, uh, so I think it always, it always mattered to him. That's when I don't know about a Ralph Thomas. I'm not sure at all.

[01:46:04] Um, I mean, as much as I like his movies, uh, I don't know if he had any, uh, do you happen to know what his sexual orientation was? Um, no, I, he was married to, uh, Joyce, uh, Spanier for many, many years, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything, I suppose. Not necessarily, but probably. And also I mean, he's definitely got the male gaze down. Yeah. I don't think we paid nearly enough attention in this episode just to the beauty of, of Silver Casino.

[01:46:32] Like I, I just, I'm glad we're going to see more of her in the future, uh, because she, she's my highlight of this film. I think she's, she's the most fun I had with spending time with her because she made it, she did it with sort of earnestness. Um, and I just appreciated that energy she brought towards it. I think that's what the warmth drew me in with her. And it also doesn't, doesn't really hurt that she's very easy on the eye. Well, you know what? That cues us up actually. Cause you know, Matthew was showing us beforehand, uh, you know, we're going to cover her in the

[01:47:02] future and he has some beautiful art. Maybe he could show the people watching the YouTube video. So, well, this is bad radio right now, but I set up the, uh, a deadlier than the male poster behind me earlier that you can't actually see. But, um, now those who are watching, you get a bonus and you get to see a little bit of, uh, Silva Kishina, uh, or a reflection. Um, I bet. Uh, yeah, she's, she's always, uh, easy on the eyes in every, every movie that she's in,

[01:47:32] but she's also always really good and same endeavor in the male is very different character, but she's very good, which is part of why the movie's so good. And here, but, but she never, it's very rare to see her in this kind of role as like a ingenue romantic lead. Um, and I think, yeah, she, for me, she's the highlight as well. Although I do really like Bogart too. I think the pair of them is wonderful. Yeah. I'd, I'd also like to say one more thing of, um, you know, I think the excuse for one

[01:48:01] of our main complaints here of this sort of whimsy versus tension is for me, this movie exists in a Le Carré space, which is weird because it's definitely not the grittiness of the spy who came in from the cold, but I think it's equally trying to have this point of view that the cold war is pointless and both sides are the same. Yeah. And I know Le Carre later on sort of refuted that position. He made it clear that one side was indeed much worse, but I think that's where he was coming from in the spy game.

[01:48:30] You know, the idea that if one side sinks to the levels of the other, what's the real difference here? And I think that's exactly what Ralph Thomas is going for here, especially when we end with the two spy masters, you know, so chummy with each other, even though they're on opposite sides and the fact that the formula means nothing, whatever it is, you know, like it's, I think that that is not just a throwaway gag. I think it's the point for Ralph. The whole point is nothing, you know, like they're, we're, we're doing these games that

[01:48:59] people get killed in and it's pointless. I don't like profess to be a massive master on Le Carre, but I've read a few books and I've seen enough of his adaptations to know kind of the themes. And to hear that he refuted that is odd because all you have to do is read the spy who came in from the cold for him to know that he had pessimistic feelings for both sides. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. He was definitely a pessimist on both, but yeah, he did.

[01:49:28] He did point out that, you know, he was working for the security services out of a belief to, you know, he didn't, well, while he was disenchanted with what they, how they did things. He, he did believe that the communist side was worse. And I think that sort of comes across in the trial scene and spy who came in from the cold and stuff. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Um, but it's time for.

[01:50:02] Yes. The not clear star need to see official classics. I was looking back Matthew on your previous adventures with us and you've had no luck here. No. Uh, so, uh, let's see how hot enough for June, uh, does, uh, you get the first, first vote Matthew hot enough for June. Does it deserve to be on the list of the greatest need to see classics of the spy movie canon? You know, this may become sort of surprising from the sort of negatives that I've said, but I think it does.

[01:50:31] And I was actually looking forward to that in this one that the other movies that I've been on here for have not been strong knockless contenders. You know, I, you know, I, I love the Flint movies, but I was on for the lesser of them. You know, like I, I think you guys should have had the first Flint in there, but not. It was. Not the second. Oh, oh, that was okay. Yeah. But yeah, not the second one, which we didn't put in there. Um, and yeah, Dr. Goldfoot, no, but this, yeah, I, I think that the charm of their relationship that the,

[01:51:00] as I've said, I just love that sort of like spy trap behind enemy lines, whether he's witting or unwitting. And this guy for an amateur is very resourceful. You know, it may, maybe there's one beat too many, as you guys said, but he thinks of a lot of good things of hiding in the closet instead of going out the window of, uh, you know, putting on the waiter's clothes and stuff. Even the milkman gag that you referenced at the beginning, you know, it's, it's a smart idea, even if I didn't see how he had the knowledge to knock someone out.

[01:51:29] But, um, but still, you know, it's, it's a really fun behind the iron curtain trying to escape thing. And I like the romance of it. So I say, yes, I think this one's not list worthy. I'm more of a gotcha fan when it comes to getting people out of the iron curtain. I just love me. Samantha and the Edwards. Yep. And Bill Conti. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, okay. So it's one. Yes. It's all looking good for a hot enough for June so far. Cam, I think you might be the decider. I am a no on this one.

[01:51:59] Uh, and what it did though, was make me more interested to see deadlier than the male. And cause I feel like that is the one that has more, shall we say prestige perhaps, or name value when it comes to, you know, Dirk Bogard, uh, films. Uh, it's not him. Sorry. My apologies. Yes. But, uh, yeah, Ralph Thomas, I should say, um, of his films. But, um, it's also made me a lot more interested in Dirk Bogard's films.

[01:52:28] So I think my main takeaway was, I really feel like it is kind of like that, as I said, sort of light frothy, but it didn't really grab me in a way where I felt like it was essential. That doesn't mean that it's, you know, bad. I think it's fun and I would encourage people to watch it, but do I think it's on the essential list? I sit in the no camp. Fair enough. Uh, one yes, one no. It falls to me, which is a very odd occurrence on a three way that I actually get to have

[01:52:55] any say in any three ways I take part in. Um, sorry, that one just came to me. I had to do it. Um, I think if you track back the conversation I've had for the last 90 minutes, it would lead me to this answer quite succinctly. It's no. So I had a lot of fun with this. I think the two leads were great, very charming. I'd like to have seen them again in another film with the same characters or seen them in other films as other characters. And I think I'll be checking out both of their filmographies after this.

[01:53:23] I think it didn't live up to what it could have been. I think there is some lag in there and I think it really lacks a pulse. And ultimately, if you're doing a thriller, even if it's a comedy one, you need something or it needs to be water wall hilarious, which this wasn't either. We didn't really talk about the comedy too much. There's whimsy. There's moments of chuckling, but it is not a knee slapper. Although I would say it's not going for that either. You know, it may have been marketed for that, but it was never intended to be a Pink Panther. That's true.

[01:53:53] That's true. But for me, it didn't quite scratch the itches as well as some others have in the past. So, uh, Matthew, you, you fallen on the sword. Um, very brave of you to take that round four. We'll get you a film. That's an easy in. Don't worry. Uh, it sounds like you're coming back for deadlier than the male to be fair. I sure hope so. I, I, I think that is, I think you might just do the Ralph Thomas line now going forward and just see it through. I think I might just quite a few. Yeah. I think I might've just booked you for eternity now. Congratulations.

[01:54:23] Um, but one yes and two no's as such hot enough for dudes not making the notclose dossier on the film is complete and filed as classified. And that leaves me with one final duty. And that is thank you, Matt, for joining us once again here on Spy Hearts. It's been a pleasure. It's been too long, frankly. Uh, I'm glad we've remedied that today. Thanks for having me. It's always so much fun to be on this show. Um, before we let you go, if you know, a lot of people have tuned in since 2023, 2024, when you were last on the show, a lot more listeners.

[01:54:52] Where can people find you online? They want to hear more from you. Uh, well, you know, uh, my, my double O section blog has been dormant for the last couple of years. So that's really no longer the place, although for legacy, it really is. And, uh, and I may be reviving it soon, but for, for now, mostly you can find me on Spybrary. I'm a board member over there and, uh, and on a number of those podcasts, uh, and certainly in the community on Facebook, the Spybrary community. Awesome. Great stuff.

[01:55:21] Well, uh, Matthew, thank you once again for joining us. Thanks for having me. Well, there you go, folks. That was hot enough for June. It certainly got hot in here. We had a great time talking about the film. We had a great time with our guest, Matthew Bradford. Matthew, thank you for coming back on the show. It was a pleasure to have the man himself join us once again. Yeah. And an apology again to Matthew and to the listeners for it being so long since he's been on the show, because I think he's always great when he comes on. And so hopefully we have something with him not too long down the road.

[01:55:51] It's a little blast talking this movie. It's often we just sort of, uh, flying through these episodes year after year that we lose track of some of our previous guests and, you know, And time. And time. And so having him back on was a reminder that we need to have him on more frequently. But I would be keen to hear from you guys as well. Like whatever you're listening, whatever format, if this is, uh, you know, on Spotify or you just want to send us a reply on social media. Is there a guest you'd like us to have back on from our pantheon of guests? Uh, I'd like the prompt because often we don't, we don't have a running list.

[01:56:20] We probably should have a list of people we've had on the show. Um, I, I'd be keen to hear. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And, um, and, and review guests. Um, you know, if you ask us to have interviews. Yeah. If you ask us to have Denise Richards back, well, you know, I mean, we'll have a back. We'll try. We'll try. That's not what we're asking for. No, no, no, no. There's lots of people that I would love to have back, but I just, I often forget after. Well, this is our, we're entering our seventh year. Yeah. We're about to hit 250 reviews. It's been a lot. Yeah. And thank you all for joining us on the journey.

[01:56:50] But yeah, if there's someone you want to hear us talk to again, let us know. Uh, but that's hot enough for June and that's the 1960s for a little bit. I think I've had my fill of, uh, Euro spy-taculars. But Cam, what are we talking about next week? Well, we are actually jumping, I guess, into the newspaper DVD era or close to. We're going to the year 2010 to take a look at From Paris with Love starring John Travolta

[01:57:18] and directed by taken Helmer, Pierre Morel. Yes, Cam, if there ever was a film you said was released on a newspaper, it's probably From Paris with Love. But, uh, yeah, I'm looking forward to talking about this. It's actually John Travolta's first time on the show. Yeah, which is, like, interesting because he's a, you know, actor who's done so many different types of films, but very few spy films. Yeah, for sure. So join us next time as we take a look at From Paris with Love. Thank you for joining us this week.

[01:57:47] Thank you for supporting the show by listening. If you'd like to continue supporting us, the best way to do it is over on Patreon. If you've made it this far in the episode and you've never heard of the Spy Hearts Patreon, clearly this is the furthest you've ever made it in a Spy Hearts episode. Congratulations. I hope you feel like you've achieved something by making it this far. If you want to get to full completion, the only way to do it is to go to patreon.com slash spyhards where there are so many bonus episodes, you won't know what to do with yourself.

[01:58:14] Yes, and of course, like, this is 1960s during the big spy boom. We have reviews from on the small screen of, like, the pilot of Mission Impossible, for example, and the Man from Uncle Christmas special. So there's some 60s fun right there. If that doesn't make you want to sign up, I don't know what will. Come and join us, patreon.com slash spyhards, and we thank you. And don't forget to join us over on social media at spyhards, that's S-P-Y-H-A-R-D-S, wherever you get your social media. From the good ones to the not-so-good ones, we're there.

[01:58:44] That's very true. But until next time, you'll find me desperately trying to get Cam's attention as I seductively clean a car in overalls. This podcast is part of Podomity, the UK's podcast comedy network. Why not laugh at what else we've got? Visit podomity.com.