''Hammerhead'' is a British

Eurospy Eurospy film, or Spaghetti spy film (when referring to Italian-produced films in the genre), is a genre of spy films produced in Europe, especially in Italy, France, and Spain, that either sincerely imitated or else parodied the British James Bo ...

thriller film directed by David Miller and starring

Vince Edwards Vince Edwards (born Vincent Edward Zoine; July 9, 1928 – March 11, 1996) was an American actor and director. He was best known for his TV role as doctor Ben Casey and as Major Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film '' The Devil's Brigade''. Ear ...

Judy Geeson Judith Amanda Geeson (born 10 September 1948) is an English film, stage, and television actress. She began her career primarily working on British television series, with a leading role on '' The Newcomers'' from 1965 to 1967, before making he ...

, and

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Dors was p ...

. Its plot concerns a criminal mastermind who attempts to steal

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

secrets, with an American agent hot on his trail. It is based on the 1964 novel by English novelist James Mayo, and produced by

Irving Allen Irving Allen (born Irving Applebaum, November 24, 1905 – December 17, 1987) was a theatrical and cinematic producer and director. He received an Academy Award in 1948 for producing the short movie ''Climbing the Matterhorn''. In the early 19 ...

and written by

Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He wa ...

, who made the

Matt Helm Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton (1916-2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of t ...

films for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

. It was filmed in London and Portugal.

Synopsis

British intelligence asks a soldier of fortune, Charles Hood, to go to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and help stop an international criminal mastermind called Hammerhead, who plans to steal a secret report on nuclear defence. Hood manages to board the yacht owned by Hammerhead, a collector of valuable erotic art. He is distracted along the way by model Sue Trenton and a pair of Hammerhead's

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

es, Ivory and Kit. Hammerhead intends to kidnap Britain's NATO delegate, Sir Richard Calvert, and replace him with a lookalike, Andreas, a master of disguise. He finds out Hood's identity and traps Sue and him inside a coffin, but they manage to escape. Kit and Andreas both are killed, while Ivory does away with Hammerhead personally, using a

harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, seal hunting, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the t ...

Cast

... Charles Hood *

... Sue Trenton *

Peter Vaughan Peter Vaughan (born Peter Ewart Ohm; 4 April 1923 – 6 December 2016) was an English character actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on the stage. He is perhaps best know ...

... Hammerhead *

... Kit * Michael Bates ... Andreas / Sir Richard *

Beverly Adams Beverly Sassoon (born ) is a Canadian-American actress and author. Early life Adams was born in Alberta, Canada, but was a citizen of the United States. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Adams. Raised Roman Catholic, she moved with her ...

... Ivory *

Patrick Cargill Patrick Cargill (3 June 191823 May 1996) was an English actor remembered for his lead role in the British television sitcom ''Father, Dear Father''. Career Cargill was born to middle-class parents living in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. After educati ...

... Condor *

Patrick Holt Patrick Holt (31 January 1912 – 12 October 1993) was an English film and television actor. Biography Born Patrick G. Parsons in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Holt spent some of his childhood in India with his uncle, after which he was sent ...

... Huntzinger *

William Mervyn William Mervyn Pickwoad (3 January 1912 – 6 August 1976) was an English actor best known for his portrayal of the bishop in the clerical comedy ''All Gas and Gaiters'', the old gentleman in '' The Railway Children'' and Inspector Charles Rose ...

... Walter Perrin *

Douglas Wilmer Douglas Wilmer (8 January 1920 – 31 March 2016) was an English actor, best known for playing Sherlock Holmes in the 1965 TV series ''Sherlock Holmes''. Early life Wilmer was born in Brentford, Middlesex, and received his education at King' ...

... Pietro Vendriani * Tracy Reed ... Miss Hull *

Kenneth Cope Kenneth Charles Cope (born 14 April 1931) is an English retired actor and scriptwriter. He is best known for his roles as Marty Hopkirk in ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'', Jed Stone in ''Coronation Street'' and Ray Hilton in ''Brookside (T ...

... Motorcyclist *

Kathleen Byron Kathleen Elizabeth Fell (11 January 1921 – 18 January 2009), known professionally as Kathleen Byron, was an English actress. Early life Byron was born in Manor Park (then part of Essex) to what she described as "staunch working-class social ...

... Lady Calvert *

Jack Woolgar Jack William Woolgar (15 September 1913 – 14 July 1978) was a British character actor working in television and film in the 1960s and 1970s. He began acting towards the end of the Second World War and turned professional shortly afterwards, wo ...

... Tookey Tate *

Joseph Furst Joseph Fürst (13 February 1916 – 29 November 2005) was an Austrian-born international film and television actor known for his English language roles in Britain and Australia, after first appearing on the Canadian stage. Career Fürst was r ...

... Count Ortega * Andreas Malandrinos ... Post Office Guard *

David Prowse David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader (voiced by American actor James Earl Jones) in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and a manservant in Stanle ...

... George * Earl Younger ... Brian * Romo Gorrara ... Marcel * Maggie Wright ... Roselle *

Veronica Carlson Veronica Carlson (born Veronica Mary Glazier; 18 September 1944 – 27 February 2022) was a British actress who was known for her roles in Hammer horror films. In 2019, she was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid ...

... Ulla *

Penny Brahms Penny Brahms (born Penelope K. Brams in 1951) is a British model (profession), model and film actress, film and television actress whose career was active in the 1960s and 1970s. She co-starred with Joanna Lumley in the 1971 sex comedy ''Games Th ...

... Frieda * Sarah Hardenburg ... Kiki * Otto Diamant ... Joa *

Windsor Davies Windsor Davies (28 August 1930 – 17 January 2019) was a British actor. He is best remembered for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' (1974–1981) over its entire run. The show's popularity resulted ...

... Police Sergeant * Arthur Gomez ... Cafe Proprietor

Production

The film was based on a novel by James Mayo published in 1964. Film rights were bought by Irving Allen, the producer. Allen had, at one time, been in partnership with

Albert Broccoli Albert Romolo Broccoli ( ; April 5, 1909 – June 27, 1996), nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career. Most of the films were made in the United Kingdom and often filmed at ...

, who wanted to make movies based on the James Bond books; Allen did not, the partnership ended, and Broccoli had a huge success with the Bond movies. Allen moved into espionage films himself with the

series, and he bought the film rights to ''Hammerhead''. In 1967, Allen said: "at this stage I'm only interested in making money. I'm not interested in kudos or getting good reviews - I've had all that. I'm just concerned with getting the greatest number of people into theatres."Allen at Helm of Production Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 6 July 1967: e14. In May 1967, Allen said the project was on a slate of seven movies he had with Columbia, others being: ''Cromwell''; ''The Black Frontier''; ''The Wrecking Crew''; ''Savage Canary''; ''The Pocket Venus'' and ''The Ambushers''. In June of the same year, Allen announced he had signed David Miller to a three-picture deal, starting with ''Hammerhead'', which he would make in London, the following September, from a script by Jack Brierley and Herbert Baker; Allen wanted it to be the first in a series. After that month, Allen announced he had also signed Vince Edwards to a three-picture contract starting with ''Hammerhead''. Edwards described his part as "like Humphrey Bogart in '' The Maltese Falcon''". The original plan was to film in France but this was changed to Portugal. That August, Allen announced Judy Geeson would co-star. The production of the film was delayed because Columbia contract star Vince Edwards suffered a bone-fracture during the filming in Portugal in 1967. Diana Dors had previously appeared in another spy movie, ''Danger Route''.

Reception

The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "overfamiliar and mechanical, a jaded Bond". The film was a box office disappointment and there was no sequel.

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

said he was a "big fan" of the movie, but disliked Vince Edwards' performance, even though he generally enjoyed Edwards as an actor. He felt Robert Culp would have been better casting.

References

External links

*
Hammerhead
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

Hammerhead
at Letterbox DVD
Hammerhead
at BFI {{Irving Allen 1968 films 1960s spy thriller films British spy thriller films Films shot at MGM-British Studios Films directed by David Miller Columbia Pictures films Films based on British novels Films shot in London Films shot in Portugal Films with screenplays by John Briley Parody films based on James Bond films Films shot at Associated British Studios 1960s English-language films