''Operation C.I.A.'' is a 1965 black-and-white spy film directed by Christian Nyby and starring Burt Reynolds and

John Hoyt John Hoyt (born John McArthur Hoysradt; October 5, 1905 – September 15, 1991) was an American actor. He began his acting career on Broadway, later appearing in numerous films and television series. He is perhaps best known for his film and TV ...

Plot

When

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

Agent Stacey (Marsh Thomson) learns of a plan to assassinate the American ambassador to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

but is killed by a bomb before he can inform the C.I.A. of the details, Secret Agent Mark Andrews ( Burt Reynolds) is sent to Saigon to take his place as a university professor as a cover while he attempts to prevent the assassination of the American ambassador that is expected to occur sometime within the next five days.

Cast

* Burt Reynolds as CIA Agent Mark Andrews *

as Wells * Kieu Chinh as Kim-Chinh * Danielle Aubry as Denise * Cyril Collick as Withers * William Catching as Frank Decker *

Vic Diaz Victor Sunico Diaz'', popularly known as Vic Diaz, (July 29, 1932 – September 15, 2006) was a Filipino character actor who mostly portrayed villains. He was also the father of Teddy Diaz, the founding guitarist of the Filipino Rock band The ...

as Professor Yen * Marsh Thomson as CIA Agent Stacey

Production

The film was originally titled ''Last Message from Saigon'' with an announcement made in 1964 it would be filmed in Saigon,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. Allied Artists filmed '' A Yank in Viet-Nam'' on actual South Vietnamese locations, but the security situation had deteriorated to such an extent that the safety of the filmmakers could not be guaranteed. Filming began in Bangkok in January 1965. Said Reynolds: Producer Peer Oppenheimer later signed Reynolds to appear with

Diane Cilento Diane Cilento (2 April 1932 – 6 October 2011) was an Australian actress. She is best known for her film roles in ''Tom Jones'' (1963), which earned her an Academy Award nomination, '' Hombre'' (1967) and '' The Wicker Man'' (1973). She also r ...

in ''Deadly Contest'', to be filmed in Germany, but the project did not happen.MOVIE CALL SHEET: Aldrich Plans Western Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 13 Aug 1965: c7.

In popular culture

''Operation C.I.A.'' was referenced in the ''

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

'' episode " The Man from Jupiter", in which Reynolds makes a guest appearance as himself.

Sterling Archer Sterling Malory Archer (codenamed Duchess after his mother's dog) is the fictional titular character on the American adult animated sitcom '' Archer'', which aired on the basic cable network FX from 2009 to 2019 and is currently broadcast on si ...

claims the film inspired him to become a secret agent, to which Reynolds replies "that film was god-awful."

References

External links