''Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117'' (released in the United States as ''OSS 117–Mission for a Killer'') is a 1965 French/Italian

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint vent ...

Eurospy spy-fi film. It was the third OSS 117 film directed by

André Hunebelle André Hunebelle (; 1 September 1896 – 27 November 1985) was a French maître verrier (master glassmaker) and film director. Master Glass Artist After attending polytechnic school for mathematics, he became a decorator, a designer, and then a m ...

and produced by Paul Cadéac.

Frederick Stafford Frederick Stafford (11 March 1928 – 28 July 1979) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born actor. Born Friedrich Strobel von Stein, he spoke fluent Czech, German, English, French and Italian, and was a leading man in European spy-movies and in ...

made his film debut taking over the role of OSS 117 from

Kerwin Mathews Kerwin Mathews (January 8, 1926 – July 5, 2007) was an American actor best known for playing the titular heroes in ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' (1958), ''The Three Worlds of Gulliver'' (1960), and ''Jack the Giant Killer (1962 film), Jack the G ...

. The film was shot on Brazilian locations and featured action scenes arranged by Hunebelle's

stunt coordinator A stunt coordinator, usually an experienced stunt performer, is hired by a TV, film or theatre director or production company for casting stunt performers. Their job is to arrange the casting (stunt players and stunt doubles) and performance of s ...

Claude Carliez with

production design In film industry, film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and ...

by Paul-Louis Boutié. It was based on Jean Bruce's 1955 novel ''Dernier quart d'heure'' his 44th OSS 117 book that was published in English in 1965 under the title ''Live Wire'' (UK) and ''The Last Quarter Hour'' (USA). The American edition featured commentary by

Pierre Salinger Pierre Emil George Salinger (June 14, 1925 – October 16, 2004) was an American journalist, author and politician. He served as the ninth White House Press Secretary, press secretary for United States presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon ...

, who was acquainted with Josette Bruce, Jean Bruce's widow. Josette would take up writing OSS 117 novels in 1966.

Plot

Secret Agent OSS 117,

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath (

) has his Alpine ski holiday interrupted to receive a briefing on a series of

suicide attack A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

s performed by trusted assistants of their targets that they blow up with themselves. Using the cover of a journalist named Hubert Delacroix, de La Bath flies to Brazil to meet his contact Thomas Ellis ( Claude Carliez) who believes the killers have been drugged and hypnotised to perform their assassinations. At

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, de La Bath is paged over the airport loudspeaker system by a woman who identifies herself as Consuela Moroni ( Perrette Pradier), Ellis's assistant. Noticing his being watched by two men who photograph him and Consuela's paging of him over the loudspeaker as a serious breach of secret agent protocol, de La Bath is suspicious. As Consuela takes him to a

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involve ...

to meet Ellis, de La Bath takes the keys out of the car and leaves Consuela inside. His instincts are proved correct when he's attacked by three thugs, one who uses

bolas Bolas or bolases (: bola; from Spanish and Portuguese ''bola'', "ball", also known as a ''boleadora'' or ''boleadeira'') is a type of throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, used to capture animals by entangling ...

as a weapon against him. De La Bath defeats the assassins with martial arts and their own bolas. Seeing the same two men from the airport watching him from a car, he uses a

forklift truck A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...

to lift their car into the air. Consuela has vanished, but de La Bath has her car and drives to his hotel. On a car radio he hears that Ellis has been in a serious car accident and hospitalised. As he visits the hospital to see Ellis, he meets Anna-Maria (

Mylène Demongeot Mylène Demongeot (; born Marie-Hélène Demongeot ; 29 September 1935 – 1 December 2022) was a French film, television and theatre actress and author with a career spanning seven decades and more than 100 credits in French language, French, ...

). She flew Ellis to the hospital after his automobile accident outside her ranch in

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

. An assassin disguised as a Doctor shoots Ellis on the operating table as well as some of the medical staff before OSS 117 throws him out of a window. Anna-Maria gives OSS 117 Ellis's wallet that contains his address as well as a key ring. He takes Anna-Maria to her house in Rio where she is being watched. Visiting Ellis's address he meets the real Consuela (Annie Anderson) who knows little except that she fears for her life and doesn't have the key to Ellis's safe, however she arranges a meeting the next day with Ellis's associate in Rio near the Christ the Redeemer of the Andes statue. Returning to his hotel room the false Consuela/phony Moroni is in de La Bath's room and spends the night with him. Still suspicious, de La Bath leaves Consuela in bed as he goes to the toilet, playing a tape recording of him whistling and using the bathroom as he dresses and leaves out the window to reenter the room after the false Conseula has let two thugs in who attempt to kill de La Bath in his bath. De La Bath captures them and leaves all three bound and gagged on his bed. They remain like that until the water from de La Bath's bathtub that is still running floods the bathroom causing a guest below to complain to the management of his being soaked. The three are arrested by the Rio police. Prior to meeting Ellis's associate Carlos (

François Maistre François Maistre (14 May 1925 – 16 May 2016) was a French film, television and theatre actor. Born in Demigny, Saône-et-Loire, France, he appeared in nearly 100 films between 1960 and 2003. His father was singer and actor A.-M. Julien. Se ...

), de la Bath visits Anna-Maria who has been drugged with the suicide attack formula. She attempts to blow them both up with a

hand grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

that de la Bath uses to dispatch the two thugs who drugged her. Carlos has the key to the safe and reveals that what caused Ellis's car "accident" was a friend in the front seat attempting to assassinate him with a hand grenade. Carlos accompanies OSS 117 back to Ellis's apartment where he waits outside to give warning. In the apartment the real Consuela has been murdered by the same two thugs at the airport and dockyard who are attempting to open the safe with an acetylene torch. They use it as a

flamethrower A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World W ...

to kill de la Bath but he kills them with it. Warned by Carlos of another group of assassins entering the building, de la Bath leaves the torch running filling the room with gas. He ignites it from a window as the group of assassins enter the room. Finding flowers in Ellis's safe that Ellis discovered to have been used to create the drug, de la Bath and Anne-Marie drive to her home in

where another assassination attempt takes place by setting the road they are driving on aflame. Arriving at Anne-Marie's ranch courtesy of the unsuccessful assassin's vehicle, her friend Leandro ( Raymond Pellegrin) flies them to the remote region of the Indians who harvest the flowers. They discover the locale is the headquarters of a secret neofascist organisation who wish to take over South America.

Cast

: Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, aka 0SS 177 *

: Anna-Maria Sulza *

: Carlos * Raymond Pellegrin : Leandro * Jacques Riberolles : Miguel Sulza * Perrette Pradier : Consuela Moroni I * Guy Delorme : Karl * Annie Anderson : Consuela Moroni II * Jean-Pierre Janic : Ludwig * Michel Thomass : Russian client * Richard Saint-Bris : Hotel manager * Eric Vasberg : Henchman *

Henri Attal Henri Attal (1936–2003) was a French actor. Selected filmography External links Fragments d'un dictionnaire amoureux 1936 births 2003 deaths Male actors from Paris French male film actors French male television actors {{F ...

: Killer #1 * Dominique Zardi : Killer #2

Reception

The film was the 11th biggest hit of the year in France with admissions of 2,686,432.

Notes

External links

* * Original French trailer http://www.cinemovies.fr/bande-annonce-9946-30135.html {{OSS 117 1965 films 1960s spy thriller films Films directed by André Hunebelle Films set in Rio de Janeiro (city) Films shot in Rio de Janeiro (city) 1960s French-language films French spy thriller films French sequel films 1960s French films Films scored by Michel Magne OSS 117 films