''Missile X – Geheimauftrag Neutronenbombe'' (English: ''Missile X: The Neutron Bomb Incident''; also known in the United States as ''The Tehran Incident'') is a 1979

Eurospy Eurospy film, or Spaghetti spy film (when referring to Cinema of Italy, 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 ...

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by

Leslie H. Martinson Leslie Herbert Martinson (January 16, 1915 – September 3, 2016) was an American television and film director. Career Martinson was born to Gertrude and Lewis Martinson in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 16, 1915. He had a brother named Ber ...

, and starring

Peter Graves Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor who portrayed Jim Phelps in the television series ''Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 and in its reviv ...

and

Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in ''Des Teufels Gener ...

. An

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 ...

between West Germany, Italy and Spain, much of filming took place on location in and around

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, Iran, in 1978 before the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

overthrew Iran's Shah.

Plot

The story concerns an experimental nuclear

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

which is stolen from a Soviet military site in the USSR. An international terrorist group, under the command of a European power-crazed man known only as the Baron is responsible. The Baron plots to use the stolen Soviet missile to destroy an international peace conference in one week located on an island in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. When the U.S. consul to Iran is murdered by the Baron's henchmen, Alec Franklin, a US intelligence agent, is ordered to travel to Iran to take over as consul as well as investigate the murder. Upon arrival in Tehran, Alec is followed by two of the Baron's henchmen who attempt to kill him, but Alec manages to escape. Alec then travels from Tehran to

Abadan Abadan (; ) is a city in the Central District (Abadan County), Central District of Abadan County, Khuzestan province, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. The city is in the southwest of the coun ...

where he meets Konstanine, a Soviet

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

intelligence agent who is in Iran searching for leads to locate the missing cruise missile, which leads to Alec and Konstantine joining forces along with Galina, another Soviet agent, and Leila, an undercover Iranian policewoman, to investigate the Baron in order to find the location to where the cruise missile is being kept before it is used to start World War III.

Cast

as Alec Franklin *

as The Baron *

Karin Schubert Karin Schubert (born 26 November 1944) is a German actress. She appeared in film roles since 1970 and became a pornographic actress in the 1980s. Cinema career Her early roles included the Spaghetti Western '' Compañeros'' (1970) and Gérard ...

as Galina Fedorovna *

Michael Dante Michael Dante (born Ralph Vitti, September 2, 1931) is an American actor and former professional minor league baseball player. Early life Dante was born Ralph Vitti in Stamford, Connecticut on September 2, 1931. Growing up, he would sneak into a ...

as Konstanine Senyonov * Carmen Cervera as Nina * Pouri Baneai as Leila * Robert Avard Miller as Stetson * Michael Tietz as Tony *

Mel Novak Milan Mrdjenovich (, ''Milan Mrđenović''; June 16, 1934 – April 9, 2025), known as Mel Novak, was an American actor who was best known for villainous roles in '' Black Belt Jones'', ''Game of Death'', and '' An Eye for an Eye''. He was also k ...

as Mendosa *

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later J ...

as Professor Nikolaeff *

Aldo Sambrell Alfredo Sánchez Brell (23 February 1931 – 10 July 2010), known as Aldo Sambrell, was a Spanish actor, director, and producer who appeared in over 150 films between 1961 and 1996. Biography Sambrell was born in Vallecas on 23 February 1931. ...

as George *

Frank Braña Frank Braña (born Francisco Braña Pérez; 24 February 1934 – 13 February 2012) was a Spanish character actor. Biography He was born Francisco Braña Pérez in Pola de Allande, Asturias, Spain on 24 February 1934. Also credited as Frank Bl ...

as Rigo

Commentary track

On June 2, 2017, RiffTrax released as a VOD an edited 84-minute version of the film with a comedic commentary track by Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and

Bill Corbett William Daniel Corbett (born March 30, 1960) is an American writer and performer for television, film and theatre. He was a writer and performer on the cult television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''), for which he voiced Crow ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Missile X - Geheimauftrag Neutronenbombe 1979 films 1970s spy thriller films Films directed by Leslie H. Martinson Cold War spy films Films about nuclear war and weapons Films set in Iran Films shot in Tehran West German films Italian spy thriller films German spy thriller films Spanish spy thriller films Films about World War III Films set in the Soviet Union Films about assassinations English-language German films English-language Italian films English-language Spanish films 1970s Italian films 1970s German films