28 MAY 2023
JBC rating: ***
James Bond Connections (2):
- Starring Jill St John (Bond girl Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever) as British Intelligence secretary Iris MacIntosh.
- Legendary singer Shirley Bassey (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker) performs the theme song.
Produced at the height of the 007-inspired 1960s spy movie boom (“Bondmania”), The Liquidator is a solid attempt by 20th Century Fox at creating a rival to James Bond. As with several Bond imitations released in the 1960s, The Liquidator plays as a light spoof of the (then) new series. Australian-born leading man Rod Taylor stars as down-on-his-luck Boysie Oakes (above, left), hired by Trevor Howard’s jaded spy chief Colonel Mostyn (above, right) to assassinate numerous double agents who have infiltrated British Intelligence. Following an incident at the end of the Second World War (detailed in the black and white pre-credits sequence), Mostyn has mistaken Oakes as a Bond-style sharp shooting hero. In fact, Oakes is a selfish coward who, as well as being useless at his new job, is soon tricked by the villains into enabling their scheme.
Working from Peter Yeldham’s lively script (adapted from John Gardner’s novel), British director Jack Cardiff effectively stages a lot of fun scenes without undermining a solid spy story. Appropriately, given the shared credits, Bond movie-wise The Liquidator is closest in feel to Diamonds Are Forever (1971), with both films offering straight thrills and a few brutal moments amongst a generally jokey tone. As with all the Bond films, proceedings are heightened considerably by the rich and dramatic incidental music, here scored by future Mission: Impossible composer Lalo Schifrin. The highlight of the soundtrack is performed by singer Shirley Bassey. Her bombastic rendition of the hilarious theme song works as an excellent send-up of the Bond title tracks and establishes the tone of the film from the outset.
Rod Taylor is very likeable as the rakish and hedonistic anti-hero Boysie Oakes. Finding himself unable to commit murder, Oakes subcontracts the killings to an oddball underworld contact (amusingly played by English comedian Eric Sykes). Instead, Oakes focuses on wooing Mostyn’s secretary, Iris. The glamourous Iris MacIntosh is played with sass, playfulness and only a slightly suspect English accent by American actress and future Bond girl Jill St John (above). Arriving in the Cote D’Azur for a romantic break with Iris, Oakes is kidnapped and tortured by a group of sinister (but somewhat comedic) Russian agents. He manages to escape, without realising he is now in fact enabling their villainous scheme. Events build to an exciting climax where there is an unexpected, last-minute twist when Iris’ role increases from being far more than just the love interest. Therefore, Jill St John’s character has the opposite trajectory to that of Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever, where the latter loses relevance as the film develops.
Veteran English film star Trevor Howard is on good form as Colonel Mostyn. Increasingly exasperated as he loses track of Oakes in the second half of the film, Howard is hilariously bad tempered as he barks at anyone who happens to be close by. However, despite the comedic tone The Liquidator shares themes with several more serious spy thrillers of the era. The fact British Intelligence has been so completely infiltrated by double agents undoubtedly reflected serious concerns following the revelations of real-life moles such as the Cambridge spy ring. That the incompetent outsider Oakes is brought in as a trouble shooter and almost helps the villains prevail is a further indictment of the British establishment. Whether played straight or for laughs, spy thrillers of this period, including Ian Fleming’s James Bond, reflected unease regarding the competence of the state and the relative decline of British power in the post-war period.
TOO SOON FOR A SERIES?
The Liquidator deserves to be remembered as a very enjoyable mid-60s spy romp, keeping just the right side of parody throughout. Before becoming the author of the James Bond continuation novels in the 1980s, John Gardner would produce several comedic novels featuring Boysie Oakes. Whilst the film’s coda sets up a potential series, sadly one never materialised. However, EON had the benefit with James Bond of adapting a popular series of novels which had also enjoyed cultural success in radio and comic strip form long before Dr No. Gardner would produce an eventual series of eight novels and four short stories starring Oakes. Unfortunately, when The Liquidator was produced, Gardner had only published two novels and perhaps this wasn’t enough to generate sufficient popular appetite for a long-running series.