Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117
Encyclopedia
Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117 (released in the United States as OSS 117-Mission for a Killer) is a 1965 French Eurospy spy-fi
Spy-fi
-Definition and characteristics:It often uses a secret agent or superspy whose mission is a showcase of science fiction elements such as technology and ideas used for extortion, plots for world domination or world destruction, futuristic weapons, gadgets and fast vehicles that can travel on land,...

 film. It was the third OSS 117
OSS 117
OSS 117 is the codename for Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, a fictional secret agent initially from the pen of the prolific Jean Bruce. Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath is described as being an American Colonel from Louisiana of French descent...

 film directed by André Hunebelle
André Hunebelle
André Hunebelle was a French director born September 1, 1896 in Meudon , died 27 November 1985 in Nice .Hunebelle was a former publisher of a French newspaper called La Fleché...

 and produced by Paul Cadéac. Frederick Stafford
Frederick Stafford
Frederick Stafford was an Austrian-born actor.The Czech actor Frederick Stafford , who spoke fluent Czech, German, English, French and Italian, was a leading man in European spy-movies....

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

The film was shot on Brazilian locations and featured action scenes arranged by Hunebelle's stunt coordinator
Stunt coordinator
A stunt coordinator, usually an experienced stunt performer, is hired by a TV, film or theatre director or production company to arrange the casting and performance of stunts for a film, television programme or a live audience...

 Claude Carliez
Claude Carliez
Claude Carliez is a French master at arms in classical fencing who became a period and fencing advisor to French films. He graduated to a stunt performer, stunt coordinator, special effects person and film director. He worked with such legends of the French cinema as Jean Marais, Louis de Funes,...

 with production design by Paul-Louis Boutié. It was based on Jean Bruce
Jean Bruce
Jean Bruce born Jean Brochet on 22 March 1921 was a prolific French popular writer who died in 26 March 1963 in a car accident. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Jean Alexandre, Jean Alexandre Brochet, Jean-Martin Rouan, and Joyce Lindsay....

'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 Salinger
Pierre Emil George Salinger was a White House Press Secretary to U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson...

, 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
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath (Frederick Stafford
Frederick Stafford
Frederick Stafford was an Austrian-born actor.The Czech actor Frederick Stafford , who spoke fluent Czech, German, English, French and Italian, was a leading man in European spy-movies....

) has his Alpine ski holiday interrupted to receive a briefing on a series of suicide attack
Suicide attack
A suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...

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
Claude Carliez
Claude Carliez is a French master at arms in classical fencing who became a period and fencing advisor to French films. He graduated to a stunt performer, stunt coordinator, special effects person and film director. He worked with such legends of the French cinema as Jean Marais, Louis de Funes,...

) who believes the killers have been drugged and hypnotised to perform their assassinations.

At Rio de Janiero de La Bath is paged over the airport loudspeaker system by a woman who identifies herself as Consuela Moroni (Perrette Pradier
Perrette Pradier
Perrette Pradier, , is a French actress.Two years after making her film debut, in 1961 Perrette Pradier was awarded the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as most promising new actress in France for her performance as "Amenita" in the Sacha Guitry film, "Stop Thief." That year she gained further...

), 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 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
Bolas are a throwing weapon superficially similar to the surujin, made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs...

 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
Forklift truck
A forklift is a powered industrial truck used to lift and transport materials. The modern forklift was developed in the 1920s by various companies including the transmission manufacturing company Clark and the hoist company Yale & Towne Manufacturing...

 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
Mylène Demongeot is a French actress, who has appeared in 72 films since 1953. She was born Marie-Hélène Demongeot in Nice, Southern France....

). She flew Ellis to the hospital after his automobile accident outside her ranch in Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...

. Waiting outside the operatating theatre, an assassin disugised as a Doctor shoots Ellis on the operating table as well as some of the medical staff before OSS 117 throws him out 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
Christ the Redeemer of the Andes
Christ the Redeemer of the Andes is a monument high in the Andes at 3,832 metres above mean sea level on the border between Argentina and Chile...

 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
François Maistre is a French actor. He's appeared in nearly 100 films between 1960 and 2003.He was born in Demigny, Saône-et-Loire, France.-Selected filmography:* Les Jeux de l'amour * Paris Belongs to Us...

), 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
Hand grenade
A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...

 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
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...

 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 Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...

 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
Raymond Pellegrin
Raymond Pellegrin was a French actor.Born in Nice, Pellegrin made his screen debut in the 1945 French feature Naïs....

) flies them to the remote region of the Indians who harvest the flowers. They discover the locale is the headquarters of a secret organisation of revolutionaries who wish to take over South America.

Cast

  • Frederick Stafford
    Frederick Stafford
    Frederick Stafford was an Austrian-born actor.The Czech actor Frederick Stafford , who spoke fluent Czech, German, English, French and Italian, was a leading man in European spy-movies....

     : Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, aka 0SS 177
  • Mylène Demongeot
    Mylène Demongeot
    Mylène Demongeot is a French actress, who has appeared in 72 films since 1953. She was born Marie-Hélène Demongeot in Nice, Southern France....

     : Anna-Maria Sulza
  • François Maistre
    François Maistre
    François Maistre is a French actor. He's appeared in nearly 100 films between 1960 and 2003.He was born in Demigny, Saône-et-Loire, France.-Selected filmography:* Les Jeux de l'amour * Paris Belongs to Us...

     : Carlos
  • Raymond Pellegrin
    Raymond Pellegrin
    Raymond Pellegrin was a French actor.Born in Nice, Pellegrin made his screen debut in the 1945 French feature Naïs....

     : Leandro
  • Jacques Riberolles : Miguel Sulza
  • Perrette Pradier
    Perrette Pradier
    Perrette Pradier, , is a French actress.Two years after making her film debut, in 1961 Perrette Pradier was awarded the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as most promising new actress in France for her performance as "Amenita" in the Sacha Guitry film, "Stop Thief." That year she gained further...

     : 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 : Killer #1
  • Dominique Zardi
    Dominique Zardi
    Dominique Zardi was a French actor. He played in more than 600 films-Selected filmography:- External links :* *...

     : Killer #2

OSS 117 films

  • Preceded by Banco à Bangkok pour OSS 117
    Banco à Bangkok pour OSS 117
    Banco à Bangkok pour OSS 117 released in the USA as Shadow of Evil is a 1964 French Eurospy spy-fi film. It was based on Jean Bruce's 1960 novel Lila de Calcutta, the 74th OSS 117 novel. It was the second OSS 117 film directed by André Hunebelle and produced by Paul Cadéac, the first in the series...

    /Shadow of Evil (1964)
  • Followed by Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117
    Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117
    Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 is a 1966 French Eurospy spy-fi film. It was the fourth OSS 117 film of the 1960s, directed by Michel Boisrond, presented by the director of the three previous 1960's OSS films, André Hunebelle and produced by Paul Cadéac...

    /Terror in Tokyo (1966)

External links

  • Original French trailer http://www.cinemovies.fr/bande-annonce-9946-30135.html
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