Watch The Killer Likes Candy For Free

An Exercise In Nonsense

The first must-see film of the year.

Blistering performances.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Pair of action / adventure films, one from the 70's, the other from the 60's. I bought this DVD for the film The Killer Likes Candy, a 1968 Euro-made film starring Kerwin Mathews. He plays a CIA spy type hired to protect a Middle-Eastern potentate. Beyond that it doesn't make much sense except that the title refers to an assassin that has a sweet tooth. The transfer is pretty good quality but it could use re-mastering which it will probably not get. In quality it matches the RareFlix DVD, except that the RareFlix has an unpleasant trailer one has to sit through before one can see the film. The Code Red DVD has some extras, including trailers. If this is your preferred genre, either version will do.

"The Killer Loves Candy" ranks as an average European crime melodrama about an assassin paid to kill a head of state. Washington, D.C. troubleshooter Mark Stone is assigned to protect the King of Kafiristan while he is visiting Rome and catch the elusive assassin. During a visit to a foreign country, a king's life is jeopardized when a hit-man tries to shoot him but winds up killing the monarch's head of security. Co-directors Federico Chentrens of the Italian-French western "Judge Roy Bean" and Maurice Cloche of "FX 18, Secret Agent," working from a screenplay by Cloche, John Haggarty of "Murder in Eden" and Adam Saint Moore, have concocted an entertaining, colorful, but juvenile adventure epic that relies on the tenacity of the characters rather than any technological gadgets at their disposal. Kerwin Mathews of the "O.S.S." movies is appropriately energetic and agile as the heroic protagonist who gets quite a workout not only from protecting a foreign diplomat but also surviving attacks on himself by other bad guys. The scenery in this Italian-French-German production is suitably exotic and the never-say-die villain gives the authorities plenty of headaches as they try to track him down.Oscar Snell (Bruno Cremer of "The French Conspiracy") is a craftsman when it comes to killing, but he is having a difficult time trying to eliminate Kafiristan's monarch. Mark Stone, known to his associates by the rather unusual name 'Angel Face' is sent in to keep the king alive, but his majesty resents Stone's intrusions. When Stone and his sidekick Costa (Venantino Venantini of "Make Them Die Slowly") are summoned, they are posing as fashion photographers. Anybody who loves the Matt Helm spy franchise will know that in the Donald Hamilton novels, Matt Helm masqueraded as a photographer when he wasn't on a mission. Immediately, Stone steps in and wants to micro-manage the king's affairs. The King and his retinue, particularly his closest minister (Sieghardt Rupp of "Fistful of Dollars") don't like the pushy way that Stone takes his duties. Nevertheless, Stone proves that there is an assassin who is not going to stop trying to ice the king. Like the title indicates, the assassin loves to eat candy and leave the wrappings wherever he goes. Washington wants Stone to keep the dignitary alive because he presides over a fortune in oil in his kingdom. The familiar face of the villain, Guardino, who hired Snell is none other than Werner Peters of "The Battle of the Bulge." After Snell muffs a murder attempt on Stone, the people behind Guardino insist that Snell confine himself to the King and let others take out Stone. Toni (Gordon Mitchell of "Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops")and several hoodlums try to kill Stone. A scene in an abandoned building where Stone tricks Toni and his killers by knocking down a bunch of barrels at them is clever. By the time that they figure out that Stone is not in any of the barrels but the one rolling away, they are too late to stop him and start shooting. Trouble is that he has gotten out of that barrel, too. Eventually, Stone learns that his majesty suffers from a heart condition and Snell takes the mother of one of the doctors, anesthesiologist Sylva (Marilù Tolo of " Juliet of the Spirits") hostage and threatens to kill mom if Sylva doesn't see to it that the monarch dies in surgery. Of course, she cannot bring herself to murder the king. Later, Stone and the Rome police force plunge into the catacombs to catch Snell. The grand finale occurs over a marble quarry as Stone and Snell slug it out in a gigantic crane and Snell falls to his death. Meanwhile, Stone's sidekick Costa provides the comic relief as he is constantly being told to leave the king alone by his closest advisers. Every time that Stone walks in on Costa, Costa is with a woman or trying to physically build himself up to appear attractive.The orchestral score by Gianni Marchetti with its incessant vocals where a chorus warbles "dabba, dabba,dabba" is clearly out of place and doesn't underline the dramatic tension in any of the scenes, but it is a relic of the swinging sixties and probably reflects the inoffensive nature of this feature.

Shrewd and evasive ex-Nazi and top assassin Oscar Snell (nicely played suavely sinister aplomb by Bruno Cremer) is determined to rub out King Faoud (a suitably arrogant Lukas Ammann). Snell's sole weakness is his sweet tooth; he leaves candy wrappers at the scene of his every crime. It's up to no-nonsense CIA agent Mark Stone (a smooth and solid performance by Kerwin Matthews) to find Snell and stop him before it's too late. Directors Federico Chenkens and Maurice Clothe (the latter also co-wrote the compact and eventful script) keep the movie humming along at a snappy pace and stage the plentiful rousing shoot-outs and down'n'dirty fisticuffs with a reasonable amount of skill and brio. The Rome, Italy locations add a pleasing extra exotic flavor to the lively proceedings. Moreover, there's also a welcome smattering of tasty peek-a-boo almost nudity from a bevy of beautiful ladies (King Faoud's dancing harem girls are especially luscious). Popping up in neat parts are Marilu Tolo as fetching physician Sylva, Venantino Venantini as Stone's jolly partner Costa, Werner Peters as slippery underground crime kingpin Guardino, and the ever-imposing Gordon Mitchell as Guardino's brutish henchman Toni. Fausto Zuccoli's cinematography makes inspired occasional use of a hand-held camera. Gianni Marchetti's groovy, dreamy, get-down hip and playful swinging jazz score may be inappropriate, but it still sounds insanely cool just the same. A really fun and diverting romp.

For those who like their pasta cheesy: a 60s French-Italian-German pulp thriller filmed at the tail end of the Euro spy craze (1964-1968), and loaded with warped camera angles and great bongo-driven muzak that kicks in at totally inappropriate moments. Top agent OSS117 `Angel Face" (Kerwin Matthews) is assigned to protect a Eurasian monarch from a ruthless assassin, a glassy-eyed ex-Gestapo officer who leaves a candy wrapper at the scene of every hit. Damn, these spaghetti merchants keep finding novel settings for their genre punchups - this time round a karate fight at a meatworks (one guy gets covered in a bucket of pig's blood!) and ending in a shootout amidst a truckload of crumbling skeletons in the Rome catacombs.