2011:

Searching around online for any info related to Mario Bava's wonderful Giallo,I was shocked to discover a movie with the same title,starring lead Batman actor Adam West.Originally hoping the the title would be easy to track down,I was saddened to find,that with the exception of a 30 second clip,the entire movie appeared to have become lost in time.

Easter 2014:

With there having been a recent announcement about West's Batman TV show finally reaching DVD,I decided to start searching again for a copy of the movie.To my delightful surprise,I found out that Olive Films had just brought out the title on DVD and Blu-Ray!,which led to me at last getting ready to see Adam West meet the girl who knew to much.

The plot:

Retiring from the CIA,former spy Johnny Cain spends his quiet days running a nightclub called The Big C's.Getting an urgent phone call,Cain rushes to the club and discovers that a leading mob boss called Tony Grinaldi has been killed in an attack in his club.Claiming to have no idea about why the attack took place,Cain's CIA buddies tell him that they don't feel he's being completely honest with them.Whilst Cain gets the good news that the mob don't believe that he had anything to do with Grinaldi's death,the mob give Cain the added bonus of having 72 hours to find out the motives behind the killing,before they order a hit which will send Cain to the big nightclub in the sky.

View on the film:

Before getting to the movie,I have to mention that whilst the Olive Films DVD gave the title a clean picture and a very clear soundtrack,the DVD sadly features a fault,which leads to the audio of the (thankfully dialogue light) 8 minutes being about 30 seconds ahead of the image.

Backed by Joe Greene's smooth score,director Francis D.Lyon covers the title's low budget by creating a warm jazzy atmosphere,with Lyon filling Cain's nightclub with fistfights and warm oranges and blues,as Cain finds himself searching for the reasons behind the killing.Giving the punches some real force,the screenplay by Charles Wallace creates a fun mix of espionage and Film Noir,with Cain finding that he must use his old spy skills in order to escape from the shadow of the mob.

Being given a number of good one liners,Adam West delivers each of the hits with a real relish,with some of the more outrageous lines allowing for some choice cut Adam West Ham (which is not related to the UK football team West Ham) as Cain finds out about the girl who knows too much.

A beautiful Asian woman named "Revel Drew" (Nancy Kwan) is sitting at a table in a restaurant with a man who happens to be the head of all of the illegal operations on the West Coast. Not long afterward, as Revel gets up to talk to the piano player named "Lucky Jones" (Buddy Greco) a large truck comes crashing through the wall opposite of where Revel was sitting only minutes before and kills the mob boss. The owner of the restaurant is "Johnny Cain" (Adam West) who just happens to be a retired assassin and a former lover of Revel. Because of the suspicious nature of the murder, he immediately becomes a suspect and a contract is placed upon his head if he cannot exonerate himself. He has 72 hours. Anyway, rather than divulge the entire story and possibly ruin the mystery and suspense, I will just say that this film has a very intricate plot which requires close attention to detail. While the acting wasn't great and the dialogue seemed a bit stiff at times, I thought this was a pretty enjoyable film all the same. Adam West performed in an adequate manner as did Nancy Kwan who still manages to look quite attractive several years after her starring role in "The World of Suzie Wong". It's definitely dated but all things considered I rate this as slightly above average.

How can you go wrong with a cast like this: Adam West, Nancy Kwan, Nehemiah Persoff, Robert Alda, Patricia Smith, Chick Chandler, Mark Roberts, George Neise and Buddy Greco (who not only acts, but sings the memorable theme song twice!) A very old 80s Video company called K&C Video released this film and I bought a brand new Beta print for $60! in 1980... It was shown a few times many years ago on local television but has never had a deserved DVD release. O.K. maybe it's not the best film Adam West ever made, but hey, he gets to have a lot of action scenes, drives a cool car, has some great scenes with Nehemiah Persoff as well as with the gorgeous Nancy Kwan. What more could you want? Intrigue, a catchy theme song, interesting locations and a cameo by David Brian all add up to an hour and a half of quite decent entertainment. I have watched this film so many times over the years that my poor Beta tape has had it! Please release this on DVD with a commentary by surviving cast members and maybe even a featurette. UPDATE May 28 2013 OLIVE FILMS released a fantastic print in both DVD and Blu Ray. I have the DVD version and I am very impressed.