The same old bullshit with a professor who invented a death ray. He is kidnapped by Nello Pazzafini (an unconvincing Italian actor specialized in roles of bully bad villain, here without mustache). We see a dummy submarine and a dummy helicopter exploding, both very badly made. Then another dummy, a red car which falls into the sea from a high coast. Gordon Scott is himself a very bad actor, like the rest of the cast. The music is totally inappropriate to what we see on the screen, in other words, a great stupidity, a wonderful mess. Nothing is credible and all the characters are pathetic.

Yet another James Bond wannabe that was featured on the television show MST3K. It is also yet another rather badly done Bond ripoff, as it once again thinks the only thing it needs to make a Bond film is a smug agent. Explosions??? They cost too much. Submarines??? A toy stand in will suffice. A super fast car chase??? Those are too hard, we can do a very tepid follow scene and try to pass it off as an exciting chase. This film is very unexciting and one never gets the sense of real danger or thrills. The film, like many other Bond wannabes also has a few girls, but they are just okay in the looks department. The bad guys are not very threatening and for the most part the action is very lacking. Does have a nice theme to it though.The story has a death ray that was created for non violent uses being stolen for violent purposes. Why this ray is even considered all that great is beyond me as it seems to be simply a device to melt holes in metal. Actually, it was not even the ray that was taken, but rather its creator who named his device that he had no intentions of using for violent purposes a Death Ray! Well enter super spy Bart Fargo, who at first does not want to do the mission because he is on vacation. What a spy! When has Bond ever complained about a mission? Yet, with every James Bond knockoff, the spy is always whining about doing his job. So off he finally goes and he flirts, has numerous fist fights and rides a car and a speed boat at extremely slow speeds! He also falls for a painter who looks kind of creepy in the face. Meanwhile, the bad guys repeatedly try to kill him. Nothing new happening here suffice to say.The film is one of many James Bond knockoffs featured on MST3K. I have seen Secret Agent Super Dragon, Operation Kid Brother and Agent from H.A.R.M also. This one is a bit better than H.A.R.M, mainly because all the agent does there is hang around a house for most of the film and fail miserably. Sure the fungus stuff is kind of cool and the niece is hotter than any of the girls in this one, but that one was even more boring. I thought Super Dragon and Kid Brother were better though as they featured more attractive girls. Kid Brother also had the fun of spotting actors and actresses from the James Bond film series. This one has a bit more going on than H.A.R.M, if it had better looking gals I would have said it was better than Dragon.So this film pretty much goes by with not much happening for a super spy film. Then again, that can be said of most copies of the Bond films. They pretty much seem to think if you have an agent who can swarm his way through the film that people will flock to it, but you just should have more. I mean, a that car chase was so slow, there is no way an oil slick is going to make a car lose control that badly at the speeds he was going. Still, it made for a very funny episode of MST3K, but why did that person catch the watch the agent threw out the window?

MASTER PLAN: get the death ray plans from a kidnapped scientist. Yet another in a long line of European James Bond knock offs during the swinging sixties, this piqued my curiosity due to the casting of Gordon Scott as the super agent - meet Bart Fargo! I was mostly familiar with Scott for his Tarzan portrayals of several years earlier, some of which were quite good; of course, he is also well known for his roles in Italian musclemen epics, playing mythical heroes named Goliath or Maciste. So, he has no problem depicting the physical aspect of being a hero - you have no trouble believing he can beat up a couple of henchmen. In fact, most of the entertainment value here stems from a wry sensibility developing by the time Scott is thrashing his 4th or 5th thug (Fargo is the target of several killers during the movie). By that 4th time, Fargo is barely trying - he merely taps a door into the bad guy and then starts slapping him around like a wet noodle. I thought, this is what happens when Goliath puts on a suit and pretends to be a secret agent. This was one of Scott's last leading roles after a career of over a decade and it's actually a shame he didn't get to do more of these, improving on the formula.The plot begins with the kidnapping of a scientist - much gunplay and cars moving in the night. Fargo isn't introduced until a good 20 minutes in, awoken from his beauty sleep by a couple of babes. He has the now-familiar repartee with this film's version of M and Ms. Moneypenny - it's blatantly derivative. The problem with Italian pics such as these (such as "OK Connery" aka "Operation Double 007") is the dubbing; the voice actors obfuscate the speech patterns and you're guessing what Scott's performance was really like. The spoken dialog itself is terribly crude: a woman is painting some self-portrait and Fargo climbs into her apartment thru the roof; 'What's the matter?' she says. 'Haven't you ever seen an artist's studio?' This passes for sophisticated spy seduction talk here. Later, Fargo interrogates one of his attackers. 'Awright, talk!' Fargo demands, pointing his silencer. 'If I tell ya, the boss'll have me killed,' the guy answers, 'please try to understand!' Then, Fargo pauses and growls 'Listen, you tell me or you're gonna be in REAL trouble.' What's Fargo's threat? Kill the guy even more? Finally, the FX - oh, oh. Fargo is forced off the road at one point in his red European sportscar, falling off a cliff into the sea; only, it's obviously a tiny model car falling into a pond. I laughed out loud yet, at the same time, admired the filmmakers' audacity. They're telling the audience, hey, this is what you get; you don't like it, sue us. Hero:5 Villains:3 Femme Fatales:3 Henchmen:3 Fights:4 Stunts/Chases:4 Gadgets:3 Auto:4 Locations:4 Pace:4 overall:4-

While this movie is obviously nothing more than a 3rd rate "007" pastiche, I'm still rather fond of it. In spite of the ludicrous miniatures, blandly European-y setting, by-the-numbers screenplay and badly dubbed dialog, this is a fun little lightweight romp. I think this is mostly due to the casting of Gordon Scott in the lead as "Bart Fargo" (you're kidding me with that name, right?). I have fond memories of Scott in some vintage "Tarzan" movies, and I vaguely remember him playing "Hercules" as well; what worked then works now. Scott isn't as hard edged or as dynamic as, say, Sean Connery or Timothy Dalton, but he's an agreeable screen presence, he's pleasant to look at (and still built like a brick sh*thouse), and he can do a choreographed screen brawl with the best of them. Scott is front and center for 90% of the movie, and he always looks good doing whatever it is he's doing - running down a city street, punching out a bad guy "Mannix" style, playing baccarat in a casino, lounging in bed, or being suave with the ladies. So he carries this movie the way a mother cat carries a kitten, by the nape of the neck and for as long as it takes. He isn't good enough to rescue "Danger! Death Ray" from mediocrity (I'm not sure Sean Connery himself could do that), and it's pretty obvious from the outset that he's just collecting a paycheck...but he at least makes it watchable. Compare this to some of the other,similar European-y "007" ripoffs that MST3K covered in its fifth and sixth seasons and you'll immediately see the difference. "OK Connery" relied on Sean's poor uncharismatic brother, "Secret Agent Super Dragon" featured a walking Ken doll, and "your dad's alcoholic golfing buddy" (in a girdle) was cast as "Agent for H.A.R.M.". Two of those movies were at least the equal of D!DR in sets, effects, locations, and supporting cast (and were sometimes far superior, especially in the case of "OK Connery")(and I admit that "Agent" wasn't the equal to ANYTHING, including the "ABC Afterschool Special"). But those movies blew chunks, while D!DR is at least mildly entertaining in a completely unoriginal way. And that's 'cause Scott was the leading man, and not those other poor bozos who were completely out of their depth in the lead. D!DR would be appropriate for a wasted Sunday afternoon matinée when you have too much of hangover to move from in front of the TV, and televised sports just don't appeal. Collect only if you are a spy movie completist, or if you enjoy the MST coverage (which is good natured and mild, compared to the slash-and-burn jobs they usually do).