The heightened tensions of the cold war in the 1960's led to a craze for spy films. Some went for gritty realism like The Spy who came in from the Cold, while most went down the high glamour route typified by the James Bond series. Fathom is one of those latter efforts, even if strictly speaking the title character is not a bona fide spy. It also fitted into an even more specific sub-genre – the spy spoof. It could probably best be compared to the previous year's Modesty Blaise, which had a similar light comical approach and also featured a female protagonist played by a luminous beauty, in that case Monica Vitti. For my money, Fathom is a superior film to that one and is, of course, pretty clearly a vehicle for the top sex symbol of the time, Raquel Welch. She had just come off the back of her iconic performance in One Million Years B.C. and it must've seemed like a pretty obvious idea to have her star as a sexy action girl in a spy flick. She is Fathom Harvill, a famous sky-diver who gets roped into the middle of a situation between intelligence agents and international thieves.It's hard not to describe this movie without using the word 'breezy'. It's such a light hearted and playful romp. It's comic for much of the time, although there are also definite suspense moments too, including a memorable scene in a bull ring. But mainly it's a film that relies on sun-kissed locations and the undoubted sex appeal of its main star who cavorts about in bikinis and skimpy attire. The film pulls off the difficult stunt of being a little bit sensual while being completely family friendly. It maybe doesn't necessarily add up to a huge amount at the end of the day but I always find this film kind of fun and charming. The cast also includes several other interesting actors such as Anthony Franciosa, Clive Revill and, perhaps most unsurprisingly, 'The Good Life's' Richard Briers but at the end of the day this is Raquel Welch's film and she's a lot of fun to watch.

Spunky and enticing dental hygienist turned expert skydiver Fathom Harvill (the one and only Raquel Welch at her most gorgeous, radiant, and appealing) is assigned by a top secret government agency to parachute into Spain in order to find elusive war defector Peter Mertiwether (a smooth and engaging portrayal by Anthony Franciosa) and a missing H-bomb detonator he might have in his possession. Director Leslie H. Martinson, working from a witty script by Lorenzo Semple Jr., relates the fun premise at a snappy pace and maintains a likable easy'n'breezy lightweight tone throughout. Of course, this picture makes for a great showcase of the delectable Mrs. Welch's charming personality and jaw-dropping spectacular figure (the latter in particular looks absolutely smashing in a lime-green bikini!). Moreover, the cute and funny dialogue contains a nice running gag about Fathom's unusual first name. Clive Revill contributes a sharp comic performance as Sergi Serapkin, an eccentric villainous millionaire with an extreme aversion to the cold. Douglas Slocombe's vibrant cinematography provides an attractive bright look. John Dankworth's bouncy score hits the jaunty'n'jazzy spot. Hugely enjoyable.

Fathom open in Finland on December 1, 1967 and open 12 days later in New York City on December 13th 1967. Fathom is a 1967 British spy comedy film directed by Leslie H. Martinson, starring Anthony Franciosa and Raquel Welch. Fathom Harvill (Raquel Welch) is a dental assistant and an American skydiver touring Europe with a U.S. parachute team. A Scottish agent to recover an atomic triggering mechanism approaches her. The film was based on Larry Forrester's second Fathom novel Fathom Heavensent then in the draft stage but never published. His first Fathom novel was 1967's A Girl Called Fathom. The film was one of three 1967 20th Century Fox films about female spies; the others being Doris Day's Caprice and Andrea Dromm's Come Spy with Me.Summary: The movie opens with a body shot of Fathom pounding in a post. Then Fathom starts to unroll her parachute. She then repacks the parachute. Fathom then heads for the sky to parachute in competition. After winning the skydiving championship in Spain, Fathom Harvill is abducted by a man named Timothy and taken to Douglas Campbell, a Scotsman who claims to be working for NATO intelligence. He enlists her aid in outwitting two teams of foreign agents who are after the "Fire Dragon," a nuclear trigger device that was lost in the Mediterranean following the crash of a bomber plane. Representing Communist China is Serapkin, an eccentric Armenian millionaire. Peter Merriweather is acting for the United States, aided by a glamorous Asian, Jo-May Soon. Fathom parachutes into Merriweather's villa and learns that the "Fire Dragon" is a priceless jeweled figurine stolen from a Peking museum by a Korean War deserter who is being pursued by a private detective. Although she now realizes that Merriweather and Campbell are the deserter and the private eye, she cannot determine which is which.Questions. Who was behind the bull being in an empty arena? Who was behind the harpoon attack on the hotel owner? Who was behind the two knife attacks? What did Fathom find in her makeup case? Why did two men try to grab Fathom? Why was Fathom forced in an airplane? My thoughts: Fantastic movie right from the start. Anthony Franciosa was good in his role as Peter Merriweather. Now for the star of the movie Raquel Welch who was just Fantastic. Her role as Fathom Harvill was great. The outfits she wore in this movie were out of this world. It started with the tight parachute outfit. From there the green bikini never fit a body better than it did Raquel Welch. I'm use to seeing Raquel in stupid comedy that wastes her talents. However, in this one her talents were used to perfection including that gorgeous body. Because of Raquel Welch and her talent, I give this movie 10 weasel stars. You can buy this movie at Amazon.com

This movie starts with it's strongest part, Raqual Welch in her prime at every possible camera angle packing her parachute. They even use what was still rare in 1967, a classic shot of her back side. I doubt that anyone complained about that.Once this opening sequence is over, the film settles into a light plot involving a stolen Chinese Artifact which everyone is after though the good people versus the bads ones are very hard to sort out.Tony Franciosa is the other name actor in the cast but this movie is mostly Raquel. The rest of the supporting cast makes out alright but the action is slight and the style of photography is much in evidence in this film. Welch gets a 10 for effort but the script is a little lame so over all the movie is not that good. Still, there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.Raquel & Tony face down a bull in one sequence. There are times when everyone around her seem to be part of a load of bull. Raquel is Fathom, the lead character who gets involved with a lot of people but manages somehow to come out whole.