The Plot. A U.S. agent goes undercover as a rich playboy to stop a madman from destroying a NASA moon project. I saw this under the title of Lightning Bolt.Made in Italy and Spain, this 1966 movie takes it's plot from the James Bond / spy craze of the 60s, with a bit of NASA space work thrown in to make it interesting.It is by no means a great movie, however I can see how this could be fun as a midnite grind-house screening. It's wide screen and technicolor and there are relatively decent special effects. There's also some fun 60's misogyny.What brings the experience down a notch is that it seems like the whole movie is dubbed even though they are speaking English. It gives the film a cheaper feeling.A lot of the sets look very Bond-ish. The acting and directing is a few notches above most cheap-o Italian movies. Although it's a bit slow paced.

One of the most enjoyable Eurospy flicks I've seen lately, though it's not perfect by any means (the first half is better than the second). Diana Lorys is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen: her character is introduced very promisingly, as a high-ranking agent who can even cause "spinal fractures" to her enemies, and she develops a nice interplay with the male lead, Anthony Eisley. But then she is rather clumsily written out of the story until the very end, while the main bad girl of the film (Wandisa Guida - her ultra-tight black outfit emphasizes her jaw-dropping curves) turns out to be an entrapped good girl after all. Although the influence of "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball" on "Lightning Bolt" is clear, the sci-fi aspects actually predate other official Bond films such as "You Only Live Twice" and "Diamonds Are Forever". The second half takes place almost entirely in the villain's underwater headquarters: the sets are quite elaborate, but the scenes of their eventual destruction go on too long. Still, if you're in the mood for a light and unpretentious take on the less serious side of espionage, "Lightning Bolt" should fit the bill. **1/2 out of 4.

The immense success of the James Bond movies in the 60's not surprisingly beget a slew of entertainingly campy cheapo cash-in copies. This tongue-in-cheek Italian romp might very well be one of the silliest of the whole lot. Diabolical madman Rether (a deliciously wicked Folco Lulli) sabotages all the U.S. moon-bound rocket launches from his secret underwater lair near Cape Kennedy. It's up to suave, handsome Lt. Harry Sennet (amiable Anthony Eisley) and sassy'n'sexy Captain Patricia Flanagan (lovely Diana Lorys) to stop the nefarious Rether. Director Antonio Margheriti and screenwriters J.C. Balcazar and Jose Antonio de la Loma cram this baby with all the right wacky stuff to make this film qualify as an endearingly goofy hoot: we've got leering sexism (Sennet's snide comments about women certainly wouldn't make him a hit with the feminists), a light, frothy tone, a groovy swinging lounge score by Riz Ortolani, lovably rinky-dink miniatures, dippy sound effects, a bevy of beautiful babes (besides Lorys, there's also the luscious Luisa Rivelli and the delectable Wandisa Guida), polished widescreen cinematography by Riccardo Pallottini, tacky gimmicks galore (one villainess sports a water pistol that shoots acid!), laughably lousy dubbing, funky pop-art sets (Rether's underwater lair is very cool), clumsily staged action scenes, and, of course, the inevitable explosive conclusion. Granted, this movie is complete asinine nonsense, but you can't be too hard on a flick in which the main bad guy sells beer on the side and puts his enemies in a frozen state of suspended animation. An infectiously inane riot.

This is one cheesy movie and a lot has been written about it (mostly bad) since it is widely available on the gray market but there are things (mostly bad, again) worth mentioning.Lightning Bolt features smart-ass hard-boiled narration by Eisley and many moments of unintentionally laughable dialog, the kind that would make Ed Wood proud. Nonsensical situations and actions abound in this movie and the special effects are as to be expected; not very special, like the old yarn-for-the-laser-beam trick made famous in Italy.Though the movie has a few charms they are outweighed by too much silliness, a weak villain and the sense that one's time is worth more than the budget spent in making it.