Although primarily a TV director, Christian Nyby did do three or four theatrical features, most notably – and most controversially, "The Thing" (1951), which many people (including me) would actually assign to Howard Hawks. Unfortunately, for me, "Operation C.I.A." doesn't prove anything one way or the other. Most of the movie is very routinely – even most untalentedly and most unimaginatively – directed. But then Nyby (or some uncredited specialist), ring in a really rousing chase climax, with the players actually performing their own stunts! And that certainly lifts this "B"-grade thriller to at least the 60% mark. I'd always hoped that one of these days, someone would confess and tell us what really happened on "The Thing". As I inferred above, it's my best guess that producer Hawks actually directed and that Nyby assisted with the action spots.

Burt Reynolds who has contributed some hard as nails characters over the years, provides his usual touch of class to this low budget 1960's flick.Plot In A Paragraph: Central Intelligence Agent Mark Andrews is dispatched to Saigon in an attempt to stop a potential assassination attempt on a US Ambassador.In his first leading role in a movie, a clean shaven Reynolds isn't really given much to do, except run around a lot and try ad make some of the worst choreographed fight scenes seem plausible.Reynolds would go on to greater things, I don't think anybody else in this movie did.

I had never heard of this film until I watched it recently. A CIA agent played by a young Burt Reynolds is sent to Vietnam (although it was filmed elsewhere) to try to abort an assassination plot against the US ambassador. The film which was made in black and white does have an amateurish feel about it, although Burt, who is not a great actor, does okay. When the film started I didn't think that I would be able to watch it all, however, I did and quite enjoyed it. There is a long chase sequence with Burt doing a lot of running which I thought decent. Although it's not a great film, do if you get the chance try to watch it - if only for curiosity value.I noticed on the final credits that the mens' hair stylist was Jay Sebring who was sadly one of the Sharon Tate murder victims.

Of course, if you look at this from a purist's perspective, the movie just won't hold water. However, if you want to let yourself get sucked right into the naive sixties' view of more exotic parts of the world, then this will do the trick quite nicely. Chuckle at the the unabashed attempt to fool the viewer into believing that well-known Bangkok landmarks are instead the setting for the movie, Saigon. Great to see a very young and sexy Burt Reynolds, and equally sexy Kieuh Chinh of later Joy Luck Club fame (Suyuan – the mother), playing Reynolds' Vietnamese love interest. This movie is a jewel in its own right for being a kind of time capsule of 60s espionage intrigue and the glamor of international locales.