My very brief plot synopsis: After Agent 009 is killed in Jamaica while looking into gun smuggling, Agent 001 Ken Stewart (Larry Pennell) is sent in to investigate. I watched Our Man in Jamaica last night and, overall, quite enjoyed the experience. Not, it's not James Bond and it's not even one of the better Eurospy films I've seen, but it is fun enough that I got a decent amount of entertainment from it. A few things that make Our Man in Jamaica work: 1. Larry Pennell - He's got the personality and the physical attributes to believably play the lead in a spy film. Whether it's one of the many fight scenes or romancing a lady, Pennell looks the part. Teaming Pennell with Brad Harris, who would go on to make a bunch of these movies, was smart. 2. Location - The 1960s era Jamaica locations are stunning - from the beaches to the resorts to the downtown areas - it all looks very nice. I often wonder when I watch one of these movies what the locations look like today. 3. The reveal - I admit that the final reveal of the head baddie caught me off guard. It's well played. 4. Pacing - With a lot of what I'm going to call lesser Eurospy films, there's sometimes too much standing around talking because the budget wouldn't permit anything else. Our Man in Jamaica certainly has its budget limitations, but director Ernst Ritter von Theumer (as Richard Jackson) keeps things moving along quite nicely.So, to sum it all up, Our Man in Jamaica isn't the best Eurospy you're likely to run across, nor is it the worst. Pennell makes a good lead, the Jamaican locations are often stunning, the plot has some interesting bits, and the movie is competently directed. A solid 6/10 from me.

Not many of the Eurospy films that flooded the market in the mid-1960s were set in the country where most of the action of the first James Bond movie ("Dr. No") took place, so "Our Man In Jamaica" has that going for it at least. It also has a solid, unassuming (and quite muscular - though he is outmuscled by genre regular Brad Harris, who has a supporting role) lead, and the production in general is technically competent. But the plot meanders, there isn't really that much action, and neither the girls nor the villains are developed enough as characters. It is an average sample of its genre: far from the best, but about equally far from the worst as well. ** out of 4.

Has AUSTIN POWERS created a demand for obscure 1960s secret-agent movies? I hope so, because OPERATION JAMAICA is one of the best, most enjoyable films in the genre. Larry Pennell (who had been in the RIPCORD tv series, but is best known for playing "Dash Riprock" on the Beverly Hillbillies), who vaguely resembles Elvis, is perfectly cast as the super-cool, self-absorbed/male chauvinist secret agent, quick with his fists and with a gun, and hitting on any female within his reach. The film is well-paced with enough fistfights, gun battles, double-crosses, and spy gadgetry to keep any action fan hooked. It also features a wonderfully loud and booming faux-Bond score by the multi-talented Marcello Giombini, who did hundreds of other film scores in the 60s and 70s (my favorite being the Yardbirds-ish psychedlic score to the German Stewart Granger spy film "Target For Killing"). The cast also includes American Brad Harris, best-known for the peplum films he did before this and the westerns and Kommissar X spy films he did after this. If that's not enough, the location shooting in Jamaica is gorgeous. OPERATION JAMAICA has everything a fan of 60s European spy films could want. If I had my own cable network, I'd show it during prime time this coming Friday night!