Only the connecting character of Robert Ryan is involved with all three stories of modern espionage during the Cold War in The Dirty Game. Ryan narrates all of them and appears as a character in the last story.In the first the Allies use an Italian scientist who has invented a new type rocket fuel but is unwilling to give over his patent to either side as a kind of bait in a kidnapping scheme. Vittorio Gassman serves as a double agent who does the kidnapping and the Americans come to the 'rescue' and the scientist is eternally grateful. This first episode lives up to the title.A clue that takes us into the other is found in the first and second stories. In the second one, two nuclear powered submarines are on top secret maneuvers in the Gulf of Aden and French Intelligence takes this story as Bourvil foils a plot to take them out by a pair of double agents working for his country's spy service. Comic actor Bourvil proves surprisingly adept at a role with few laughs.The third episode is the weakest. It has little dialog, but when Henry Fonda opens his mouth he sounds no more convincing as a deep cover CIA agent than he did as a Russian in War And Peace. This one is a no frills espionage film and the life of a spy certainly isn't what Ian Flemming made it out to be. It's been little seen since it's initial release and for completists of the work of Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan that is a pity. The overall narrative between the three stories is structured nicely and the players even the terribly miscast Fonda all deliver sincere performances.

Three quickies for the price of one and you get what you pay for. The plots of the individual segments are necessarily simple but each short film is better than the last. Robert Ryan is peripherally involved in each and his cynical narration seems appropriate only for the last story where even the good guys are bad. Italian, French, and British filmmakers each take their turn in presenting the trio of espionage tales.