Simply A Masterpiece

Excellent but underrated film

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This little-known movie (with some famous people in its cast) holds few surprises: its main plot "secret" is given away so early that you wonder why the script keeps treating it as a secret (Saul Rubinek's character has a death mark on his forehead from his very first scene!). And Robert Mitchum is well-cast, but looks bored! The premise in interesting, but it is not used to its full potential. Still, there is at least one smart escape by Lee Majors, the film does have a sense of humor, and it is never less than watchable. Good luck finding a decent print though - mine was from Mill Creek and looked like a transfer from a damaged VHS tape, plus it bleeped out SOME of the four-letter words! **1/2 out of 4.

As I say in the summary, I had a hard time understanding the casting in this one. As for Lee Majors, he was no longer the "Six Million Dollar Man" and he was most likely desperate for work. And, Vallerie Perrine was an almost star several times...almost. But appearances in this film and turkey's like "Can't Stop the Music" have made her a C-list star--so her being in this low-budget Canadian film isn't a surprise. But, how did they ever get the respected mega-star Robert Mitchum to appear in this one? Was Mitchum broke? Were job offers scarce? Was he willing to do almost anything to appear on film? Did the filmmakers use blackmail or extortion to get him to sign on to this project?" All I do know for sure is that I was shocked to see him in this.Now I am not automatically assuming "Agency" is a terrible film--but it certainly is low budget and is distributed now on DVD by Alpha Video (a company which seems to only release films in the public domain or with very, very low costs to obtain). Is it a buried treasure or should Alpha have left this one in some basement where it can further degrade and yellow (and, incidentally, the print is just terrible)? In addition to the three stars, the film also features a very young Saul Rubinek. While you won't likely recognize his name, he later gained some fame on "Deep Space 9" and "Frasier" as recurring characters and has appeared in a huge number of TV shows over the years. He's a very good actor--but that hair!! You have just got to see his huge 1980-style hairdo--it's a definite DON'T! Lee Majors works for an advertising agency. He's moving up in the company and seems pretty happy. However, when his friend comes to him with some paranoid rant, Majors tells him he'll talk to him later--but the man is murdered before they can talk. Majors is able to piece together that something EVIL is afoot at the agency--but what?! Well, it all boils down to a plan to use subliminal messages to control people like a flock of sheep.The plot involves something very timely for 1980 but which has been completely discredited. With the publication of "Subliminal Seduction" in 1974 and "The Clam-Plate Orgy and Other Subliminals the Media Use to Manipulate Your Behavior" (also by the same author), there was a bit of talk about advertising's ability to subconsciously control our minds--making us slaves to the clever advertiser's whims. Well, it made for an exciting book...though none of it turned out to have the least real effect on folks' behaviors. So, while some agencies did experiment with hidden images to make us buy something, research into the topic never panned out--and today you'll have a hard time finding any reputable professional who would believe in it. BUT, in 1980, it was still a rather hot topic--and quite timely. So, despite the plot being scientifically ridiculous, it didn't seem so at the time...or at least not quite as silly.So is it any good? Well, putting aside the impossibility of the plot, you've got a real mixed bag. The film is, at times, tense and interesting but in the end it's all rather clichéd and silly. I particularly laughed at the James Bond-like moment at the end where the baddie told his plan to the hero before killing him! In real life, a bullet in the head and then, maybe, an explanation!!

I was actually being quite generous with the stars on this one. The quality of this video was really about 2 stars, but the original author and actors deserved better than that.Spoilers! So don't read further unless you want to know what the movie was about.A much better movie with a similar theme would be "Looker" with Susan Dey. Both movies are about subliminal messages in TV advertising with murders and subterfuge.They had a good idea with this story. I'm sure the original author was mortified when he saw what was done with his story. Even with Mitchum and Majors, this director, producer and film crew managed to destroy this movie. It could have been quite good but I was in shocked disbelief from the moment the movie started until the very end.I strongly suspect that Mitchum and Majors had no idea how bad this movie was going to turn out until after it was processed. I'm sure they were both horrified with the results. It wasn't their fault. It might have been a good movie with a completely different film crew and film executives.Bad sound; bad script & screen writing; bad directing; bad lighting; bad camera work; bad video quality; bad transfer; bad dialogue...The screen writing was a disaster. When it started out with that "no sweat" commercial in demonic attire... I actually grabbed the DVD box because I thought it was some kind of drag p0rn0 based on the opening scene. I somehow pictured the entire theater emptying out with this scene. There was no excuse for the way this script was written and laid out.I'm not sure they used a script for this movie. I think they just decided on a scene the night before and handed out the dialogue just before each shot. I really felt sorry for the actors. They really did their best. From the sound, there was obviously no "voice over" to clean up the sound of the dialogue, what little there was of it.Bad directing of the worst kind. I really mean this quite literally when I say a high school kid could have done a better job with a hand held camera in their garage. A 12 year old could have done better... and I'm not sure where the producer was hiding out while all of this was taking place.The sound quality was so terrible and distorted, we could have used a cassette recorder in a purse and done a better job with the sound. It was painful just to attempt to listen to this butchered, difficult to understand sound track. It was muffled, distorted and constantly fluctuating.The video and lighting were terrible. It was dark. The quality was worse than a 1950's TV show. There was no semblance of professional lighting. I mean this quite literally. I'm not being unkind. The cameras looked like old hand-held 1960's TV cameras which required extremely bright, hot lights to obtain a decent image.When there was something to see... such as the suicide in the refrigerator... the director did not have the camera stay on it long enough for you to absorb what you were seeing. But the ridiculous notion that someone would have killed himself by clearing out the refrigerator, cramming inside, then leaving a note was dumb enough. But the added disbelief that the police detectives didn't see anything suspicious about the situation was simply too much to bear.Then we had the same "suicide" victim leave a reel to reel recording of about 6 scenes of the movie... really sounded more like something we would expect to hear from a director on planning out scenes to be filmed and then ran out of money. So, instead of filming the scenes, they had this character record the details of what was going on at the Ad Agency as if he had tracked down the entire plot of the movie. We also could not understand half of what he was saying due to the bad soundtrack. A cheap way to do half of the movie without filming it.As for the graphics on the subliminal messages in the commercials, the core plot of the movie, it was so childish, nightmarish and filled with ridiculous roars and distorted sound… not to mention "crayon style animations" (no kidding), I could not believe my eyes.If you watch the movie "Looker" you will see a much better rendition of subliminal messaging. "Agency" had the right idea... but did not have a film or production crew who could do this movie in a professional manner.I did appreciate the story the original author was trying to tell. And I did enjoy the efforts of the actors. I watched the movie for their sake... and I felt really bad for how they must have felt when they saw the finished product. I honestly don't know how this movie was ever printed and distributed for public consumption.If you have a choice... watch "Looker" instead. You will enjoy that movie. It was well done and had a similar theme with much better special effects. However, if you are intent on watching this movie, "Agency" then I would recommend having a couple drinks to wash it down. It is watchable if you can tolerate the terrible soundtrack and bad lighting.I would like to extend my apologies to the actors, their families and the original author of this story. If the movie had been handled by a different film company, crew, director & producer... and a better DVD transfer company... I think it could have been a good movie. It could certainly be remade into a very enjoyable movie but that would never make up for the duress the actors and the writer must have endured at the hands of this director and production company when they saw the final product.

I have seen Agency the first time on TV many years ago. Even the French version (done in Paris...) was not bad, but couldn't save it...Again Montreal passes for an American city (too oblivious that Place Ville Marie is shown too much here) in winter. And Lee Majors tried here, even with a beard, to get rid of the typecast of the Six Million Dollar Man he portrayed, along with Valerie Perrine who wanted to pump some gas in her failing career and Robert Mitchum, a veteran now condemmed to roles in bad films...The story's good, moving. But bad photography, poor editing (some scenes are too dark) and some weak performances spoil everything. At least Saul Rubinek steals the show here as the employee who tries to denounce the scheme but gets killed by Quinn's secret henchmen...Sad to say the least: even the interesting stories get some bad treatment. And you don't need subliminal messages to tell it...