Highly Overrated But Still Good

A Disappointing Continuation

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I love crazy 6o's films and I adore Monica Vitti so this film has had a special place in my heart over the years. I've only seen it a handful of times and now when i got the DVD I understand why... It has Vitti, it has Stamp, it has Losey and Bogard and bright colours and op-art sets, sunshine, songs, fab clothes, yet it does go on for a while... With no understandable plot it all turns out to be rather...pointless. The film is so busy being charming! I think it's sad that it wasn't better for Monica's sake. This was her break-out film into English language cinema and it wasn't very good as a spy/Bond film because it's not an adult movie!I now understand why it was not a hit when it was released. Losey didn't take Modesty Blaise seriously enough.There was even too many wigs and clothes changes even for me. Yet I still love the film and la Monica!!!!!Tina Marquand is in it and she's good even if her part is small.

MASTER PLAN: Diamond theft - supposedly. Modesty is the female James Bond, for all intents and purposes, especially as portrayed in her original incarnation, in the comic strip and novels by Peter O'Donnell, though her background is much more shady - a former master of thieves - and she now lives in wealthy retirement until called upon by British Intelligence for special jobs. Her right-hand man is Willie Garvin; their relationship is platonic, if quite friendly. The preoccupation with Bond and his films in the sixties spawned other imitators during this period, notably the 'Flint' and 'Matt Helm' films, so Modesty was a natural selection for adaptation. Unfortunately, this is a good example of a great concept & property which was poorly made. I've read that the original writer's screenplay was completely re-written and am not surprised at the results. The filmmakers here followed the pattern of the "Casino Royale" spoof of the following year('67), in that most of the plot is nonsensical, with style over substance prevailing. If you're into this carefree, blasé approach, with many scenes wrapped in silliness, then you're in luck if you get the DVD. My problem with such an approach is that every action in such a story becomes meaningless: there's no sense of threat, no tension, no real danger - just that vague aura of fun, which does not appeal to fans of spy adventure thrillers. Frivolous was mentioned elsewhere, a good one-word description. This approach is well suited to a musical and the two main characters even break into song in one scene around the mid-point and there's some singing at the conclusion. It all bodes ill in the introductory scene of Modesty (usually blonde, unlike the real Modesty) awakening in her futuristic domicile (similar to the later "Barbarella"); her computer console spits some papers at her and she laughs for no reason - as if she's over-medicated.One good example of where the filmmakers stand occurs near the beginning, just after Modesty is recruited by the Brits for this latest mission. They project a film for her to impart some information and she sits with her back to the screen for most of it, looking rather bemused or smug. There's the message to us right there: this Modesty doesn't need the facts; she already knows them for some reason and will get through whatever peril is thrown her way without effort. Indeed, when we later see her and Garvin going through the motions - whether involved in a car chase or escaping a cell - they're literally giggling through the scenes, two buddies on a cheerful vacation. It's a more exaggerated version of the smirking that Roger Moore indulged in in his later, less-appreciated Bond films. But, even if one can abide such parody, a more serious fault is the deadly slow pace in the first two-thirds of the film. Many of the scenes focus on the laid back villain Gabriel (Bogarde) as he settles back at his Mediterranean island retreat with his psycho wife and annoying accountant (Revill). These are meant to be darkly amusing, with the accountant lecturing the villain on fiscal responsibility even in dastardly crime and the wife behaving like a, well, Amazonian psychotic. But, they just drag on too long. Besides the nice cinematography, capturing some choice European locations, there's not much to recommend in this one. I'm really not sure what director Losey and his partners in crime were aiming at, besides the obvious attraction to psychedelic wallpaper, although there is some suggestion of the decadence so prevalent in that decade (a sheik throws his knife at a pigeon; Modesty flings her ice cream from a moving car). In one shot, Modesty's hair magically changes (a jump-cut effect), so maybe the whole thing is a dream. The actress Vitti has a smoldering sexuality, but she only comes across like the real Modesty in one scene, dressed in the familiar black outfit. Stamp, as Garvin, plays second fiddle, Bogarde embraces the camp, and Craig & Andrews as Brit agents ham it up a bit. Revill hams it up a lot, as usual. They would not return. A TV Pilot popped up in the eighties and a low budget attempt in the nineties. Heroine:5 Villains:5 Male Fatales:5 Henchmen:4 Fights:3 Stunts/Chases:4 Gadgets:4 Auto:5 Locations:8 Pace:4 overall:4+

Jean-Luc Godard's "Pierrot le fou" was in circulation about the same time as this Joseph Losey comedy, based on a comic book series featuring the sexy Modesty Blaise, a female version of James Bond, played in the movie by Monica Vitti.The visual parallels to "Pierrot le fou" are striking, and there should be a film scholar somewhere willing to figure out who influenced whom. It would be easy to say that Losey was slumming, that this is only "Godard for Dummies," but the filmcraft on display here is too accomplished to dismiss.What brought me to this obscure movie in the first place? Vincent Vega, as played by John Travolta, was the constipated-heroin-shooting hit-man in "Pulp Fiction" who always read a book on the toilet -- a novelization of "Modesty Blaise." Tarantino has always adored Godard (his production company is called A Band Apart), so I suspect Mr. T. senses a connection between this 60s mod 'trash' movie with Monica Vitti and the highbrow efforts of his Continental master, M. Godard.See it for yourself and decide.

Fox pinned hopes on 'Modesty' becoming a franchise to rival Bond, but these were cruelly dashed as Joseph Losey's film played to mostly empty theatres in the U.K. and U.S.A. ( it did rather better on the Continent ). Taken on its own terms, its not too bad. Jack Shampan's production design is superb, as is John Dankworth's music, there are a couple of decent performances ( Clive Revill, Harry Andrews, and a wonderfully camp turn from Dirk Bogarde ) and some good moments such as Modesty finding herself trapped in an op art cell. But as an adaptation of Peter O'Donnell and Jim Holdaway's comic-strip, its a non-starter. Monica Vitti fails to project warmth and charm as Modesty, while Terence Stamp sounds like Michael Caine on an off-day. The scene where they sing a romantic duet whilst under fire is just painful. Losey was clearly not the right director for this project. Fox made a rather more successful 'girl power' Bond thriller a year later - 'Fathom', starring Raquel Welch.