Powerful

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

If 1965's The Seven Golden Men was akin to Mission: Impossible, then the sequel is pure James Bond, complete with submarines, hovercraft, jet packs and gadgets galore. This time out the United States Government recruit the Professor and his band of bold thieves to kidnap the General - a bushy bearded, Communist dictator of a small Central American island (read Fidel Castro). The requested fee for this service: seven million dollars, naturally, plus the deed to their own private island and absolution for all past misdeeds. However while Giorgia is sent off to seduce the General, and our gold happy crew put the elaborate clockwork plan into motion, the Professor casts his eye toward his real prize: a tanker harbored at the island country with seven thousand tons of gold bricks in its hold.The Seven Golden Men Strike Again is more outrageous than its predecessor. The set pieces are bigger, the gimmicks are more elaborate and the humor is far less subtle. However, all of this works to the film's benefit by giving a broad, bright, campy look and feel that distinguishes it from the first movie. Unfortunately, after maintaining this originality for 90% of the film, the script stumbles unnecessarily back into too familiar territory at the end. In the first film the fast and furious piling up of double and triple crosses was fresh and fun; this time it all feels forced and unnecessary. If the movie had ended only five minutes earlier it would have been a much better film. Despite this failing, The Seven Golden Men Strike Again is still an entertaining romp of the kind that could only have been produced in the swinging, psychedelic '60s.Like the first film, The Seven Golden Men Strike Again is available in a sharp widescreen DVD release in Japan, however this one has only the original Italian soundtrack, with no English alternative. There are optional subtitles, in Japanese.