Please don't spend money on this.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

With a bank holiday coming up,I looked for DVDs/Videos to watch,that I could then hopefully sell. Whilst getting other DVDs in order,I found (what has become) an ultra-rare Code Red double bill,one of which co-stars Barbara Bouchet,which led to me meeting Stoney.View on the film:Featuring some spots of dirt and lines that show signs of its Grindhouse origins, Code Red present a good transfer, with the soundtrack being clean and "rougher" moments of the picture quality appearing to be re-inserted footage in the otherwise smooth transfer. Done during a challenging (to put it mildly)time in the Philippines, the screenplay by Walter Anton White is surprisingly direct in the troubles of the time when adapting James M. Fox,as all plans for the heist have to be made,with the trigger-happy military in mind.Whilst she is placed to be the main focus, White disappointing gives little spark to the characteristics of Stone,that leaves the heist and danger of dealing with the army lacking much sense of excitement. Greatly helped by the leading lady, director Wray Davis finds zest lacking in the script with a peculiar directing style matching the blinking of eyes (!) and a moody freeze-frame final. Looking very sexy in chic costumes, Barbara Bouchet gives a very good performance as Stoney,whose flirting Bouchet twirls into calculating ways to get hold of Stoney's stones.

"Harvey Ward" (Michael Rennie) is an international businessman who is involved in an illegal scheme to smuggle guns from Manila to Surabaya. His main rival, "Steven Blessing" (Michael Preston) learns of his plan and after an intense shootout captures the boat and takes the valuable cargo for himself. Not long afterward, Harvey invites Steve to a dinner on his boat and while there Steve's men secretly discover that Harvey has information concerning the location of $40 million in gold, diamonds and jewelry obtained by the Japanese during World War 2 and hidden in Surabaya. To assist in the movement of the gold Harvey sends his female companion "Irene Stone" (Barbara Bouchet) to carry out his plan. Naturally, Steve has other ideas and--as it just so happens--takes the same flight to Surabaya as she does. What follows is a game of intrigue involving several different players who don't follow any given set of rules. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay film which could have been better if it had a bit more character development and more time and attention spent on the overall plot. As it was it seemed that some of the scenes were a bit too rushed which caused me some confusion here and there. Likewise, I didn't especially care for the ending either. Be that as it may, I thought that this was an adequate movie for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

You know you're in trouble when the DVD cover of a film - which is usually designed, you know, to PROMOTE the film - actually speaks AGAINST it! In this case, it describes "Stoney" as an "international mishmash of espionage", which is pretty accurate, or at least the "mishmash" part is; it's set almost entirely in the Philippines, and none of the leads seem to be professional spies. I say "seem to be" because, to be honest, at no point during this film had I the slightest idea about what was going on. The two or three action scenes consist of random people shooting at other random people; the rest is unengaging talk and some discreet Barbara Bouchet nudity. Bouchet, the only possible draw of the film (another thing that the DVD cover gets right), is beautiful, of course, but she gives a rather poor performance in this one; that said, she is far, far better than anyone else in the film! Very close to completely unwatchable. 0.5 out of 4 stars.

Since My Husband (Gerald Hardig) happens to be an actor in this movie (He is the hit-man in the opening scenes, with the machine gun mounted on the raft that attacks the gun runners boat), I think this is a TERRIFIC film. I however am trying to find a VHS or DVD tape of it, Because it has gone out of print. But I understand their are many copies floating around in Europe ,Brazil, Mexico, and other places in the world. I believe this might have been pirated several times because of the nudity involving Barbara Bouchet who was also a one time playboy bunny and also appears in the film Casino Royale , among other well known films in the U.S. and Europe. Would love to find a good copy.