A Man Called Dagger (1967)

Just perfect...

A Disappointing Continuation

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Here is a movie with no redeeming values. It's not interesting. It's not funny. There's no compelling cinematography. The musical score is blah. The script is awful. The acting is bad. The action scenes are meh. Jan Murray, a former SS Nazi, wants Paul Mantee (Dagger) dead. That's the plot. There are several attractive women that are scantily dressed at various points in the film, one of which is Murray's secret weapon under his control. Richard Kiel (Jaws from Bond) makes a couple of appearances as another Murray henchman but is given almost nothing to do. No reason to watch this - no entertainment value.

"A Man Called Dagger" has enough craziness and eccentricity to make it stand out somewhat in the crowd of James Bond imitators made in the 1960s. At the same time, it's far from being a total success; for one thing, it's cheaply produced, and for another, there are a few too many long, talky scenes inside cramped rooms (and the talk is of little significance). But there are also some inventive camera movements and angles, and an interesting cast: Paul Mantee is more convincing as an action man than as a babe magnet, but at least he doesn't take himself too seriously, Eileen O'Neil is gorgeous and lovable, Maureen Arthur's squeaky line delivery can be overlooked thanks to her phenomenal bust, and Richard "Jaws" Kiel has a speaking part as - you guessed it! - a superhumanly strong henchman. An uneven film, but it does have its moments. ** out of 4.

Wow a lot of the reviews for this movie have been rough. I've never actually seen the movie myself, even though my father Lew Horwitz. produced it. He sadly passed away last year. It was his only movie, and not surprisingly we moved from l.A to Boston in 1972 when I was a year old. Our German Shepards name was Daggar. Although I'm not sure which came first. It is cool to see that there are people who have actually seen the movie. I had thought it just existed in 5 by 3 poster and old film reel in our basement. Technology is a good and t the same time scary thing. I hope more people get the chance to watch this movie,hate it or love it, I know it would make my father happy.

I think this is the worst movie I've ever seen. I would say that I couldn't imagine a worse one ever coming along in my lifetime, either, except that Steve Allen did the music and Steve Allen is never completely awful. One abject moment of creative bankruptcy that has remained in my mind all these years is when Dagger and one of the temptresses swap reminiscences of all the exotic places they have met before. Well, not reminiscences. Just the names of cities. Maybe by their acting they were supposed to load the names with meaning, but the turkey in your average grade-school Thanksgiving play does more acting than anyone in this whole movie...