LIGHTNING BOLT (1966)
PART OF RARE FLIX TRIPLE FEATURE #4 Directed by Antonio Margheriti
Media Blasters DVD
THE FILMS
Six rockets drawn off course at Cape Kennedy. Six rockets that had to be destroyed. It spells Sabotage. And, if you've got sabotage, you call in the FSIC (isn't it better if you just don't know?). Somewhere underwater...there is a base with a big, fat evil man. And, only Harry Senate (Anthony Eisley) of Section S can stop him. Will our Moon Project succeed? Can Operation Lightning Bolt succeed? Will Harry and his boss, Captain Flanagan (aka Agent 36-22-36) hook up? Will the movie have a big epic ending like a James Bond movie or will it involve a guy shooting walls like Danger!! Death Ray?
FSIC! We're there for you!!
I've always been a big fan of the James Bond concept, more than the movies. Oh, I watched them over and over when I was a kid. When I got a Laserdisc player, I rented them all and watched them letterboxed and enjoyed them again. But, in the past 10 years or so (ever since Goldeneye), I haven't really cared. In theory, I do. I love Get Smart! And, two months ago, after watching a lot of that show, I rented and watched Doctor No and From Russia With Love. Prior to the Spy Movie craze of the mid-60s, James Bond films are rather low-key affairs. Charming but not as superb as I remember...Then, I stalled. I need to pick up Goldfinger. I need to see the moment when Spy Fever gripped the World. Then, Lightning Bolt and all its fellows will fall into place.
There's a lot of movement in Lightning Bolt. There are a bunch of scenes where Harry goes from here to there quickly. But, there is, oddly enough, not a lot of real action. The first half of the movie has a light scuffle or two and a good scene in a silo filling with water. It also has the Villain's face hidden from us. We hear his voice and we see his arm...but we don't see his face...There's also a lot of rocket stock footage. In the second half, when Senate is running around the Villain's Underwater Lair, things pick up on the shooting and punching and falling from scaffolding side. And, it's generally good stuff.
Overall, Lightning Bolt is generally a handful of fun. Oh yeah, if you want high-octane thrills, you might have come to the wrong place. But, Anthony Dawson (Hi, Anthony!) does his best. There's an epic scene about halfway in where Harry races to Cape Kennedy to stop a rocket launch. The music is huge! We cut between a red car speeding along roads and through crowds, shots of Harry with a rear-projection road behind him and stock footage of rocket stuff. Then, there's a huge half-stock, half-in-the-actual-film conflagration. It's all very almost exciting and the gall of mixing so many disparate elements together is worth a viewing. I couldn't tell if they were making fun of me or just didn't care or honestly thought that it worked.
Hey, maybe it does work. I've watched the film twice now.
You'll love the evil beer truck. Trust me. It's like something out of a Fisher Price garage land.
Maybe that's why I enjoy this...Without the budget to make everything as epic as Bond, they resort to the strange use of toy-like models and oddly designed deathtraps and spy gadgets that I would have played with as a kid...if I was actually alive during the Spy Craze. Maybe they watched Get Smart! instead of James Bond when they made this.
I don't want to get anyone's hopes up. If you love Bond, stick with Bond. Those are just as goofy and they have some scope. (Although, I always wished a lot of the action scenes in the Bond movies were directed better.) But, I don't know. This is almost like kids goofing around. Harry has a "transistorized pen". The moment his heart stops beating, the pen goes off and notifies his superiors. But...it's actually a pen full of gas. And...maybe it is a "transistorized pen" too. I don't know. Stuff like that makes it worth watching.
And, here's a surprise, it pulls off a big-ish ending. There is a huge control room underwater. Lots of fighting and shooting...maybe that's where the budget went. Probably that's where the budget went. Oh, the Hibernation Chamber is pretty awesome too.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Well, the whole thing is a bit on the beaten side. It's all dubbed with that wonderful gang of dubbers we know so well. It sounds no better or worse than the usual stuff. And, they seem to be having a good time goofing, especially with Harry's voice. The print is rather beaten up but....it's letterboxed and that is so awesome that I could give a fat crap about the quality of the print.
EXTRAS
A "sex-tastic" trailer! And, many, many Media Blasters trailers. A lot of them. They keep going and going. The modern day film at the end sticks out like a sore thumb. But, it might be awesome. I haven't seen it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ninety minutes of fun. It has just enough incident to make it worth your time. Now, I want to watch more of these. Are there any more letterboxed versions of these sorts of things sitting around? Can I borrow one?
— Dan Budnik, 08.04.10 | 
|
