The Liquidator ** (1965, Rod Taylor, Trevor Howard, Jill St John) – Classic Movie Review 5899

Director Jack Cardiff’s 1965 British spy action adventure stars Rod Taylor as American expatriate Boysie Oakes, a more cowardly relation of 007 recruited after the war of World War Two by a stiff-upper-lipped British intelligence service boss, Colonel Mostyn (Trevor Howard). Mostyn suspects a leak in his department and hires flying-phobic Oakes to liquidate Soviet spies and defectors.

Alas, The Liquidator is not as exciting as its title suggests, but it remains passable escapist entertainment for schoolboys of all ages, with some amusing supporting performances, especially from ever-reliable British comics David Tomlinson, Derek Nimmo, Eric Sykes, John le Mesurier, Jeremy Lloyd, and Wilfrid Hyde White.

As the main star, Taylor is too lightweight a performer, though, even for this kind of stuff, and the plot in the screenplay by Peter Yeldham, based on a John Gardner novel, is far too far fetched for full satisfaction.

Also in the cast are Jill St John, Betty McDowall, Akim Tamiroff, Gabriella Licudi, Jennifer Jayne, Colin Gordon, Louis Dunn, David Langton, Tony Wright, Scot Finch, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, and Suzy Kendall in her movie debut, as Judith.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5899

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