Director Joseph Losey
Starring Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde
Score 5/6
Modesty Blaise, a secret agent whose hair color, hair style, and mod clothing change at a snap of her fingers is being used by the British government as a decoy in an effort to thwart a diamond heist. She is being set up by the feds but is wise to the plot and calls in sidekick Willie Garvin and a few other friends to outsmart them. Meanwhile, at his island hideaway, Gabriel, the diamond thief has his own plans for Blaise and Garvin.
I’ve been putting off writing the review for this one for a while, mainly out of a since of procrastination. I’ve already reviewed one Modesty Blaise movie, My Name is Modesty which was released in 2005 and this interpretation is the eldest female led comic book movie, that I am aware of. Why does this matter? In all honesty it doesn’t, I just wish I hadn’t been paying any attention to the press surrounding the release Captain Marvel.
For those of you who might be interested this was Italian star Monica Vitti’s first English-speaking role. You might also be interested to know that Modesty Blaise was the first of four Female spy movies released from 1966 to 1967 the others being Fathom starring Raquel Welch in 1967, Caprice starring Doris Day in 1967 and Come Spy with Me starring Andrea Dromm in 1967.
What struck me about Modesty Blaise was that it seemed to come across as a hybrid of James Bond and the 1961 British television series The Avengers. I loved Vitti’s portrayal of Blaise who did not seem to be the most ‘kick butt’ character, especially if you hold the character up to some modern female movie spies but she certainly was the smartest and well respected, this was highlighted by Willie Garvin (portrayed by Terence Stamp) dropping everything to go on a job with Blaise and the scene with Sheik and the cannon in the hotel room. I enjoyed Stamp’s performance as Garvin and thought that he worked very well with Vitti and they had some wonderful onscreen moments together. I also enjoyed Dirk Bogarde’s Gabriel as a flamboyant villain, something that I haven’t seen for a while.
On a personal note, I really would like to see another Modesty Blaise movie made.