I Watch Films: Hammerhead

 

Hammerhead

Hood, an American freelance spy, is at an avant garde circus themed art event, meeting a contact; it’s raided by police and he helps model Sue escape. Back in his flat British Intelligence wants him to go to Portugal to investigate a man named Hammerhead who is believed to be trying to steal nuclear defence secrets. Hammerhead collects erotic art and Hood has been posing as a dealer.

On Hammerhead’s yacht is Ivory, his mistress, and Andreas, a hanger-on who used to work in the theatre. Hammerhead arrives being lowered from a helicopter in a weird 19^th century sedan-chair type box. The yacht has secret passages and a secret compartment where Hammerhead does his secret planning, also interrogates someone.

The plot gets a bit confused; looking for clues Hood visits a club ashore where he discovers Sue working there, for reasons that don’t quite add up. Hood tries to rescue the interrogated man, gets more clues. There are some high concept chases and intrigues that don’t quite deliver. Also the Hammerhead theme song is being played everywhere and people are dancing to it so presumably someone in universe has written a song about a notorious erotic art collector/ freelance nuclear secrets thief? A lot of more or less enjoyable 60s Eurospy nonsense.

Watch This: An amusing 60s spy romp
Don’t Watch This: We move from erotic art comedy to torture to comedy disguises to desperate fights in a confusing and disconcerting manner