Liquidator, The (DVD)

In an era when Sean Connery, Michael Caine, James Coburn, Dean Martin, Robert Vaughn and more brought varying styles of secret-agent cool to movie screens, along came one of the most unusual spies ever to enter the Top Secret realm of hush-hush, bang-bang and kiss-kiss. Rod Taylor plays Boysie Oakes, Agent L, who enjoys the swinging-London lifestyle perks that come with espionage but would rather not engage in the squeamish business of killing, so he hires a professional hitman for that part of the job. Of course, events soon plunge Oakes into situations that require him to be a hero in spite of himself. Jack Cardiff directs this offbeat caper based on the John Gardner novel, reuniting with the star he guided previously in Young Cassidy. The cast includes two beauties who would soon return to sexy subterfuge: Gabrielle Licudi in 1967's spoof Casino Royale and Jill St. John, who played Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever.