Modesty Blaise
- 1966
- 1h 59m
Stylish ex-con Modesty Blaise and her partner Willie Garvin are tasked by the British Secret Service with preventing her rival Gabriel from stealing diamonds that are to be delivered to her ... Read allStylish ex-con Modesty Blaise and her partner Willie Garvin are tasked by the British Secret Service with preventing her rival Gabriel from stealing diamonds that are to be delivered to her adoptive father, a Sheikh.Stylish ex-con Modesty Blaise and her partner Willie Garvin are tasked by the British Secret Service with preventing her rival Gabriel from stealing diamonds that are to be delivered to her adoptive father, a Sheikh.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 2 nominations total
- Mrs. Fothergill
- (as Rosella Falk)
- Nicole
- (as Tina Marquand)
- Strauss
- (as Marcello Turilli)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Joseph Losey found it difficult to work with Monica Vitti (Modesty Blaise), as she would invariably be accompanied onto the set by Director Michelangelo Antonioni, in whose movies she had become famous. Antonioni would often whisper suggestions to her, and she would take direction from him rather than Losey. Eventually, Losey asked Antonioni, whom he greatly admired, to keep away from the studios during filming. Antonioni complied.
- Goofswhen Modesty is fighting Mrs Fothergill, her leg tattoos have mysteriously disappeared.
- Quotes
Sir Gerald Tarrant: I don't know how much you know about Arab etiquette, but the thing that must be avoided above all is familiarity. These chaps are as proud as Lucifer, and a woman among Muslims must be particularly careful.
- Crazy creditsThe 20th Century Fox logo appears without the fanfare.
- Alternate versionsAlthough previously passed uncut for cinema and video the 2010 UK DVD was raised to a 12 certificate and cut by 2 secs to remove a horsefall.
Our biggest problem with this movie is that it destroyed the franchise. If the first James Bond film had been the David Niven version of Casino Royale, there would never have been a second film in the series.
Peter O'Donnell, who created the character and wrote the first screenplay, said thinking about the film made his nose bleed, but that's not what makes fans really angry.
What we hate about the movie, above all, is that it bombed at the box office. Peter O'Donnell is arguably a better writer than Ian Fleming (he certainly produced a much bigger body of work, and his writing is more consistent than Fleming's). If the first Modesty Blaise film had been done straight, and reasonably competently, then there's a very good chance that a whole series would have been made. O'Donnell would have received the fame and money he deserved, and perhaps other directors could have produced spoofs and made money (after all, some of the Roger Moore Bond films come across as something close to spoofs).
I saw an interview with someone involved in making the first Superman movie, who said that the big problem was persuading scriptwriters to do the story straight. Pity that Losey wasn't that smart.
Think about it: can you think of a screen adaptation of any book, play or cartoon strip made in any country and any language that STARTED OFF with a spoof, and was turned into a series?
Maybe Quentin Tarantino will produce a decent re-make. Maybe. "My Name is Modesty" and the sloppy plotting of "Kill Bill" suggests that he won't.
So, if you find yourself enjoying the frivolity and the psychedelic visual excesses of this film, remember that you're looking at a movie that killed its heroine.
- mediumsizedeal
- Feb 23, 2007
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Modestì Blez
- Filming locations
- Castello di Sant'Alessio Siculo, Sicily, Italy(Gabriel's fortress)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £1,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $170
- Runtime1 hour 59 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1