THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1969)

Former CIA spy, Adam West, with the cheesy name of Johnny Cain, spends his retirement running a nightclub and is reluctant to leave his comfortable lifestyle. But the CIA's David Brian needs him more than ever. A committee ironically known as W.E.S.T. also wants his services. There is a big build-up of his credentials as if they are expecting to hire Rambo. But one gets the feeling West is about as menacing as Woody Allen.

West's job is to find out who murdered a mob kingpin unceremoniously and literally dumped at his nightclub. The killing is an early step by the committee to have the Communists methodically take over the crime syndicate. So West is out to bring down W.E.S.T. We find him bouncing from one co-star to another to solve the crime and stay alive. Location filming normally helps these spy movies and that is one redeeming quality. Yet in all this excitement, quoting Dirty Harry, West remains quite comatose. A character that is so laid back he simply appears to be lacking sleep most of the time. But what a tan!

The film gets no lively help from deadpan co-star, Nancy Kwan, either. Bland Kwan relies on her attractiveness to the end. So it is up to Buddy Greco's performances to resuscitate the film, doing what he did best in this, the first of his two films. Do not prepare a lot of popcorn for a Buddy Greco Film Festival. Always available and dependable, Nehemiah Persoff, hangs in there throughout the film as the police lieutenant and West's part-time protection.

The film is perhaps better titled, “The Film That Blew Too Much.” For a supposed secret agent spy yarn, it is bogged down by a lack of action, a lot of talk and a convoluted plot, and a tiresome script. The opening music reminds one of the typical Sixties beach party films. The score gets more appropriately “007ish” as the credits roll, however. The music editors blew it, though, with some repetitious themes with no benefits to the action. None worse than when our hero is walking through the inside of an airliner while a burping brass score sounds as if the players were sight-reading. Funny, wobbly, if not out of tune. The choreographed scuffles using obvious stuntmen and paper furniture keeps the realism dangerously low. Of note is the one-off Concours USA Mark 1 sports car (above). Designed and developed as his own idea of what a sports car should be by television and screen actor Dean "Steve Canyon" Fredericks, it is Johnny Cain's vehicle of choice. I am suspicious, however, of a possible faked high-performance engine sound effects that may have been mandatory coming a year after Bullitt. Especially at the turtle pace driven by West. Also of note (literally) are the gunshot sound effects. They are impressive in a film where everyone apparently carries a .44 Magnum.

Note: Despite fawning “Batman” fans, Adam West simply does not sell the role in this supposed career upgrade. He never completely leaves Bruce Wayne behind. West fans will probably love it for that very reason. Being filmed in color could be its most noteworthy quality. If filmed in grainy black and white, it would be another B-movie, albeit R-rated. The film may not rank as the worst-budgeted film of 1969 but it still ranks.