Silliness and Assassination

The Assassination Bureau (1969) – When a female reporter discovers the existence of an organization of hired assassins, she creates the perfect challenge to expose and destroy them. Along the way, she discovers a few unexpected challenges.

Directed by Basil Dearden

Starring: Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas

Why I Liked It – Lightweight silliness.

There’s a style of comedy that I associate with the 1960s. It’s a self-consciously artificial approach to the acting. It’s a leftover from the days of vaudeville/music hall (depending on which side of the Atlantic you’re from). These are stock characters going through stock emotions. The style then blends in as much silliness as the story will stand and “Bob’s your uncle”. Think “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”, or “The Gumball Rally”. They’re fun in a “check your brain at the door” way.

Here, Sonya Winter (Rigg) is an ambitious young woman looking to break into the all-male bastion of journalism. She knows she’ll need an amazing story idea to do it, and she thinks she’s found it. There’s an organization called The Assassination Bureau. It’s become fabulously wealthy through murder for hire. When she presents the idea to newspaper publisher Lord Bostwick (Savalas), he jumps at the idea. The twist is, who does she want killed? That would be the head of the bureau, Ivan Dragomiloff (Reed). The assignment is accepted, and the fun is off and running.

All of this is based on an unfinished novel by American author Jack London, and then completed a half century later by British writer Robert L. Fish.

It’s sight gag after sight gag, sewn together with outrageous situations and quick sharp dialogue. At the same time, it has the density and intellectual “nutritional value” of a cream puff.

But sometimes, that’s all you really want.

Reed and Rigg were big-name stars at the time, and they play well enough here. Neither were “must see” actors for me, but both delivered quality work on a regular basis. Telly Savalas worked steadily (he appeared in no fewer than four movies in 1969), and his star was about to take off. “Kojak” would make him a star four years later.

Looking for some light, silly fun? “The Assassination Bureau” will fill the bill. It is almost good family fun with the exception of a bordello scene near the beginning. Extremely tame by 21^st Century standards, but may not be comfortable for everyone.

You can stream “The Assassination Bureau” on Tubi, Plex, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home

Rating – *** Worth A Look