Private Eye Lex Barker in South Africa
"A very special agent with a code that means He Can Go All The Way!"
Code 7, Victim 5 (1964) was shot in Cape Town, South Africa. "That way it's ocean all the way to Antarctica," states Helga, executive secretary to German tycoon Herr Wexler (Walter Rilla, star in 1944 of the enchantingly titled, Candlelight in Algeria, also in a film called Hatred), whose valet is knifed to death by three masked men during a Carnival-type event where all the Black people in the parade have white-painted faces.
As the paraders dance their ways by the camera in several set-ups during the opening credits, some of them look right at the lens, smiling and bouncing along in brilliant daylight. Already the film is intriguing.
It was originally called, accurately, Victim 5. The "Code 7" part is never addressed except in the poster--a possible reference to Agent 007, appearing the same year in the third Bond film, Goldfinger.
James Bond puts his technique to work on two or three women per film, so we'll give our hero, Steve Martin (yes, Steve Martin, played by one-time Tarzan Lex Barker) the five bikini girls in the poster, a gun cocked like an erection, and his own special code, Code 7, so secret we don't even mention it in the film!
Martin is also not an agent. Hired from America, this private detective with, I guess, a sterling reputation and high success rate. He lands at the airport, strides like a golden god across tarmac to Helga. She drives him in what looks like a '61 Dodge to her employer's gigantic beautifully designed house surrounded by semi-tropical South Africa vegetation. It's summer. Steve Martin, twice, makes reference to Christmas having just passed and here it is, so hot!
A distinguishing characteristic of Steve Martin is his niceness. He goes into action, persuades people with his tallness and appearance of someone who could beat the shit out of a group of people and walk away. I never realized how imposing Lex Barker is until I saw Victim 5. His middle-range voice, too high and mild for the rest of him, doesn't fit a tough guy role, but he's golden-haired, handsome, six feet four, broad-chested. In his five 1950s Tarzan movies, Barker is always surrounded by tall trees. He's obviously taller than Cheetah. He's wearing only loin togs. Barefoot, too, so it's hard to perceive his height. He's a head at least higher than most people in Cape Town crowds.
The film is a good travelogue--but we see it from the standpoint of the ruling white minority. Inequality is never mentioned. Steve Martin and others get served drinks and food by beautiful busty White waitresses. Black citizens, I guess, aren't allowed to work in Whites Only restaurants. The word "Apartheid" doesn't even get whispered in this film.
Someone wants five people dead, all of them "former" Nazis, including Herr Wexler who uses a wheelchair but can also walk. The wheelchair use is never explained. Steve Martin looks at the wheelchair confusedly after Wexler stands up and walks away the first time he shows he clearly doesn't need it.
A small black and white photo shows four men, one ex-ed out, the valet killed at the beginning. These men are eliminated one by one, I never figured out why, partly because the second half of the film is nowhere near as intriguing as the first half. I also have a hard time following whodunits. I'm more interested in the looks and sounds, the individual moments of such films, the pathologies often on display. Wexler using a wheelchair as a prop is weird. His daughter, a nymphomaniac, scores with Steve Martin, who also scores with Helga at the end. They take ship to the U.S. and are on their way to get the boat's captain to marry them when the film ends.
The scenery makes the movie worth watching, plus the hint that it might have been a much better film had it tamped down the sex humor and boob visuals. Silliness can hamper a good mystery.
If you've never seen an ostrich stampede and want to, this is the film to watch.
Vic Neptune
"A very special agent with a code that means He Can Go All The Way!"
Code 7, Victim 5 (1964) was shot in Cape Town, South Africa. "That way it's ocean all the way to Antarctica," states Helga, executive secretary to German tycoon Herr Wexler (Walter Rilla, star in 1944 of the enchantingly titled, Candlelight in Algeria, also in a film called Hatred), whose valet is knifed to death by three masked men during a Carnival-type event where all the Black people in the parade have white-painted faces.
As the paraders dance their ways by the camera in several set-ups during the opening credits, some of them look right at the lens, smiling and bouncing along in brilliant daylight. Already the film is intriguing.
It was originally called, accurately, Victim 5. The "Code 7" part is never addressed except in the poster--a possible reference to Agent 007, appearing the same year in the third Bond film, Goldfinger.
James Bond puts his technique to work on two or three women per film, so we'll give our hero, Steve Martin (yes, Steve Martin, played by one-time Tarzan Lex Barker) the five bikini girls in the poster, a gun cocked like an erection, and his own special code, Code 7, so secret we don't even mention it in the film!
Martin is also not an agent. Hired from America, this private detective with, I guess, a sterling reputation and high success rate. He lands at the airport, strides like a golden god across tarmac to Helga. She drives him in what looks like a '61 Dodge to her employer's gigantic beautifully designed house surrounded by semi-tropical South Africa vegetation. It's summer. Steve Martin, twice, makes reference to Christmas having just passed and here it is, so hot!
A distinguishing characteristic of Steve Martin is his niceness. He goes into action, persuades people with his tallness and appearance of someone who could beat the shit out of a group of people and walk away. I never realized how imposing Lex Barker is until I saw Victim 5. His middle-range voice, too high and mild for the rest of him, doesn't fit a tough guy role, but he's golden-haired, handsome, six feet four, broad-chested. In his five 1950s Tarzan movies, Barker is always surrounded by tall trees. He's obviously taller than Cheetah. He's wearing only loin togs. Barefoot, too, so it's hard to perceive his height. He's a head at least higher than most people in Cape Town crowds.
The film is a good travelogue--but we see it from the standpoint of the ruling white minority. Inequality is never mentioned. Steve Martin and others get served drinks and food by beautiful busty White waitresses. Black citizens, I guess, aren't allowed to work in Whites Only restaurants. The word "Apartheid" doesn't even get whispered in this film.
Someone wants five people dead, all of them "former" Nazis, including Herr Wexler who uses a wheelchair but can also walk. The wheelchair use is never explained. Steve Martin looks at the wheelchair confusedly after Wexler stands up and walks away the first time he shows he clearly doesn't need it.
A small black and white photo shows four men, one ex-ed out, the valet killed at the beginning. These men are eliminated one by one, I never figured out why, partly because the second half of the film is nowhere near as intriguing as the first half. I also have a hard time following whodunits. I'm more interested in the looks and sounds, the individual moments of such films, the pathologies often on display. Wexler using a wheelchair as a prop is weird. His daughter, a nymphomaniac, scores with Steve Martin, who also scores with Helga at the end. They take ship to the U.S. and are on their way to get the boat's captain to marry them when the film ends.
The scenery makes the movie worth watching, plus the hint that it might have been a much better film had it tamped down the sex humor and boob visuals. Silliness can hamper a good mystery.
If you've never seen an ostrich stampede and want to, this is the film to watch.
Vic Neptune
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