Robert Towne

A scheming gambler named Renzo Capetto and his gang of starkly dim-witted cohorts enact a plan to steal the national treasury of Cuba amidst the Cuban Revolution by killing off their Cuban military companions one-by-one while blaming the deaths on a monster of legend. An American spy named Sparks Moran bumbles his way into trying to thwart the theft while disguised as one of the crew, although everyone is equally shocked to learn that a monster does exist -- and is on no one's side.

I remember this film -- quite fondly, actually -- from having watched it years ago as a kid, so I decided to rewatch it, expecting some campy and fun action akin to something like House on Haunted Hill. Boy, was I in for a shocker. The audio quality is absolutely awful (you can barely hear any of the dialogue, so good luck following the specifics of the plot), and the monster's design was laughably bad (although, it could be argued that was intentional, which in that case, why even bother?). All that this film really has going for it is the character of Sparks Moran, who feels like a fairly early template for everyone's favorite comical spy, Maxwell Smart. Although Robert Towne is no Don Adams, he still delivers a pretty solid performance and the jokes from his character land pretty well -- and that's really all the film has going for it. Not really recommended, unless you're just looking for a campy mess of a movie -- which even if you are, there are certainly far better options than this one.

Content Concerns: A bit of comical violence, with characters getting killed by both humans and the monster, albeit off-screen. A character is also mentioned to be a heroin dealer.

(July 31, 2023)… (mer)