Scott LeBrun Anthony Eisley is cast as Harry Sennet, a top secret agent who goes into action to foil a bad guy who keeps interfering with rocket launches, using a weapon that he somehow managed to put on the moon. Sometimes Harry gets help from his boss, Captain Flanagan (stunning brunette Diana Lorys), but mostly he goes it alone.There certainly were plenty of these "James Bond" imitations and spoofs to come out of the 1960s, and "Lightning Bolt" a.k.a. "Operazione Goldman" provides quite a bit of enjoyment. Granted, a fair amount of the entertainment value is derived from the various absurdities on display:Sennet attempts to stop a rocket launch by driving right into the tower. Needless to say, this does not go well.He actually attacks the bad guy when his nemesis has plenty of time to see him coming, and the henchmen have enough time to get there first and beat him up.Plus, he actually tries to bribe some of the bad guys with cheques! (He's usually allowed to spare no expense during his missions.)Our dastardly villainous mastermind is Mr. Rehte, played with brio by corpulent Italian Folco Lulli. You have to love this guy: not only does he have big plans for domination of the Earth, he also has a side business as a beer manufacturer!In addition to the lovely Ms. Lorys, other eye candy is provided by Wandisa Guida and Luisa Rivelli. Another big laugh occurs early on when Ms. Lorys pops a cigarette in her mouth and all the guys present offer her a light.Eisley is a studly, engaging hero, although modern viewers will either chuckle or wince at his casual sexism. In order to carry out the mission, Sennet must pose as a rich playboy, and you can tell he likes this kind of gig. At one point, he actually smacks the ass of this lady who's supposed to be his *boss*!You add to that ninja-style costumes for the henchmen, amusing narration by Sennet, a fairly colourful visual approach for a movie done on the cheap & cheesy side, a decent forward pace, and a good amount of explosions, and you do have the ingredients for an agreeable Euro-spy schlock flick, all brought to life by the prolific director Antonio Margheriti.Seven out of 10.

Leofwine_draca A cheap but cheerful Italian/Spanish co-production which mixes sci-fi staples in with a "spy" plot involving a Bond-like playboy /secret agent. Apparently these movies were all the rage in Italy back in the mid-'60s as just about every studio jumped on the bandwagon to make their own James Bond rip-off. LIGHTNING BOLT is a film severely lacking in budget which struggles in places to make ends meet, but ends up being a thoroughly entertaining little movie in it's own right. One word of advice, though: all of this film's budget is saved for the finale, meaning that the first two-thirds are a little too low budget and slow. Stick with it, as you won't be disappointed by the action-packed ending.The film begins - as a lot of these movies do - with some copious use of stock footage showing a space shuttle exploding. Apparently it has been sabotaged by a hidden criminal who uses false science to send radio waves which send the shuttles off their target, causing them to be automatically destroyed (the explanation is a little hazy for good reason!). In order to discover the source of the radio wave, the government sends in a scientist and a diver to investigate, as the signal is coming from underwater. In a confusing sequence, their boat explodes, apparently killing the pair of them.It is at this point that we are introduced to the two heroes of the film: special agents Harry Sennet and Captain Patricia Flanagan. Sennet is masquerading as a rich playboy, which means that he has lots of scenes where he makes sexist remarks and checks out an assortment of bikini-clad bathing beauties. Flanagan is supposedly a tough female agent who broke somebody's spine once, but here she's just a weak, woman-in-peril type character who makes loads of mistakes (see later). After some lounging around, Sennet finds himself being attacked by a man at his house; after a brief tussle the intruder is gunned down by a female assassin! Action ensues including unlikely water traps and larking about in flashy red sports cars. Some of Antonio Margheriti's trademark miniature effects work are present in the form of an exploring car scene. Sennet must battle loads of bad guys in a warehouse, where they try to crush him with fork-lift trucks (!) and engage in some exciting shootouts. Luckily he has a gas-emitting pen to use on the bad guys, but sadly this doesn't stop him being captured. He's bundled into a capsule and taken to the underwater base, which is where the film's rather good conclusion takes place.This underwater base has some great, science-fiction inspired set design, and wonders are worked on the small budget. Even the bad guys have funny black suits and balaclavas to give them that extra weird, kitsch look. The locations are expansive, cavernous even, and look pretty expensive. The only clue to the film's budget is that we only see the base briefly from the outside, but otherwise you wouldn't guess! The baddie - Retke - also has a cool cold storage locker where he keeps various people in suspended animation! Sennet himself is nearly frozen before he manages to escape, and from here on he battles guard after guard before going one-on-one against Retke.This section of the film is the best, and thoroughly entertaining. Sennet must battle at least thirty guards in this segment, and some have cool deaths like electrocution, falling on generators and exploding, etc etc. At the very end, there's suddenly a flood of unexplained lava as the base is destroyed, the bad guy gets his just desserts and Sennet manages to escape on the same capsule he arrived in, just in time to get the girl in the (very) cheesy conclusion which apes the Bond films no end.Anthony Eisley has a ball as Harry Sennet, the film's answer to James Bond. He mugs for all his worth and seems to be really enjoying himself, and his good spirit rubs off; I'm looking forward to seeing more of the actor's work on the strength of his performance here. Folco Lulli hams it up as the Blofeld-like baddie, and the various females supply sufficient '60s-style glamour for the production (the box I have claims that Ursula Andress stars: I can confirm that this is a downright lie!). The direction of Antonio Margheriti is okay to good; at times the film suffers from the Italian curse of extreme close-ups (at one point of somebody's cheek!) but for the majority he keeps things pacy and looking good.Margheriti also gets the opportunity to throw in his trademark horror scene in which the frozen victims are burnt alive, leaving lots of grim skeletons behind! The music is a fun jazzy theme which sets the scene well; the miniature effects are worthwhile and the various gadgets a lot of fun. Not to mention Eisley's assured performance as the heroic, wisecracking lead. Although only a cheap rip-off, forgotten to the modern audience, LIGHTNING BOLT is a FUN cheap rip-off and that's what counts in my humble opinion. A must-see for Euro-spy fans!

mike robson Shot in Rome,usually known in the English speaking world as "Lightning Bolt"(so like "Thunderball"!),this movie is an especially tacky example of the Euro-Superspy genre of the 1960's.Often these movies starred second string American actors to help US sales-and this has Anthony Eisley(best known as a lead in the TV detective series "Hawaiian Eye"),who spent a lot of his career in such Euro schlock.Handsome,tough looking and businesslike,Eisley was suitable for these kinds of roles,but here he is immersed in a distinctly third rate "Bond" caper.The story has elements from "Dr No"(villain who shoots down US moon rockets-cue the grainy stock footage of Cape Kennedy which fills the movie),but here the tale is clumsily developed and full of absurdities.The villain,vaguely resembles Goldfinger,and is-wait for it-a fiendish beer manufacturer,just like the villain in the Matt Helm movie "The Ambushers"(1967).Eisley's hero "Harry Sennet" at times acts with incredible stupidity.He drives right on to a rocket launch site to try and stop it leaving-just as it blasts off!In another unprofessional moment,Sennet,captured and surrounded by thugs,goes into a rage and tries to attack the gloating villain,when it's obvious he will fail and just gets more battering from the bad guys for his trouble-007 would be appalled!And here is a hero who more than once tries to "buy off" enemies by offering them cheques!(a wonderfully absurd scene has him doing a cheque for a gunman who's ready to shoot him!). The English dubbing is clear but often incongruous(a renowned rocket scientist who speaks in a "Barry Fitzgerald" Irish burr?).To try to make the narrative more coherent,we have Sennet providing a frequently cornball "tough guy" voice-over at certain points.I did quite like the villainess with an acid squirting gun,and the "underwater city" hideout has a certain threadbare pop art mid 60's charm(with its ice-chamber where the villain stores his frozen victims).The final action and destruction scenes are far better done than the rest of the movie,the director seems more at home with fighting/mayhem than other aspects of film making.There are a lot of better examples of 60's Eurospy out there,but "Lightning Bolt" is tolerable if you are interested in the genre.

vjetorix This is one cheesy movie and a lot has been written about it (mostly bad) since it is widely available on the gray market but there are things (mostly bad, again) worth mentioning.Lightning Bolt features smart-ass hard-boiled narration by Eisley and many moments of unintentionally laughable dialog, the kind that would make Ed Wood proud. Nonsensical situations and actions abound in this movie and the special effects are as to be expected; not very special, like the old yarn-for-the-laser-beam trick made famous in Italy.Though the movie has a few charms they are outweighed by too much silliness, a weak villain and the sense that one's time is worth more than the budget spent in making it.