"Target For Killing" undoubtedly has one of the best casts of all 1960's Eurospy movies: Stewart Granger (who was making a habit out of playing veteran secret agents around that period), Klaus Kinski (as a bad guy, of course, but a bad guy with a conscience this time), and no fewer than 4 (!) James Bond connections: Karin Dor ("You Only Live Twice"), Curt Jurgens ("The Spy Who Loved Me"), Adolfo Celi ("Thunderball"), and Molly Peters (also "Thunderball" - remember the nurse at the clinic?) With all those names, you might expect the film to be something special, but it isn't - it's pretty formulaic. That said, it does have a sense of humor, and some interesting touches, like the criminal organization's headquarters being located in a monastery! The most memorable character is not played by any of the names mentioned above - it is Scilla Gabel's playful, stylish and sadomasochistic Tiger; unfortunately, her exit is an inglorious one. ** out of 4.
10 Reviews
Target for Killing
CinemaSerf22 November 2022
Stewart Granger is at his most dapper, suave, best in this otherwise completely unremarkable effort that offers a hybrid "Bond" meets "UNCLE" scenario. Luckily for us, it has the consummate baddie Curd Jürgens as his deadly foe and the scenes they have together, mostly towards the end, are what redeems it from serious mediocrity. It's all about "Sandra" (Karin Dor) who meets our charmer on an aircraft. He ("James Vine") has to land the thing, saving all the passengers, and soon discovers that she is about to come into $70-odd million on her 25th birthday and that there are moves afoot in certain quarters to try and prevent that anniversary from happening. What ensues are a series of fun escapades and the pair try to stay one step ahead of their pursuers who have a habit of using brain-washing as their preferred means of controlling their subjects. The ending is rotten, but there is certainly some fun to be had en route. The cast are enjoying themselves and the production is reasonable, if hardly one that would trouble Messrs. Broccoli and Saltzman. Speaking of them, Adolfo Celi makes an appearance too (sans eyepatch), and we've a bit of Klaus Kinski at his malevolent best too. Aim low and you ought not to be too disappointed - it's all about the stars.
Sensation over story very much
Horst_In_Translation29 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
"Das Geheimnis der gelben Mönche" or " Target for Killing" or literally "The Secret of the Yellow Monks" is a co-production between West Germany, Italy and Austria from 1966. This one is over half a century old already and was directed by Manfred R. Köhler. If you take a look at his other works, then you will find parallels. the script is by Anatol Bratt, even if the title does sound like one of these many German Edgar Wallace (or from his son) adaptations that always include a color and normally some kind of animal or so, but "monk" is also not something too unusual for them. And if you take a look at the cast, you will also find a handful of names that could come right out of said films. Most of all, I am referring to Karin dor here, who plays the female lead. And Klaus Kinski of course whose character stuck between good and evil could be taken right out of a Wallace film. And of course this was also the time when James Bond became a big thing, so it's not too surprising to see the likes of Celi and Jürgens here whose most known performances stem from 007 movies. Sadly the script here of this 100-minute color film (not to be taken for granted for 1966) is really not on par. I think the beginning inside the airplane was still fairly interesting and tense to watch. But the longer the film went the worse it got to be honest. plot twists about villains, strange hypnosis references, a ridiculous inheritance plot etc. it's all there. The scene with the mouse biting through the string that is gonna kill somebody was certainly meant dramatic, shocking even, but it never got close to achieving this feat. It was bizarre. Did it even try? Sometimes it felt like it was taking itself far more seriously than it had any right to, on other occasions it felt like it wasn't at all. Touch to say also with the music which of the two it was. The loud sounds (I would not call them melodies) from dramatic scenes felt so typical for German movies from that time. Overall it wasn't a bad film in my opinion and Karin Dor in her 20s still also felt too young for Stewart Granger, even if was younger than he looked at that point. And what about the name "James Vine". Too close to 007 for me too. did they really go there? Yup they did. Shame they did not bring the creativity to get at least anywhere close to reaching the Bond films from that era quality-wise. Also other production values felt a bit shoddy like the editing that was all over the place at times. The poisonous snake scene early on was another good example for that. Another missed opportunity where they tried to use animals for scenes that will have you at the edge of your seat, but did not feel shocking at all. And finally the title. The yellow outfits and the yellow monks also how they were used being a part of the story made no impact at all. Jürgens was wasted as a villain here too, especially with how he gets caught in the end. The poison pill scene cannot change that a bit. Yeah go watch something else instead.
A step up from Granger's previous spy outing
vjetorix13 January 2003
Stewart Granger is after a generally evil organization run by Curd Jurgens but the real story has to do with Jurgens' efforts to kill Karen Dor and get the money she is soon to inherit.
Granger is again an FBI agent and indeed, is even supposedly the same man who thwarted the smuggling racket in "Red Dragon" but he has a different name; James Vine. Luckily, this time the results for viewers are much improved as the groovy credit sequence will attest. Hip graphics and a cool rock song kick things off nicely. Here Granger isn't quite the smarmy character he was in "Red Dragon" but he is still the unlikely beneficiary of a relationship with a pretty young thing, even pledging to marry her in the end!
Director Manfred Kohler (From Beirut With Love) has made a vast improvement on Granger's previous spy outing and the talented cast is a real asset to the film's modest successes.
Granger is again an FBI agent and indeed, is even supposedly the same man who thwarted the smuggling racket in "Red Dragon" but he has a different name; James Vine. Luckily, this time the results for viewers are much improved as the groovy credit sequence will attest. Hip graphics and a cool rock song kick things off nicely. Here Granger isn't quite the smarmy character he was in "Red Dragon" but he is still the unlikely beneficiary of a relationship with a pretty young thing, even pledging to marry her in the end!
Director Manfred Kohler (From Beirut With Love) has made a vast improvement on Granger's previous spy outing and the talented cast is a real asset to the film's modest successes.
What a pity!
dimandreas4 July 2005
I have always been since my teens an avid fan of Stewart Granger, eagerly waiting for his next film to hit the screen. And I have been on the alert for films of his post-Hollywood period, to complete my collection. When this film came my way, I snapped it up eagerly. My disappointment was all the greater. What a waste of talent. Stewart Granger, Curt Jurgens, Adolfo Celli, Klaus Kinski in a minimal role, Karin Dor, all of them mixed up in a nonsensical and incomprehensible story, with any connection to reality being by pure chance. An awful soundtrack completed the disaster. I gave the film 3, not that it was worth it but for purely sentimental reasons. What a pity! I am sure that with better direction and a straightening up of the story, the film would have been quite a good one.
Low budget movie with an unusual set of great actors
walterratjen18 October 2001
The story is dumb (pilots of airplane bail out while passengers don't even notice), the setting is usually inside a studio, but the number and combination of extraordinary actors is quite unusual. Karin Dor and Stewart Granger make such an intriguing couple that one would just wish they should have been used much more often. The more precious is this rare specimen of their and Curt Juergen's artistry. - A piece of historical interest to the old movies enthusiast.
"The name's Vine. James Vine."
brogmiller18 January 2021
Stewart Granger may have been critical of his years with Metro Goldwyn Mayer but most of his subsequent European films are a sorry bunch and this one has to be the bottom of the barrel. Aimed at the slowest-witted viewer, it suffers from a moronic script, garish cinematography, atrocious score and the very worst type of mid-Atlantic dubbing.
A previous reviewer who referred to this as 'a little disappointing, considering the cast' has a genius for understatement. Granted that lifestyles have to be maintained and the taxman kept at bay, Messrs. Granger, Jurgens and Celi should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for taking part in this unadulterated trash, having presumably read the script beforehand.
It is generally accepted that audiences feed on crap but here it is dished up without a trace of originality. Should there be a Circle of Hell reserved for fifth rate directors then Herr Koehler surely resides there.
A previous reviewer who referred to this as 'a little disappointing, considering the cast' has a genius for understatement. Granted that lifestyles have to be maintained and the taxman kept at bay, Messrs. Granger, Jurgens and Celi should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for taking part in this unadulterated trash, having presumably read the script beforehand.
It is generally accepted that audiences feed on crap but here it is dished up without a trace of originality. Should there be a Circle of Hell reserved for fifth rate directors then Herr Koehler surely resides there.
A kind of nothing!
RodrigAndrisan13 July 2017
Two great actors which I like very much, Adolfo Celi and Klaus Kinski, are wasted in a mediocre production. With the help of a few other famous names of the movie world, Stewart Granger, Karin Dor, Curd Jürgens. The script is completely stupid and the interpretation of all leaves it desirable for a better chance in another movie. Those who manage to hide the best how disagreeable and ungrateful are their roles, are Kinski and Jürgens. Granger is too bombastic, like in all his movies. Dor is not credible, her acting is forced. And Celi, who has the most unfortunate role, is eaten by a bunch of hungry rats, he does what he can in such a situation. Manfred R. Köhler, the director, has achieved a much better film a year earlier, "Thirteen Days to Die"(1965)Der Fluch des schwarzen Rubin (original title), with another German specialist in villain roles, Horst Frank.
Likable Bondian-Type Spy Thriller Boast Top Euro Cast
jfrentzen-942-2042111 February 2024
Of the numerous James Bond knock-offs produced in the 1960s, A TARGET FOR KILLING is a guilty pleasure. It may sport an unoriginal and tedious story line, but makes earnest stabs at satirizing Bond movie cliches, and features an excellent tongue-in-cheek performance by Stewart Granger, as James Vine, suave and debonair FBI agent.
We find Vine on a passenger airplane with Sandra Perkins (Karin Dor), construction company publicist and heiress who will inherit millions on her upcoming 25th birthday. The plane's pilot is played by familiar character actor Klaus Kinski, and the stewardess pouring poison into Sandra's drink is played by Erika Remberg. She, Kinski, and the co-pilot parachute out of the plane in mid-flight, leaving Vine and Sandra to land the plane.
Vine's intervention upsets the plans of The Giant (Curd Jürgens), an evil mastermind hiding out in a decrepit monastery with an army of thugs dressed as yellow-hooded monks. Sandra's uncle hires The Giant to kill her before she can collect the inheritance, but The Giant wants the cash for himself.
In a story that is more confused and complicated than most spy flicks of the period, Sandra continually dodges bullets and with Vine's intervention simply won't be killed. This frustrates The Giant no end. He resorts to kidnapping her, chaining her to an electrified cage (powered by electric eels!) and subjecting her to mind control via a telepathy expert.
This Austrian-Italian co-production, shot mainly in Yugoslavia, boasts a superior supporting cast of busy continental actors. Rupert Davies appears as a police inspector who enjoys handling poisonous snakes; Adolfo Celi is Sandra's uncle, who is eaten by starved rats; and Mollie Peters, a former Bond girl from THUNDERBALL, appears in a brief nude scene.
Around the same time A TARGET FOR KILLING was made, Granger appeared in a short run of spy thrillers that included THE TRYGON FACTOR and CARNIVAL OF KILLERS. Only THE TRYGON FACTOR saw any wide theatrical release in the U. S,. In 1968. A TARGET FOR KILLING was sold directly to American TV in 1969, where it played on the late-late-late show for years.
Manfred R. Köhler also wrote and directed AGENT 505: DEATH TRAP IN BEIRUT, also a spy thriller, the same year.
We find Vine on a passenger airplane with Sandra Perkins (Karin Dor), construction company publicist and heiress who will inherit millions on her upcoming 25th birthday. The plane's pilot is played by familiar character actor Klaus Kinski, and the stewardess pouring poison into Sandra's drink is played by Erika Remberg. She, Kinski, and the co-pilot parachute out of the plane in mid-flight, leaving Vine and Sandra to land the plane.
Vine's intervention upsets the plans of The Giant (Curd Jürgens), an evil mastermind hiding out in a decrepit monastery with an army of thugs dressed as yellow-hooded monks. Sandra's uncle hires The Giant to kill her before she can collect the inheritance, but The Giant wants the cash for himself.
In a story that is more confused and complicated than most spy flicks of the period, Sandra continually dodges bullets and with Vine's intervention simply won't be killed. This frustrates The Giant no end. He resorts to kidnapping her, chaining her to an electrified cage (powered by electric eels!) and subjecting her to mind control via a telepathy expert.
This Austrian-Italian co-production, shot mainly in Yugoslavia, boasts a superior supporting cast of busy continental actors. Rupert Davies appears as a police inspector who enjoys handling poisonous snakes; Adolfo Celi is Sandra's uncle, who is eaten by starved rats; and Mollie Peters, a former Bond girl from THUNDERBALL, appears in a brief nude scene.
Around the same time A TARGET FOR KILLING was made, Granger appeared in a short run of spy thrillers that included THE TRYGON FACTOR and CARNIVAL OF KILLERS. Only THE TRYGON FACTOR saw any wide theatrical release in the U. S,. In 1968. A TARGET FOR KILLING was sold directly to American TV in 1969, where it played on the late-late-late show for years.
Manfred R. Köhler also wrote and directed AGENT 505: DEATH TRAP IN BEIRUT, also a spy thriller, the same year.
Adolfo Celli!
BandSAboutMovies1 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Maniacs like me love Stewart Granger for his role in The Wild Geese, but he was also a leading man until the mid 60's, when he started making movies in Italy. This spy film - an Austrian/German/Italian mash-up - was directed by Manfred R. Kohler, who wrote Daughters of Darkness and Franco's The Blood of Fu Manchu.
Three years after making this, Karin Dor would play Bond girl Helga Brandt in You Only Live Twice. It's also nice to see Klaus Kinski, Curd Jurgens (Karl Stromberg from The Spy Who Loved Me) and Molly Peters (the nurse who takes care of Bond in Thunderball) and Adolfo Celli, who between this, Danger: Diabolik, Thunderball and OK Connery is Eurospy royalty.
This movie has an exciting beginning, with an entire crew of a plane trying to murder Dor's character, even parachuting out of the plane and leaving her without a flight crew. There's brainwashing on a major scale, but the film doesn't live up to that initial promise.
Three years after making this, Karin Dor would play Bond girl Helga Brandt in You Only Live Twice. It's also nice to see Klaus Kinski, Curd Jurgens (Karl Stromberg from The Spy Who Loved Me) and Molly Peters (the nurse who takes care of Bond in Thunderball) and Adolfo Celli, who between this, Danger: Diabolik, Thunderball and OK Connery is Eurospy royalty.
This movie has an exciting beginning, with an entire crew of a plane trying to murder Dor's character, even parachuting out of the plane and leaving her without a flight crew. There's brainwashing on a major scale, but the film doesn't live up to that initial promise.
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