Taking part in the Grindhouse/"Cult" and Italian challenges on ICM,I've been keeping a look out on times when the two can be crossed. Seeing the likeable Stoney last night,I decided to unwrap the second feature on Code Red's DVD.View on the film:Treating it to none of the care they gave the Stoney transfer, Code Red slap on an old VHS print to disc,that includes moments where the tape has been chewed up. Done as the Euro Spy genre was fading out, the writers adaptation of Adam Saint Moore's novel targets crossing Euro Spy with the Thriller. Sweetening the intro of the killer, the writers move to make CIA agent Mark Stone a hard-nosed assassin determined to protect the king gives the flick an Italian Crime edge. Once the candy has been eaten, the writers sadly let the somewhat off-beat mood melt away for dry gang fights between Stone and the would-be killers. Chewing up the candy killer, co-directors Federico Chentrens & Maurice Cloche (who also co-wrote) give the sniper killer targeting a documentary rawness, which whimpers into shoot-outs that offer litter on screen candy.

If you've seen enough of these 1960s European thriller co-productions, you'll know that "The Killer Likes Candy" is put together more professionally and coherently than many of them (the one or two cases of choppy editing seem to be more the fault of the fullscreen DVD prints - the movie was obviously meant to be seen in widescreen). Kerwin Mathews is a pretty solid business-first-pleasure-later lead, but although I liked Marilu Tolo as his love interest, to be honest I would have preferred one of the other two women in the film, Ann Smyrner or Fabienne Dali, to have the main female role. Oh well, that's a matter of personal taste. The Rome locations are great and Gianni Marchetti's music score is simply superb - pure 60s! The one major problem of the film is that the killer of the title, supposedly "a perfectionist" and "the best in the business", is actually extremely incompetent and ineffectual. **1/2 out of 4.

"The Killer Loves Candy" ranks as an average European crime melodrama about an assassin paid to kill a head of state. Washington, D.C. troubleshooter Mark Stone is assigned to protect the King of Kafiristan while he is visiting Rome and catch the elusive assassin. During a visit to a foreign country, a king's life is jeopardized when a hit-man tries to shoot him but winds up killing the monarch's head of security. Co-directors Federico Chentrens of the Italian-French western "Judge Roy Bean" and Maurice Cloche of "FX 18, Secret Agent," working from a screenplay by Cloche, John Haggarty of "Murder in Eden" and Adam Saint Moore, have concocted an entertaining, colorful, but juvenile adventure epic that relies on the tenacity of the characters rather than any technological gadgets at their disposal. Kerwin Mathews of the "O.S.S." movies is appropriately energetic and agile as the heroic protagonist who gets quite a workout not only from protecting a foreign diplomat but also surviving attacks on himself by other bad guys. The scenery in this Italian-French-German production is suitably exotic and the never-say-die villain gives the authorities plenty of headaches as they try to track him down.Oscar Snell (Bruno Cremer of "The French Conspiracy") is a craftsman when it comes to killing, but he is having a difficult time trying to eliminate Kafiristan's monarch. Mark Stone, known to his associates by the rather unusual name 'Angel Face' is sent in to keep the king alive, but his majesty resents Stone's intrusions. When Stone and his sidekick Costa (Venantino Venantini of "Make Them Die Slowly") are summoned, they are posing as fashion photographers. Anybody who loves the Matt Helm spy franchise will know that in the Donald Hamilton novels, Matt Helm masqueraded as a photographer when he wasn't on a mission. Immediately, Stone steps in and wants to micro-manage the king's affairs. The King and his retinue, particularly his closest minister (Sieghardt Rupp of "Fistful of Dollars") don't like the pushy way that Stone takes his duties. Nevertheless, Stone proves that there is an assassin who is not going to stop trying to ice the king. Like the title indicates, the assassin loves to eat candy and leave the wrappings wherever he goes. Washington wants Stone to keep the dignitary alive because he presides over a fortune in oil in his kingdom. The familiar face of the villain, Guardino, who hired Snell is none other than Werner Peters of "The Battle of the Bulge." After Snell muffs a murder attempt on Stone, the people behind Guardino insist that Snell confine himself to the King and let others take out Stone. Toni (Gordon Mitchell of "Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops")and several hoodlums try to kill Stone. A scene in an abandoned building where Stone tricks Toni and his killers by knocking down a bunch of barrels at them is clever. By the time that they figure out that Stone is not in any of the barrels but the one rolling away, they are too late to stop him and start shooting. Trouble is that he has gotten out of that barrel, too. Eventually, Stone learns that his majesty suffers from a heart condition and Snell takes the mother of one of the doctors, anesthesiologist Sylva (Marilù Tolo of " Juliet of the Spirits") hostage and threatens to kill mom if Sylva doesn't see to it that the monarch dies in surgery. Of course, she cannot bring herself to murder the king. Later, Stone and the Rome police force plunge into the catacombs to catch Snell. The grand finale occurs over a marble quarry as Stone and Snell slug it out in a gigantic crane and Snell falls to his death. Meanwhile, Stone's sidekick Costa provides the comic relief as he is constantly being told to leave the king alone by his closest advisers. Every time that Stone walks in on Costa, Costa is with a woman or trying to physically build himself up to appear attractive.The orchestral score by Gianni Marchetti with its incessant vocals where a chorus warbles "dabba, dabba,dabba" is clearly out of place and doesn't underline the dramatic tension in any of the scenes, but it is a relic of the swinging sixties and probably reflects the inoffensive nature of this feature.

Shrewd and evasive ex-Nazi and top assassin Oscar Snell (nicely played suavely sinister aplomb by Bruno Cremer) is determined to rub out King Faoud (a suitably arrogant Lukas Ammann). Snell's sole weakness is his sweet tooth; he leaves candy wrappers at the scene of his every crime. It's up to no-nonsense CIA agent Mark Stone (a smooth and solid performance by Kerwin Matthews) to find Snell and stop him before it's too late. Directors Federico Chenkens and Maurice Clothe (the latter also co-wrote the compact and eventful script) keep the movie humming along at a snappy pace and stage the plentiful rousing shoot-outs and down'n'dirty fisticuffs with a reasonable amount of skill and brio. The Rome, Italy locations add a pleasing extra exotic flavor to the lively proceedings. Moreover, there's also a welcome smattering of tasty peek-a-boo almost nudity from a bevy of beautiful ladies (King Faoud's dancing harem girls are especially luscious). Popping up in neat parts are Marilu Tolo as fetching physician Sylva, Venantino Venantini as Stone's jolly partner Costa, Werner Peters as slippery underground crime kingpin Guardino, and the ever-imposing Gordon Mitchell as Guardino's brutish henchman Toni. Fausto Zuccoli's cinematography makes inspired occasional use of a hand-held camera. Gianni Marchetti's groovy, dreamy, get-down hip and playful swinging jazz score may be inappropriate, but it still sounds insanely cool just the same. A really fun and diverting romp.