Rather than write a plot description, simply look at the cast list above. That would be the main reason anyone would want to watch "The Opium Connection". Well, I guess I'll do it anyway.Two guys from the U.N., Lincoln and Coley, played by Trevor Howard and E.G. Marshall, respectively, go to Iran to investigate the death of one of their fellow agents. Apparently, he was dealing with Iranian drug lords and attempting to buy whole poppy crops. To track the opium and see where it leads, they spike it with radioactive materials. This leads them from Iran, to various glamorous and not-so-glamorous locations all over Europe, and meeting many, many people along the way. And who is the mysterious woman they keep running into, Linda Gayle? Will they capture the head drug lord? Will they give the U.N. a good name? Yes, it's an international production, but with all those guest stars and locations, it's easy to turn into a sprawling, convoluted mess. How can the movie stay focused when every minute they have to go to a new place to introduce a new character? You get TWO performances by Trini Lopez, "Lemon Tree" and La Bamba", but my favorite appearance in the movie-long game of "spot the guest star" was by Eli Wallach. His scenery-chewing performance really stood out. But I guess he had to do something big to stand out in the muck and the mire.But I'm making it sound worse than it really is. For instance, this is probably the only movie where you'll see the credits "based on a story by Ian Fleming" and "Executive Associate Producer Del Tenney" together. That should give you a really good idea of the vibe of this movie. Because Terence Young directed other Fleming-based movies (i.e., James Bond), there is a scene where they introduce a Geiger counter that looks like a cigarette case (they test it by all handling a radioactive cigarette...can they do that?) but there is a junky sensibility at work too.I know the actual U.N. was somewhat involved in the production of this movie, so perhaps this was all a P.R. thing to make it seem like the U.N. ISN'T a corrupt, anti-Semitic, do-nothing waste...so they figured, "let's make a staid, bland time-filler, but fill it with older stars!" Typical for the U.N., this plan DID NOTHING to help them.The sound on the VHS tape under review, released on the Simitar label, is buzzy and terrible, but maybe because it is in EP mode. But it does have cool, nicely rendered box art.A Sunday-afternoon programmer type of film, "The Opium Connection" seems like the thing you might catch on channel 9 or channel 11 on a rainy day back in the 80's.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

I really don't care that the majority of people didn't enjoy this film. I thought it was a very watchable escapism film. Nothing complicated or confusing. I think the appeal is more for the 60+ crowd who grew up with the many international stars appearing. The sexy Angie Dickinson was in a featured role. I can't think of a better bad man than Harold Sakata (Goldfinger fame). The international locations and seeing Iran as it use to be.The version I have runs a tad over 84 mins. The VHS picture quality is quite good. When I first saw this film on the big screen, it ran longer. From my fading memory, the original film had an excellent female mud wrestling scene, something I had never seen before. Well, that scene is gone, not fitting for TV around 1970. Much like the gypsy fight scene in From Russia With Love is mostly cut for TV.During the film, the UN investigators spiked the opium with a radioactive dose to help follow the shipment. What happens to the ultimate users who ingest this cocktail? Never explained in the film.At any rate, for us oldsters, seeing all of these stars in one film is a treasure. If you are too young to know these people, then take a pass. This is not a high brow boring film. Just check your brain at the door and enjoy.

Hilariously awful star-studded turkey, an apparent do-gooder drama concocted by Ian Fleming, sponsored by Xerox and directed by Bond-filmmaker Terence Young, details the United Nations' efforts to stop the trafficking of opium out of the Middle East. Bungled ingredients include star-cameos, an introduction by Grace Kelly (!), and Yul Brynner (misspelled in the credits) as a fez-topped Colonel who rides out to meet his enemies on horseback as if this were a Samurai western. The curious, sloppy over-dubbing leaves some of the actors looking like foreigners in a spaghetti spy-drama, while Kelly implores us to remember that...yes...Poppy flowers are attractive and innocent-looking, but their seeds are producing drugs that are destroying our young people! Not as fast as films like this. E. G. Marshall's somewhat bemused performance is the only asset the picture has to offer. Also known as "The Poppy Is Also a Flower", "The Opium Connection" and (my favorite) "Danger Grows Wild". NO STARS from ****

Another surprisingly bad film from director Terence Young (did this guy really make such greats as Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Wait Until Dark?) What's more surprising about Poppies Are Also Flowers is the calibre of the cast. Trevor Howard, E.G Marshall, Omar Sharif, Angie Dickinson, Yul Brynner, Jack Hawkins, Senta Berger, Rita Hayworth, Anthony Quayle, Eli Wallach, Trini Lopez, Marcello Mastroainni, Stephen Boyd and Hugh Griffith all make appearances in the movie - and virtually every one of them is guilty of rampant bad acting. I challenge anyone to find this talented a cast in a more badly acted film. The story is pretty poor too. Narcotics agents Lincoln (Trevor Howard) and Coley (E.G Marshall) arrive in Iran to investigate the death of another agent, Benson (Stephen Boyd). They learn that Benson had struck a deal with a tribal chief (Hugh Griffith) to buy his opium crop, but a disgruntled rival buyer attempted to seize the crop in transit, killing Benson in the process. In order to track down the killers, Lincoln and Coley agree to let another opium crop leave Iran bound for an unknown European drug lord. However, they put a radioactive element into the opium, meaning that they can track its progress with geiger counters, all the way to the head man. The trail leads from Iran to Switzerland to Italy and, finally, to France. The film is based on an idea by Ian Fleming (yes, the Bond creator). However, there is little of the flair in this film that you would find in the Bond books and films. The very concept of contaminating opium in order to track its whereabouts seems rather unconvincing and implausible, but the film doesn't suffer too much because of it. The problem here is more fundamental - it's a badly scripted film. A plethora of characters come and go without proper introduction or development, and various events and actions are patched together without sufficient explanation. Such under-cooked ingredients do not make for a satisfying viewing experience. Other than Georges Auric's stirring music and E.G Marshall's performance (the only good one in the whole film) as the hero, Poppies Are Also Flowers is a failure.