Interesting casting, including Ms. Tessmacher from Superman. Mitchum is good as the evil head of an ad agency. Very cheesy 70s elements abound - did people dress like that? Anyway, no mention is made of where this is taking place, but clearly it's Montreal and very cold. But while there are US flags all over the place, Lee Majors' colleague calls Mitchum an American with an unflattering adjective. I'm sure the stars loved the frigid temps! One could imagine this movie being remade, perhaps even in the context of the recent election (hint hint). Since Hollywood has adopted recycling long ago, I wouldn't be surprised to see this remade. Also, the DVD had probably the worst audio I've heard on a DVD. It was just that bad. Some bad editing too, missing frames, gives the impression of an early Youtube video. It's neat to see Lee Majors on screen again, it's been a while and he was trying to rebuild his career at this point, between Million Dollar Man and Fall Guy. Can't go wrong with a little conspiracy theory concept either. I guess it would be a good cover for the CIA to takeover a Canadian ad agency to make ads for the US market. While the rented jet says US AIR Force (with probably sticky letters) I doubt the CIA uses USAF biz jets.Anyway, maybe the book it's based on is better, but there was nothing better on TV so at least it was new to me.

Agency is a film based on an interesting premise about subliminal advertising. Too bad the production was so shoddy, even with Robert Mitchum in a juicy role as the mysterious millionaire who buys an advertising agency for his own nefarious purposes.I remember seeing this exact same premise on a Saved By the Bell episode where Zack and Screech plant audio subliminal messages in tapes of favorite rock group so that boys can present these tapes to the girls of their dreams hoping for a match. It actually does work for a while.Mitchum's after much bigger game, in some commercials that saturated the state of Arizona a noted liberal Senator went down with subliminal visuals placed in some ads about some product. Saul Rubinek catches on and he gets killed for his trouble.Rubinek's friend Lee Majors also catches on, but he proves a lot more difficult to deal with.Mitchum is deliciously evil in this film, unfortunately the film itself is just not worthy of him. And the premise is kind of dumb. Who's to say the other party won't start using it. It's hard enough to get people to the polls in the USA let alone vote for the candidate with the best subliminal advertising.And if they could use the plot on Saved By the Bell..................

I have seen Agency the first time on TV many years ago. Even the French version (done in Paris...) was not bad, but couldn't save it...Again Montreal passes for an American city (too oblivious that Place Ville Marie is shown too much here) in winter. And Lee Majors tried here, even with a beard, to get rid of the typecast of the Six Million Dollar Man he portrayed, along with Valerie Perrine who wanted to pump some gas in her failing career and Robert Mitchum, a veteran now condemmed to roles in bad films...The story's good, moving. But bad photography, poor editing (some scenes are too dark) and some weak performances spoil everything. At least Saul Rubinek steals the show here as the employee who tries to denounce the scheme but gets killed by Quinn's secret henchmen...Sad to say the least: even the interesting stories get some bad treatment. And you don't need subliminal messages to tell it...

Catch the first few minutes of this movie when it plays on the late show (probably the only place you'll find it) - the opening bit, a commercial for NO SWEAT deodorant, is one of the most unintentionally funny things you'll ever see. Imagine a cross between Dante's Inferno with disco inferno, with people dressed in costumes that look like they are from an S&M shop.The rest of the movie? Sadly, it doesn't measure up to that. Though there are a few unintentionally funny moments (such as when Lee Majors' character near the end of the movie discovers the secret - which we've LONG deducted before him!), the rest of the movie is pretty much a slow slog, with many contrived scenes or scenes that really aren't needed there. Saul Rubinek provides the better moments, though he isn't in much of the movie."Roll it on or spray (spray)....Roll it on or spray (spray)....Roll it on or spray.....or there'll be the devil to pay!.....No Sweat, No Sweat....NO SWEAT NO SWEAT!"