''Where the Bullets Fly'' is a 1966 British

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

spy film directed by John Gilling and starring Tom Adams as

Charles Vine ''Licensed to Kill'' is an Eastmancolor 1965 superspy imitation James Bond film starring Tom Adams as British secret agent Charles Vine. It was directed and co-written by Lindsay Shonteff. Producer Joseph E. Levine picked it up for American an ...

and

John Arnatt John Edwin Arnatt (9 May 1917 – 21 December 1999) was a British actor. Early life and education John Arnatt was born in Petrograd, Russia on 9 May 1917. His parents were Francis and Ethel Marion (née Jephcott) Arnatt. He attended Epworth ...

reprising their roles from '' Licensed to Kill''. It also stars

Dawn Addams Victoria Dawn Addams (21 September 1930 – 7 May 1985) was a British actress, particularly in Hollywood motion pictures of the 1950s and on British television in the 1960s and 1970s. She became a princess in 1954 (until 1971). Early years Ad ...

, Tim Barrett and

Michael Ripper Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor. He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. Along with Michael Gough ...

Plot

The film begins with a

pre-credit In film production, the pre-credit is the section of the film which is shown before the opening or closing credits are shown. Many films will by common convention have a short scene before the credits to introduce characters who may, or may not, ...

sequence in which a group of unnamed terrorists have parked a vehicle containing a

guided missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

pointed straight at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north b ...

whilst politicians are heard on the film's soundtrack. They are thwarted by a group of older women in a tour group who turn out to be

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

s who eliminate the terrorists with sub-machine guns and grenades. They are led by Agent Charles Vine with his

second-in-command Second-in-command (2i/c or 2IC) is a title denoting that the holder of the title is the second-highest authority within a certain organisation. Usage In the British Army or Royal Marines, the second-in-command is the deputy commander of a unit, ...

being Lt.

Guy Fawkes Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated ...

who has saved the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advise ...

. The film proper begins with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

testing a secret light-weight metal called "Spurium" that enables

nuclear aircraft A nuclear-powered aircraft is a concept for an aircraft intended to be powered by nuclear energy. The intention was to produce a jet engine that would heat compressed air with heat from fission, instead of heat from burning fuel. During the Col ...

to fly. An unnamed sinister organisation led by a man named Angel hijacks the DC-3 aircraft by hypnotising the

RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such ta ...

guards and flying the plane to another location but they are shot down by the RAF. Afraid the incident may happen again, Vine is assigned as security to the project. However Angel's organisation kidnap Vine and replace him with one of their own men named Seraph. Obtaining information before he escapes allows Seraph to steal a sample of Spurium to be sold to the Soviet Union, but the Russians believe he is double-crossing them and kill him. Vine escapes and reports to the RAF airbase, where he meets his RAF counterpart,

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior Officer (armed forces)#Commissioned officers, commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) RAF officer ranks, system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. I ...

Felicity "Fiz" Moonlight. Angel's men try an all-out assault on the airfield to capture the next nuclear aircraft set to fly. Vine and Angel end up in the nuclear aircraft that takes flight but Vine is rescued by F/L Moonlight.

Cast

* Tom Adams - Charles Vine *

- Flt Lt Felicity 'Fiz' Moonlight *

- Angel * Tim Barrett - Seraph * Sid James - Mortuary Attendant *

Wilfrid Brambell Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film actor, best remembered for playing the grubby rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe alongside Harry H. Corbett in the long-running BBC television sitcom '' ...

- Train Guard * Joe Baker - Minister *

- Rockwell * Ronald Leigh-Hunt - Thursby * Marcus Hammond - O'Neil * Tony Arpino - Butler * Michael Balfour - Band Leader * Tom Bowman - Russian Colonel * Maurice Browning - Cherub * Michael James Cox - Lt. Guy Fawkes * Sue Donovan - Celia * Peter Ducrow - Prof. Harding * James Ellis - Flight Lt. Fotheringham * Heidi Erich - Carruthers * Suzan Farmer - Caron *

Michael Goldie Michael Goldie (26 February 1932, Edmonton, London – 17 June 2013, France) was a British character actor active between 1963 and 1996. He starred or appeared in numerous television serials including '' Coronation Street'' (as Bob Statham, ow ...

- Labourer * David Gregory - R.A.F. Sergeant * Gerard Heinz - Venstram * John Horsley - Air Marshal * Charles Houston - Co-pilot * Patrick Jordan - Russian

Production

The

cooperated with the producers allowing several scenes to be filmed at RAF Biggin Hill. Different dialogue was substituted for the American release in which the opening parliamentary satire was reduced in length and the word "

Biggles James Bigglesworth, nicknamed "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the title character and hero of the ''Biggles'' series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns (1893–1968). Biggles made his first appearance ...

" is replaced by "

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

" when Seraph is talking of his excitement at visiting Secret Service headquarters. Originally, the studio announced the title of this film as ''The Third Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World''.

Sequel

A third film in the Charles Vine series, called ''Somebody's Stolen Our Russian Spy'' (also known as ''O.K. Yevtushenko'') was produced by James Ward, and written by Michael Pittock. The script was polished and directed by José Luis Madrid, who shot the whole film in Spain rather than United Kingdom where the previous instalments were made. Tom Adams reprised his role as Vine.

References

External links

* {{John Gilling 1966 films British spy comedy films Films directed by John Gilling 1960s spy comedy films British aviation films Embassy Pictures films British sequel films 1966 comedy films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films