is a 1974 film based on a story by

Sakyo Komatsu was a Japanese science fiction writer and screenwriter. He was one of the most well known and highly regarded science fiction writers in Japan. Early life Born Minoru "Sakyo" Komatsu in Osaka, he was a graduate of Kyoto University where he st ...

. The film was directed by

Jun Fukuda was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directing five entries in the ''Godzilla'' series starting with '' Ebirah, Horror of the Deep'' (1966) as well as the spy films The spy film, also known as the ...

from a screenplay by

Ei Ogawa Ei Ogawa (, ''Ogawa Ei'', March 10, 1930; Osaka - April 27, 1994; Tokyo), also credited as Hide Ogawa (江里明, ''Ogawa Hide'') was a Japanese screenwriter. He worked on many projects for Toho and Nikkatsu. Career His real name was Eiji Ogawa. ...

. It stars

Hiroshi Fujioka , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor. He is known for playing the hero Takeshi Hongo in the tokusatsu superhero series ''Kamen Rider'', and later the Sega Saturn mascot Segata Sanshiro (jokingly revealed to be Takeshi Hongo hi ...

Masao Kusakari is a Japanese actor and model. Biography Masao Kusakari was born in Fukuoka Prefecture to a Japanese mother Sueko from Yukuhashi, and an American father Robert H. Tolar from Tar Heel, North Carolina, a USAF mailman who was deployed to Tsuiki ...

Kaoru Yumi is a Japanese actress. Filmography Movies * (1966) * (1973) * (1973) * (1974) * (1974) * (1976) * (1976) * (1978) TV Dramas * (1970 NHK) ''as Yaku Hiroko'' * * (1973) * * (1986 TBS) * * (1997 TBS) * References External links ...

Tomisaburo Wakayama , born Masaru Okumura (奥村勝),Leous, G. (''c.'' 2003)Tomisaburo WakayamaRetrieved on May 23, 2010. was a Japanese actor best known for playing Ogami Ittō, the scowling '' ronin'' warrior in the six ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' samurai films.Stout ...

and

Eiji Okada was a Japanese film actor from Chōshi, Chiba. Okada served in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and was a miner and traveling salesman before becoming an actor. Internationally, his best-remembered roles include Lui ("him" in Fre ...

Plot

The International Psychic Power Group is a covert organization financed by the United Nations. Made up of clairvoyant supermen under the guise of the International Pollution Research Center, they wage a private war against enemies that threaten world peace and the total annihilation of the human race. With hostility between the East and West reaching a boiling point, four Eastern European delegates are assassinated aboard the Milan-Geneva International Express on their way to the United Nations for the Mediation Committee of International Dispute. The Baltonian Prime Minister is the next to be targeted for termination. A ruthless psychic assassin named Goro hunts down the psychokinetic saviors, themselves marked for death by an anti-ESPY group led by the insidious and superhuman Ulrov, who plans to destroy mankind by initiating World War III.

Cast

as Yoshio Tamura *

as Maria Harada *

as Jiro Miki * Yuzo Kayama as Hojo *

as Ulrov * Luna Takamura as Julietta * Hatsuo Yamaya as Ball * Jimmy Shaw as Godonov * Willie Dorsey as Abdullah * Katsumasa Uchida as Gorou Tatsumi * Steve Green as the Prime Minister of Baltonia * Andrew Hughes as P.B. *

as Salabad *

Gorō Mutsumi was a Japanese actor with more than 30 films to his credit. He has also appeared in numerous television shows, especially ''jidaigeki'', in which he specializes in villains, and in ''tokusatsu''. In addition, he is a stage and voice actor with pr ...

as Teraoka * Ralph Jesser as Anti-ESPY A * Germal Liner as Anti-ESPY B * Franz Gruber as Anti-ESPY C * Bart Johanson as Anti-ESPY D * Robert Dunham as Airline captain

Release

''ESPY'' was released theatrically in Japan on 28 December 1974, where it was distributed by

Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...

. It was released in the United States by Toho International with English subtitles and a 94-minute running time in 1975. It was released to home video with the on-screen title ''E.S.P./SPY'' with a 1984 English-language dub for

television syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of content owners leasing the right to broadcast their content to other television stations or radio stations, without having an official broadcast network to air it on. It is common in the United States whe ...

by UPA of America and with an 86-minute running time by

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

/Gateway in 1994.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* 1974 films Toho tokusatsu films Films directed by Jun Fukuda UPA films Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka 1970s spy films Films set in Switzerland 1970s Japanese films Japanese spy films 1974 science fiction films Films based on works by Sakyo Komatsu {{1970s-Japan-film-stub