Stoney (1969)

Overrated

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

With a bank holiday coming up,I looked for DVDs/Videos to watch,that I could then hopefully sell. Whilst getting other DVDs in order,I found (what has become) an ultra-rare Code Red double bill,one of which co-stars Barbara Bouchet,which led to me meeting Stoney.View on the film:Featuring some spots of dirt and lines that show signs of its Grindhouse origins, Code Red present a good transfer, with the soundtrack being clean and "rougher" moments of the picture quality appearing to be re-inserted footage in the otherwise smooth transfer. Done during a challenging (to put it mildly)time in the Philippines, the screenplay by Walter Anton White is surprisingly direct in the troubles of the time when adapting James M. Fox,as all plans for the heist have to be made,with the trigger-happy military in mind.Whilst she is placed to be the main focus, White disappointing gives little spark to the characteristics of Stone,that leaves the heist and danger of dealing with the army lacking much sense of excitement. Greatly helped by the leading lady, director Wray Davis finds zest lacking in the script with a peculiar directing style matching the blinking of eyes (!) and a moody freeze-frame final. Looking very sexy in chic costumes, Barbara Bouchet gives a very good performance as Stoney,whose flirting Bouchet twirls into calculating ways to get hold of Stoney's stones.

STONEY is a low rent little thriller that was shot in the Philippines and has a few local faces in the supporting cast, including Vic Diaz. An early cameo from Michael Rennie is utilised to set up the plot, which involves the hunt for some priceless gold at a remote location. Various competing factions then head off to get their hands on it. Chief of these is the female protagonist, Barbara Bouchet, who is reduced to being shown either showering or stripping to her underwear for nearly the entire running time. She's pretty good, actually, a sort of female version of James Bond, but they could have made better use of her than mere window dressing. The film's idea of action is a series of noisy shoot-outs in which various extras come in to be gunned down, but it's not very exciting and all of this only just barely hangs together as a proper movie.

You know you're in trouble when the DVD cover of a film - which is usually designed, you know, to PROMOTE the film - actually speaks AGAINST it! In this case, it describes "Stoney" as an "international mishmash of espionage", which is pretty accurate, or at least the "mishmash" part is; it's set almost entirely in the Philippines, and none of the leads seem to be professional spies. I say "seem to be" because, to be honest, at no point during this film had I the slightest idea about what was going on. The two or three action scenes consist of random people shooting at other random people; the rest is unengaging talk and some discreet Barbara Bouchet nudity. Bouchet, the only possible draw of the film (another thing that the DVD cover gets right), is beautiful, of course, but she gives a rather poor performance in this one; that said, she is far, far better than anyone else in the film! Very close to completely unwatchable. 0.5 out of 4 stars.

Since My Husband (Gerald Hardig) happens to be an actor in this movie (He is the hit-man in the opening scenes, with the machine gun mounted on the raft that attacks the gun runners boat), I think this is a TERRIFIC film. I however am trying to find a VHS or DVD tape of it, Because it has gone out of print. But I understand their are many copies floating around in Europe ,Brazil, Mexico, and other places in the world. I believe this might have been pirated several times because of the nudity involving Barbara Bouchet who was also a one time playboy bunny and also appears in the film Casino Royale , among other well known films in the U.S. and Europe. Would love to find a good copy.