History Film / ModestyBlaise

''Modesty Blaise'' is a 1966 comedy action[=/=]SpyFiction film directed by Joseph Losey. It is loosely based on the ''ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise'' comic strip created and written by Peter O'Donnell, and stars Creator/MonicaVitti as Modesty Blaise, Creator/TerenceStamp as Willie Garvin, and Creator/DirkBogarde as the villain, Gabriel.

* AmusinglyAwfulAim: Willie Garvin has such bad aim with handguns that someone once says of him that if he shot at the ground he'd miss. However, he is uncannily good with throwing knives. (In one story, he finds himself facing a mook with only a handgun for a weapon, and opts to throw it at the mook rather than risk trying to shoot it.)

* AbsoluteCleavage: Modesty impersonates a prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district by pulling down the zipper of her catsuit to her navel. She is not wearing anything underneath.

-->'''Gabriel''': I am the villain of the piece. I have to condemn you.\\

O'Donnell wrote the scenario for the movie, but the screenplay went through multiple rewrites and the end result differs significantly from the original. Changes range from the relatively trivial, such as hair colour, to ones that horrified the comic strip's fanbase:
the coldly competent Modesty is depicted as a bubbly (though still strangely competent) airhead, and PlatonicLifePartners Modesty and Willie fall in love and decide to get married.

The storyline is as follows: Modesty, a secret agent whose hair color, hairstyle, and mod clothing change at a snap of her fingers, is being used by the British government as a decoy in an effort to thwart a diamond heist. She is being set up by the feds but is wise to the plot and calls in sidekick Willie and a few other friends to outsmart them. Meanwhile, at his island hideaway, Gabriel, the diamond thief, has his own plans for Blaise and Garvin.

''Modesty Blaise'' is a 1966 comedy action[=/=]SpyFiction film loosely based on the ''ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise'' comic strip created and written by Peter O'Donnell. It stars Creator/MonicaVitti as Modesty Blaise, Creator/TerenceStamp as Willie Garvin, and Creator/DirkBogarde as the villain, Gabriel.

''Modesty Blaise'' is a 1966 comedy action[=/=]SpyFiction film directed by Joseph Losey. It stars Creator/MonicaVitti as Modesty Blaise, Creator/TerenceStamp as Willie Garvin, and Creator/DirkBogarde as the villain, Gabriel.

The film is loosely based on the ''ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise'' comic strip created and written by Peter O'Donnell. O'Donnell wrote the scenario for the movie, but the screenplay went through multiple rewrites and the end result differs significantly from the original. Changes range from the relatively trivial, such as hair colour, to ones that horrified the comic strip's fanbase:

* AmbiguouslyGay: Gabriel has effeminate mannerisms and likes to surround himself with young, bare-chested men. He doesn't show any overt sexual interest in anyone, though, and could possibly be CampStraight or even asexual. His obvious admiration for Modesty seems to be more of the professional than sexual kind.
* BadBoss: Mrs. Fothergill, who submits her minions to dangerous tests of their physical abilities (when one of them doesn't return alive from a diving test, she seems mostly happy to be rid of an inept underling) and takes obvious sadistic glee in forcing them to do strenuous physical exercise.
* ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction: Played straight and exaggerated for comedy. Modesty doesn't just change her entire outfit, as well as her hairstyle and hair colour, from scene to scene (whether she'd realistically have the possibility or not) but quite often the change takes place between cuts within a scene. In at least one case there isn't even a cut; her hair just instantly blinks from blonde to dark while we're watching.

* ActionGirl: Even though Modesty has been chickified compared to the comic strips, she doesn't shy away from fights or demanding physical activity.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: This exchange:

the coldly competent Modesty is depicted as a bubbly (though still strangely competent) airhead, and PlatonicLifePartners Modesty and Willie fall in love and deciding to get married.

''Modesty Blaise'' is a 1966 comedy action[=/=]SpyFiction film directed by Joseph Losey. It stars Creator/MonicaVitti as Modesty Blaise, Creator/TerenceStamp as Willie Garvin, and Dirk Bogarde as the villain, Gabriel.

the coldly competent Modesty is depicted as a bubbly (though still strangely comptetent) airhead, and PlatonicLifePartners Modesty and Willie fall in love and deciding to get married.

The storyline is as follows: Modesty, a secret agent whose hair color, hair style, and mod clothing change at a snap of her fingers, is being used by the British government as a decoy in an effort to thwart a diamond heist. She is being set up by the feds but is wise to the plot and calls in sidekick Willie and a few other friends to outsmart them. Meanwhile, at his island hideaway, Gabriel, the diamond thief, has his own plans for Blaise and Garvin.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Modesty impersonates a prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district by pulling down the zipper of her cat suit to her navel. She is not wearing anything underneath.

* AdaptationalNationality: Modesty's adopted father in the comics was a Jewish Hungarian scholar named Lob. In the film he's Abu Tahir, an Arab oil sheikh.

* ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction: Played straight and exaggerated for comedy. Modesty doesn't just change her entire outfit, as well as her hair style and hair colour, from scene to scene (whether she'd realistically have the possibility or not) but quite often the change takes place between cuts within a scene. In at least one case there isn't even a cut; her hair just instantly blinks from blonde to dark while we're watching.

** I tis frequency implied that Modesty, in marked contrast to in the comic strip, never wears any underwear. The effect is somewhat ruined by the actress's bra and panties sometimes showing through her clothes.

* SissyVillain: Gabriel has rather effeminate mannerisms and tastes. He can also be rather squeamish about the people he "have to" kill.

** Many scenes imply that Modesty, in contrast to int he comic strip, never wears any underwear. The effect is somehat ruined by the actress's bra and panties sometimes showing through her clothes.

* AdaptationalNameChange / AdaptationalNationality: Modesty's adopted father in the comics was a Jewish Hungarian scholar named Lob. In the film he's Abu Tahir, an Arab oil sheikh.

* AdaptationalNameChange: Modesty's adopted father in the comics was a Jewish Hungarian scholar named Lob. In the film, he's an Arab oil sheikh named Abu Tahir.

The film is loosely based on the ''ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise'' comic strip created and written by Peter O'Donnell. O'Donnell wrote the scenario for the movie, but the screenplay went through multiple rewrites and the end result differs significantly from the original. Changes range from the relatively trivial, such as hair colour, to a change that horrified the comic strip's fanbase: PlatonicLifePartners Modesty and Willie falling in love and deciding to get married.

* AGlassOfChianti: Gabriel lounges with a glass of ''blue'' wine while dispensing his evil orders.

* PsychoForHire: Mrs. Fothergill. She likes to submit her "minions" to physical exercise and enjoys killing a mime and throwing him off a cliff (it doesn't make much sense in context, anyway).
* RelationshipUpgrade: Modesty and Willie. And the action comes to a halt while they do a song and dance number about it.

* SissyVillain: Gabriel. '''So much'''.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Modesty is blonde and Willie isn't, the reverse of their hair colours in the comic strip. She does change it to her original colour in a couple of scenes, perhaps as a form of lampshading.

* MsFanservice: Monica Vitti