Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Fresh and Exciting

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This one has some Giallo elements (the title with the colour in it, a mysterious murder, loads of style) but may well be one of them spy-thriller type things too (I know nothing about that genre). I'll tell you one thing, though - it's a bit of patience-stretcher even though it's gorgeous looking.A woman reports her husband missing while on holiday in Rome while a tramp finds a corpse propped up at the Trevi Fountain. A handsome American reporter gets involved with both cases (especially as the woman is his ex!) and starts to find links between them. Meanwhile, two burglars find they've burgled an already ransacked flat but find a strange package in the heel of a shoe. Also there's a fat guy going around spying on folks and there's a cop with a bad stomach also on the case. And the mafia too - I forgot about them. And a hooker. And another one of the reporter's ex-girlfriends. And another one of them too. And an ex-drug addict painter.The woman lists all the people she knows in Rome: a strange couple and an even stranger old man who kept pestering her husband. After a flashback at the Coliseum, and a visit to the Cinecitta (where an extremely camp man comes onto our reporter!), everyone heads off to Venice to catch up with the mystery there.As I said, this is a very fine looking film and not too bad a mystery, but considering the other films surrounding it chronologically it could have used a bit more bite, and probably a better explanation (more than "So THAT's who it was"). I still have no idea who the fat guy was in relation to anything else, and he tried to kill the hero about ten times! Maybe I wasn't listening. There are a few twists in here that are pretty good, and the death of the killer turns up in Argento's Cat O Nine Tails (and I'm gonna come right out and say it, a lot of stuff from these early films turns up in Argento's films, but who cares?).I wish they wouldn't smoke so much in these films. I used to love smoking in Rome - nothing better than a 'Diana' or an 'L&M' on a veranda at night listening to all them cars beeping at each other. Best way to end a hard day's sightseeing and eating. I used to always hit my head of the shutters on the way back in because I was too stupid to lift them up high enough. Now it's caravans in Flamborough and weak lager and fresh air.

A body is found near a famous landmark in Rome. At the same time an American goes missing and his wife, "Shelley North" (Cyd Charisse) wants to find him. So she turns to an old flame named "Dick Sherman" (Hugh O'Brien) who happens to be an editor for the local newspaper, "the Rome-American Daily". During the course of his unofficial investigation he comes upon drugs, espionage, gambling and murder. Anyway, while not the best mystery film ever made, this movie still has enough twists and turns to keep most people interested for the most part. I thought Hugh O'Brien turned in a decent performance as did Cyd Charisse to a lesser degree. Again, while it certainly wasn't a blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination it was decent for the period in which it was made and I think most people who enjoy films of this genre will probably be satisfied. All in all I rate it as about average.

If "Assassination In Rome" feels a bit slow at times, and it does, it's probably because it places value in the now often considered old-fashioned principle of plot progression: it is a step-by-step investigation which probably grows more complex than you'd expect and leads to a pretty crazy ending. But even during the slower moments, there is the iconic Rome (and Venice) scenery to keep your interest. The direction is mostly standard, but it does have one nice touch: a photograph coming to life. My one main complaint is this: how can you have the woman with perhaps the most famous legs in film history as the lead in your film and keep those legs covered up 99% of the time? I don't care if Cyd Charisse was getting a bit on in years in 1965, I know that those legs were still fantastic. Anyway, "Assassination In Rome" qualifies as a mild recommendation for both mystery and spy fans. **1/2 out of 4.

While on an extended vacation in Rome, Shelley North's (Cyd Charisse) husband goes missing. The embassy can provide no real assistance, so she turns to an old flame and successful journalist, Dick Sherman (Hugh O'Brian), for help. Shelley's husband seems to have been living something of a double life involving blackmailers, drugs, and international secrets. And someone will stop at nothing to make sure Shelley's husband isn't found.You might think that a plot that includes heroin trafficking, murder, stolen blueprints, kidnapping, and extortion would make for an exciting movie. In the case of Assassination in Rome, you'd be dead wrong. It would be hard to make a more lifeless movie with so much potential. The problem is that for ¾ of the movie, nothing happens. People go to lunch, women wear fabulous clothes, and everyone talks. But all the action is left off-screen and we're left with pointless melodrama. And then there's that sickening love-themed soundtrack that accompanies most of the movie. You can bet that anytime Cyd Charisse and Hugh O'Brian are on screen together, you're going to hear that same old schmaltzy score. Ugh! I'll give O'Brian some credit – at least he appears to be trying to make this stinker more palatable. Unfortunately, he doesn't get any help from Charisse who seems terribly out of sorts as if disinterest has taken over her whole body.Don't misunderstand, Assassination in Rome is far from being terrible. In fact, many of the set pieces work quite well. The final ¼ of the movie does provide a few chills and a suspenseful moment or two. And the shots of the Rome and Venice locations, circa 1965, are a real treat. My favorite had to be a scene that included the outside entrance to Cinecittà studios.