8/10
CHEER! - (8 stars out of 10)
4 February 2019
The stage curtains open ...

Before Roger Moore was James Bond 007, he was Simon Templar, "The Saint". This 1968 film, "The Fiction-Makers", is such a fun movie to watch. It really is escapism that is campy, intelligent, and memorable. Originally shown on TV in two different episodes, they were combined for a cinema release and is now commonly packaged as a full-length movie.

Simon is asked to protect and look after a best-selling adventure novelist, a recluse woman who writes under the pseudonym of Amos Klein. And he arrives not a moment too soon as they are both abducted and taken to a veritable fortress under the control of a man who calls himself Warlock. Warlock is an obsessed fan of Klein's work, and has taken every idea she has written in her novels and brought them to life. Thinking that Templar is Klein, he forces them to assist him in planning and executing a daring heist that only his favorite novelist would be able to pull off.

For having been made in the late 60's, this film actually holds up pretty well. Moore shows off his usual wit and charm, and it is easy to see in this film why he was considered to fill the shoes of 007 after Connery and Lazenby. There is plenty of humor here as well that will generate a laugh or two along the way. And at the end of it all, you will be smiling ear to ear. "The Fiction-Makers" is a guilty pleasure - a lost gem.

I highly recommend this one. It took me a long time to find it again for my own personal collection, but now that I have it, I'll never let it go.
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