When the Eight Bells Toll - 1971

I came across this British film on NF and gave it a whirl. Boy am I glad for that decision. A young Anthony Hopkins plays a very confident British secret agent and royal navy officer named Philip Calvert. Calvert knows he is good and pulls off a quiet arrogance equal to 007 himself. He takes no prisoners and he doesn't care is his approach is non-conformant. He doesn't respect his superiors and actually mocks them when sometimes they don't even realize that he is being so brash. After being beat up by a thug Calvert returns to the boat all covered in blood and mud and his secret agent partner says to him "What happened to you?" His response allows us to see an inside look to his egoistic sense of humor "I met a wild gypsy girl in the heather." I absolutely loved Hopkins and veteran British actor Robert Morley in this movie. They ham and egg it back and forth, neither one wasting a line in an effort to help build the character and to show us how different they are even though they both work for the queen. Calvert's one liners are just hilarious. Morley's character is just hilarious- always focused on food and comforting himself. The movie plot is simple- "Calvert must figure out how millions in gold bullion are being pirated. The obvious suspect is a tycoon whose yacht hosts a succession of questionable characters. All hell breaks loose when the yacht's hostess aids the investigation” I am not the only one that likes this movie- the reviews are fantastic. I like how Hopkins plays this role and quit honestly I don't know why he wasn't given a chance to play 007 in the 1970's- he could have done a much better job than Connery did. Hopkins arrogance is brilliant. 4.5 stars for me and a strong recommendation. I watched it with the captions on to catch all the British humor which is so deadpan at times I was missing it.