Covert Action (film)

Last updated
Covert Action
Covacti.jpg
Original movie poster
Directed by Romolo Guerrieri
Written byNico Ducci
Romolo Guerrieri
Mino Roli
Vittorio Schiraldi
Produced by Mihalis Lefakis
Starring David Janssen
Arthur Kennedy
Corinne Cléry
Cinematography Erico Menczer
Edited by Antonio Siciliano
Music by Stelvio Cipriani
Release date
  • 1978 (1978)
Running time
100 minutes
CountriesItaly
Greece

Covert Action (originally released as Sono Stato un Agente C.I.A.) is a 1978 Italian/Greek co-production Eurospy film starring the American actor David Janssen.

Contents

The plot was based on the experiences of former CIA agent Philip Agee [1] who initiated a lawsuit with the producers over his fees and expenses. [2]

Plot

A former CIA agent decides to write about his CIA career that leads him into danger.

Production

The original female lead Catherine Bach dropped out and was replaced with Corinne Cléry. Due to a then new Italian ordinance that prohibited the firing of firearms in Italian movies, gunfire scenes were filmed in Greece. [3]

Cast

Related Research Articles

CIA cryptonyms are code names or code words used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to refer to projects, operations, persons, agencies, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Plame</span> American writer, spy novelist and former CIA officer

Valerie Elise Plame, is an American writer, spy novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer was leaked to and subsequently published by Robert Novak of The Washington Post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Blum</span> American journalist

William Henry Blum was an American author, critic of United States foreign policy and socialist. He lived in Washington, DC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Agee</span> Former CIA officer; author; expatriate American

Philip Burnett Franklin Agee was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer and writer of the 1975 book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, detailing his experiences in the CIA. Agee joined the CIA in 1957, and over the following decade had postings in Washington, D.C., Ecuador, Uruguay and Mexico. After resigning from the Agency in 1968, he became a leading opponent of CIA practices. A co-founder of the CounterSpy and CovertAction series of periodicals, he died in Cuba in January 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Shackley</span> CIA officer

Theodore George "Ted" Shackley, Jr. was an American CIA officer involved in many important and controversial CIA operations during the 1960s and 1970s. He is one of the most decorated CIA officers. Due to his "light hair and mysterious ways", Shackley was known to his colleagues as "the Blond Ghost".

Corinne Cléry, also known as Corinne Piccolo, is a French actress. She is known for the films Moonraker (1979), The Story of O (1975), Hitch-Hike (1977) and Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983).

Operation Gladio is the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU), and subsequently by NATO and the CIA, in collaboration with several European intelligence agencies. The operation was designed for a potential Warsaw Pact invasion and conquest of Europe. Although Gladio specifically refers to the Italian branch of the NATO stay-behind organizations, "Operation Gladio" is used as an informal name for all of them. Stay-behind operations were prepared in many NATO member countries, and some neutral countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intelligence Identities Protection Act</span> United States federal law

The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 is a United States federal law that makes it a federal crime for those with access to classified information, or those who systematically seek to identify and expose covert agents and have reason to believe that it will harm the foreign intelligence activities of the U.S., to intentionally reveal the identity of an agent whom one knows to be in or recently in certain covert roles with a U.S. intelligence agency, unless the United States has publicly acknowledged or revealed the relationship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Directorate of Operations (CIA)</span>

The Directorate of Operations (DO), less formally called the Clandestine Service, is a component of the US Central Intelligence Agency. It was known as the Directorate of Plans from 1951 to 1973; as the Directorate of Operations from 1973 to 2005; and as the National Clandestine Service (NCS) from 2005 to 2015.

CovertAction Quarterly was an American journal in publication from 1978 to 2005, focused primarily on watching and reporting global covert operations. It is generally critical of US Foreign Policy, the Central Intelligence Agency, and capitalism. CovertAction relaunched in May 2018 as CovertAction Magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Welch</span> United States intelligence officer and murder victim (1929–1975)

Richard Skeffington Welch was a career Central Intelligence Agency officer. He was the Chief of Station (COS) in Athens, Greece, when he was assassinated by the Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N). His assassination led to the passage of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, making it a crime to expose or identify officers working in covert roles who had not officially been acknowledged as such by the U.S. government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Valuable</span> Western covert paramilitary operation

Operation Valuable, also known as the Albanian subversion, was one of the earliest covert paramilitary operations in the Eastern Bloc. The main goal of the operation was to overthrow the government of communist Albania.

<i>Black Dawn</i> (film) 2005 American film

Black Dawn is a 2005 American action film directed by Alexander Gruszynski in his feature film directorial debut. It was produced by, and stars, Steven Seagal, who reprises his role as Jonathan Cold. It is a follow-up to the 2003 film The Foreigner.

CounterSpy was an American magazine that published articles on covert operations, especially those undertaken by the American government. It was the official Bulletin of the Committee for Action/Research on the Intelligence Community (CARIC). CounterSpy published 32 issues between 1973 and 1984 from its headquarters in Washington DC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Intelligence Agency</span> National intelligence agency of the United States

The Central Intelligence Agency, known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) and performing covert actions. As a principal member of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States. President Harry S. Truman had created the Central Intelligence Group under the direction of a Director of Central Intelligence by presidential directive on January 22, 1946, and this group was transformed into the Central Intelligence Agency by implementation of the National Security Act of 1947.

<i>Unstoppable</i> (2004 film) 2004 American film

Unstoppable is a 2004 American action film directed by David Carson and starring Wesley Snipes, Jacqueline Obradors, Stuart Wilson and Kim Coates. The film was released in the United States on October 30, 2004.

Haig v. Agee, 453 U.S. 280 (1981), was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the right of the executive branch to revoke a citizen's passport for reasons of national security and the foreign policy interests of the U.S. under the Passport Act of 1926.

At various times, under its own initiative or in accordance with directives from the President of the United States or the National Security Council staff, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has attempted to influence public opinion both in the United States and abroad.

<i>Hitch-Hike</i> (film) Italian film

Hitch-Hike, also known as Death Drive is an Italian crime film directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile. The film stars Franco Nero and Corinne Cléry as a couple in a troubled marriage, and David Hess as a fugitive who takes them hostage. The musical score was written by Ennio Morricone. The film is based on Peter Kane's novel The Violence and the Fury.

Covert Affairs is an American action drama television series filmed in Toronto, Canada, starring Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham that premiered on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. On January 6, 2015, USA Network canceled Covert Affairs after five seasons.

References

  1. [ permanent dead link ]
  2. Agee, Philip On the Run L. Stuart, 1987
  3. "The David Janssen Archive". The David Janssen Archive. Retrieved 2021-05-19.