Synopsis
Struggling with the mounting costs of the ancestral castle, Prince Malko Linge agrees to accept a CIA task which is aimed at targeting, Enrique Chacon, a former Salvadoran terrorist in San Salvador. Chacon is suspected of having set up death squads and bearing a role in the assassination of archbishop Oscar Romero. The more he digs, the more Chacon 戱as at the center of each controversy, leading Malko to do away with the menace as quickly as possible to reunite with his fianc娄, Countess Alexandra.
Cast & Crew
- Director: Raoul Coutard
- Screenplay: Gérard de Villiers
- Producer: Artur Brauner, Raymond Danon, Gérard de Villiers
- Cinematography: Georges Liron
- Music: Michel Magne
Main Cast:
- Miles O’Keeffe as Malko Linge
- Raimund Harmstorf as Enrique Chacon
- Dagmar Lassander as Maria Luisa Delgado
- Anton Diffring as Peter Reynolds
- Sybil Danning as Countess Alexandra Vogel
IMDb Ratings
The film holds an IMDb rating of 3.3/10, based on 220 user reviews, indicating generally unfavorable reception.
Reception
“S.A.S. à San Salvador” ranked 58th at the 1982 French box office, with 738,685 admissions. In Germany, released in early 1983, it garnered 250,871 admissions, ranking 65th for the year.
Personal Insights
The movie aimed to develop a new spy franchise similar to James Bond, but it did not manage to catch the audience’s attention, perhaps because it did not have the right tempo and vigorous action scenes. Miles O’Keeffe’s performance as Malko Linge was not well received, with some reviewers pointing to a missing spy appeal. The film seems to have combined soft romance stories with the spy theme which could have lessened the focus of the storyline.
Cultural Significance
Taking inspiration from Central America’s political turmoil, the film also deals with themes such as political corruption and moral dilemmas that intelligence agents face among other tensions. However, an argument could be made that the film was unsuccessful in depicting these themes which led to it not capturing certain facets of the story as well as many other espionage films during the period.
Availability
As of now, “S.A.S. à San Salvador” is not readily available on major streaming platforms. Interested viewers might find it through specialized retailers or physical media collections.
Conclusion
The economic landscape during the 1980s in El Salvador is best detailed using the lens of ‘S.A.S. à San Salvador,’ a cinematic production which most efficiently reveals the nature of geopolitical conflicts which swept through this region at the time. Though it possibly did not gain the appreciation that other films in the genre did, it is still a film of many who love the 🎥world of espionage and even for those who are studying the growth of cinematic spy stories.