Sol Madrid (1968)

An Interpol agent (David McCallum) is assigned to find a mob accountant (Pat Hingle) who's stolen $500,000 from the Mafia. His first step is to make contact with a mobster's (Rip Torn) ex-girlfriend (Stella Stevens) who just might know where the accountant is hiding out. But she's not so eager to cooperate. Based on the novel FRUIT OF THE POPPY by Robert Wilder (WRITTEN ON THE WIND) and directed by Brian G. Hutton (WHERE EAGLES DARE). This minor MGM programmer was a second attempt to turn TV's McCallum of THE MAN FROM UNCLE fame into a movie star. There were no more tries after this one. But the movie itself is a surprisingly tough and unsentimental look at the drug trade between Mexico and the U.S. and McCallum's agent is a rather cold blooded prick right down to the film's end credits. There's plenty of action and director Hutton keeps things tight (the running time is a taut 90 minutes). A nice score by Lalo Schifrin propels things along. With Telly Savalas (very good here), Ricardo Montalban, Michael Ansara, Perry Lopez and Paul Lukas.