After stealing 10 million dollars in stolen money, Jeff Sutton (Richard Wyler) finds himself on the run in Rio de Janeiro. First, he’s pursued by Sir Masius (George Sanders), a gangster who has as much style and class as he does henchman. And trust me, he has a lot of henchmen. Next, Jeff runs afoul of the enigmatic Sumitra (Shriley Eaton). She’s a cult leader who’s managed to acquire enough wealth and followers to form Femina, a small nation of deadly women with cool sunglasses and skimpy uniforms. Luckily for the men of the world, the insatiable and irresistible Jeff has a few tricks up his sleeve.

As soon as I saw the half-naked woman rolling around on the floor in a smoke machine haze, I said, “Franco! My dude!” The Girl from Rio (1969) is a sumptuously filmed and decadently styled battle of the sexes spoof with hints of James Bond. The army of Femina in their vinyl outfits while toting machine guns is quite a sight to behold. Franco regulars, cinematographer Manuel Merino and composer Daniel White, bring their A game to this horny sporting event of what-the-frickery as luscious shots of Rio’s lovely sunrises are expertly paired with lush smooth jazz.

The first third or so of the film is bubbling with creativity with Franco and company in top form, but then things go awry. The editor relies too heavily on footage from Carnivale to make up for the paltry plot and the awkward dialogue. Then the editor relies on a whole lot of nothing! The space age strangeness of the sets and the ultra-modern locations just get tiresome after I’ve been staring at them for so long. Neither the catchy theme song nor a pair of zooming helicopters can wake me out of my disappointed stupor.

Now I’m not sure if I can spot the precise moment when Jess Franco got bored while making this movie, but it’s in there somewhere! According to Franco expert Stephen Thrower, Jess finished the shooting of this film a week early and started working on the far superior 99 Women (1969) immediately. So instead of actually taking the time to finish The Girl from Rio, Franco just moved on, and this feels just like that.

So, if you’re looking an entry point to get into the madcap world of Jess Franco, don’t start with this one. But if you get hooked on his work, come back around for this one. It’s visually stunning and the beginning has a playfulness to it that is quite charming. But don’t expect the film’s energy to last, because somewhere around the halfway point, this already leisurely paced film shifts into a languid, sleepy gear and never fully recovers. All of this complaining aside, if you are in the mood for Franco and don’t care about the pacing -please note: I am a fan of Oasis of the Zombies (1982), so you can ignore everything I’ve just said- then you will likely have a good time with The Girl from Rio.

Blue Underground’s release of The Girl from Rio is absolutely a thing to celebrate. The colors are explosive and vibrant. The print they scanned for this release must have been in excellent shape (or they did an utterly brilliant job restoring it). You can trash your old DVD of this or give it to a friend who needs a nap. Extras include a commentary with film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth, yet another excellent interview with Stephen Thrower, and an older featurette with Jess Franco, Shirley Eaton, and producer Harry Alan Towers. There are also some clips from the German version of the film AND the Rifftrax Edition!