Modesty Blaise (film)

Modesty Blaise is a 1966 comedy action film directed by Joseph Losey. It stars Monica Vitti as Modesty Blaise, Terence Stamp as Willie Garvin, and Dirk Bogarde as the villain, Gabriel.

The film is loosely based on the Modesty Blaise comic strip created and written by Peter O'Donnell. O'Donnell wrote the scenario for the movie, but the screenplay went through multiple rewrites and the end result differs significantly from the original. Changes range from the relatively trivial, such as hair colour, to a change that horrified the comic strip's fanbase: Platonic Life Partners Modesty and Willie falling in love and deciding to get married.

O'Donnell wrote a novel based on his version of the screenplay, which (unlike the film) was successful and led to many sequels.

This film provides examples of:

 * Adaptation Dye Job: Modesty is blonde and Willie isn't, the reverse of their hair colours in the comic strip.
 * A Glass of Chianti: Gabriel lounges with a glass of blue wine while dispensing his evil orders.
 * Relationship Upgrade: Modesty and Willie. And the action comes to a halt while they do a song and dance number about it.