Agent for H.A.R.M.

Agent for H.A.R.M.
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Gerd Oswald
Produced by	Joseph F. Robertson
Written by	Blair Robertson
Starring	Peter Mark Richman Carl Esmond
Music by	Gene Kauer Douglas M. Lackey
Cinematography	James Crabe
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	January 5, 1966
Running time	84 mins.
Country	United States
Language	English

Agent for H.A.R.M. is a 1966 science fiction spy thriller (spy-fi) directed by Gerd Oswald and starring Peter Mark Richman. It is one of a number of spy thrillers of the time which have conspicuous sci-fi elements. In this case it is the inclusion of deadly spores which turn human flesh into fungus on contact.

It was originally intended that this film would act as the television pilot for a new spy series. However, it was later decided that it should be given a theatrical release instead. It was initially released as a double feature with Wild Wild Winter.

In 1997 this film was featured on movie-mocking television show Mystery Science Theater 3000, as experiment (episode) #815. The name of the organization, H.A.R.M. (specifically just the acronym), would later be used and parodied in the 2000 video game The Operative: No One Lives Forever and its sequels.

Adam Chance (Peter Mark Richman), works for an American agency, H.A.R.M. (Human Aetiological Relations Machine). He is assigned to protect Dr. Jan Steffanic (Carl Esmond), a recent Soviet defector who has developed a new weapon which fires spores that upon contact with skin slowly eat the body away.

Following Dr Steffanic's arrival in the US he is taken into protective custody by H.A.R.M. and is placed in a beach house along with his niece and Agent Chance to develop a spore antidote. Here he reveals the communists' real plan, which is to dust all of the American crops with these deadly spores. During their time at this house Chance falls for Steffanic's niece Ava Vestok (Barbara Bouchet), who is later revealed to be a communist spy. After the flat is attacked, Dr Steffanic is kidnapped by European spies and taken to a warehouse. Chance eventually rides in and a gun fight ensues in which Steffanic is exposed to the deadly spores in a valiant sacrifice, and dies. Afterwards, Chance re-appears at the beach house and arrests Ava for good.