By the time the coldly efficient Irma Eckman deals with Mr. Bridgenorth — see Youtube link nearby, for as long as it lasts — she has already executed one male with an exploding cigar, pulled out of her garter; another, with her partner Penelope, using spearguns; and an entire planeload of mostly male victims with a bomb, during which the soundtrack plays the soft theme song of the movie.
And therein lies one of the elements that makes the killing of Bridgenorth so sexy. We know what's coming. Even Bridgenorth, whose name she keeps repeating tauntingly throughout the scene, seems to know it. He just can't resist encouraging her to "try."
Why it's so sexy
As the scene opens, Eckman has gained entry to Bridgenorth's apartment and is waiting for him, ominously. He asks how she got in and Ms. Sommer offhandedly holds up a key — smiling politely as if to say, "easily, you schmuck — there was another male who had a key."
This should serve as a warning, but as she removes a lovely stole from her soft shoulders, reminiscent of Jane Fonda's femex scene in Cat Ballou, Sommer has already established roughly where this scene is heading.
Elke Sommer at WOm-WAm
We're firm believers in non-reinvention-of-the-wheel — not to mention, praise for a job well done. One of the best done femme fatale fetish sites on the web is WOm-WAm, and as is so often the case, their review of Ms. Sommer's dispatching of Mr. Bridgenorth, here, is excellent. You can also link to WOm-WAm's general Elke Sommer tribute page, here.
WOm-WAm's conclusion? Ms. Sommer's contribution (with an assist from the lovely Penelope) makes Deadlier than the Male "the epitome" of female sexecution, and Eckman and Penelope, its highest practitioners. We concur.
The suspicious and superior Bridgenorth tells here to leave, and Eckman calmly complies. She makes sure to brush by him,however, as she leaves, expressing her regret that Bridgenorth — who, she says, seemed like a "real man" — was ordering her, the compliant female, to leave so summarily. She looks at the floor submissively, puts down her glass — which we've been watching, thinking it's the weapon — and approaches the door.
Then come the telltale words: "Wait a minute," Bridgenorth observes. (Note, he is still using the command form. But we know what is really happening is, petition. Don't I get a romantic encounter out of this? Can't I, the male, exploit the female?)
"No need to be hasty"
"No need to be hasty," he continues, feigning a cool analytical approach, with a double-entendre reference, perhaps, to premature ejaculation.
(The very name Bridgenorth, as WOm-WAm observers, evokes subliminal references to the power of male erection... bridge... needle, pointing north... This, in turn, gives the repeated citation of his name by Eckman and Penelope a lovely, mocking quality. "Penis envy? Phah. You, Mr. Male, are an X-Box, and your little thing there is my game controller.")
And then, hopefully: "You could always try persuading me..."
If simply for her work up to this point, Ms. Sommer would deserve a special femex seductress award. But in her actual administration of a drug as they kiss — followed by her explaining Bridgenorth's fate to him — and rolling the victim off the penthouse balcony to his death — Ms. Sommer takes this scene to even... ( continued here ).
