Kiss Kiss... Bang Bang

From what I had watched of the so-called "Eurospy" comedy-thrillers which emerged in the wake of the James Bond extravaganzas had always been relatively middling affairs; this is one of the more popular examples and, though still essentially patchy, is admittedly above par for this sort of thing. Director Tessari and co-stars Giuliano Gemma and Nieves Navarro (better-known as Susan Scott) followed the highly-successful two-film series of "Ringo" Spaghetti Westerns with the title under review; interestingly, apart from Tessari, the script was penned by two other future film-makers – namely Bruno Corbucci and Fernando Di Leo – and the same would be the case for the movie's producer i.e. Luciano Ercoli (coincidentally enough, Navarro/Scott's spouse)! Anyway, the film is generally entertaining – yet, with a length of 112 minutes, a hectic pace and an anything-goes attitude which actually anticipates that official maligned Bond spoof CASINO ROYALE (1967), it emerges a decidedly overblown concoction! Amusingly, it all starts with the hero in prison and set for the hangman's noose; however, he will be pardoned by his nemesis – a bald-headed and rotund inspector prone to belly laughs! – if he successfully carries out a spy mission…for which his sole condition involves recruiting the aid of a dashing acrobat, a nimble (if wacky) safecracker and an aging security-systems wizard. Eventually, and not atypically, both the very man who gave him the assignment (Georges Rigaud) and his own girlfriend (Navarro) turn out to be after the obligatory "McGuffin" themselves!; also embroiled in the intricacies, in the hero's corner, are a veteran Mata Hari-like spy, her kooky female relative, their parrot (who is entrusted with the all-important formula!) and, on the other side, a karate-practicing heavy (perhaps a nod to GOLDFINGER [1964]'s Harold "Oddjob" Sakata). As with the Bond movies, the climax is an extended chase/fight sequence that goes all the way from a fairground setting to a castle battlements. Finally, while kind of trivial in itself, Bruno Nicolai's score admirably fits the playful mood on display throughout.

Ex-secret Agent Kirk Warren (played by Giuliano Gemma, Italian star of the Spaghetti Western "Ringo" movie series) has been imprisoned for trying to steal $1,000,000 of government money. He is spared, however, when they decide to send him to Switzerland on his most dangerous mission yet: He must steal a secret formula and expose the corrupt Doctor X! This film, a straight up satire ala Jess Franco's "Lucky The Inscrutible" or "Austin Powers", is really somewhat hit or miss with the jokes but is salvaged by a good performance from Gemma, a great score by composer Bruno Nicolai and a decent supporting cast. I give the movie a 7 despite it's sometimes dry gags (the score gets a 9!).

Duccio Tessari's "Kiss kiss, bang bang", one of the funniest Italian parody of the late '60s(Tessari and Corbucci will be linked to this genre forever..),is a sort of spy-movie in which Giuliano Gemma(or Montgomery Wood?;))plays the role of an intellectual (and extremely simple..)version of Connery's James Bond ("thunderball" was made in 1965). The movie reminds me a Disneyland attraction:the "world" the director (and the writers:Tessari/Corbucci/Di Leo)offer us is mad,senseless,confused,but it seems to be based on a series of strong, basic rules that give it coherence and truth. That's why it seems to anticipate,of about 30 years,the best Wes Anderson's inventions and collaborate to the birth of the so-called post-modern cinema.