Questi pazzi agenti segreti!

This little spy spoof has been universally put down by the critics. One wonders if any of them actually saw it or just read the credits. This ahead-of-its-time little picture is very much the precurser of the Zucker/Brooks school of many years later, with many inspired, singularly off-beat gags.

Marty Allen and Steve Rossi have been described as everything from a couple of borscht-belters who got lucky, to the ultimate '60's Vegas lounge act, to the poor man's Martin and Lewis. I don't know much about that, but I do know that they're very funny here, Rossi sometimes more so than Allen, whose whiney delivery ("Hello, dere[sic]!") tends to grate sometimes. The late John Williams ("Some of the great popular songs were actually written by the great masters" for you retromercial fans!) was one of those actors who could shine in a broom closet, and he doesn't disappoint here. Neither does Theo Mercuese, who could play some of the slimiest villains of all time (Remember "The Night of the Bottomless Pit" on the original "Wild, Wild West?" A tru e classic.). He plays one with a light touch here, and does so delightfully.

A hidden alternate comedy treasure. If you can't find the video, look for it on American Movie Classics, where it's run fairly frequently.

In 'The Last of the Secret Agents,' Marty Allen and Steve Rossi end up being recruited by a very secret organization to help stop the evil force known as THEM. The evil genius behind THEM has managed to find the missing arms of the Venus Di Milo, so now he wants the rest of the statue. There are some sequences here that are very funny. The scene in which Allen and Rossi discuss marriage was my favorite. Most of the best gags in the film are in the style that would later be perfected in movies like 'Airplane' and 'The Naked Gun: from the files of Police Squad.' There are, however, plenty of sequences where the gags just plain bomb. Marty Allen seems to have gone to the Joe Besser school of comedy (shave his head and he'd almost look just like Besser). His buggy eyes and constant whining are probably not everybody's taste, but he does have some very funny moments. Nancy Sinatra sings the title tune, but her role in the film is pretty much a glorified cameo.

Art thieves in France are in for trouble when a couple of clumsy American tourists-turned-spies (Steve Rossi and Marty Allen) are assigned to expose their operation. Loud, poorly-written slapstick comedy might appeal to Three Stooges or Martin & Lewis fans. It isn't a bad-looking film, but it's shrill instead of funny. Director Norman Abbott (who also co-wrote the script and produced!) seems to really believe Marty Allen is the next Jerry Lewis or Lou Costello (he isn't) and there's far too much of him. Linking this to later spoofs like "The Naked Gun" is really doing this movie a favor. It has some snap, but it's a bit long and bumbling. Good supporting cast features Nancy Sinatra, who also sings the title cut penned by Lee Hazlewood (which is more clever than anything else in the picture). *1/2 from ****

As a kid, I really enjoyed this movie. But that was the 70s. While still having positive feelings for it, that is from memory. I don't blame Allen and Rossi. Their humor did not translate to the big screen and were let down by a script written by someone who had no understanding of the spy genre, nor how to spoof it. It seems to me you have to have a plot that makes sense within the context of the story and then introduce humorous characters and twists that have no business being there. After an entertaining opening sequence, which goes on a bit longer than it should, the first half hour is fun, introducing Allen and Rossi and setting up the story. What follows after is slow, unfunny and nonsensical. More staid 50s than the hip 60s. Too bad Mel Brooks wasn't brought in to save it.

I really enjoyed this movie. Don't listen to the critics. The few reviews I've seen bash this film. I watched it before seeing any reviews and thought it was great. It's like a cross between Abbot & Costello and a Mel Brooks film with a little Marx Brothers thrown in there. The intro to the film was genius. You couldn't see anyone's face.

The first half hour is awesome, then it slows down a bit. Still, there's tons of slapstick nonsense comedy running through the film. Plus, there's a scene in a restaurant that I don't even want to talk about because I loved it too much. It's worth a look.