Les Plus Dingues des Agents Secrets

Just wanted to know if anyone else noticed William Petersen in an uncredited role. He appears in the restaurant/club about thirty or forty minutes in, with blonde hair or streaks. He looks good; appears to be a bouncer. I didn't mind the movie a bit, needs a few more good gags.

My family took us to the drive-in to see this when I was around six years old. Needless to say, I was not quite as tough on it as the junior John Simons around here. In fact, we all thought it was a masterpiece. Well, we didn't say that; but we thought it was funny. My Dad probably even knew the connection to "Your Show Of Shows."

Now it is impossible to see, though I guess it turns up on T.V. now and then. It sounds like the historic significance as a precursor to the now played out "Airplane" school of comedy might make it fun. Martin and Rossi continued to play Vegas for many years after the film. Harvey Korman must have just been getting started.

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.

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 ****

Paramount must have been trying to recapture the success they had with Martin and Lewis by releasing this Allen and Rossi effort a decade after the Martin/Lewis breakup. Marty Allen is a funny guy; anyone who remembers his 70s appearances on "Hollywood Squares" and "The Merv Griffin Show" can attest to that. But the Allen humor does not translate well to film; either that, or the script is just mediocre at best.

There are genuinely funny moments in the film, the best being Harvey Korman's appearance as a German officer. But there are some plain silly moments as well, such as costume changes on board a train every time it goes through a tunnel.

Nancy Sinatra fans will be disappointed in that she doesn't have much to do here...however, she looks as great as ever.