Melissa McCarthy is lugging the lols to cinemas all over Ireland in her side botheringly hilarious caper ‘Spy’. She is back to her foul mouthed best in this calamitous tale of espionage and slapstick silliness and it got me to thinking of some of the best spy comedies of all time.
Casino Royale (1967)
For those of you who are confused by the idea of a "Casino Royale" film in the 60s, here's a brief history. Basically, 2 production companies had the rights to different Bond books to adapt to the screen. One was run by Albert Broccoli who made "Dr. No" and cemented Sean Connery as a sexy sexy man. The other was still in the process of developing "Casino Royale" and seeing that they couldn't directly compete with Sean Connery, decided to make their film into a spoof of Bond. The result is glorious mess that manages to gleefully misuse some of the most talented minds in Hollywood (Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, and ORSON WELLES)
True Lies (1994)
Proving that James Cameron isn’t just about tall blue lads and sinking ships, True Lies sees Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis spark up some wonderful chemistry. It chronicles the exploits and problems of a man leading two disparate lives. By day Harry Tasker is a mild-mannered computer salesman with a wife and teenage daughter. But at other times, he is a high-ranking spy living on the edge. His wife hasn't a clue that he and his partner Gib are constantly in danger. After Tasker begins to suspect her of infidelity, he uses every trick in the book to verify his suspicions. It also gives us the chance to watch this again...
Austin Powers (1997)
Mike Myers was responsible for 60% of all the catchphrases we used to make us look ‘funny’ in the 90’s. Having made us shawinggg with Wayne’s World, he donned his velvet communion suit to pay hilarious homage to James Bond. No Bond cliche was left unpoked and so successful was the lampoon that it’s now impossible to look at the older movies without a wry smile.
Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind (2002)
Game show television producer Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) is at the height of his career. His creation, "The Dating Game," is one of the network's top shows and he has just been given the post of hosting his latest brainchild, "The Gong Show." But what the public and industry big-wigs are unaware of is that Chuck Barris, game show pioneer, is also a covert assassin. He works for the C.I.A. and claims to have killed 33 people. George Clooney in yet another brutal act of one-upmanship for us mortal men kicked off his directing career with this smart, slick and dark as night comedy.
Top Secret (1984)
Popular and dashing American singer Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) travels to East Germany to perform in a music festival. When he loses his heart to the gorgeous Hillary Flammond (Lucy Gutteridge), he finds himself caught up in an underground resistance movement. Rivers joins forces with Agent Cedric (Omar Sharif) and Flammond to attempt the rescue of her father, Dr. Paul (Michael Gough), from the Germans, who have captured the scientist in hopes of coercing him into building a new naval mine. From the Zucker Abraham Zucker yay team, the magnificent minds that brought us Airplane, they have again taken aim at every movie genre and it’s clichés with grin gun. Val Kilmer plays it straight and straight up hilarious as Rivers and in a film often overlooked because of its ariel ancestor it is hard to pick my favourite moment but one of many would have to be the introduction of the resistance fighter named Deja Vu ("Haven't we met somewhere before?"). Classic!
