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Eurospy film, orspaghetti spy film (when referring toItalian-produced films in the genre),[1][2][3] is a genre ofspy films produced in Europe, especially in Italy, France, and Spain, that either sincerely imitated or else parodied the BritishJames Bond spy series feature films. The genre was an offshoot of the wider 1960s spy craze that had begun with James Bond films in 1962 and had taken root across the Western world, lasting into the early-to-mid '70s in countries such as the UK.[4] Britain participated in the Eurospy movement it had inspired, albeit spreading its output across lower-budget Eurospy-style copycat media and more serious productions with higher budgets than were typical of the genre.
The first wave of Eurospy films was released in 1964, two years after the first James Bond film,Dr. No, and in the same year as the premiere of what many consider to be theapotheosis of the Bond series,Goldfinger. For the most part, the Eurospy craze lasted until around 1967 or 1968. In Italy, where most of these films were produced, this trend replaced the decliningsword-and-sandal genre. In turn, Eurospy fell out of vogue as thegiallo film rose to prominence and the largestspaghetti westerns were released.[5][6] In the Anglophone world, especially the UK, the wider spy media craze continued for several more years, often with higher production values and a more experimental bent than the moreexploitative subgenre of Eurospy, exemplified by seminal TV seriesThe Prisoner and the psychedelic-themed Bond filmOn Her Majesty's Secret Service.
David Deal and Matt Blake, co-authors of the Eurospy Guide[7] cite 150 examples butSir Christopher Frayling, estimated the number of Eurospy films at 50, and felt that they passed on such traits to theSpaghetti Western as an emphasis on the technology of death, such as special weapons, the anonymity of theprotagonist, the "money = power" equation of the villains and humorous asides that released the audience's laughter after a violent sequence.[8]
For additional verisimilitude, these films often featured American and British stars in the lead roles.[7] The heroes of the films were secret agents who were often given a name similar to "James Bond" (including "Charles Bind", "Charles Vine" and "James Tont", where "Tont" is a pun ontonto which is Italian for "dumb", "stupid"), and/or a code name matching, or similar to, James Bond's "007". Unlike the Italian Eurospy films, most French, British and West German spy films made use of existing literary fictional spies, includingBulldog Drummond,Harry Palmer, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, AKAOSS 117 (who was not based on James Bond but rather had helped to inspire James Bond),Francis Coplan andRolf Torring.
Some European stars and their films were renamed and retitled to cash in on thesuperspy craze. For example,Jesus Franco's or "Jess Frank"'s 1962La Muerte silba un Blues was later retitled077 Operation Jamaica or077 Operation Sexy with starConrado San Martín rechristened "Sean Martin" to evoke images ofSean Connery andDean Martin (who playedMatt Helm). West Germany's fictional heroRolf Torring's filmDer Fluch des Schwarzen Rubin was retitledAgente S3S Operazione Uranio.[9]
So many French and Italian films used "007" thatUnited Artists told the Italian film industry that only James Bond could be 007, and threatened legal action.[10] Working around this restriction, many films were given similar, but legally acceptable, three-digit numbers in their titles such as the Italian-SpanishA 001, operazione Giamaica a.k.a.Our Man in Jamaica (1965) and theSecret Agent 077 trilogy starringKen Clark (Agent 077 – Mission Bloody Mary,Agent 077 From the Orient with Fury, andSpecial Mission Lady Chaplin).008: Operation Exterminate (1965) from directorUmberto Lenzi features the first female Bond-type hero. Lenzi also made three films starringRoger Browne,Superseven chiama Cairo (1965),Last Man to Kill (1966), andThe Spy Who Loved Flowers (1966). Browne was also inPassword: Kill Agent Gordon (1966).
DirectorBruno Corbucci's James Tont series starringLando Buzzanca[11] is the earliest Italian comedy series based on 007.James Tont operazione U.N.O. (1965) features a female character named "Goldsinger" and underwater sequences that echoThunderball. This was quickly followed by the sequelJames Tont operazione D.U.E. a.k.a.The Wacky World of James Tont (1965). Corbucci also wrote the screenplays forKiss Kiss...Bang Bang (1966) and theDerek Flint parodyIl vostro super agente Flit (1966). Another Bond spoof,Two Mafiosi Against Goldfinger, also known asThe Amazing Dr. G (1965), featuresFernando Rey as a criminal mastermind named Goldginger.
CIA agent Bob Fleming is featured in a trio of Italian films,Secret Agent Fireball also titledDa 077: le spie uccidono a Beirut (1965),Killers are Challenged a.k.a.A 077, sfida ai killers (1966), directed byAntonio Margheriti, andFury in Marrakesh, a.k.a.Furia a Marrakech (1966). Margheriti made one other spy film,Lightning Bolt, a.k.a.Operazione Goldman (1966).
Other notable examples includeBerlin, Appointment for the Spies, a.k.a.Spy in Your Eye (Italy, 1965), the FrenchOSS 117André Hunebelle series based on theJean Bruce character andClaude Chabrol'sTiger trilogy (Le Tigre aime la chair fraiche,Le Tigre se parfume à la dynamite, andBlue Panther, a.k.a.Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha), and the West GermanKommissar X andJerry Cotton series. France'sEddie ConstantineNick Carter andLemmy Caution series moved into espionage with several films, includingJean-Luc Godard'sAlphaville (1965).
The FrenchFrancis Coplan novels resulted in six films includingCoplan Saves His Skin (1968).Jean Marais starred in the French-ItalianThe Reluctant Spy (1963) andPleins feux sur Stanislas (1965).Jean-Paul Belmondo was in the French spy spoofThat Man From Rio (1964). American actorRay Danton made two French films,Code Name: Jaguar (1965),Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966), and the Spanish-Italian 007 parodyLucky, el intrépido a.k.a.Lucky, the Inscrutable (1966) directed byJesús Franco. Franco also madeThe Girl from Rio (1969) withGoldfinger'sShirley Eaton in the title role.
Dino De Laurentiis'sinternational co-productionKiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966) was filmed inRio de Janeiro using an American director and an Anglo-American cast (Mike Connors,Terry-Thomas, et al.) and a higher budget than most Eurospy films. Atouchstone of this series of films wasOK Connery, a.k.a.Operation Kid Brother (1967) starringNeil Connery, brother of the then-James Bond actorSean Connery, plus several actors from the official James Bond series. The director,Alberto De Martino, also madeSpecial Mission Lady Chaplin (1966) andThe Spy with Ten Faces (1966) withKarin Dor. She was the first German Bond girl, appearing inYou Only Live Twice (1967).
British actorStewart Granger starred inRed Dragon (1965),Target for Killing (1966) withAdolfo Celi fromThunderball, andRequiem for a Secret Agent (1966) in Italy along withDaniela Bianchi. In addition to the James Bond filmFrom Russia with Love (1963), Bianchi made the Italian spy filmsCode Name: Tiger (1964),Special Mission Lady Chaplin (1966), and two 007 parodies:Balearic Caper (1966), and the previously mentionedO.K. Connery (1967).Sergio Sollima, who directedRequiem for a Secret Agent, also helmed two Bond-like films starringGeorge Ardisson,Agent 3S3: Passport to Hell (1965), andAgent 3S3, Massacre in the Sun (1966). Ardisson made a third Italian spy film,Operation Counterspy (1965).
Marilù Tolo was in seven Italian/French-Italian productions:Espionage in Lisbon (1965),Balearic Caper (1966),Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966),Perry Grant, agente di ferro, a.k.a.The Big Blackout (1966),To Skin a Spy (1966),Judoka-Secret Agent (1966), andCasse-tête chinois pour le judoka (1967). AndLuciana Paluzzi fromThunderball (1965) also made the French-ItalianOSS 117 – Double Agent (1968).
Canadian-American actorLang Jeffries played a secret agent inAgente X 1-7 operazione Oceano (Italy, 1965),Z7 Operation Rembrandt (West Germany–Italy, 1966),Spies Strike Silently (Italy, 1966),The Beckett Affair (France-Italy, 1966),The Killer Lacks a Name (Spain–Italy, 1966), andMexican Slayride (Spain–Italy, 1967).
A post 1960s pair of films based on French authorGérard de VilliersSAS series appeared in the 1980s,S.A.S. à San Salvador (1982) starringMiles O'Keeffe as Malko andEye of the Widow (1989) withRichard Young as Malko.
Daliah Lavi, best known for her two American 007 spoofsThe Silencers (1966) andCasino Royale (1967), was inShots in Threequarter Time a.k.a.Spy Hunt in Vienna andOperation Solo (West Germany, 1965) and British filmsThe Spy with a Cold Nose (1966) andSome Girls Do (1969), starringRichard Johnson. He starred inDanger Route (1967) andDeadlier Than the Male (1967), the latter withSylva Koscina. She made two other British films,Hot Enough for June, a.k.a.Agent8+3⁄4 (1964), that featured a mention of Agent 007 andOur Man in Marrakesh a.k.a.Bang! Bang! You're Dead! (1966) and two Italian productions,That Man in Istanbul (1965) andAgent X-77 Orders to Kill (1966).
Other British-made films includeMaster Spy (1964),The Quiller Memorandum (1966) starringGeorge Segal, andSubterfuge (1968) starringGene Barry.Michael Caine played the spyHarry Palmer inThe Ipcress File (1965), and four sequels. The semi-parodyLicensed to Kill a.k.a.The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World (1965), directed byLindsay Shonteff, featured Bond-like agent Charles Vine. This was followed by two sequels:Where the Bullets Fly (1966), directed byJohn Gilling, and an obscure Spanish productionO.K. Yevtushenko a.k.a.Somebody's Stolen Our Russian Spy (1968). Shonteff went on to direct three more films with a similar spy named "Charles Bind":Number One of the Secret Service (1970),Licensed to Love and Kill a.k.a.The Man from S.E.X. (1979), andNumber One Gun (1990).
In the 21st century,Neal Purvis,Robert Wade,William Davies wrote theJohnny English franchise, a series ofspy-action comedy films starringRowan Atkinson parodying theJames Bondsecret agent genre.
Arabesque,Our Man Flint,The Silencers,Murderers' Row (all 1966),The Ambushers,In Like Flint (both 1967),A Man Called Dagger (1968), andThe Wrecking Crew (1969).
Two French films starringJean Dujardin, 2006'sOSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (set in 1955) and 2009'sOSS 117: Lost in Rio (set in 1967) both recreate the style of the period and parody the spy genre for a new audience.
The AmericanAustin Powers series (1997–2002) of three comedies starringMike Myers are set in the 1960s and 1970s. The trio parodiesJames Bond and other Eurospy films.Michael Caine, as a character similar to his Harry Palmer role (The Ipcress File, et al.), plays Powers' father in the third film,Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).
The Spanish filmAnacleto: agente secreto/Spy Time (2015) reimagines the 1964 comic hero for the screen.
