SPIES LIKE US
US, 1985, 102 minutes, Colour.
Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, Donna Dixon, Bruce Davison, Bernie Casey, William Prince, Frank Oz.
Directed by John Landis.
Spies Like Us is an entertaining comedy. It was co-written by director John Landis with and Babaloo Mandel, the team responsible for such comedies as Ron Howard's Night Shift, Splash and Gung Ho.
John Landis began with eccentric comedies and directed such films as National Lampoon's Animal House, The Blues Brothers as well as such comedies as Into the Night, Trading Places and has dabbled with comic horror with An American Werewolf in London and an episode in Twilight Zone, The Movie.
The film is also a star vehicle for Chevy Chase and for Dan Aykroyd who collaborated with the script. (Aykroyd had worked with Landis in Trading Places, The Blues Brothers, as well as guesting in Twilight Zone and Into the Night.
The film has the usual theme of bumblers being used by the CIA as decoys. There is a clash with the Russians. However, the inept spies win out in the end - with the help of the attractive Donna Dixon.
A number of character actors have guest roles including Bruce Davison and William Prince. At one stage Rob Lowe moves through playing golf!
The film is interesting insofar as it reflects the build-up of military hardware in the U.S. and the USSR, especially the possibilities of the Star Wars shield development. By the end it seems almost inevitable that World War Three will have broken out and that the world will have become a nuclear victim. The heroes thwart the exploding of the nuclear warhead with split-second timing; (a bit like James Bond, both Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again and Roger Moore in Octopussy).
1. An entertaining American style comedy? Of the 1980s? Spoofing the CIA, the military? The serious themes of nuclear destruction and World War Three?
2. The work of Dan Aykroyd and John Landis? Their work in spoofs, satire? The use of character actors and guest stars?
3. The focus on the U.S., on Washington? On Nevada and the technological plant and facilities for weaponry? Space? The contrast with Asia, Afghanistan, USSR (and the effectiveness of Moroccan and Norwegian locations)? The bright and atmospheric score?
4. The cinema allusions and the entertainment for film buffs? The range of famous directors who take part in the film e.g. Terry Gilliam as a doctor in Afghanistan, Costa Gavras as one of the Russian rogue police, Michael Apted, Larry Cohen as Ace Tomato agents? Rob Lowe coming through? The humorous posters in the Russian outpost - Reds and Dr Zhivago? The clips from the '50s musical, She's Working Her Way Through College with Virginia Mayo and Gene Nelson - and Ronald Reagan popping up singing (and Reagan getting a credit in the film as the President of the United States)?
5. Ruby and Keys and their administrative style, the courier arriving and the putting him in the cupboard, the Generals arriving and their plans? Espionage and expediency? The plan for the decoys? Ruby and Keys' trip to Nevada, their ineptness and the Pepsi Cola joke, their descent down to the facility, watching the confrontation, denying any complicity? The comments on the spies and bureaucracy? Decoys and their
dispensability?
6. The satire on the military, the tough Generals, their tactics, plant, plans and deceits, manoeuvring the United States into war? Power? Their arrest?
7. The recruiting of the decoys? The blackmailing of them? The tests? Their training - and the spoof of such films as An Officer and a gentleman with all the things that could go wrong? The irony of their trainer being called Lazarus?
8. The military situation: the prologue with the warhead moving through the forest, the spies needed, the 21 year training for the authentic spies, the warheads and their being used, detonated, being contrived to get the United States to attack? The irony of the errors and the rectifying of the bomb by ordinary people? Being able to save the world from nuclear destruction?
9. Chevy Chase and his understated laconic humorous style? Fitzhume and his not doing any work, watching the Ronald Reagan movie? Decision to take the test? His performance during the test - his injuries, the range of cheating? The blackmail, going into training? The arrival in Pakistan? The operation and the range of doctors - and the humour on medical films? The escape? Disguise, travelling on the bus, the trek? His giving up? The encounter with the Russian police? His being rescued - Hi Ho Silver? The watching the Russian spies, the attack on the rocket? The waiting for the end of the world and the group's pairing off? His attraction towards the doctor? Helping with the detonating of the warhead? The ironic ending with the Trivial Pursuit game between Americans and Russians at Geneva - and his being the spokesperson?
10. The contrast with Dan Aykroyd's comic style? His being a decoder, knowledge of languages, skills? The test and his being victimised but collaborating with Fitzhume? The interrogation? The humour of the details of the training? In Afghanistan, trying to do the operation? On the bus? The horses, the escape, rescuing Fitzhume? The pairing with the Russian spy? His realisation of the solution and his saving the world?
11. The American and, Russian spies? The covers in Pakistan? The reactions of the tribes? The two decoys and their encounters with the tribes? The need for a successful operation? (And the humour of the doctor, doctor, doctor routine?) The reality of espionage, the death of the genuine spy? The doctor and her, trying to complete the mission? The Russians - and their dancing in the snow? The collaboration with the Americans?
12. Spies like us - on both Russian and American sides?
13. The comic routines, the verbal patter, the ironies, jokes? The mugging?
14. The serious undertones of the CIA, the military, the militarism of America and Russia? The reality of nuclear warheads, their development, the irresponsibility of people using them - and the hope that ordinary people can defuse them?
