The Last of the Secret Agents?

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.

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 ****

This is one of the old "B" type films which have been too easily forgotten. I remember this film from my childhood, and had to search for years to find it again. Don't run away because of my rating. This is one of those quirky little 'lost gems' which just didn't rate a sequel. Admittedly, I was more impressed with this film as a child - back before the more modern Star Wars like gadgets of today, but it can still be a fun flick for those of us who like to root for the "underdog" films. Allen and Rossi are a couple of the fun comedians of days gone past. It's unfortunate that they didn't make more movies. Marty Allen is a screwball - to say the least. He goes through the film looking as though he had stuck his finger in a light socket. There is another added bonus to this film. Nancy Sinatra as the girl interest - who is out to land Steve (Rossi). The song of the same name was made for this film - and, unfortunately, has had a far better following. These off-the-wall films are too precious to take no notice. I would like to see this one make it to our TV screens again.

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.

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.