The seventh and last OSS 117 film released in the movie theaters till the Naughties.
After Ivan Desny,Kerwin Matthews,John Gavin and Frederic Stafford,it's Luc Merenda turn;as he is not very known ,his name appears at the end of the cast and credits ;his -short-lived- moment of glory occurred with the Chateauvallon miniseries ,in the eighties .
"OSS 117 Prend Des Vacances " hits rock bottom: third-rate acting,incoherent screenplay, with a director leaving his "stars" to their own devices, unable to take advantage of the Brazilian landscapes.
We make acquaintance with countess De La Bath (I've almost passed over Edwige Feuillère 's(short) presence ,if only out of respect for the great thespian ),the spy's cousin and the whole family in the desirable castle where Hubert Bonnisseur De La Bath intends to spend hard- earned holidays ;unfortunately,fate has decreed otherwise ,and he is soon on an assignment: stopping a bunch of far-right terrorists who wants to destroy Cuba with a little help of insects(you read well),among others.
The treatment is weird beyond comment: the OSS 117 girls appear and disappear without bringing anything but their physique to the plot:ex-Kirk Douglas'protegee ,Elsa Martinelli ,Genevieve Grad,known as Louis De Funès' daughter in the Gendarme saga ;the villains are ludicrous and as for their henchmen -although we are warned ,in the middle of the movie by lines that explain us,in case we should be too dumb to get it,that killers are watching the lovers - OSS 117 makes short work of them.Editing is amateurish and absurd;some go as far as to write there is a Godard's influence ,à la "Pierrot Le Fou" ,in the use of inserts .
Some wrote it was a spoof :the problem is that it is not funny at all;the parody would be fully realized in the successful "OSS" of the 21st century,both of them starring the talented Jean Dujardin;turn your back on this drivel and do watch them again!
