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What if the French had filmed Get Smart? One possible answer is screening at Cinematique: The French spy spoof OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (Le Caire nid d'espions).
Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, alias Agent OSS 117, was the hero of a shelf of French pulp-fiction spy novels, churned out by the dozen in the 1940s and '50s by Jean Bruce.
During the James Bond craze of the early '60s, several of these were filmed as spy thrillers for the French market. Kerwin Matthews, the American-born star of several Ray Harryhausen monster epics (Seventh Voyage of Sinbad), played the intrepid OSS 117 a few times. Ronald Reagan's pal John Gavin (Psycho) even took on the role in 1968 while his Hollywood career was in the doldrums.
All those times, OSS 117 played the game of espionage in deadly earnest. This time, however, our hero's tongue is planted firmly in cheek.
Released in France in 2006, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies was a moderate European hit. A sequel, OSS 117: Rio Does Not Respond, is reportedly in the works for 2009. Directed by French television veteran Michel Hazanavicius, this OSS 117 has the flavor of a Leslie Nielsen Police Squad movie - although, since this is Cinematique, a Police...