Title: Anybody seen OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES?
Ian McDowell - April 26, 2008 02:07 AM (GMT)
This 2006 French spoof, a "sequel" to the popular Eurospy series of the 60s, sounds intriguing. It's being shown at the River Run Film Festival in Winston-Salem, NC this Saturday at 4 p.m. I'm already planning to attend A Conversation with Pam Grier at 2, and am wondering if I should try to persuade my friends to stay for this.
http://www.riverrunfilm.com/ Wade Sowers - April 27, 2008 07:21 PM (GMT)
. . . I just noticed your post - sorry I didn't comment earlier . . . hope you stayed around to watch this one . . . it screened to a large and appreciative (they laughed) audience at the Seattle International Film Festival a couple of years ago (it was still playing in France at the time); we found it to be quite funny and enjoyed its attempt to capture the look, music, etc., of those countless euro-spy films of the late 60s, early 70s (although it is set in the 50s so western imperialist/colonialist attitudes of the time can be satirized) . . . we were happy to see it will finally receive a release in the States later this year, and are pretty sure many will enjoy it if expectations are kept within reason . . . the film has a nice added touch in that the French spy seems to exemplify the lack of understanding (or interest) many of us have for other cultures (he seems to have no idea the people of Cairo are not just like the French), and the thoughtless offense we can and do dish out to others - the "hero" is fairly oblivious to pretty much all that is going on around him (think GET SMART) as he interacts with the local population of spies and counter-spies, thinking everything he does is just the right thing to do as he stumbles his way toward a successful conclusion to his mission . . . the "mature audiences" rating in the RIVER RUN program seems harsh - I might have lived in the upper left hand corner of the country too long, but I cannot remember anything in it that would bother any kid I know - I suspect they would find it to be quite funny . . .
Bob Cashill - May 5, 2008 12:37 AM (GMT)
It opens this Friday in NY. I'm game.
August Ragone - May 7, 2008 04:29 PM (GMT)
It opens in San Francisco on Friday, with a special advance screening tonight. Here's the official English-language website:
http://www.oss117movie.com/ Michael Blanton - May 7, 2008 04:54 PM (GMT)
It opens Friday at the Varsity in Seattle.
Brian Camp - May 7, 2008 06:03 PM (GMT)
Wouldn't it have been great if they'd rounded up surviving cast members of the original OSS 117 films and sprinkled them throughout the new one? Think Robert Hossein, John Gavin, Mylene Demongeot, Marina Vlady, Luciana Paluzzi, Elsa Martinelli, Margaret Lee and Luc Merenda.
Come to think of it, in looking through the IMDB cast lists for the OSS 117 movies, I realize I've never actually seen one of these. Did they even play on television back in the day when I was catching all sorts of other French-Italian thrillers from the 1960s? I don't recall and I think I would have noticed if a Euro spy thriller starring Kerwin Mathews--Sinbad and Gulliver and Jack the Giant Killer himself--had turned up on TV.