Jean Bruce Movies

OSS 117: Cairo -- Nest of Spies constitutes the eighth installment in a long-running series of movies about OSS 117 (the government code name for Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath) -- a French super-spy and European equivalent of James Bond. The creation of author Jean Bruce, OSS eventually starred in over 265 novels and seven cinematizations through 1970. The first seven film outings were sober and straight-faced; the eighth go-round (the first after a 38-year lapse) does a 180 to shamelessly poke fun of the rules established by the genre. A glib yet intelligent spoof, it joins the ranks of Our Man Flint (1965), Aghaye Hallou (1970), Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street (1984), and other international pictures that glibly satirize the subgenre made infamous to Americans by Bond; like Mad Mission 3, it even packs in an OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin) with a startling resemblance to Sean Connery. The film's comic conceit involves making OSS 117 arrogant, conceited, culturally insensitive, chauvinistic, and thoroughly moronic (he pretends that various cultural institutions and religious practices, for instance, are nonexistent if he is unfamiliar with them); yet the character somehow manages to slide through outrageously dangerous situations unscathed, time and again. The teaser prologue finds OSS 117 in Berlin, where he outwits the Nazis by stealing vital documents from them, hijacks an Axis plane in mid-nosedive, and saves himself and the craft at the last yawning moment. Ten years later, he journeys from Rome to Cairo, where he investigates the death of a fellow agent, posing as the proprietor of a chicken farm. His "side" activities during this jaunt involve hammering out a peace arrangement for the Middle East, keeping tabs on the Suez Canal, and monitoring the Russians. Jean-François Halin scripted the film, maintaining an utterly deadpan tone throughout; Michel Hazanavicius directed. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

When a U.S. marine is reported missing, five CIA operatives are sent to Hong Kong to investigate the soldier's disappearance in this spy actioner. Art Sean Flynn leads the group into a nightclub where they tear the place apart looking for clues that will lead them to the missing man. The group is kidnapped and drugged before being introduced to a Harvard-educated madman. The scientist freezes his victims before brainwashing them and hopes to sell his process to an enemy of the United States. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Agent OSS 117 Frederick Stafford tries to stop a group of terrorists who plan to bomb an unnamed Far East country in this routine spy story. The villains demand money from the United States and threaten to launch missiles armed with atomic bombs unless their terms are met. Marina Vlady co-stars with Henri Serre and Inkijinoff in this fourth in a series featuring OSS 117. The lucky agent gets a bath from a bevy of Japanese beauties before taking on a sword-wielding Samurai. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide