Spies Like Us (1985)

Director:

John Landis

Writers:

Dan Aykroyd (story) &
Dave Thomas (story) ...

Release Date:

6 December 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

With spies like these who needs enemies?

Plot:

Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for Nuclear War.

Plot Keywords:

Missile | Spy | Pentagon | CIA | Pakistan

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Jan. 3

4:00 PM

WGNAMER

Cast

Chevy Chase	...	Emmett Fitz-Hume
Dan Aykroyd	...	Austin Millbarge
Steve Forrest	...	General Sline
Donna Dixon	...	Karen Boyer
Bruce Davison	...	Ruby
Bernie Casey	...	Colonel Rhumbus
William Prince	...	Keyes
Tom Hatten	...	General Miegs
Frank Oz	...	Test Monitor
Charles McKeown	...	Jerry Hadley
James Daughton	...	Bob Hodges
Jim Staahl	...	Bud Schnelker
Vanessa Angel	...	Russian Rocket Crewperson
Svetlana Plotnikova	...	Russian Rocket Crewperson
Bjarne Thomsen	...	Russian Rocket Crewperson

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 (1986) | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Lancaster, California, USA

Company:

AAR Films

Trivia:

Director Trademark: [John Landis] [Looking directly into the camera]Aykroyd's character looks directly into the camera when he realizes how the launched missile can be successfully stopped.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Scrambler by the rocket launcher gives message in Russian presumably automatically translated since originally sent from US military base most probably in English and is translated back in English by Austin absolutely incorrectly. The original text says "... no vacations for personnel until further notice..." and other similar things but there's no word about number sequence and neither instructions on how to handle the launcher control.

Quotes:

Dr. Imhaus: Doctor.
Austin Millbarge: Doctor.
Dr. Imhaus: Doctor.
Emmett Fitz-Hume: Doctor.
[Imhaus exits]
Dr. Marston: Doctor.
Austin Millbarge: Doctor.
Dr. Marston: Doctor.
Emmett Fitz-Hume: Doctor.
[Marston exits]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Family Guy: Spies Reminiscent of Us (#8.3)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

ROCK THE HOUSE DOWN

Straight Up Silly

I bought the DVD of this movie for six dollars. Best deal on a movie I've ever seen. Having been raised in the 90's I missed out on many of those fantastic 80's films. Dan and Chevy really make the movie work. Very few actors could have taken a movie with as little plot as Spies Like Us and turned into a funny soup bowl full of laughs. One more thing, perhaps the funniest scene in any movie happens early on. Where Chevy Chase is cheating on the test...Priceless. If you like over-the-top government action, with hilarious scenes and horrible attempts to hit on beautiful women. You'll love this movie.

If not...Then you need to take a moment to look at your life, relax, and just enjoy something every once in a while.