Spy Hard

Spy Hard Information

Spy Hard is a 1996 American spy comedy film parody starring Leslie Nielsen and Nicollette Sheridan, parodying James Bond films and other action films. The introduction to the movie is sung by comedy artist "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is the first film to be written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.

Plot

Secret agent WD-40 Dick Steele (Leslie Nielsen) has his work cut out for him. Along with the mysterious and lovely Veronique Ukrinsky, Agent 3.14, he must rescue the kidnapped Barbara Dahl and stop the evil genius, a General named Rancor (Andy Griffith), from seizing control of the entire world.

Rancor was wounded in an earlier encounter and no longer has arms. However, he can "arm" himself by attaching robotic limbs with various weapons attached. Steele is talked out of retirement by an old friend, agent Steven Bishop (Robert Guillaume), and given his new assignment by The Director (Charles Durning), who also is testing out a variety of elaborate disguises. At headquarters, Steele encounters an old agency nemesis, Norm Coleman (Barry Bostwick), and flirts with the Director's adoring secretary, referred to as Miss Cheevus (Marcia Gay Harden).

On the job, Steele is assisted by an agent named Kabul (John Ales), who gives him rides in a never-ending variety of specially designed cars. They seek help from McLuckey (Mason Gamble), a blond child, home alone, who is very good at fending off intruders. Steele resists the temptations of a dangerous woman (Alexandra Paul) he finds waiting for him in bed. But he does work very closely with Agent 3.14 (Nicollette Sheridan), whose father, Professor Ukrinsky (Elya Baskin), is also being held captive by Rancor.

Everything comes to an explosive conclusion at the General's remote fortress, where Steele rescues both Barbara Dahl (Stephanie Romanov) and Miss Cheevus and launches a literally disarmed Rancor into outer space, saving mankind.

Cast

Leslie Nielsen as Dick Steele, WD-40
Nicollette Sheridan as Veronique Yukrinsky, Agent 3.14
Charles Durning as The Director
Marcia Gay Harden as Miss Cheevus
Barry Bostwick as Norm Coleman
John Ales as Kabul
Andy Griffith as General Rancor
Elya Baskin as Professor Yukrinsky
Mason Gamble as McLuckey
Carlos Lauchu as Slice
Stephanie Romanov as Victoria and Barbara Dahl
Dr. Joyce Brothers as Steele's Tag Team Member
Ray Charles as Bus Driver
Hulk Hogan as tag-team wrestlers
Roger Clinton as Agent Clinton
Robert Culp as Businessman
Fabio Lanzoni as Himself
Robert Guillaume as Steven Bishop
Pat Morita as Brian the Waiter
Talisa Soto as Woman in bed
Mr. T as a helicopter pilot
Alex Trebek as Agency Tape Recorder (voice)
Taylor Negron as Painter
Curtis Armstrong as Pastry chef
Tina Arning as Dancer #1
William Barillaro as Blind Driver
Michael Berryman as the man with the oxygen mask
Downtown Julie Brown as Cigarette Girl
Stephen Burrows as Agent Burrows
Keith Campbell as Thug #2
Carl Ciarfalio as Thug #1
Brad Grunberg as Postal Worker
Wayne Cotter as Male Dancer
Rick Cramer as Heimlich, Rancor Terrorist
Eddie Deezen as Rancor guard that gets spit on
Joey Dente as Goombah, Dead Wise Guy
Paul Eliopoulos as Agent #1
Andrew Christian English as Paratrooper
Johnny G as Agent #2
Michael Lee Gogin (Brad Garrett, voice) as Short Rancor guard
Bruce Gray as The President
John Kassir as Rancor guard at intercom
Sally Stevens as Vocal conductor/singer
Thuy Trang as a Hawaiian-dressed waitress
"Weird Al" Yankovic as Himself in title sequence

Title sequence

"Weird Al" Yankovic sings the title song and directed the title sequence. It is a parody of title sequences from the James Bond films designed by Maurice Binder, specifically 1965's Thunderball, complete with multiple colored backgrounds, silhouetted figures, women dancing with guns, and "wavy" text. Additionally, an urban legend states that during the recording of the theme to Thunderball, Tom Jones held the song's final note long enough to pass out. Yankovic holds it so long that his head explodes. Originally, Yankovic had planned to loop the note to the required length, but in the studio, he discovered he was able to hold the note long enough that no looping was required. The sequence was later included on "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection, although, for legal reasons, all credits and titles had to be taken out, excluding that of the film and of Yankovic himself.

Reception

Critical reaction

Reviews of Spy Hard were overwhelmingly negative. The film received a "rotten" rating of 8% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 36 reviews and a 3.4/10 rating.

James Berardinelli of ReelViews wrote: "Director Rick Friedberg [...] has crafted a dreadfully unfunny comedy that takes Naked Gun-like sketches and rehashes them without a whit of style or energy. ... And, as far as mocking Bond goes, Spy Hard does a worse job than Casino Royale. ... For movie-after-movie, Leslie Nielsen has milked this same personality, and it's starting to wear very thin. As affable as the actor is, there's just nothing left in this caricature. ... Hard is the operative word here, because, even at just eighty-one minutes, this movie is unbelievably difficult to sit through."

Stephen Holden of New York Times wrote: "Spy Hard is never funnier than during its opening credit sequence in which "Weird Al" Yankovic bellows his parody of the brassy theme song from Goldfinger, while obese cartoon silhouettes swim across the screen. ... Instead of building sustained comic set pieces, it takes a machine-gun approach to humor. Without looking at where it's aiming, it opens fire and sprays comic bullets in all directions, trusting that a few will hit the bull's-eye. A few do, but many more don't. ... Around the halfway point, Spy Hard begins to run out of ideas and becomes a series of crude, rambunctious parodies of other films. ... When Spy Hard abruptly ends after only 81 minutes, you sense that it has used up every last round of available ammunition. It was simply exhausted and couldn't move another inch."

Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "It's done in the style of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker Naked Gun series, but although the style is there, the jokes aren't. Spy Hard relies on silly slapstick, takeoffs of recent films and the shock effect of celebrity cameos. But all that exertion doesn't add up to more than a handful of laughs. ... The story is too weak to work even as a clothesline for gags. Spy Hard eschews a coherent story and instead just strings together movie takeoffs. ... Nielsen, with his expert deadpan and sense of comic timing, creates the illusion of humor -- for about 15 minutes. Thanks to him, what could have been an unbearable experience becomes merely empty. Still, he can't work miracles, and nothing short of a miracle could have made Spy Hard worth seeing."

Box office

The film opened at #3 with $10,448,420 behind Mission: Impossibles opening weekend and Twisters third. It eventually grossed $26,960,191 at the box office.