OSS 117: new film due in January

[Kristatos]

I don't know if anyone here is familiar with the OSS 117 film series (France's answer to James Bond), but the new film Lost in Rio is due for a UK release on January 15th, according to IMDb. No US general release date has been given, but it was premiered at the American Film Market on November 5th, so hopefully it will have picked up a distributor there.

From the AFM lineup:

Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, aka OSS 117, is the French spy considered by his superiors to be the best in the business.

The year is 1967 - he's been sent on a mission to Rio de Janeiro, to find a former high-ranking Nazi who went into exile in South America after the war. His eventful investigation takes him all across Brazil, from Rio to Brasilia and the Iguazu Falls, accompanied by a charming Mossad agent who is also looking for the Nazi.

The man is charming, and so is the young woman. Set to the strains of bossa nova, their tale is by turns an adventure and a love story

Probably the crappest synopsis ever - it reads like it was translated from the original French by BabelFish. Hopefully the film will be better!

[Dr. No]

This is a new film? I vaguely remember the old series but I never watched them.

Looked it up. I guess there wasn't an old series I have OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies in my netflix instant queue. I haven't watched it yet mainly because I thought it was an old series.

imdb show 2 movies OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions (2006) & OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus (2009)






Will you be watching the new one Kris? Was the first one any good?

[Kristatos]

I haven't actually seen any of them, and don't know that much about them. I know they had their fans on afjb before that group got completely taken over by spammers, so I thought maybe some people here might be interested too.

I believe they were an old series created in the '60s - when everyone was jumping on the Bondwagon - and recently revived, but I wouldn't swear to that.

[Dr. No]

Funny, I found reviews that say it is the French answer to Austin powers and others say James Bond. i may try it over thanksgiving

[Kristatos]

Funny, I found reviews that say it is the French answer to Austin powers and others say James Bond.

Well, I have seen them described as "spy spoofs", which suggests something in between, maybe like the Flint films - tongue-in-cheek, but not necessarily out-and-out comedies.

[Kristatos]

From Wikipedia:

The film is a continuation of the OSS 117 series of spy films from the 1950s and 1960s, which were in turn based on a series of novels by Jean Bruce, a prolific French popular writer. However, instead of taking the genre seriously, the film parodies the original series and other conventional spy and Eurospy films, most noticeably the early James Bond series right down to the cinematography, art direction and costume of the 1960s. For example, driving scenes are all filmed with obvious rear projection and camera movements are simple, and avoid the three-dimensional Steadycam and crane movements that are easily accomplished today.

[Dr. No]

it does sound like fun

I almost wonder if it won't be a sort of a blueprint for what Bond should have done in the reboot but didn't. Obviously avoiding the comedy

[carl stromberg]

Kristatos wrote:
I haven't actually seen any of them, and don't know that much about them. I know they had their fans on afjb before that group got completely taken over by spammers,

You haven't been buying cheap shoes and taking up all those money making offers then!

[katied]

I may have to check it out..especially if it's less silly than Austin Powers

[James]

John Gavin was in one of these unless I'm mistaken. Later signed to play Bond in DAF but had his contract bought out when Connery was persuaded to return

[Kristatos]

John Gavin was in one of these unless I'm mistaken. Later signed to play Bond in DAF but had his contract bought out when Connery was persuaded to return

Indeed he was: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0062099/

[Omega]

What would it have been like if he stayed past DAF? Would they have still gone silly without Moore?

[Kristatos]

What would it have been like if he stayed past DAF? Would they have still gone silly without Moore?

I suspect that even if Dalton had signed for OHMSS and stayed on until LTK (unlikely, I know, I'm talking purely hypothetically here), the '70s Bonds would still have gone the camp route. That was what audiences apparently wanted at the time.

[James]

[Kristatos]

The new film is out in the UK tomorrow, BTW.