Eurospy films is a nickname for the genre of European films that imitated and spoofed the James Bond 007 series of films. The Eurospy genre was highly prolific in the years from the end of 1964 when Goldfinger (film) was released until 1967 following the release of You Only Live Twice (film) or the demise of the international popularity of the sword and sandal genre and the rise of the spaghetti western. They often featured American and British stars in the lead.^[1] Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond, also known as 007 (pronounced double-oh seven), is a sophisticated fictional character and British spy created by writer Ian Fleming. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... Goldfinger is the third film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Sean Connery as the MI6 agent. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... For the Ian Fleming novel, see You Only Live Twice. ... D. W. Griffith set out to depict the splendor of ancient Babylon in Intolerance. ... Once Upon a Time in the West, in true Sergio Leone style, ends with an extended shootout scene between Harmonica (Charles Bronson) and Frank (Henry Fonda). ...

Some European stars and their films were renamed and retitled to cash in on the superspy craze. For example Jesus Franco's or "Jess Frank"'s 1964 La Muerte Silba un Blues was later retitled 077 Operation Jamaica or 077 Operation Sexy with star Conrado San Martin rechristened "Sean Martin" to evoke images of Sean Connery and Dean Martin (who played Matt Helm). Germany's fictional hero Rolf Torring's film Der Fluch des Schwarzen Rubin was retitled Agente S3S Operazinie Uranio.^[2] The genre of spy fiction — sometimes called political thriller or spy thriller or sometimes shortened simply to Spy-fi — arose before World War I at about the same time that the first modern intelligence agencies were formed. ... Jesus (or Jess) Franco (born May 12, 1930 as Jesús Franco Manera) is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. ... Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born August 25, 1930) is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, and BAFTA Award-winning Scottish actor and producer who is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in cinema, starring in seven Bond films. ... Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, film actor, television personality, and comedian. ... Matt Helm as depicted on the back cover of The Wrecking Crew, 1960 Matt Helm, a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton, is a U.S. government counteragent—a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary...

Notable examples are the French OSS 117 André Hunebelle series based on the Jean Bruce character ^[3] and Claude Chabrol's Tiger series, the German Kommissar X and Jerry Cotton series, and various Italian imitations such as an "Agent 077" series with various actors in the lead, Bruno Corbucci's "James Tont" series starring Lando Buzzanca^[4] and "OK Connery" starring Sean Connery's younger brother Neal and various people who appeared in the actual James Bond series. Dino De Laurentiis's Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die was filmed in Rio de Janeiro using an American director as well as American and British stars and featured a higher budget then most Eurospy films. André Hunebelle was a French director born September 1, 1896 in Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine), died 27 November 1985 in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes). ... Jean Bruce born Jean Brochet on 22 March 1921 was a prolific French popular writer who died in 26 March 1963 in a car accident. ... Claude Chabrol (French IPA: ) (born June 24, 1930, Paris) is a French film director and has become well-known since his first film, Le Beau Serge (1958) for his chilling tales of murder, including Le Boucher (1970). ... Kommissar X or Commissioner X is a German crime fiction series of books from the Pabel Moewig publishing house. ... Jerry Cotton is the fictional FBI-agent in a series of Crime novels by many different writers in German-speaking countries, and this was the most commercially successful series with approximately 850 million copies sold. ... Bruno Corbucci (October 23, 1931-September 7, 1996) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. ... Lando Buzzanca (Palermo, August 24, 1935), is the real name of italian comedy actor Gerlando Buzzanca, a movies, television and theater star. ... OK Connery is a 1967 Italian spoof of the James Bond series of films. ... Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born August 25, 1930) is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, and BAFTA Award-winning Scottish actor and producer who is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in cinema, starring in seven Bond films. ... This article is about the spy series. ... Agostino De Laurentiis, usually credited as Dino De Laurentiis, (born August 8, 1919) is an Italian movie producer born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples. ... This article is about the Brazilian city. ...

The recent French film OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies both recreates and parodies the genre for a new audience.

Notes

1. ^ Blake, Matt & Deal, David The Eurospy Guide Luminary Press 2004
2. ^ Fluch des schwarzen Rubin, Der (1965)
3. ^ http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.oss117.org/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=10&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522oss%2B117%2522%26hl%3Den
4. ^ p.126 Biederman, Danny The Incredible World of Spy-Fi: Wild and Crazy Spy Gadgets, Props and Artifacts from TV and the Movies Chronicle Books 2004

References

Blake, Matt & Deal, David The Eurospy Guide Luminary Press 2004.