The Great Spy Chase

The Great Spy Chase (Les Barbouzes, 1964) is Georges Lautner's French-Italian spy comedy, available to watch online on iFILM. An international arms dealer dies, and the secret services of every major power descend at once.

In France a "barbouze" is a covert agent, and the late dealer's villa is suddenly full of them. Spies from the USSR, the States, Germany and elsewhere move in on his attractive widow, each under a false name, each chasing the patents for the deadliest weapons on the market. Lino Ventura plays the French operative at the center of the circus, while Lautner stages poisoned cognac, tailing and brawls between politely traded lines. Bernard Blier, Francis Blanche and Mireille Darc keep the absurdity high. It's a black-and-white parody from the years when Bond was new and the French were already winking at him. Stream The Great Spy Chase (1964) online on iFILM.